A DICTIONARY OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. vol. in. LONDON HY S POTT IS WO ODE AND CO. NEW-STREET SQUARE A DICTIONARY OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, & ART : COMPRISING THE DEFINITIONS AND DERIVATIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC TERMS IN GENERAL USE, TOGETHER WITH THE HISTORY AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF NEARLY EVERY BRANCH OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. NEW EDITION, EDITED BY W. T. BRANDE, D.C.L. F.R.S.L. & E. LA.TE OF HER MAJESTY' S MINT AND THE EEY. GEOEGE W. COX, M.A. LATE SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: LONG M A N S, GREEN, 1867. AND CO. 031 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD VOLUME. The publication of this Volume has been delayed, in part by difficulties inseparable from the vast range of the work, but chiefly by the lamented death of Professor Brande, under whose care the first edition of this Dictionary was published six-and- twenty years ago. In recording his sincere regret that Professor Brande was not permitted to see this edition carried through the press, the Editor expresses a feeling which will be shared by all who knew him. The singular clearness and energy of mind, which enabled him to continue his editorial labours at the age of eighty years, seemed to warrant the hope that he might live to see the reappearance of this work in a form suited to the more stringent requirements and the wider knowledge of the present time. Although this was not to be, he yet had the rare happiness of being able to carry on his work to the eve of his death. Professor Brande had thus in great part revised the articles which relate to his own subjects; but his editorial duties have since his death devolved on the present Editor, who desires now to acknowledge gratefully the ability with which the contributors have performed each his allotted task. The fulness and accuracy with which they have treated their several subjects render it necessary only to express a hope that throughout the book, and especially in all controverted or doubtful matters, the articles may be found to exhibit a judicially strict impartiality, which, while stating indifferently the opinions maintained by conflicting schools or parties, leaves it to the reader to draw his own conclusions from the evidence of facts laid before him. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. GENERAL EDITOR Joint-Editor Agriculture late Scholar of Trinity W. T Bkande, F.R.S.L. and E., late of Her Majesty's Mint, h,nd Honorary Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institu- tion of Great Britain. The Rev. George W. Cox, M.A. College, Oxford. John Chalmers Morton, Editor of the ' Agricultural Gazette,' &c. Architecture, History, Language, \ Logic, Mythology, and General Y The Rev. George W. Cox, M.A. Literature . . . .) Astronomy, Observational and j E. Frankland, Ph.D. F.R.S. Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institution of Great Britain ; and J. N. Lockyer, Esq. Professor Richard Owen, F.R.S. LL.D. D.C.L. Super- intendent of the Natural History Departments, British Museum ; and C. Carter Blake, Ph.D. F.G.S. Foreign Associate of the Anthropological Society of Paris. [ John Lindley, F.R.S. F.L.S. late Emeritus Professor of J Botany in University College, London ; and Thomas Moore, ( F.L.S. Curator of the Botanic Garden, Chelsea. f G. R. Burnell, Architect and Civil Engineer, F.R.I.B.A. 1 F.G.S. F.S.A. ; and John Bourne, Civil Engineer. W. T. Brande, D.C.L. F.R.S.L. & E. ; E. Frankland, Ph.D. F.R.S.; John Attfield, Ph.D. F.C.S. Director of the Laboratories of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain ; John Brotjghton, B.S. Assistant in the Chemical Labora- tory of the Royal Institution; W. F. Barrett, Assistant in the Physical Laboratory of the Royal Institution ; and Herbert McLeod, Demonstrator of Chemistry in the Royal School of Mines. D. T. Ansted, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. &c. Hon. Fellow of King's College, London. Herman Merivale, M.A. C.B. late Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. Descriptive, and Meteorology 1 Biological Sciences, comprising Anatomy, Physiology, Zoo- logy, and Palaeontology . Botany and Gardening Building and Engineering , General Chemistry and Physics Geography, Geology, Physical and Hydrology Law, History, and General Lite- rature Law Mathematics, Pure and Applied j Military Subjects Mineralogy Music . Naval Subjects . Navigation . Painting and the Fine Arts Political Economy Printing, Bibliography, &c. Theology and Ecclesiastical Lite- rature Arthur P. Whately, M.A. of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at- Law; late Student of Christ Church, Oxford. f T. A. Hirst, Ph.D. F.R.S. Professor of Mathematical Physics in University College, London. f Capt. Henry Brackenbury, R.A. F.S.A. Assistant-Instructor I in Artillery, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. (Henry William Bristow, F.R.S. F.G.S. Honorary Fellow of King's College, London ; of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. Professor W. Pole, F.R.S. Mus. Bac. Oxon. Denham Robinson. H. W. Jeans, F.R.A.S. Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. f Ralph N. Wornum, Keeper and Secretary of the National t Gallery. The Rev. James E. Thorold Rogers, M.A. Professor of Political Economy, Tooke Professor of Economic Science and Statistics in King's College, London. R. J. Courtney, Superintendent at Messrs. Spottiswoode & Co.'s Printing Office. C. Merivale, B.D. Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons ; and the Rev. George W. Cox, M.A. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofscie03bran DICTIONARY OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. POLES AND POLARS Poles and Polars. The locus of the harmonic centres of the (n — r) th order, taken with respect to a point or pole o, of the n inter- sections of a given curve C n by a transversal which constantly passes through o, is called the r th polar of o with respect to the given (primitive) curve C n . It is itself a curve of the (n — r) th order [Harmonic Centres], and possesses very important properties. Each point in the plane, therefore, has (n — 1) distinct polars of the orders n—1, n — 2, . . . 2, 1, respectively. The last or (n-l) th polar is called also the polar line, and the last but one or (n — 2) th the polar conic, or quadric, the (n — 3) th polar the polar cubic, and so on. From the properties of harmonic centres it follows at once that any polar of a point o is itself a polar of the same point with respect to each of the systems of polars of higher order than itself. Thus the r th polar of o with respect to C n is at one and the same time the (r— l) th polar of the 1st polar of C n , the (r — 2) th polar of the 2nd, the (r-3) th polar of the 3rd, and so on. As a special case the polar line of o with respect to C„ , is at the same time the polar line of o with respect to all the other polars of C„, con- sidered respectively as primitive curves. From the properties of harmonic centres, too, it fol- lows that the locus of the pole m whose r tb polar passes through a fixed point o is the (n — r) th polar of o. Thus the polar line of o is the locus of all points whose first polars pass through o, and further, the first polars of all points of a line constitute a pencil of curves of the (w-l) th order, passing through the same (n — 1) 2 points ; these are the poles of that line. When the primitive curve is a conic, each point in the plane has, of course, but one polar, the polar line, and each line but one pole ; in this case, too, the polar is simply the locus of the harmonic conjugate of the pole with re- spect to the points of intersection of the conic by any transversal through this pole. The polar of a point on the conic itself is the tangent at Vol. III. 1 POLE-AXE that point ; indeed, generally, the polars of a point o situated on the primitive curve C n , all touch the latter in o, the common tangent being, of course, the polar line of o. The first polar C n _i of any point o is the locus of the points of contact of all tangents drawn from o to the primitive curve ; so that n (n—1 ), or the num- ber of intersections of C„ and C„ — i , is the maximum, and in general the actual n umber of such tangents ; this number, therefore, indicates the class of the curve. Should the primitive curve possess multiple points, however, every first polar will pass through them, and the n (n—1) intersections of the latter with Cn will not all be the points of contact of tangents from o. Thus if C n has a double point at d, the 1st polar C n _ x of o will pass through it, and be there touched by the har- monic conjugate of d o with respect to the two tangents to C n at d. This point d, therefore, will count for two amongst the n (n — 1) inter- sections of Cn and C„-t. If C n have a cusp at c, C n _ i will not only pass through it, but will be there touched by the cuspidal tangent, so that c will count for three amongst the intersections of C n and C n _x. We thus arrive at the result that the class of a curve of the n th order, which has d double points and k cusps, is n (rc-l)-25-3«\ This is the first of Pliicker's well-known equations. [Singu- larities of Curves.] The subject of poles and polars will be found treated algebraically in Dr. Salmon's Higher Plane Curves, and geometrically by Steiner in Crelle's Journal, vol. xlvii. 1854, and by Cre- mona, in his Teoria geometries, delle Curve Piane (Bologna 1862). Poles and polars with respect to surfaces have a precisely similar definition. Their numerous and very important properties are treated with great ability by Dr. Salmon in his An. Geom. of Three Dimensions. Pole-axe. A long axe much used as an offensive weapon in the middle ages. It ap- B POLE-AXE POLICE pears frequently in the Bayeux tapestry. [Battle-axe.] Pole-axe. In the Navy, a heavy hatchet having a handle fifteen inches long, and a sharp point bending downwards on the side opposite the blade. It is used in boarding or resisting boarders, for the purpose of cutting ropes or nettings, and as a weapon. Pole-mast. A mast consisting of one piece of timber as opposed to a made-mast, which is built of several pieces ringed together. Polecat. The Putorius foetidus of zoolo- gists. It is common in England, where its white variety (P. foetidus furo) is often domesticated under the name of ferret. The ferret and pole- cat readily intermix to the production of a fertile offspring. Polemarch (Gr. raXe/zapx 0 *)- A name ap- plied by the Greeks to magistrates intrusted with the military affairs and expeditions of a state. Such offices are found in Sparta and some Boeotian cities ; at Athens the polemarch was one of the nine archons. [Archon.] Polemoniaceee (Polemonium, one of the genera). The name of a natural order of perigynous Exogens referred by Lindley to the Solanal alliance. They are mostly herbs, some of them being ornamental garden plants, and are distinguished by having five free stamens, axile placentae, and straight plano-convex coty- ledons. It comes near Hydrophyllacece, but the placentation is different. Among the ge- nera which are esteemed in gardens may be mentioned Phlox and Polemonium as herba- ceous perennials ; Gilia, Leptosiphon, Collomia, and Ipomopsis, as annuals and biennials ; and Cobcea and Cantua as greenhouse plants. In Collomia the mucous covers of the seed consist of an infinite number of delicate spiral vessels, which form a kind of cloud around the seed when it is thrown into water, by their rapid uncoiling and extension. Polemoscope (Gr. ir6\tfxos, war, and 6s, a brother). In Botany, this term is applied to flowers which have the stamens united into several distinct sets. Polyandria (Gr. iroAu?, and av-fip, a man). The thirteenth class in the Linnaean system. It includes those plants the flowers of which have hypogynous stamens more than twenty in number. Polyanthes (Cr. Tto\vavQi]s, many-flowered). A favourite cultivated flower, quite distinct from the Polyanthus. The genus Poly ant hes belongs to the Liliacas, and its most familiar species is the Tuberose met with in our hot- houses, and prized on account of the fragrance of its flowers. It is a perennial, with bulb- tuberous stems, throwing up from the heart of leaves a tall flowering scape, which supports at top a short many-flowered spike of creamy- white highly fragrant flowers, the double forms of which are greatly prized. Large quanti- ties are annually imported from Italy. It is recorded that in sultry evenings, after thunder, when the atmosphere was highly charged with electric fluid, the Tuberose has been observed to dart small sparks of lucid flame from such of its flowers as were fading. Polyanthus (Gr. -noKvavQ^s). An umbel- late-flowered variety of the Primrose, Primida 13 POLYCIIROMY vulgaris, cultivated in gardens for its variously coloured gay-looking flowers. Polyarchy (G r. -n-oKvapxia). A word some- times used by political writers in a sense op- posed to monarchy : the government of many, whether a privileged class (aristocracy) or the people at large (democracy). Polyargite. An altered form of Anorthito from Sweden. Polyhaslte (Gr. iro\vs, many, and /3am?, base). A sulphantimonite of silver, in which part of the silver is replaced by copper, and part of the antimony by arsenic. It occurs in short, tabular, six-sided prisms, which are striated parallel to their bases, opaque, and of an iron-black colour by reflected light, but cherry-red in thin slices when viewed by trans- mitted light. It is found in the mines of Durango in Mexico, Ereiberg in Saxony, Schemnitz in Hungary, and Przibram in Bohemia. It has its name from the large quantity of silver present, compared with the other sulphides of that metal. Polychrest (Gr. ttoKvxpwtos). A term applied by the old chemists to certain prepara- tions which they regarded as possessed of multifarious virtues. Polychrest salt was the sulphate of potash. Polychroilite (Gr. ttoKvs, many, %pota, colour, and Xidos, stone). A silicate of alumina, with peroxide of iron and magnesia, from Krageroe in Norway. Polychroite (Gr. iro\6s, and x, oot£ *> colour). A term applied to the colouring matter of saffron, from the variety of colours which it exhibits when acted upon by various re-agents. Polychromatic Acid (Gr. iroXvxpdfiaTos, many coloured). A compound resulting from the action of nitric acid upon aloes. When used as a dye-stuff it yields a variety of colours. Polychromy (Gr. irpAvxpupos, many- coloured). In Architecture and Sculpture, the art of decorating with many colours. It is now generally understood that the Greeks habitually coloured their architecture, the exterior of build- ings as well as the interior ; but that they also coloured their sculpture is not so generally ad- mitted. That the practice, however, of colouring their statues was established among the Greeks of the most refined period, is quite certain. It is proved by pa ssages i n Plato, Pausania s , Luci an , Plutarch and other writers. Marble statues were coloured in encaustic, and statue painting was a distinct profession. The naked flesh itself was not commonly painted, but was stained with an encaustic varnish ; the colouring was appa- rently generally confined to the hair, eyes, lips, the drapery, and the ornaments in general ; sometimes the hair was gilded, and the eyes were not unfrequently of glass, with eyelashes of copper gilt. The celebrated. Nicias was an ayaX/xdroov iyKavr>« if 2 denote the sum of its angles and r the radius of the sphere. Polygon. In Fortification, a polygon is either exterior or interior. The exterior poly- gon is the figure formed by lines connecting the angles of the bastions with one another, all round the work ; the interior polygon by lines in prolongation of the curtains. [Fortifica- tion.] i Polygon of Forces. In Mechanics, the name given to a theorem, the discovery of which is attributed to Leibnitz. The theorem is this : If any number of forces act upon a point, and a polygon be taken, one of the sides of which is formed by the line representing one of the forces, and the following sides in succes- sion by lines representing the other forces in magnitude, and parallel to their directions, then the line which completes the polygon will represent the resultant of all the forces. Polygonaceae (Polygonum, one of the genera). A natural order of herbaceous, rare- ly shrubby, apetalous hypogynous Exogens, inhabiting the whole world, and referred by Lindley to the Silenal alliance. They are dis- tinguished from most other plants by the cohesion of the scarious stipules into a sheath, technically called an ocrca or boot, and by their triangular fruit. Sorrel on the one hand, and Ehubarb on the other, represent the general qualities of this order. While the leaves and young shoots are acid and agreeable, the roots are universally nauseous and purgative. Rumex acetosa contains pure oxalic acid, and many species of Polygonum are used in dyeing. The Rheum or Rhubarb, and Rumex or Dock, are well-known plants of this order ; which is also sometimes remarkably astringent, as in the case of the Coccoloba uvifera, or Sea-side Grape of the "West Indies, an extract of whose bark forms a kind of Kino. Polygonal Numbers. In Arithmetic, the successive sums of the terms of an arithmetical POLYGRAM POLYHEDRON series beginning with unity. They are Figurath •Numbers of the second order. A very general and remarkable property of polygonal numbers was discovered by Fermat, though it has yet been demonstrated only in respect of the triangular and square numbers. It is this : Every number whatever is the sum of one, two, or three triangular numbers ; the sum of one, two, three, or four squares ; tlie sum of one, two, three, four, or five pentagonal numbers ; and so on. Polygram (Gr. ttoXvs, and ypanna, a line). 4. figure consisting of many lines or sides. An ordinary polygram is the same as an ordinary Polygon [which see]. It would be well, how- ever, if the distinction between polygon and polygram were more strictly adhered too. A complete w-gram has - ^ angular points or corners, whilst a complete w-gon has - ^j-^— ^ sides. As an illustration, see Quadrangle and Quadrilateral. Polygraph (Gr. iro\l)s, and ypdepw, I write). In Bibliography, this term designates a collection of different works either by one or several authors. Polyhalite (Gr. iroKvs, and aXs, salt). A hydrous sulphate of lime, potash, and magnesia, with muriate of soda, found at Ischl, in Upper Austria, where it occurs in compact fibrous masses of a brick-red or flesh colour, and some- times colourless. Polyhedron (Gr. iroXvs ; e'Spa, a base). In Geometry, a solid bounded by many planes or faces. Each face is bounded by three or more right lines or edges, and three or more faces by their intersection form a corner. The theory of polyhedrons, although studied by the ancients, is still incomplete and defective in many points ; we shall merely mention a few of their most elementary and important properties. If with respect to any sphere, we take the polar plane of every corner of a given poly- hedron, we shall obtain a second having as many faces as the first has corners, as many corners as it has faces, and precisely the same number of edges. [Poles and Polars.] So that the principle of duality holds for all polyhedrons ; that is to say, to every polyhedron corresponds its conjugate, which has as many w-angled faces as the first has w -angled corners. If by taking away one face from an incomplete or unclosed polyhedron which has e edges, c corners, and / faces, we remove n corners, we shall flecessarily diminish the number of edges by n + 1, so that the number c+f—e will remain unaltered by the operation, and conse- quently also by its repetition. Since this repeated subtraction, however, must ultimately lead to a single face with as many corners as edges, we see that for every unclosed polyhedron c +f—e = l. If we unclose any polyhedron, therefore, of E edges, C corners, and F faces, by removing a face, we shall obviously have C + (F-1)-E = 1; i.e. C + F = E + 2. This fundamental theorem, according to which the Vol. III. 17 number of corners, together with the number of faces, of every ordinary polyhedron, exceeds by two the number of its edges, although known to Descartes, was rediscovered and first pub- lished by Euler in the Nov. Comm. Petrop. 1752. From it numerous consciences may be de- duced. It can be shown, for instance, that there is no polyhedron of seven edges, and that some of the faces of every polyhedron must necessarily be either triangular, quadrangular, or pentagonal ; hence also some of its corners must necessarily be triangular, quadrangular, or pentagonal. These are consequently termed the essential elements of every polyhedron. It can be shown, too, that there are but five dis- tinct regular polyhedrons, or such as have equal regular polygonal faces and corners. In fact, if each face is a regular polygon of n sides, then obviously 2E = wF = wC, if m be the number of plane angles that meet at every corner. It follows, therefore, from the funda- mental relation, that 2mn 2m + In — mn This can only be a whole number in five distinct cases, since neither m nor n can be less than three or greater than five. The name and nature of each of the five regular polyhedrons, or, as they are often called, Platonic bodies, is given in the following table. Name E F C Tetrahedron or Regular Pyra- 3 3 6 4 4 Hexahedron or Cube 3 4 12 6 8 Octahedron .... 4 3 12 8 6 Dodecahedron .... 3 5 30 12 20 Icosahedron .... 5 3 30 20 12 The hexahedron and octahedron are con- jugate, as are also the dodecahedron and the icosahedron. The tetrahedron is manifestly its own conjugate. Besides the above, there are the semi-regular polyhedrons of Archimedes, the corners of which are equal and similar to one another, but formed by regular polygons of different kinds. Pappus (in the fifth book of his Collections) and Kepler enumerate thirteen distinct semi-regular poly- hedrons. They omit two, however: one is a right prism, whose bases are equal regular polygons of any number of sides, and whose lateral faces are all squares ; the other may be formed from the first by conceiving one of the two equal polygons to be first twisted, and each of its corners then joined to two of the other polygons, so that the lateral faces become equilateral triangles. There are also stellated regular polyhedrons. These were first described by Kepler, and have been since studied by Poinsot and others. (Journal de VEcole Poly technique 1809, and Comptes Bendus 1858-9.) We may mention, lastly, that the theory of polyhedrons has been greatly extended in recent years by the re- searches of Kirkman, whose memoirs will be found in the Phil. Trans, of the Royal Society. G POLYHEDRON Polyhedron. In Optics. [Polyscope.] Polyhydrite (Gr. iroAvs, and vhoip, water). A hydrated silicate of iron from Breitenbrun in Saxony. It is the same as the Hisingerite of Berzelius. Polyhymnia (Gr. lloAvvfxuia). The muse who presided over lyric poetry. (Hesiod. Theog. 78 ; Hor. Od. i. 1.) Polykrase (Gr. iroAvs, and Kpacris, combi- nation). A rare mineral occurring in black six-sided tables: it contains titanic and tantalic acids, zirconia, yttria, alumina, magnesia, lime, and the oxides of iron, cerium, and uranium. It is found at Hitteroe, in Norway. Polylite (Gr. toAvs, and Aidos, stone). A variety of Pyroxene from Hoboken in New Jersey. The name has reference to the numer- ous constituents of which it is composed. Polymignite (Gr. tto\vs, and /j.lyvv(xi, to mix; from the number of its components). A titanate of Zirconia, which occurs in long thin prismatic crystals with a brilliant sub- metallic lustre, in the zircon-syenite of Fre- dericksvarn in Norway. Polynomial. [Multinomial.] Polynomial Theorem. [Multinomial Theorem.] Polyonymy (Gr. iroAvwvv/j.ia, a multitude of names). The description of the same object under several names. This practice marks one of the necessary stages in the growth of lan- guage, and furnishes the great source of My- thology. It is obvious that a common root may be used to describe different objects which agree in some special point : thus, a word denoting brightness might be applied to the morning, a fountain, or the spring-time of the year, which would thus be homonymous, or namesakes. But it is also manifest that the same object may be described by several cha- racteristics. The sun may be called the child of the night, the destroyer of darkness [Per- seus], the slayer of the dawn [Apollo], the husband of the morning [Eos], or of the dew [Procris] ; and thus the sun would be jpoly- onymous or many-named, while each name would supply the idea of a separate myth. (Max Miiller, Lectures on Language, second series, viii.) Polyoptron. In Optics, a glass through which objects appear multiplied, but dimin- ished. It consists of a lens, one side of which is plane, while in the other are ground several spherical concavities. Each of these concavities becomes a plano-concave lens, through which an object appears diminished ; and when there are a number of them together, the object will be seen through each, and thus multiplied. Polypes (Gr. -/roAvnovs). The name of an extensive group of radiated animals in the system of Cuvier, associated together by the common character of a fleshy body, of a conical or cylindrical form, commonly fixed by one extremity, and with the mouth situated at the opposite end and surrounded by more or less numerous a»ms or tentacles. Under this external form are masked various grades of 18 POLYPODIACE.E I organisation, of which three at least have been well defined by recent and minute ana- tomical researches. The lowest grade of organisation is mani- fested by the fresh- water Polype (Hydra), and the compound marine corallines (Sertularia, Tubidaria, &c). The body here consists of a granular parenchyma, having a contractile power in every part, not requiring a distinct allocation and arrangement of muscular fibres. When it is defended, as in the Corallines, by a polypary, it can be retracted into its cell with- out being folded upon itself. The oral tentacles are not provided with vibratile cilia ; the stomach is not distinct from the parietes of the body. The polypes thus organised have been termed Dimorph'ce by Ehrenberg; Hydrozoa by Owen; and Nudibrachiata, or Hydriform Polypes, by A. Earre. In the second group of Polypes the body is distinctly membranous and fibrous, and the stomach forms a separate pouch suspended in its centre. The stomach has but one external orifice, which serves for mouth and vent; but posteriorly it communicates with the main cavity of the body. This is divided into several compartments by vertical partitions passing from the walls of the cavity to those of the stomach ; and with the chambers thus formed the tubular arms surrounding the mouth com- municate: these arms are not ciliated exter- nally. This group of Polypes has been termed Anthozoa by Ehrenberg : it includes the Sea- anemones, Madrepores, Coi'al-polypes, &c. In the third and highest group of Polypes the parietes of the stomach are not only distinct from those of the body, but are continued into an intestinal tube, which is reflected forward and terminates in a distinct anal aperture near the mouth : the tentacula are provided with vibratile cilia. The Polypes of this division are aggregated or compound, and provided with flexible or calcareous cells : they have been termed Bryozoa by Ehrenberg, and Cilio- brachiata by Farre. All the groups of Polypes propagate by gemmation, and likewise by ova, which are first developed into ciliated and loco- motive gemmules. In some Ciliobrachiata the sexes are distinct. The Acalepha of Cuvier belong, metagenetically, to the Hydrozoa, while the Bryozoa have affinity with the compound Ascidians. Polypetalous (Gr. ttoAvs, and irhaAov, a leaf). In Botany, a term applied to flowers in which the petals are separate, rather than to those in which they are numerous, as the name would seem to imply. It is used as the anti- thesis to monopetalous. Polyphemus. In Mythology. [Cyclopes.] Polypodiacese (Polypodium, one of the genera). The most comprehensive of the na- tural orders under which Ferns are arranged, including nearly all the species which are known. It is distinguished mainly by the presence in the spore-cases of an elastic jointed ring which nearly surrounds them, and by the contraction' of which they seem to burst open when ripe. [Filicls.] POLYPORUS Polyporus (Gr. iro\vnopos, with many pores). A very extensive genus of Fungi, be- longing to the pore-bearing division of that vust order. The pores vary much in size, being sometimes almost invisible to the naked eye. Some of the species are of a brilliant scarlet, others lilac, yellow, orange, &c, but the pre- dominant colours are tints of brown. A few of the species, as P. ovinus, afford a grateful food, but in general they are coarse, tough, and indigestible. P. tuberaster, which springs from the Fungus Stone [Piktra Fungaja], is es- teemed in Italy, and a species is raised from pollard hazels by roasting them gently before the fire and then keeping them properly irri- gated. P. fomentarius supplies the best Ama- dou of commerce, tho.igh inferior kinds are produced from other species, as P. igniarius. P. officinalis was once a celebrated drug, but it is now little used, though still to be obtained in the herb-shops ; it grows almost exclusively on Larch. P. destructor and some others are the pest of wooden structures, while the spawn of P. hybridus is the dry-rot fungus of oak-built ships. P. bitulinus forms excellent razor-strops. Polyptychodon (Gr. iroXvs ; TTTvxn,a fold; and bSovs, tooth). A genus of Sauropterygian reptiles (equalling Pliosaurusin size), in which the teeth have a strong conical crown with a subcircular transverse Svction, the longi- tudinal ridges of the enamel being set close all round the crown, whence the name of the genus ; such teeth may be distinguished from the, teeth of Mosasaurus or Pliosaurus by the absence of the smooth, almost flattened faces of the crown, which surface, in those genera, is divided by two longitudinal ridges from the rest of the crown. The teeth are implanted in distinct sockets, as in Plesiosaurus. Polypus (Gr. ttoXvttovs, 'many-footed). In Surgery, a fleshy tumour, which is occasionally formed in the nostrils: the same term is also applied to a fleshy tumour of the uterus. Polysarkia (Gr. itoXvaapicia). Corpulency. [Obesity.] Polyscope (Gr. ttoXvo-koitos, from GKoirtw, I look). In Optics, a lens plane on one side and convex on the other ; the convex s:de being formed of several plane surfaces, or facettes, so that an object seen through it appears mul- tiplied. The reason of the multiplication of the image is this : When the opposite sides of a thick piece of glass are not parallel, an object seen through it appears out of its true place on account of the refraction ; consequently, if a lens is ground so that portions of its convex surface are differently inclined to its plane side, the object will appear in different places at the same time. The polyscope may be used to collect the images of several dispersed ob- jects into a single point, or to collect parts of the same object represented in different places, so as to form a single image. The instrument is a mere toy, and used only for the purpose of amusement. Polyspaston (Gr. iroXvairaaTos, drawn by many cords). A term used by some of the old 19 POLYTHEISM writers on Mechanics to denote an assemblage of pulleys for raising heavy weights. Polysphaerite (Gr. iroXm, and a 2 POTENTIAL POTITII the line of equal votency, by Magnus the axis of collineation, by Pliicker the ehordalc, and by Gaultier the radical axis. The last name is the one now generally used. [Radical Axis.] Potential. In the Calculus of Attraction, the potential of a body, or system of bodies, relatively to a given point M, whose rectangular coordinates are x, y, z, is a certain function of these coordinates whose three first partial dif- ferential coefficients give, to a constant factor pres, the three components of attraction or repulsion on a material particle placed at M. When the law of attraction is that of the inverse square of the distance, the potential may be defined as the sum of each mass-element of the attracting body divided by the distance of that element from the attracted point. It is expressed, therefore, by y_ rdm J r * where the integration is to be extended to all the elements of the body. Calling R the re- sultant attraction on a material particle of the mass ju, situated at M (x, y, z), and X, Y, Z the components of attraction in the directions of the coordinate axes, we have v dV dV „ dV dx' dy dz and hence R / (dVy /dV\* (dV\* V [die) + \dj) + \Tz) ' An important property of the potential is expressed by the following differential equa- tion : dx 2 dy 1 dz' 1 where p represents the^density of the attracting body immediately around the attracted point. When the latter is external to the attracting mass, therefore, the above sum vanishes, as was first shown by Laplace. In the above more general form the equation is due to Poisson. The points relatively to which the potential has the same value, lie on the so-called equi- ponticd or equilibrium surface, which is every- where normal to the direction of the resultant, i.e. to the lines of force. Legendre, Lagrange, Laplace, Poisson, and Gauss, were among the first to introduce the potential into mechanical investigations. The name, however, was originated by George Green, whose Essay on the Application of the Mathe- matical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism, Nottingham 1828 (reprinted in vols. xliv. and xlvii. of Crelle's Journal), together with Gauss' Memoir on General Theorems reletting to Attractive and Repulsive Forces varying inversely as the Squetre of the Distance {Resxdt aus den Beob. des meig. Vtrcins, Leipzig 1840, translated in Taylor's Scientific Memoirs 1842, and in Liouville's Journal 1842), are classic works on the subject. Chasles, too, has written several geometrical 36 papers treating of the same matter; one of theso will be found in the Connaissance des Temps for 1845. The works of Dirichlet, when col- lected, will probably contain the far-famed lectures on the calculus of attraction, delivered by him periodically at the university of Ber- lin, wherein the properties of the potential are fully developed. Potential Energy. In Mechanics, a bent spring, a raised weight, or compressed air, &c. is said to possess potenticd energy, because it is in a condition to do work if allowed. Potential energy is measured by the work done in bring- ing the body to the condition in question. It is an important theorem in modern science that in a system of bodies, subjected solely to mu- tual actions, the sum of potential and actual energy {vis viva) is always constant. (Helm- holtz On the Conservation of Force, Berlin 1847, and Scientific Memoirs, 1853 ; Rankine in Phil. Mag. 1853 and Edin. Phil. Journ. 1855 ; Tait and Steele's Dynamics of a Par- ticle, &c.) Potential Mood (Lat*- potentia, power). In Grammar, that mood of the verb which expresses an action conceived as possible ; de- noted in English by the auxiliary verb may or might. Potential Qualities. In Scholastic Phi- losophy, such qualities as are supposed to exist in a body in potentia only. Potentilla (Lat. potens, powerful). A very showy genus of garden flowers, yielding numerous hardy herbaceous perennials of an ornamental character. It also contains several native species, mostly of a weedy aspect. The genus belongs to the Rosacea, and somewhat resembles the strawberry, to which it is allied. Poterium (Lat. ; Gr. ■noT'hpiov, a drinking cup). A native English plant, the leaves of which resemble the fruit of the cucumber in flavour. It is, however, an agrarian weed, often troublesome in crops of saintfoin, and probably in such cases attributable to mixed or foul seW having been sown. Potitii. Roman priests of Hercules, said to have been appointed by Evander. The myth of Hercules and Cacus furnishes the instil u- tional legend. The two families of the Potitii and Pinarii performed the rites of Hercules about the ara maxima, the former being admitted to the feast while the latter were only allowed to minister at the sacrifice ; or, according to another version, the Potitii were regaled on the entrails of the ox, the Pinarii being confined to the other parts of the animal. According to others, the word potitii had reference to the privilege of that family, the name pinarii being connected with the Greek neu/av, to hunger, because they came too late for the banquet. Later legends said that Appius Claudius, when censor, induced the Potitii to transfer their functions to public si ives, whereupon the fami- lies of the gens Potitia died within the year, or, according to another account, within thirty days. (Sir G. C. Lewis, Credibility of Early Roman History i. 293.) POTSTONE POTTERY AND PORCELAN Potstone. A coarsely granular variety of Steatite or Soapstone, which on account of its tenacity, infusihility, and the ease with which it may be turned in the lathe, is frequently made into culinary vessels, especially in Italy, Corsica, Germany, France, and the island of Sark. Pottery and Porcelain. The better kind of pottery, called in this country Staffordshire ware, is made of an artifical mixture of alumina and silica ; the former obtained in the shape of j a fine clay, chiefly from Devonshire and Dorset- shire ; and the latter consisting of chert or flint, ( which is heated red-hot, quenched in water, and [ then reduced to powder. Each material, carefully powdered and sifted, is diffused through water, | mixed by measure, and brought to a due consis- tency by evaporation : it is then highly plastic, and formed upon the potter's wheel and lathe into j various circular vessels, or moulded into other forms, which, after having been dried in a warm j room, are enclosed in baked clay cases resem- bling bandboxes, and called seggars ; these are j ranged in the kiln so as nearly to fill it, leaving ! only space enough for the fuel ; here the ware is kept red-hot for a considerable time, and thus brought to the state of biscuit. This is after- wards glazed, which is done by dipping the biscuit-ware into a tub containing a mixture of about 60 parts of litharge, 10 of clay, and 20 of ground flint, diffused in water to a creamy consistence ; and when taken out, enough ad- heres to the piece to give a uniform glazing when again heated. The pieces are then again packed up in the seggars, with small bits of pottery interposed between each, and fired in a kiln as before. The glazing mixture fuses at a comparatively moderate heat, and gives a uni- form glossy coating, which finishes the process when it is intended for common white ware. The patterns upon ordinary porcelain, which are chiefly in blue, from the facility of apply- ing oxide of cobalt, are generally first printed off upon paper, which is attached to the plate or other article while in the state of bis- cuit; the colour adheres permanently to the surface when heat is properly applied : other mineral colours, such as the oxides of chromium and manganese, are also occasionally employed in the same way. The manufacture of Porcelain is a more re- fined branch of art; the materials are selected with the greatest caution, it being necessary that the compound should remain perfectly white after exposure to heat: it should also endure a very high temperature without fusing, and at the same time acquire a semi- vitreous texture, and a peculiar degree of translucency and toughness. These qualities are united in some of the Oriental porcelain, or China, and in some of the old Dresden ; but they are rarely found coexistent in that of modern European manufacture. Some of the French and English porcelain, especially that made at Sevres and Worcester, is extremely white, and duly translucent ; but it is more apt to crack by sudden changes of temperature ; more brittle, and consequently requires to be 37 formed into thicker and heavier vessels ; and more fusible than the finest porcelains of Japan and China. The colours employed in painting porcelain are the same metallic oxides used for colouring glass, and in all the more delicate patterns they are laid on with a camel's hair pencil, and gene- rally previously mixed with a little oil of tur- pentine. Where several colours are used, they often require various temperatures for their perfection; in this case those that bear the highest heat are first applied, and subsequently those which are brought out at lower tempe- ratures. This art of painting on porcelain, or in enamel, is very delicate : much experi- ence and skill are required in it, and with every care there are frequent failures ; hence it is attended with considerable expense. The gilding of porcelain is generally performed by applying finely divided gold mixed with gum- water and borax ; upon the application of heat the gum burns off, and the borax vitrifying upon the surface causes the gold firmly to ad- here : it is afterwards burnished. In the manufacture of various kinds of pot- tery employed in the chemical laboratory, and especially in regard to crucibles, many diffi- culties occur ; and many requisites are necessary, which cannot be united in the same vessel. To the late Mr. Wedgwood we are indebted for vast improvements in this as well as in other branches of the art. Crucibles composed of one part of pure clay mixed with about three parts of coarse and pure sand, slowly dried and annealed, resist a very high temperature without fusion, and generally retain metallic substances ; but where the metals are suffered to oxidise, there are few which do not act upon any earthen vessel, and some cause its rapid fusion, as the oxides of lead, bismuth, &c. Where saline fluxes are used, the best crucibles will always suffer ; but platinum may often be employed in these cases, and the chemist is thus enabled to combat many difficulties which were nearly insurmountable before this metal was thus applied. Whenever silica and alumina are blended, as in the mixture of clay and sand, the compound softens, and the vessel loses its shape when exposed to a long-continued white- heat, and this is the case with the Hessian crucibles : consequently, the most refractory of all vessels are those made entirely of clay, coarsely powdered burnt clay being used as a substitute for the sand. Such a compound resists the action of saline fluxes longer than any other, and is therefore used for the pots in glass furnaces. A Hessian crucible lined with purer clay is rendered much more reten- tive ; and a thin china cup, or other dense por- celain, resists the action of saline matters in fusion for a considerable time. Plumbago is a very good material for crucibles, and applicable to many purposes ; when mixed with clay it forms a compound not easily fusible, and is protected from the action of the air at high temperatures : it is well calculated for small table furnaces. [Earthenware ; Glass.] POUCH Poucn (Fr. poche). In Military equipment, a leather case, lined with tin, to carry a so.dier's ammunition. Poudrette (Fr.). A manure composed of night soil mixed up with clay, dried and formed into cakes. Poolp (Fr. poulpe). The generic name of the eight-footed dibranchiate Cephalopods ( Octopi), which have a double alternate row of suckers on each foot. Poultry (Fr. poule, Lat. pullus, Gr. trooXos, the foal or young of animals). Different kinds of birds reared for the production of eggs and feathers, and for the use of their bodies as animal food. The domestic poultry in common use in Britain are the common domestic fowls, or cock and hen, the turkey, the duck, and the goose ; to which may be added, as occasionally reared, the guinea fowl and the peacock. The most generally useful kind of poultry is the common domestic fowl, which, though a native of India, accompanies man through all climates, but which produces an abundance of eggs only when well fed and warmly lodged. All poultry houses, therefore, when not built adjoining an apartment in which fire is kept, or over a stable or cowhouse, where they may benefit by the heat generated by the larger animals, ought to be furnished with flues, or some other means of generating heat artificially during winter and spring. Without some mode of effecting this, poultry will seldom yield a good supply of eggs in cold weather, particularly in the colder parts of Britain. On this account, in Scotland, the common hen is allowed to roost in the same room in which the cottager lives ; and the poultry -house of the small farmer is a loft either over his kitchen, or over his cow- house. In the management of poultry it is essential that they should have not only the necessary food and warmth, but also ample space for exercise. This space should always contain living plants of various kinds, and some gravelly, calcareous, or sandy soil ; because worms, snails, and insects, as well as grass and herbage occasionally, form a part of the food of poultry ; and sand or gravel is swallowed by them for the purpose of promoting digestion. Hence, no healthy poultry can ever be reared in towns, however much the natural food may be imitated by the supply of animal matters, herbage, and sand : the want of exercise in poultry so circumstanced will soon become evident from the appearance of the fowls, and from the soft shell of their eggs. Some breeds seem, however, to require less liberty than others. We add a list of the breeds now known and cultivated in this country. — Grey, Silver Grey, Speckled, and White Dork- ings — Excellent farmyard fowls. Good layers and sitters. Very good mothers. Not calculated for confinement. Unequalled as a table or market fowl. Very large. Brahma Pootra — Excellent layer, perfect sitter, and mother ; so hardy it may be hatched and reared in any weather. Two varieties : one pencilled ; the other white, with black flight and tail, and 38 POUND striped hackle. These birds bear any confine- ment. As winter layers the Brahma Pootra s excel all other birds. Spanish — Very handsome black birds. Lay larger eggs than any other breed, and in great numbers. Thrive in any locality, however confined. Do not sit. Their colour suited for any atmosphere. Cochin Chinese — Seem to prefer a very limited space ; capital layers ; very hardy ; seldom or never out of condition. Good sitters. Chickens very easily reared. Pullets hatched in spring are good winter layers. Crevecoeurs — Hardy birds, and most profitable layers, producing an unusual number of very large eggs during the autumn when most birds are deep in moult. They are excellent table birds, do not sit, and thrive well in stable yards, small homesteads, and confined places. La Fleche — The finest fowl known in France, a very handsome upstanding bird of jet black plumage ; the comb is in the form of two upright horns. A delicious table fowl of great size ; an excellent layer. Thrives well on a good run, or farm yard. Game — Hardy and capital birds. Good layers, good mothers, excellent for the table. Will do well in confinement. Suited to every soil and climate. Varieties : Black and Brown-breasted Reds, Duck- wings, Black, White and Piles. Hamburgs — Very handsome birds, unusually good layers, bear moderate confinement well. Do not sit. Polands — Remarkably handsome birds, very good lay- ers, but non-sitters. Fit for the paddock, but not for confinement. Varieties : Golden and Silver Spangled, and Black with white top-knots. Houdans — A recent introduction from France, where they are considered a very good table fowl. They are large, of a speckled colour, with top-knots. Malay — Hardy and prolific birds, will do well where all others fail ; good layers, and well adapted for towns. Poultry-Houses. • Structures in which poultry are kept in the-night time ; they should be so arranged that each kind of bird shall be separately lodged, and that all shall have access to an ample field, containing a pond and a heap of gravel. [Poultry.] Pounce (Fr. ponce, from Ital. pomice, Lat. pumex, a pumice stone: Wedgwood). A pow- der to prevent ink from spreading upon paper, after erasures : it is either sandaraeh (resin of the juniper) in powder, or the powdered bone of the cuttle-fish. The term pounce is also applied to coloured powders used by pattern drawers for sprinkling over pricked papers. Pound (Ger. pfund; Lat. pondo, in weight). A measure of weight. In England two differ- ent pounds are used ; the pound avoirdupois, and the pound troy. The pound avoirdupois weighs 7,000 grains troy, and the pound troy 5,760 grains. The former is divided into 16 ounces, and the latter into 12. [Weight.] Pound is also a denomination of money; the pound sterling being equal in value to 20 shillings, or 240 pence. Anciently 240 pence were equivalent to a pound of silver ; hence the origin of the term. POUNDAGE Poundage. An ancient ad valorem duty of five per cent., payable on all foreign goods imported into the kingdom, and occasionally on exports. It has been held that these duties were paid, time out of mind, on the plea that the king was by these means compensated for the cost of keeping up harbours and havens, and of defending merchants from pirates, and that, the payment is part of the common law. This tax is, however, known to have had its origin in an Act of the first Parliament of , Edward I. Poundage was at first granted for a limited period, then for the life of the king, generally among the Acts of the monarch's first parliament. The parliaments of Charles I. re- fused to make the grant, but those of his three legal successors were more complaisant. The i need of providing larger means for the public •■ service led the parliaments of Anne to mortgage j this custom for the payment of the public debt, and poundage has been lost in the general imposition of customs duties. Po up art's Zaig-ament. The tendinous at- tachment of the external oblique muscle of the abdomen to the superior and anterior spinous j process of the os ilium and os pubis. Pourpoint (Fr.). In ancient armour, the j quilted coat, worn next the body, otherwise often known as the gambeson or doublet. Sometimes an outer pourpoint was worn be- tween the surcoat and the body armour. Pourpresture or Purpresture. In Law, an ancient term to denote anything done to the injury of the king's tenants, by way of nuisance or hurt to the king's highways or demesnes, by enclosing, &c. Pourpresture may also be by tenant against lord of the fee, or by one neighbour against another. Poursuivant. [Pursuivant.] Powder Hose. A tube of strong linen, about an inch in diameter, filled with powder, and used for firing military mines. Power. In Algebra, this word denotes the product arising from the continued multiplica- tion of equal numbers or quantities. Thus a, aa, aaa, which for brevity are written a, a 2 , a 3 , denote respectively the first, second, and third powers of a. The small numbers in the above abbreviated expressions are termed the indices ox exponents of the several powers. Powers of the same quantity are multiplied by adding, and divided by subtracting their exponents. Assuming the relation a m a n — a m+n to hold for all values of m and n, we are led to the conception of nega- tive and fractional powers. The first are the reciprocals of the corresponding positive powers, thus tf- 2 = l 0 • and the second are roots of a 2 powers or powers of roots ; thus = &a 2 = (&a) 2 . Since a rn a° — a + ° = a m , we learn that a° must be regarded as a general symbol for unity whatever value a may have. Power. In Law, an authority given to a person enabling him to do some, act with re- spect to property of which he is not the owner or not the. absolute owner. Thus, for example, 39 POYNING'S LAW in an ordinary strict settlement of real property, it is usual to insert powers for the tenant for life to grant leases and to give a jointure to his wife or portions for his children, and for trustees to sell the property, or manage it dur- ing minorities and the like ; and corresponding powers of investment, of appointing funds to particular children, of advancement and main- tenance of minors, &c, are usually inserted in settlements of personal property. Again, in a mortgage the mortgagee has usually a power of sale to enable him to realise his security. Powers for the most part are strictly construed, and the courts are very vigilant in preventing their use for any purpose but that for which in the particular case they were intended ; as, for instance, if a man having a power to ap- point a fund among his children appoints it to one of them upon an understanding that he himself is to derive some private advantage, the appointment will be bad. There are many technical divisions of powers as they arise at common law, or under the Statute of Uses or some other statute, or are mere equitable au- thorities, affecting property vested in trustees or mortgagees, and the learning with respect to them forms one of the principal branches of Property Law. The introduction of lengthy powers is one of the principal causes of the bulk of English legal instruments, but this again arises from the great unwillingness always shown by the courts to extend by implication the authority over property of one not absolute owner of it to any cases not expressly provided for, so that it becomes necessary to provide by an appropriate clause for every occasion which is considered at all likely to arise. Some efforts have been recently made by the legislature (stats. 19 & 20 Vict. c. 120, 23 & 24 Vict. c. 145, &c.)to provide that certain powers should in specified cases be implied as of course. Power. In Mechanics, this term denotes a force which being applied to a machine tends to produce motion. A mechanical power de- notes one of the six simple machines ; viz. the lever, the inclined 'plane, the screw, the wheel and axle, the wedge, and the pulley. Power of Attorney. In Law, an instru- ment by which a party empowers another to perform certain acts for him, either generally, or for a particular purpose ; such as to accept and negotiate letters of exchange, to receive divi- dends, &c. An instrument by which a party authorises his attorney to appear and plead for him is termed a Warrant of Attorney. Powers, Great, of Europe. In the language of modern diplomacy, Great Britain, France, Austria, Eussia, and Prussia, are so called. Power-loona. [Weaving.] Poyningr's Saw, otherwise called the Statute of Drog-heda. An enactment of the Irish parliament in 1495. It contains a variety of provisions to restrain the lawlessness of the Anglo-Irish within the pale (for to no others could it immediately extend), and to confirm the royal sovereignty. The article by which it is POZZUOLANA PR/ENOMEN principally known provided that no parliament should in future be holden in Ireland till the king's lieutenant had certified to the king under the great seal the causes and considerations, and all such acts as ought to be passed thereon, and such be affirmed by the king and his coun- cil, and his license to hold a parliament be ob- tained. Any parliament holden contrary to this form and provision should be deemed void. Thus by securing the initiative power to the English council, a bridle was placed in the mouth of every Irish parliament. (Hallam.) A practice, however, grew up afterwards of fram- ing bills in either house of the Irish parliament under the denomination of heads for a bill or bills, by which the provisions of Poyning's law. were in some measure evaded. (Groldwin Smith, Irish History and Character.) Pozzuolana. Fine volcanic ashes mixed with about one fifth part of oxide of iron and a little lime form a natural hydraulic cement, which hardens under water and answers the purpose of Roman cement. It is much used in Italy instead of mortar, and has received its name owing to the fact of its being shipped from Pozzuoli. [Cements ; Mortar.] Praam. A sort of lighter used in Holland and the Baltic. Practical Geology. [Economic Geo- logy.] Practice (Fr. pratique, Span, practica, from Grr. ttpciktikSs). A rule in Arithmetic for expeditiously solving questions in proportion ; or, rather, for abridging the operation of mul- tiplying quantities expressed in different de- nominations, as pounds, shillings, and pence ; yards, feet, and inches, &c. Praecordia (Lat. from prae, and cor, the h art). The fore part of the chest. Praefect (Lat. praefectus). The title of several Roman functionaries. Of these the most important were: (1) praefectus urbi, the prefect or warden of the city, originally called Custos Urbis. This officer possessed the im- perium in the city during the absence of the consuls ; but the institution of the office of praetor urbanus left no room for his functions. The conservative spirit of the Romans, how- ever, still induced them to appoint a praefectus urbi for the time during which the consuls were absent from Rome to celebrate the feriae Latinae ; but this officer had no right of con- voking or of speaking in the senate, and it became a nominal distinction conferred on young men of illustrious families. The office to which Augustus appointed Maecenas was very different from this, being a regular and permanent magistracy invested with all neces- sary powers for maintaining peace and order in the city. Under this praefect was a force of milites stationarii, or city police ; and the powers of the office were gradually so far ex- j tended that at last there was no appeal from his sentence except to the princeps himself, whereas the praefectus urbi was empowered to hear 1 appeals against any other city magistrates, and even against the governors ofprovinces. (2) The 40 1 praetorian praefect, praefectus praetorio, com- manded the Praetorian Cohorts. This officer, after the appointment of Sejanus by Tiberius, stood to the emperors in a relation not unlike that of the magister equitum to the Dictator, or of a Turkish vizir to the sultan. This office was not always held by military men, Ulpian, Papinian, and other lawyers having been num- bered among the praetorian praefects. (3) The office of praefectus annonae, or praefect of the provinces, was an extraordinary magistracy, filled only during times of scarcity. But after the fall of the republic, Augustus made the office permanent. In addition to these there were (4) the praefectus aquarum, an officer charged with the regulation of the water supply for the city ; (5) the praefectus aerarii LZEra- rium], and (6) the praefectus vigilum, or com- mander of the Roman night-watch ; with some others. The title of praefect was also given to the governor of Egypt, the governors of the other imperial provinces being called legati Caesa- ris, selected either from persons who had been consuls or praetors, or from the senators, while the governor of Egypt was of equestrian rank. Fraefloration (Lat. praefloreo, to blossom before the time). In Botany, the arrangement of the parts of the flower before expansion. Praefoliatlon (Lat. prae, before ; folium, a leaf). In Botany, the arrangement of the leaves in a leaf-bud. Praemolar (Lat. prae, before, and molaris, grinding tooth). In Anatomy, the name of those permanent teeth in the Diphyodont mammals that displace and succeed the deciduous teeth vertically : they are situated before the molars ; and, being in many cases of more simple struc- ture, they have been termed false molars, and in Human Anatomy bicuspides. The praemolars never exceed four in number on each side of both jaws. Praemonstratensians. [Premonstra- TENSIANS.] Fraemorse (Lat. praemorsus, part, of prae- mordeo, to bite). In Botany, a term applied to parts which terminate abruptly in a rugged irregular manner, as if bitten off. Praemunire. In Law, a name given to a i species of offence, in the nature of a contempt, against the king and his government. The name is derived from the words pramoneri, or prcemuniri facias, which are used in the begin- ing of the writ preparatory to the prosecution of the offence : ' Cause A. B. to be forewarned that he appear before us,' &c. The first sta- tute of praemunire was passed in the reign of Edward I. to restrain the encroachments of the Romish clergy : and several subsequent statutes before the Reformation have extended the num- ber of penal acts under this title. By still later statutes, acts of a very miscellaneous character have been rendered liable to the penalties of praemunire, as a refusal to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, &c. Praeaomen. [Cognomen; Name.] l'R.ERAPl IAELITE Praeraphaelite. In Painting, an illogical term lately introduced to signify a modern re- vival, with certain modifications, of the highly finished but crude and tasteless sentimental art of the fifteenth century, before the time of Raphael ; an art which is characterised more , by its defects than by its perfections. Its cha- j racier is referred to in the Italian expression ! Q,U ATTROCENTISMO. Praetexta. [Toga.] Praetor. The Roman consuls were originally known by this name (Cic. Be LXE8 courts of equity as in those of common law. A form of an instrument or a pleading, from which others corresponding in circumstances may be copied, is also termed a precedent. Precentor (Lat. pnecentor). The leader of a choir. In most cathedrals of old foundation in England the precentor ranked next to the dean. In the more modern foundations the precentor is usually a minor canon. Freceptories. In the Middle Ages, a kind of benefices so called as being held by the more eminent Knights Templars, whom the grand master created and styled Prcecrptoris Temypli. Of these preceptories, sixteen are recorded as belonging to the Templars in England (Mon. Ang.) ; but it is thought by some writers that these places were merely cells, subordinate to their head-quarters, the Temple in London. [Commandeky.] Precession of tlx© Equinoxes. A term used in Astronomy to denote a small annual variation in the position of the line in which the planes of the ecliptic and equator intersect each other, in consequence of which the sun returns to the same equinoctial point before completing his apparent revolution with respect to the fixed stars. The longitude of a star is counted on the ecliptic eastward from the first point of Aries, or the vernal equinox. If the line of the equinoxes, therefore, maintained always the same position with respect to the celestial sphere, the longitude of the stars would be invariable. But on comparing the actual state of the heavens with the observations recorded by ancient astronomers, it is found that the longitudes of all the stars have considerably increased, and all to the same degree ; so that the celestial sphere appears to turn round the axis of the ecliptic with a slow motion from west to east, or in the same direction as the sun in his annual revolution. The phenomena, however, will be in all respects the same, if, instead of supposing the whole firmament to advance in the order of the signs', we suppose the axis of the earth's equator to have a slow motion about the axis of the ecliptic in the opposite direction. This will give to the line of intersection of the two planes (which is the line of the equinoxes) a retrograde motion from east to west, in consequence of which the sun, whose motion is from west to east, arrives at the equinoctial points sooner than if they remained at rest ; and therefore the equinoxes, and the seasons which depend on them, come round before the sun- has completed an entire circuit of the sphere. On this account the motion has been called the precession of the equinoxes. Although the existence of the precessional motion of the equinoctial points was known at an early period in the history of astronomy, the imperfection of instruments prior to the sixteenth century did not permit of observa- tions being made with sufficient accuracy to de- termine its precise rate, which must therefore be deduced from comparisons of the longitude of the same star calculated from modern FRECESSION OF EQUINOXES PRECIOUS METALS observations ; but, on account of the ex- treme slowness of the motion, the determina- tion must still be liable to some uncertainty, unless a considerable interval of time has elapsed between the epochs of observation. According to Bradley's observations the longi- tude of the star Spica Virginis, at the begin- ning of the year 1760, was 200-4944°. At the beginning of 1802 Maskclyne found the longi- tude of the same star to be 201-0781°. The difference is 0-5837° in forty-two years, which gives 50'03" in a year. The comparison of a great number of observations on different stars gives 50-1" for the annual precession. Accord- ing to this estimate, the equinoctial points retrograde on the ecliptic at the rate of one degree in 71'6 years, and therefore will require a period of about 25,800 years to make a com- plete revolution. The constant of precession for the year 1868 is 50-2565". The physical cause of the precession of the equinoxes is the combined action of the sun and moon on the mass of matter accumulated about the earth's equator, and forming the excess of the terrestrial spheroid above its inscribed sphere. The matter of this spheroidal shell, in reference to the effect of the solar attraction on it, may be regarded as forming a ring about the earth in the plane of the equator. Now the solar force, acting on the part of the ring which is above the ecliptic, may at every point be re- solved into two parts, one parallel to the plane of the equator, and the other perpendicular to it ; and the resultant of all the latter forces must be a force tending to impress on the ring a motion round the intersection of its plane with the ecliptic. The same thing holds true of the other half of the ring which is under the ecliptic. If the earth, therefore, had no motion of rotation, the plane of the equator would turn round the line of its intersection with the ecliptic until it coincided with the latter plane. But while the equator has this tendency to re- volve about an axis in its plane, it has also a rotatory motion about an axis perpendicular to its plane ; it will, therefore, according to a well- known theorem in mechanics, revolve not on either of these axes, but on one which divides the angle between them, so that the sine of its angular distance from each axis is in the in- verse ratio of the angular velocity round that axis. [Rotation.] The motion now described may be assimilated to that of a top put into rapid motion, with its axis inclined to the horizon. In this position the axis of the top slowly revolves about the vertical drawn from the point on which it rests, describing the surface of a cone ; and any section of the top perpendicular to the axis, if produced to meet the horizon, will at. every in- stant intersect that plane in a new line ; and the line of intersection will revolve with a motion corresponding to that of the axis in the direction opposite to that of the rotation. The attraction of the moon on the spheroidal shell produces a similar effect to that of the sun, and in a still greater degree, in the ratio 44 of about 5 to 2. It is easy to see that the effect of both those bodies in displacing the equator of the terrestrial spheroid must vary with their position in reference to it ; for if they moved in the plane of the equator, there would evidently be no displacement, and their power to produce it is greatest when the earth is in such a position that the inclination of the equator to the ecliptic, or to the plane of the lunar orbit, is a maximum. This inequality of action gives rise to another highly important astronomical phenomenon ; namely, an appa- rent vibratory motion of the equator, which Bradley (who first discovered its cause and period) significantly denominated the nutation of the earth's axis. [Nutation.] In consequence of the precession of the equinoxes the sun's place among the zodiacal constellations, at any given season of the year, is now greatly different from what it was in re- mote ages. Some time before the age of Hip- parchus the first points of Aries and Libra corresponded to the vernal and autumnal equi- noxes, and those of Cancer and Capricorn to the summer and winter solstices. These points have now receded 30° from the constellations to which they then corresponded. The vernal equi- nox now happons when the sun is in Pisces, the summer solstice when he is in Gemini, the autumnal equinox when he is in Virgo, and the winter solstice when he is in Sagittarius. Astronomers, however, still employ the term the first point of Aries to denote the position of the vernal equinox. On this account the signs of the zodiac, or ecliptic, which are fixed in respect of the equinoctial points, must be care- fully distinguished from the constellations, which are movable with respect to those points. (Airy's Mathematical Tracts; Encyc. Brit. art. 'Precession;' Woodhouse's Physical Astro- nomy ; La Place, Mecanique Celeste ; Poisson, ' Sur le Mouvement de la Terre autour de son Centre de Gravite,' in the Mem. de VAcad. des Sciences de Paris, torn. vii. 1829.) Precious G-arnet. [Garnet ; Pyropk.] Precious Petals, The. For reasons given in the article Money, all civilised nations have accepted gold and silver, or both, as media of exchange, or a common measure of values. Cost of the Precious Metals. — When any coun- try is itself a producer of these commodities, the charge at which they are procured, and their consequent value, depends as in other articles on the cost of their production ; and if they are produced by mining, the land in which they are mined will pay a rent, in just the same way as a copper, lead, or coal mine pays a rent, if they shuuld be found in such abund- ance as to be procured at less cost than that at which they can be imported (the produce not being sufficient for the wants of the com- munity). A large portion of the silver brought into the market of this country is of home produce, being found in lead, and easily re- fined by a simple but ingenious method known as Pattison's process. The amount of gold, however, found in the British Isles is quite PKECIOUS METALS unimportant by the side of that which is im- ported. If, however, the precious metals are im- ported, the cost at which they are procured is j measured by the cost of the commodities with which they are exchanged. They may cost j much or little to the producer ; but this will j make no difference to the purchaser in foreign countries, the sole gauge by which he will measure their value being found in the charge | at which he is to procure goods to exchange i against them. Hence, if the gold and silver in | the world were suddenly increased at little cost j to its possessors, or if it were to accumulate | without decay or loss, prices would inevitably be ' affected by a general rise, or, in other words, the I price of gold and silver as measured by other commodities would fall. The former of these phenomena took place in the middle of the sixteenth century, though much more slowly than is commonly supposed ; the latter would occur in this country, if it were not the case that gold and silver are as rapidly exported as they are imported, the course of trade in the precious iaetals using this country only as a reservoir from which supplies are derived to other parts of the world. It is plain, also, as gold and silver are imported into non- producing countries in exchange for commo- dities, that those countries which supply ar- ticles of the highest value at the least cost of production, and are nearest to the mines, will get the precious metals at the cheapest rate, i. e. prices would naturally be highest in such countries ; if they are not, it is because the same cause which gives a greater pur- chasing power over gold and silver — the effi- ciency, namely, of labour — enables the posses- sor of money to purchase commodities at lower rates, and of course to procure, as he does the metals themselves, all other imports at cheaper rates. Distribution of the Precious Metals. — Mr. Ri- cardo has said, ' that gold and silver having been chosen for the genera' medium of circulation, they are by the competition of commerce, dis- tributed in such proportions among the differ- ent countries of the world, as to accommodate themselves to the natural traffic which would take place if no such metals existed and the trade between countries were purely a trade of barter.' This position, which is perfectly sound, shows, in the first place, how ill judged are all attempts to control or direct the import and export of the precious metals, and how, in order that they should be distributed at all, it was inevitable that the precautions taken in past times should be defeated ; in the next, that, as far as trade is concerned, no country ever takes more or less of the precious metals than is necessary for the wants of its com- merce, and for its reserve against contingen- cies ; and, next, that when the course of trade with any country necessitates a large and con- tinuous exportation of the precious metals, the absorption is not for purposes of currency, but for the arts, for personal display, or for 45 PRECIPITATE hoarding. The machinery by which this dis- tribution takes place is by the course of trade, and especially by the fluctuations of the foreign exchanges. Sources of the Precious Metals. — No register of the imports of the precious metals was taken at the custom-house before November, 1857, i.e. subsequent to the time in which the Californian and Australian discoveries wero made. Between 1858 and 1863, the two most important sources of gold bullion and specie have been Australia and the United States, the large exports from the latter country being relative not only to the mines, but consequent upon the state of the exchange during the war, and the forced paper circulation. The quantity supplied from the mines is steadily decreasing. After the supply from the New World, the largest contributions are from Russia. On the other hand, the supplies of foreign silver come chiefly from Mexico and France, from the former in the shape of bullion, from the latter in coin, the process by which gold has been substituted for silver currency in France not having been yet completed. Again, the largest amount of gold bullion and specie passes to France, of silver bullion and specie to Egypt, for China and India, coin being absorbed in China, bullion iii India, this exportation of specie to the latter locality having been enor- mously increased of late years by the necessity of purchasing the inferior Indian cottons in large quantities at greatly enhanced rates. There cannot be a doubt that this vast importation of silver into India will, concurrently with a sounder system of banking and finance, produce great effects upon prices in that country, and tend ultimately to produce great social changes. Subjoined are tables of the imports (1) of gold, (2) of silver, for the six yeai's 1858-63 ; (3) the exports of gold, (4) of silver, for the same period. 1. Gold imports. 2. Silver imports. £ £ 1858 22,793.126 1858 6,700,064 1859 22,297,698 1859 14,772,458 1860 12,584,684 1860 10,393,512 1861 12,163,937 1861 6,583,108 1862 19,903,704 1862 11,752,772 1863 19,142,665 1863 10,888,129 3. Gold exports. 4. Silver exports. £ £ 1858 12,567,040 1858 7,061,836 1859 18,081,139 1859 17,607,664 1860 15,641,578 1860 9,893,190 1861 11,238,372 1861 9,573,276 1862 16,011,963 1862 13,314,228 1863 15,303,279 1863 11,240,761 Precious Opal. A name for those varieties of Opal which exhibit a rich play of prismatic colours. It is found in irregular nests and veins; disseminated in trachyte, at Czerwenitza in Hungary, in Mexico, Ceylon, Iceland, &c. Precipitate (Lat. pra?cipitatus, part, of prse- cipitb, / cast headlong). A result of chemical decomposition, in which a substance is thrown PRECOGNITION down in a solid, and generally in a finely di- vided state, from a liquid. The term red pre- cipitate has been especially applied to the red oxide of mercury. Precognition. In Scotch Law, the pre- liminary examination of witnesses respecting the commission of a criminal act, in order to ascertain whether there is ground for a trial, and to serve as directions to the prosecutor. PredaceaDS (Lat. praeda, booty). The English name used by Kirby as synonymous with the Carnassicrs of Cuvier. [Ferines.J Predazsite. A variety of Bitter Spar mixed with Brucite, which forms mountain masses at Predazzo in the Southern Tyrol. It has a granular structure, and is white with a vitreous lustre on the planes of cleavage. Predestination (Lat. praedestinatio, the corresponding Greek term used by St. Paul being Trpoopio-p.6s). The belief that God has from all eternity decreed whatever comes to pass. In a theological sense, it is thus defined in the seventeenth Article of the English church : ' Predestination to life is the ever- lasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, He hath constantly decreed by His counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation.' The Lambeth Articles, agreed to in 1595 by a portion of the clergy, assert that * God from eternity hath predestinated certain men unto life, certain He hath reprobated.' Theological writers have generally forborne to use the word predestination with respect to the rejected : ' Nefas est dicere Deum aliquid nisi bonum praedestinare.' (August. Be Bono Per -sever antia?.) [Election ; Calvinism.] Predetermination. In Scholastic Philo- sophy, that concurrence of God which deter- mines men in the performance of their actions, good or evil ; called physical predetermination, or premotion. Predial (Lat. praedium, a farm). Of or be- longing to a farm. Thus we often read of pre- dial slaves and slavery, in opposition to domestic. Predicable (Lat. praedicabilis, that may he said of anything). In Logic, a term which can be affirmatively predicated of several others. The notions expressed by such terms are said to be formed by the faculty termed abstraction, after the particular circumstances characteris- ing each individual have been withdrawn from it. The predicables are commonly said to be five : Genus, Species, Difference, Property, and Accident (which is either separable or in- separable). [Logic] Predicaments. In Logic, certain general heads, or, in logical phraseology, summa genera, under one or other of which every term may be arranged. Aristotle enumerated ten predica- ments ; others, by subdividing some of these, have increased their number. Those of Ari- stotle are : substance, quantity, quality, rela- tion, place, time, situation, possession, action, Buffering. [Attribute; Category; Logic] 40 PREMISSES Predicate. In Logic, is, of the two terms of a proposition, that which is affirmed or denied of the other. [Term ; Proposition ; Logic] Predication. [Logic] Predisposing: Cause. In Medicine, any circumstance which renders the body susceptible of disease. Preface (Lat. prsefatio, from prae, and fari, to speak). The observations prefixed to a work or treatise, intended to inform the reader of its plan and peculiarities. Prefect. An important political functionary in modern France. Under the old regime, the officers who were sent round to the provinces to superintend the details of administration on be- half of the king were at first styled maitres des requetes. These were made permanent local officers in the reign of Henry II., and after- wards attained many additional powers, with the title of intendants. These were abolished at the Revolution, when various attempts were made to establish elective local governments. By a law of the year 1800 prefects were first appointed for the departments, with powers similar in many respects to those of the old in- tendants, with a council of the prefecture, and a general council of the department ; which, however, fell into disuse. With slight variations, the prefects retain the same jurisdiction. They are, in some respects, analogous to our sheriffs ; but with far greater powers. They possess not the nominal only, but the actual direction of the police establishment, within their respective departments, together with extensive powers of municipal regulation : the arrondissements or districts into which the departments are sub- divided are under sous-prefets appointed by them. Their power, however, is controlled by that of the council of the prefecture, which acts in some measure as a court of appeal from the prefect, taking cognisance of various cases within the sphere of his administrative interference, if legal disputes arise upon it. Prehnite. A hydrous silicate of alumina, of a greenish colour, originally discovered at the Cape of Good Hope, by Colonel Prehn. It is found in Cornwall, in Scotland, in the trap rocks of Edinburgh ; and in the Isles of Mull and Skye. In Ireland it occurs in the granite of the Mourne Mountains. Prelacy. [Episcopacy.] Prelate (Lat. praelatus, preferred). A term commonly applied to bishops, archbishops, and patriarchs, in Christian churches. Anciently, mitred abbots seem also to have been called prelates. Prelude (Lat. praeludo, I play before). In Music, the preface or introduction to a movement, usually in the same key as the movement which it precedes ; being, in fact, a preparation to the ear for what is to follow. Premier (Fr.). The name generally given to the prime minister of England. Premisses (Lat. praemissa). In Logic, the first two propositions of a syllogism. [Syllogism.] PREMIUM Premium (Lat. prremium, profit). In Fi- nance, that market value of shares and stocks, in which the price paid for the ownership of tho securities created exceeds tho sum originally- paid for them. When the market price and the sum paid are exactly equal, the stock is said to be at par ; when the market value is less, the stock is at a discount. In the system under which loans were negotiated during the latter half of the eighteenth, and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, the advantage gained by those who took the risk of subscribing the loan which was to be distributed subsequently among the general public, was called the pre- mium, and the fact that in effect this premium or excess over the market price of public i securities was always paid in the negotiation of any fresh loan, was quoted in order to show | the inherent absurdity of the sinking fund of | Dr. Price, by which loans were created for the j purpose of liquidating debt by the agency of a compound interest. [Fund, Sinking.] Premonstratensians (Fr. Premontres). A rel gious order of regular canons instituted in 1120 by St. Norbert (whence they are also called Norbertines), at Premonstratum, in Pi- cardy, which is said to have derived its name from being pointed out by the Virgin. The canons of this order followed the rule of St. Austin, and were sometimes called White Canons, from the colour of their habits. They were brought into England about 1140, where they are said to have established thirty-five houses. Prensiculantia (Lat. prenso, prehenso, freq. of prehendo, / seize). A name applied by Illiger to an order of Mammalia, corresponding with the Glires of Linnseus and the Rodentia of Cuvier, and indicative of the prehensile faculty with which the fore paw is endowed in most of the species of this order. Preparation (Lat. prseparatio). In Music, the previous adjustment of two notes by whose introduction a note which is to become a dis- cord is heard in the preceding harmony. [Music] Prepense (Lat. pr?e, and pernio, I weigh). In Law, an epithet, applied to Malice, usually rendered in English by aforethought. Preponderance (Lat. prrepondero, / out- weigh). In Artillery, the excess of weight of the portion of a gun in rear of the trunnions over the part in front. [Gun.] Preposition (Lat. prgepositio, from prse- pono, / place before). In Grammar, that part of speech which denotes the relations between objects ; as in, to, upon. [Grammar.] Prerogative (Lat. prserogativa applied in ancient Rome to that tribe, or century, whch had the privilege of giving its votes — rogare suffragia — first at the comitia). A word in English Law, signifying the special rights of the sovereign, both as chief of the kingdom in point of honour, and as supreme magistrate intrusted with the execution of the laws. Prerogatives are said to be of two kinds, direct and incidental: the first, such as belong 47 TRTCSBYTERY to the sovereign essentially by virtue of his high political character; such as the inviola- bility of his person, the appointment to olh'ces and places of trust, the command of the army, the power of making war and peace, the su- premacy of the national church, his legislative authority, &c. ; and the latter, such exceptions as are made in his favour from the ordinary rules of law in private matters. Such are, with respect to debts, the power to levy first execu- tion before other creditors, and of levying by the prerogative writ of extent ; the power of taking goods and chattels in succession, which no other corporation can do ; exemption from all customs, general and special, as to descent of lands, in a case where any such custom would have the effect of preventing lands held jure coronse from passing to the successor ; the ab- stract dominion of all lands and hereditaments by the fiction of universal occupancy ; the right to derelict lands by the sudden retiring of the sea ; the dominion of seas, navigable rivers, &c. Prerogative Court. The court in which wills were formerly proved and administrations taken of the effects of intestates when the de- ceased had property in two or more dioceses of the same province, in which case the jurisdiction belonged to the archbishop of the province, by his prerogative. The jurisdiction in all such, cases now belongs to her majesty's Court of Probate. Presbyopia (Gr. irpeafSvs, old, and &\p, the eye). An imperfection of vision commonly attendant upon the more advanced periods of life, in which near objects are seen less dis- tinctly than those at a distance. It is usually caused by a change in the consistence of the crystalline lens, effected as age advances ; changes also by flattening of either the lens or the cornea may produce this state of vision. The change in consistence by induration of the lens interferes with the action of those muscles which compress it in health in order to adapt it to varying distances. Convex glasses must be used to remedy the defect. It often hap- pens that one eye is more affected than the other, and in this case glasses of different foci should be used. Presbyters (Gr. TrpeaPvrepos, elder). An order of ministers in the Christian church, frequently mentioned in the New Testament as having the spiritual care of distinct con- gregations, and exercising a general super- intendence over the concerns of the church. [Episcopacy ; Presbytery.] Presbyterians. The name given to that body of Christians who have embraced tho Presbyterian form of government. [Presby- tery.] Presbytery (Gr. -npsafivTspiov, a councilor assembly of ciders). That form of ecclesias- tical polity according to which there is no gradation of order in the church, but which vests church government in a society of clerical and lay presbyters, or, in common phraseology, ministers and lay elders, all possessed officially of equal rank and power. The presbyterians PRESBYTERY maintain that the words presbyter (irpeafivTepos) and bishop (iir'taKmroi) are synonymous and interchangeable terms ; that we nowhere read in the New Testament of bishops and presby- ters, or of pastors of different rank, in the same church ; and that deacons are laymen, whose sole duty it is to take charge of the poor. The first presbyterian church, in modern times, was founded in Geneva by John Calvin, about 1541 ; and the system was thence intro- duced into Scotland, with some modifications, by John Knox, about 1560, but was not le- gally established there till 1592. For about a century from this date there was a continual struggle in Scotland between presbytery and episcopacy for superiority. The latter (which was patronised by the court) predominated in 1606 ; but was superseded by the former (to which the great body of the people were attached) in 1638. Presbytery kept its ground from this period till the revolution in 1660, when episcopacy again obtained the ascendency, which it maintained till 1688 ; soon after which it was abolished, and the national church of Scotland declared presbyterian- -a form which it has since retained. The most numerous bodies of dissenters from the Scottish esta- blished church, such as the Associate and Relief Synods, are also Presbyterians ; their cause of secession being that the church had relaxed the strictness of presbyterian principles. Presbytery has never flourished much in England. An attempt was made to render the established church presbyterian in the reign of Charles I. ; and this object was signally pro- moted by the famous Assembly of Divines at Westminster. In 1649, presbytery was sanc- tioned by the English parliament, but it was never generally adopted, or regularly organised except in London and in Lancashire. (Murray's Life of Samuel Ruthrrford, Edin. 1828, ch. viii.) Upwards of 2,000 presbyterian clergy were ejected from their cures in England, in consequence of the Act of Uniformity, in 1662. There are still many congregations (about 150) in England, particularly in the northern coun- ties, called presbyterian. In Ireland, chiefly in the province of Ulster, there are about 500 presbyterian congregations. There are up- wards of 100 such congregations in our North American possessions ; and presbytery has also been introduced to a greater or less extent in the other British colonies. In the United States of America presby- tery embraces 5,660 congregations, with 4,785 ministers. (Ency. Brit. 8th edit. vol. xxi. p. 422.) The same system, though somewhat modified from that which obtains in Scotland, _ is established in Holland. (Steven's Brief View of the Dutch Eccles. Establishment, ed. 1839.) * It still exists, though to a very limited extent, in Geneva : it prevails also less or more in several of the other Swiss cantons. The constitution of the church of Scotland is as follows : The kirk session is the lowest court, and is composed of the parochial minister and of lay elders, the number of whom varies 48 in different parishes, but is generally about twelve. The minister is moderator ex officio. This kirk session exercises the religious dis- cipline of the parish ; but an appeal may be made from its decisions to the presbytery, the court next in dignity. The presbytery, from which there is a power of appeal to the synod, is composed of the ministers of a number of contiguous parishes (varying in number in dif- ferent cases), with a lay elder from each. A moderator, who must be a clergyman, is chosen every half-year. A presbytery generally meets once a month, but it must meet at least twice a year ; and it may hold pro re nata meetings. This court takes yoxmg men on trial as candi- dates for license ; ordains presentees to vacant livings; has the power of sitting in judgment on the conduct of any of its members, and can depose them ; and has the general super- intendence of religion and education within its bounds. The synod, which meets twice yearly, is formed of the members, both lay and clerical, of two or more presbyteries. At every meeting a moderator is chosen, who must be a clergyman. The general assembly is the highest ecclesiastical court, its decisions being supreme. It meets annually in the month of May, and sits for ten successive days. Unlike the inferior coiirts, it consists of representa- tives chosen by the various presbyteries, royal burghs, and universities of Scotland. The number of representatives from presbyteries depends on the number of members of which each is composed. No presbytery sends less than two ministers and one lay elder; and none more than six ministers and three elders. The total number of members of the general assembly is 363, of whom about 200 are ministers. The assembly chooses a new mo- derator yearly, who, in recent times, is al- ways a clergyman. The assembly is honoured with the presence of a representative of the sovereign, under the title of lord high com- missioner; but this high functionary takes no part in the proceedings of the court, except in opening and closing or dissolving its sittings, and has no voice in its deliberations. The assembly before its close appoints a commission, which is equivalent to a committee of the whole house, being composed of all the members of assembly, and one minister additional, named by t he moderator. The commission meets quart- erly ; but may hold pro re nata, meetings. The income of the clergy, which may average about 250^. yearly, including manse and glebe, is regulated by the state ; and they are nomi- nated to livings by patronage. They have no liturgy, no altar, and with few exceptions no instrumental music. The Scottish pres- byterians do not kneel, but stand in time of prayer ; and in singing the praises of God they sit. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is not administered in private houses to any person under any circumstances whatever. ( The Directory for the Public Worship of God, by the Westminster Assembly of JMvmfS.) Pluralities have been prohibited ; and the PRESBYTERY PRESERVATION OK MEAT residence of clergymen within their respective parishes has always been imperative. Their creed is rigid Calvinism, and may be found embodied in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. But though the faith of the Scottish Presby- terians, whether churchmen or dissenters, is Calvinistic, not a few of the Presbyterians in other countries have adopted an Arminian, and not unfrequently a Unitarian creed. (Adams' Religious World Displayed, ii. 289-305 ; Lord King's Inquiry into the Constitution of the Pri- mitive Church ; Forbes' Presbyterian Letters.) Pkesbytery. In Architecture, the space between the altar and the easternmost stalls of the choir, answering to the solea of the ancient basilicas. " Prescription. A title acquired by use and time to incorporeal hereditaments, such as a right of way or of common, and the like. All prescription is either personal, as when it is in a man and his ancestors, or it is in right of a particular estate ; which last being in a man, and those whose estate he hath, is called prescription in a que estate. It presupposes a lost grant, and can therefore give a title to those things only which can pass by grant. After uninterrupted enjoyment for forty, and in many cases for thirty or twenty years, a prima, facie title arises by prescription to the thing enjoyed; and unless such enjoyment have continued under some consent or agreement, the title becomes in sixty years absolute and indefeasible. The time of prescription in most of the ordinary instances to which it applies is now regulated by 2 & 3 Wm, IV. c. 71. Presentation (Lat. prsesento, / present or show). In Ecclesiastical Law, the act of offering a person to the bishop to be instituted to a vacant benefice. Presentation, Feast of. In Ecclesiasti- cal usage, a feast otherwise called the Purifica- tion of the Blessed Virgin. [Purification.] Presentment. In Law, presentment is properly the notice taken by a grand jury of any offence from their own knowledge or ob- servation without any bill of indictment laid before them at the suit of the crown, as the presentment of a nuisance or the like. The term is commonly used to include also inqui- sitions of office, and indictments by a grand jury. It is also used to express the formal notice taken in copyhold courts of the deaths of tenants, surrenders and admittances taken out of court, and other similar circumstances. Bills of exchange and promissory notes are said to be presented for acceptance or payment. Preservation of Meat. Before giving an account of the different processes at present employed for the preservation of meat, it will be advisable to consider briefly the principles which determine the putrefaction of flesh under the decomposing influences of air, moisture, and warmth. Muscular tissue, of which' flesh is composed, consists mainly of the animal albuminous principle known to chemists as Eibrin in a Vol. III. 49 coagulated or semi-solid condition, permeated in all directions by a fluid composed partly of blood and partly of substances secreted from it. This fluid, which constitutes nearly three quar- ters, by weight, of all fresh meat, is composed of albumen in the soluble condition, the soluble salts of the blood, the crystallisable animal prin- ciples kreatine and kreatinine, lactic and buty- ric acids, the phosphates of potash, magnesia, and lime, and a small quantity of common salt — the whole being dissolved in a watery fluid. The albuminous principles fibrin and albumen are remarkable for the readiness with which they undergo decomposition, and break up into simpler substances, when under the influence of air, moisture, and warmth. The fluid con- stituents of flesh are, consequently, precisely in the most favourable condition for undergoing prompt decomposition, when submitted to the action of the atmosphere at a temperature even slightly elevated above freezing. The process of putrefaction has been exa- mined with great care and minuteness by seve- ral eminent chemists, but a detailed description of their researches would take up too much space ; it will be sufficient for our purpose to know that albumen is a highly complex body, ■ containing carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus, soda, and potash, and that when partly decomposed itself, it has the peculiar property, in common with its congeners fibrin and casein, of acting as a ferment, and inducing decomposition in the other animal substances with which it comes into contact. Decomposition being once fully set up, the solid and liquid portions of the flesh become gra- dually converted into gases containing fetid ammoniacal, sulphuretted, and phosphoretted compounds. These gases continue to be emitted until the whole of the meat is decomposed, nothing being left behind but the mineral con- stituents of the flesh and of its fluids. Thus we see that four causes are concerned in the putrefaction of animal matter: air (or rather the oxygen which it contains), moisture, warmth, and decomposing albumen. Now, as no putrefaction can take place without a supply of oxygen, the whole of the processes at present in use are dependent on the more or less perfect protection of the meat from the action of the air. Thus, whether meat is preserved by being frozen, dried, salted, enclosed in air-tight cases, or covered with various substances, such as oil, varnish, or gutta percha, we may practically consider that thei» efficacy depends on one and the same cause — the exclusion of the air from contact with the meat. Meat-preserving processes may be arbitrarily divided into the following classes : — 1 . The application of cold. 2. Drying. 3. Salting. 4. Immersion in certain fluids. 5. Inclosure in air-tight vessels in vacuo or inert gases. 1. The Application of Cold. — The simplest of all preservative methods is^hat adopted in North E PRESERVATION OF MEAT America, Russia, and other cold countries in I the winter time, when frozen meat, fish, and vegetables form staple articles of consump- tion. During the coldest parts of the year, the markets of Montreal, Archangel, and St. I Petersburg are filled with these frozen com- | modities, which when gradually thawed by being exposed to a gentle heat are found to possess all the qualities of fresh provisions, although they are generally many weeks old. The same means has been adopted for sending fish and other provisions to this country from distant parts, and the writer has tasted game shot in the prairies of "Western America and sent to London packed in ice, whose only fault consisted in its being rather too fresh. The same method has also been employed to insure the successful exportation of salmon and trout ova to Australia [Pisciculture] ; and the use of ice as a preservative of meat, or at any rate as retarding its putrefaction, is constantly, re- sorted to during hot weather in this country. In the case of frozen provisions, the air being, of course, excluded from them by the ice in which, so to speak, they are immersed, no putrefactive action can take place. When a diminished temperature only is employed, the decomposition is simply retarded, but not alto- gether prevented. 2. Drying. — The next simplest process is that of drying the meat thoroughly, either by natural or artificial means. In all hot countries, more especially in South America, the na- tives are in the habit of cutting their meat into thin strips, and exposing these to the sun until they are thoroughly hard and dry. The Ameri- can Indians pound their meat in rude mortars until it forms a paste, which is mixed with fat. This paste is afterwards made into bricks, dried and sold to the hunters under the name of pem- mican. From its mode of preparation, pem- mican contains a large amount of nutritive matter in a comparatively digestible state, and is sufficiently palatable to those who have nothing else to eat. Pemmican is prepared in large quantities at Gosport for the use of the navy. The beef, trimmed and deprived of fat as much as possible,- is cut in thin slices, which are placed in hot plates until they become perfectly dry. They are then reduced to a coarse fibrous powder, and mixed with a certain amount of fat. To some kinds sugar and currants are added. It makes excellent broth, containing a large amount of nutritive matter, and is preferred by many sailors to canistered preserved meat. South American beef, or charqui {chair cuite, Fr.), is made by cutting the meat into slices, salting, and drying by artificial * heat. Large quantities were sent to this country in 1863-4, and sold retail at 4e?. per pound ; but owing to many samples being half-tainted when they arrived here, the retail buyers became disgusted, and the sale has greatly diminished. The salting, of course, deprived it of a large portion of its nutritive principles, and the drying rendered it so hard as to be % cooked and digested with 50 great difficulty. All drying processes depend for their value on the coagulation and con- sequent hardening of the albumen contained in the meat, by which it becomes impervious to the action of the air. The same object is gained by the process of smoking, or exposing the meat, first partially salted, to the fumes of burning wood or peat. Peat or wood smoke contain* a certain quantity of Kkeasote, a bitter principle which coagulates the albumen on the outer parts of the meat. Meat and fish may be pre- served a short time by simple smoking ; but the so-called smoked beef, ham, and fish, is in reality salt beef, ham, and fish smoked on the outside to obviate the necessity of packing it in .salt. 3. Salting. — We come now to the various salting processes, the first of which is the ordinary method of salting beef and pork. The following is the process adopted, with slight modifications, for the beef and pork used by the navy. Twenty-four hours after the animals are slaughtered, the beef is cut up into 81b. pieces, the pork into pieces of half that weight ; they are then rubbed with salt, and placed in tanks filled with dry salt, where they remain from eight to twenty days, according to circumstances, after which they are stored in casks of dry salt. This prolonged application of salt has the effect of dissolving out nearly the whole of the nutritious juices of the meat, ultimately leaving little behind but hardened fibrin. Several means have been tried to obviate this destruction of the valuable matter con- tained in the meat ; the latest of these being that devised by Professor Morgan of Dublin. It is, we believe, a modification of a method originally invented by M. Gannal. The animal is killed in the usual way by a blow in the head, care being taken not to rupture any of the large bloodvessels. The chest is then cut open, and the heart laid bare by an incision in the pericardium. The right and left ventricles are next opened, and the blood allowed to run out by laying the animal on its side. A pipe furnished with a stopcock and coupling at the outer end is now introduced into the aorta through the left ventricle, a piece of stout cord being passed round the pipe and the aorta to hold them together. The coupling is then connected with eighteen or twenty feet of Indian rubber piping, which communicates with a tank or trough containing the salting liquor elevated to the height of the length of the Indian rubber tubes. The tap being turned, the salting liquor at once enters the aorta, and running through the whole of the animal's vascular system flows out at the right ventri- cle. This salting liquor is ordinary brine in which a small quantity of saltpetre has been dissolved, and may be used several times, its use being to clear out the vessels and prepare them for the second salting liquor, which is composed of one gallon of brine, half a pound of saltpetre, two poiinds of sugar, half an ounce of monophosphoric acid, and a small quantity of spice to every hundredweight of meat. PRESERVATION OF MEAT The saltpetre (nitrate of potash) and phos- phoric acid arc added to supply the potash salts and phosphates which arc washed out by the liquor. The connection with the aorta being made as before, the right ventricle is this time tied up securely, and the tap being turned on, the liquor in a very few minutes percolates through every vessel in the body, even those contained in the skin, hoofs, and horns. In the coui'se of a few days the animal is skinned and cut up into the usual 8 lb. pieces, which are cither casked with salt or dried in a hot-air chamber. Professor Morgan has established several factories in different parts of South America for the preparation of beef by this method. The Admiralty also have had his plan under trial for several months, and the officers who have tested it report favourably upon it. Other preservative agents, such as the acetates of soda and ammonia, the chloride of aluminum, and several others, have at various times been experimented on ; but common salt with a certain admixture of saltpetre and sugar appears to form the best material for salting. Solution of salt appears to act in preserving meat by filling up its pores with a liquor that will not absorb oxygen, but of all processes it is the most pernicious and unphilosophical. As we have before remarked, the largest amount of nutritive matter resides in the fluids contained in the flesh. To say nothing of the albumen, these fluids are charged with salts of potash and lime, and several phos- phates, all of which are absolutely necessary for the formation of blood, muscle, and bone, in the living being. The two animal princi- ples, kreatine and kreatinine, are also found in the liquid permeating muscular fibre, and are considered by several chemists to be ana- logous in their action on the human subject to theine, so that beef tea is not such a misnomer as one might suppose. By the process of salting, all these important substances are gradually washed out into the brine, and in course of time nothing remains but hard- ened fibrin, which, by itself, can afford little nourishment to the human body. From this it will be readily seen that the use of salt meat in any form is unwholesome unless care be taken to supply some of the constituents that remain in the brine and water in which it has been soaked. By Professor Morgan's method a large amount of valuable nutritive material must be lost in the process of washing out the capillaries and other smaller vessels; and when the meat is cut up and casked, the ob- jections made to ordinary salt meat still hold good, although in a more limited degree. Va- rious plans have been devised from time to time to recover the nutritious matters dis- solved in brine, but hitherto without success. The process of removing the salt by dialysis appears to offer the best hope of effecting this object. 4. Immersion in Fluids. — This class of pre- 51 1 servatives may be soon dismissed. Treacle, strong syrup, glycerine, weak vinegar, solution of sulphurous acid, and several other liquids, have all been tried; but from one cause or other they all seem to have failed practically. Sardines, pilchards, and other small fish are preserved in oil in enormous quantities with the greatest success ; but from the expensive character of the material, the principle, though sound, is inapplicable to provisions in large pieces. It need hardly be stated that alcohol, benzol, turpentine, solution of arsenic, corrosive sublimate, &c, although perfectly applicable in the case of anatomical preparations, are utterly useless for substances intended for food. 5. Preservation in Vacuo and Inert Gases, — These methods are intended for the preservation of meat in its unsalted state. It is hardly possible to over-estimate the importance of a perfect process for preserving meat in a fresh condition. The history of fresh preserved meat is closely connected with Arctic discovery. The exertions made by navigators to discover the North-West passage first created a demand for this form of food, it being found that the evils arising from living exclusively on salted provisions were fearfully aggravated by the rigours "of a cold climate. The Admiralty were therefore incessant in their efforts to induce manufacturers to devise some process for doing away with salt meat ; and towards the beginning of the present century numerous experiments were made by various persons, with, however, but little success. As soon as the modification of Appert's process by Donkin, Hall, and Gamble was made practically perfect, it was at once tested by the Admiralty, who sent out large quantities of the preserved fresh meats to the Arctic regions by ships starting on voyages of discovery. The provisions were reported on favourably by the officers in charge of the expeditions ; and, their value in cold climates being once known, their use was soon extended to the East and to the West Indies and other tropical regions. For ship use, they were found invaluable, and at the present time hardly a vessel leaves this country without a supply of fresh preserved provisions. In India they are extensively used as luxuries in the towns, and as necessities in the remote districts where fresh meat of any kind is scarce and bad. The first successful attempt made to pre- serve meat fresh was by M. Appert, a French gentleman, who in 1810 received a prize of 12,000 francs ^offered by the Board of Arts and Manufactures in Paris. In the following year, M. Durant, a colleague of M. Appert, took out a patent for the process in this country. The patent was subsequently declared to be invalid, the Society of Arts and Manufactures of London having previously presented a pre- mium to a Mr. Luddington for a method of preserving fruit without sugar, the principle of which was said to be the same as that adopted by Appert. The patent was nevertheless pur- chased by Messrs. Donkin, Hall, and Gamble for 1,000/. They at once effected a great e 2 PRESERVATION OF MEAT improvement by abolishing the use of glass vessels, and substituting tin canisters in their stead. Although the use of air-tight vessels was an essential part of Appert's process, it seems to depend for its value more upon the cooking, or rather over-cooking, of the meat, by which the albumen was rendered insoluble, than upon the perfect exclusion of oxygen, that gas having been found in appreciable quantities in tins containing meat in a perfectly sound condition. Appert's process consisted in partly cooking the meat, placing it in a glass vessel in a bath of chloride of calcium, heating it to about 240° for a length of time depending on the size of the piece of meat, and then hermetically seal- ing the lid. After this, it was again heated for a shorter or longer time, and the process was considered finished. Donkin and (ramble's process, which is now adopted in all parts of the world, is as follows, The meat, which has been previously parboiled, is placed in tin cylinders containing a rich soup or gravy ; the lids, which are pierced with a small hole, being soldered down air-tight. They are then immersed in a bath of brine or chloride of calcium, and heated to boiling-point, until the meat contained in them is supposed to be com- pletely cooked. While the steam produced by the boiling soup is issuing from the orifice in the cover, the jet of vapour is suddenly checked by the application of a wet rag, a drop of molten solder being dexterously applied to the hole at the same moment, and so the case is hermetically sealed. The sealed tins are once more, in order to insure the perfect coagulation of the albumen, submitted to the hot bath, fora time proportionate to their size and the nature of their contents. On cooling, the ends of the canisters, which are purposely made of thin tin- plate, become slightly convex from the outward pressure of the atmosphere. They are after- wards exposed to a temperature of 100° Fahr. in a hot-air chamber for several weeks, at the end of which time they are examined. If any of the ends are found to have flattened or bulged outwards, either the case has not been soldered air-tight, or the contents have putrefied and liberated the gases, causing the ends to become convex from inward pressure. The process has been greatly improved by Messrs. McCall and Co. of Houndsditch, who introduce into the tins a small quantity of sulphite of soda to effect the absorption of any traces of free oxygen which under the most favourable circumstances may lurk in the eases. This salt, which both in the solid and liquid state has a great affinity for oxygen, is used in Ithe proportion of twelve grains to every pound of meat. The sulphite of soda is at first con- tained in a small air-tight tin capsule, which is soldered to the interior of the lid of the case, the salt being retained in its place by a plug of soft solder which melts at 218° Fahr., i.e. 6° above boiling-point. The meat being prepared as in Donkin and Gamble's process, %t is placed in the tin, the lid being soldered 52 down and heated in the salt bath until steam issues at the hole in the lid. A drop of solder is applied as before, and the steam inside the air-tight case becoming superheated, the soft solder on the capsule melts and releases the sulphate of soda. The effect of this improve- ment is to lessen the necessity for prolonged steaming and over-cooking, which is one of the great objections to the ordinary method of meat pi-eservation. In the case of soups, the salt is generally mixed with them before they are enclosed in the canisters. An improvement upon all these processes has lately been patented by Messrs. Jones and Trevethick, of Botolph Lane. It is conducted in the following manner : — The raw meat, without any further pre- paration, is wrapped up in a clean piece of cloth and placed in a tin, the lid of which is soldered down. From the top of the case projects a small tube, which is placed in com- immication with an air pump, a very ingenious contrivance being adopted to prevent the cases collapsing from the outer pressure of the air. This is accomplished simply by placing them in water in an air-tight vessel. When all the air is exhausted, pure nitrogen gas, which is absolutely without action on animal matter, is let into the case. This has the effect of diluting almost infinitely any traces of oxygen that may remain in the meat or tin. The nitrogen is in its turn exhausted, and a minute portion of sulphurous acid gas is allowed to enter the cylinder, having the effect of perfectly absorb- ing any remaining traces of oxygen. Another charge of nitrogen is then admitted, and the case is finally soldered, the nitrogen, by fill- ing the case, of course preventing any collapse from atmospheric pressure. The great merit of this process consists in the fact that the meat is preserved in its natural and uncooked state. At the jury dinner which took place at the International Exhi- bition of 1862, mutton, beef, and poultry, many months old, were produced, which, for anything that could be guessed from their perfect fresh- ness of flesh and flavour, might have been killed the day previously. When the cases were opened, the poultry and game had the ap- pearance of having been but an hour from the poulterer's ; and although the butcher's meat appeared on close inspection to be slightly red- der than usual, nothing could be detected, either by touch, Iftste, or smell, that would preclude an ordinary observer from declaring it to be perfectly fresh. This method is one of the most valuable yet invented, and if it can be practically worked will be of inestimable benefit to all classes of the community. Patents have also been taken out for pre- serving meat by enclosing it in air-tight cases along with vessels containing sulphide of cal- cium and other salts capable of absorbing the oxygen from the air in the case ; but none of these have been yet applied to actual practice. The principle of preserving meat by per- fectly excluding the air is also applied largely PRESIDENT in the caso of sausages and potted meats. | Various experiments have been tried, and num- berless patents have been taken out, for methods of covering provisions with various varnishes, gutta pereha, Indian rubber, wax, paraffin, plas- ter of Paris, &c. &c. ; but as none of them are practicable, it would be useless to describe them. President (Lat. pr;esideo, / sit foremost). A title applied to many officers in various capacities, but generally denoting a pre-emi- nency, either temporary or fixed, among a number of persons assembled for a definite purpose. Thus the superior of a board or council, &c. is generally entitled president, as is anyone who is called to preside over an occasional meeting, or to fill the chair at a club, dinner, &c. ; although the old English title of chairman is frequently used on such occasions. The supreme executive officer of the United States of America is styled president. The qualifications required of a person raised to this dignity are, to be a natural-born citizen of the age of thirty-five years, and to have resided fourteen years within the states. The election is by electoral colleges in every state. These colleges contain, in each state, a number of electors equal to all the senators and representatives of that state in congress ; but their appointment varies in different states, and at different times; sometimes it is made by their respective legislatures, some- times by general election throughout the •state, sometimes part of the electors are chosen by district and part by general election. The colleges in each state vote by ballot for a president (and at the same time for a vice-president) ; and the votes of all the electors, taken in this manner, are counted by the president of the senate : if in this numeration any person is found to have an absolute majority of votes, he is duly elected ; if not, the election is made by the house of re- presentatives between the three persons having the highest number ; in which case the votes are taken by states, and a majority of all the states is necessary to constitute a choice. On two occasions, of which the last was in 1824, no candidate having had a majority of the whole number of voters, the house of representatives has proceeded to make the election ; and, on the last of these occasions, a majority of states chose a candidate (Adams) who had a smaller number of electoral votes than one of his opponents (Jackson). On one occasion, in 1800, the states balloted thirty-six times before any candidate could obtain an absolute majority. Should the president die during his term of office, he is succeeded by the vice- president. In this manner the present president, Andrew Johnson, succeeded to the office on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In his legislative capacity, the president has the power of approving bills sent to him after passing both houses of congress, or of returning them to the house in which they have originated with his objections annexed. In the latter case, the bill must be reconsidered by that house; and 53 PRESS if, on reconsideration, it obtain a majority of two-thirds in both houses, it passes into a law. In his executive capacity, he is commander-in- chief' of the army and navy of tin; Union, and of the state militias when called into the service of the Union; he has the power of reprieving and pardoning except in cases of impeachment ; he has power to make treaties, with the consent of the senate (by a majority of two-thirds) ; he nominates ambassadors, consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other offi- cers of the United States whose appointments are not vested elsewhere by the constitution. The supreme magistrate of the French Re- public, 1848, was also styled president, elected for four years by universal suffrage. President, Xiord, of the Council. The fourth great officer of state in England ; ap- pointed by letters patent under the great seal, durante bene placito. Press (Fr. presse). The machine (whether worked by hand or by steam) by which books, &c. are printed. Very little improvement in the construction of this instrument took place from the first introduction of the art of printing into Europe till the late Earl Stanhope intro- duced his press. The old press was made of wood, with an iron screw that had a bar fitted in it ; to the lower end of this screw was attached, horizontally, a flat piece of wood, called the platen, which, being brought down by means of the screw, pressed the paper upon the face of the types ; and thus the impression was obtained. This press has, however, entirely given place to presses made of iron. Lord Stanhope's press is constructed of iron, with a screw ; but the bar is fixed to an upright spindle to which a lever is attached connected with a second lever fixed to the top of the screw by a connecting bar. These two levers are placed at different angles to each other ; and when the platen is brought down to the face of the types, and power is wanted, the two levers take such a position with each other as to act with the greatest advantage, and thus an almost in- credible accession of power is gained, which enables the pressman to print larger sheets of paper in a superior manner, and with greater ease to himself. This press maintains its supe- riority in some respects over all others. The great improvement thus effected in the printing press excited other ingenious men to exert their abilities in attempts at further im- provements ; among whom was a Mr. George Clymer, an American, who brought forward an iron press, called the Columbian, in which he discarded the screw, and obtained his power entirely by levers. This press has great power, and consequently great capacity, but for the common run of printing it does not work so easily as the Stanhope. These two are looked upon as the best presses. There are many other presses which are great improvements upon the old construction, and which are held in estimation by printers, but the limits of this work will not admit of the details of their respective merits. PRESS The book press, in the warehouse department, used for pressing books previous to their de- livery, is the common screw press, with a perpen- dicular screw, and screwed down by means of an iron bar; it is also used for pressing paper, when wetted, previous to being printed on, for the purpose of making it in better condition for the process ; and also in cylindrical or ma- chine printing, to cause it to lie flat, as it is apt otherwise to wrinkle, particularly when in large sheets, in being carried round the cylinders. In large establishments Brahmah's hydraulic press is generally used for these purposes, as being much more powerful, and also more expeditious, not only in its use, but also in its effect. Press. A machine for the purpose of com- pressing or squeezing bodies. Any of the mechanical powers may be used for this pur- pose. When constructed on a large scale, the hydrostatic pressure of water is the power generally employed. [Hydrostatics.] Press. A term metaphorically applied either to the whole literature of a country, or to that part of it which is more immediately connected with newspapers or other periodical publications. Press Proof. In Printing, a good im- pression of a sheet by which it is read over carefully before being printed off. Pressirosters (Lat. pressus, flattened ; rostrum, a beak). A tribe of wading birds, including those which have a flattened or com- pressed beak. Pressure (Lat. pressura). Dr. Young de- fines pressure to be 'a force counteracted by another force, so that no motion is produced.' (Lectures on Nat. Phil.) Thus, when a heavy body is supported on a table, or the ground, the force of terrestrial gravity, which, if the support were removed, would cause the body to descend towards the centre of the earth, being destroyed at every instant by the resistance of the support, produces a pressure. A pressure and a moving force differ from one another only in this respect, that the infinitely small veloci- ties which the pressure tends to produce are incessantly destroyed by the resistance of the obstacle ; whereas those that are actually pro- duced at every instant by the moving forces are accumulated in the moving body, and pro- duce a finite velocity after a finite time. The pressures of two different bodies are, therefore, to each other as the masses multiplied by the infinitely small velocities which they tend to produce in the same instant of time, and which they would produce if the bodies were free to move. Pressure, Centre of. [Hydrostatics.] Presswork. In Printing, the operation of taking impressions from types, &c. by means of the press ; distinct from composing/, which is arranging the types to prepare them for press. | By fine presswork is meant work printed with the best paper and ink, and with the utmost care at a hand press. Presto (Ital.). In Music. [Time.] oi PRICE Presumption of Law. The assuming the truth of a certain state of facts by the ordinary custom of the law. It is either juris et de pire, which is a presumption which no evidence to the contrary can be admitted to traverse, as the presumption of incapacity in a minor with guardians to act without their con- sent ; or it is juris only, which may be tra- versed by evidence, as where the property of goods is presumed to be in the possessor until the contrary is shown. Presumptive Heir. [Heir.] Pretender. The name by which the Che- valier Charles Stuart and his father are usually known, from their having pretended a right to the British crown, from which they had been excluded. Prevarication (Lat. prsevaricatio, a going in a crooked direction). In Boman criminal law, several special kinds of fraud have been so entitled ; in particular, that of an agent or advocate, who by collusion with the opposite party damages his employer. The popular English sense of the word is altogether dif- ferent. Preventer. On Shipboard, a term ap- plied to any rope, chain, bolt, &c, which is placed either temporarily or permanently as a deputy or duplicate for another similar instru- ment. Its object is to relieve the other rope, &c, or to take its place in the event of carry- ing away. Prevention (Lat. praevenio, I come before)* In Civil Law, prevention takes place where one of two parties equally authorised to commence legal proceedings does so, and thereby forestalls the other. Preventive Service. [Coast Guard.] Previous Question, The. In English parliamentary usage (whence it has been borrowed in the practice of other legislative bodies) the previous question is termed by Mr. May {Parliamentary Practice) 1 an in- genious mode of avoiding a vote on any ques- tion which is proposed.' When a question is about to be put by the Speaker (in the House of Commons — the usage of its committees is different), a member may interpose by moving that the same question 'be now put,' and if this be negatived, then the main question can- not be put at that time. [Parliament.] Prevotales, Cours (Fr. courts of prevots or provosts). Certain tribunals of summary jurisdiction, which existed in France before the Revolution, and were for a short time re- established in 1815. Priam. In Mythology. [Paris.] Priapus (Gr.). In Mythology, a son of Dionysus (Bacchus) and Aphrodite (Venus); but there are several accounts of his parentage. He was looked on as the cause of fertility to fruits and flocks. From the worship specially paid to him at Lampsacus, he is often spoken of as Hellespontiacus. (Hor. Sat. i. 8 ; Ov. Fast. i. 415.) [Linga ; Mysteries ; Phallus ; Yoni.] Price (Cer. preis, Fr. prix, from Lat. pretium). In Political Economy, tho estimate PRICE in money of the value of any article in demand. It has been distinguished as twofold: the natural price, i. e. the ratio which the money value of commodities has to the cost of pro- duction ; and the market price, i. c. the rate at which, consequent on supply and demand, a commodity is exchanged for money, at any particular time. The market price continually oscillates about the natural price; it is occasion- ally below it, and under certain circumstances may far exceed it. The two will coincide only when the demand rises and falls exactly with the supply, a state of prices which cannot, of course, ever be permanently secured. Further- more, price is to be distinguished from value. Value is either relative to the cost of produc- tion, or to the demand which is made for the commodity, but values exchange exactly against values. In price, however, two elements have to be considered : not only the value of the article sold, but the cost of producing the ge- neral measure, money, has to be taken into account. Hence there may be a rise or fall in prices, consequent not upon the cost of pro- duction or the demand of purchasers, but upon the relative value of the precious metals. Thus the value of wheat in relation to the value of wool or any other commodity will remain the same ; for if a quarter of wheat costs as much to produce as forty pounds of wool do, the value of the measure and the weight will be identical. There cannot, therefore, be a general rise in values. But prices have risen and fallen ac- cording to the dearness or cheapness of the pre- cious metals. For instance, a quarter of wheat was worth, say, 6s. 8d. five hundred years ago, and is worth 50s. now, i. e. there is a rise in price amounting to seven and a half times, partly consequent upon the diminution of the weight of silver in the same denomination of currency, partly because silver is procured at a cheaper rate, i. e. at less labour, at present than at that time. The history of the great change of prices which took place in the sixteenth century, has not yet been written. It was due partly to a radical change in the currency, partly to the distribution of the precious metals over the Old World consequent upon their discovery in the New. Had these metals been produced and distributed according to the general process by which mines are worked at present, though there can be no doubt that a rise in prices must have eventually taken place owing to the compara- tive ease with which silver was found, yet the facts would have been different, both in cha- racter and degree. After the occupation of Peru by the Spaniards, the mines whence the largest quantity of the new silver was procured were worked by the compulsory labour of the natives ; and the silver having been procured at little cost to those who reaped the fruit of this labour, was exchanged cheaply against imported commodities. If, however, the mines had been worked by voluntary labour, the addition would have been more gradual, and the cost of production being fully equal to that 55 of any other commodity, the effects would have shown themselves more slowly. It is, we be- lieve, due to the fact that the discoveries of gold and silver in California, Australia, and New Zealand have been turned to account by the labour of voluntary colonists, that, pro- digious as has been the amount added to the, stock of bullion possessed by the civilised world, the rise in prices which is suspected to have, ensued from this addition is still a matter of doubt, and if decided affirmatively may be even then assigned to other and co-ordinate causes. The price of a commodity is not based upon its rarity, or on its utility, but on the demand for it, i.e. on the difficulty of satisfying the desire of possessing it. Some of the metals which have been recently discovered are of excessive, rarity, being disseminated in the ore from which they are taken in very minute quantities, as for instance by two or three grains to the ton. But, except to those who are curious, they have no value, and no price, and will have none unless some use in the arts, which shall create a demand commensu- rate with the cost of producing them, should hereafter arise, and thus create a need of them. This was the case with the metal platinum. When it was first discovered, it was exhibited in the form of dust, or of a very slightly coherent powder. As in the existing state of chemical science, it was wholly in- fusible, it could not be made to possess the ordinary qualities of the useful metals, mal- leability and ductility. When, however, Dr. Wollaston discovered a means of welding it, and its remarkable properties in this shape be- came known, it became an article of great com- mercial value, having been employed to form stills for the concentration of sulphuric acid, a commodity in its concentrated form of Such mercantile importance, that its consumption is said to be the measure of the economical pro- gress of a nation. Again, the utility of some objects is of immediate and permanent signi- ficance. Human life can be continued but for a few minutes in the absence of air, or when its supply is scanty, or when its quality is de- praved. But air, since there is no difficulty in procuring it, has no value and no price. In deep mines, or in diving bells, it has a price, because labour is necessary to supply it ; in other words, because it is difficult of attainment. In consequence of the fact, that difficulty of production, and demand, concur in elevating the price of commodities, certain general rules may be laid down which may be said to denote the laws which govern the rise and fall in the price of commodities, the value of money being supposed to remain unchanged. 1. In commodities of urgent demand, but of such a quantity as cannot be susceptible of im- mediate increase, the price of a deficient supply will rise far above the ordinary rate, the aggre- gate quantity available for consumption selling for a far larger sum than the ordinary amount could be sold for. This is the case, for instance, with the amount of food in a city which is closely PftlCE besieged, and in that possessed by a nation which imports no supplies from abroad, when- ever a dearth or famine arises. In this country, during the existence of the corn laws, the nation put itself voluntarily into a state of siege, and suffered the evils of famine when it had all the means of plenty. At the present time, as trade in corn is free, communication rapid, and the harvest gbes on over the world all the year round, the contingency of a dearth in the necessaries of life, as far as bread is concerned, is as remote as the risk of a general deficiency of harvests over the whole world could be. 2. In commodities the demand for which is constant, but the supply is absolutely fixed, the price of the commodity will rise with the demand, and will stop only witli the contin- gency of the rate of profit or satisfaction not being realised on the purchase. This is the case with land available for building or culti- vation. There is no known limit which can be put to the rent or purchase (the two terms dif- fering only as annual and permanent posses- sion) of land which is demanded for buildings in advantageous sites for commerce, as long as " a rate of profit may be procured on the land thus rented or purchased. A rise in the rent, or in the value of the fee simple of land, -is derived wholly from increased production ; and the productiveness of the soil, whether in trade or agriculture, is as yet, and long will be, an indeterminate quantity, for in all likelihood the rate of production from the soil of this country, even in the existing state of agricul- tural science, is only half what it might be were it possible to apply larger capital to the soil by the liberation of land from some of the real burdens which affect it, the hindrances, namely, to its distribution. 3. In commodities the demand for which is steady, and the supply capable of extension at increased cost to the producer, the price will rise steadily according to the demand and the increased cost. Thus clothing can be manu- factured from several materials. A deficiency in the supply of one of these will be met by an increased rise of another. Thus, were cot- ton the only material available for clothing, the deficiency of the American market would have raised the price of clothing at a rate analogous but not equal to a rise in the price of food consequent upon a general scarcity. It would not be an equal rise in price, for a greater economy may be maintained in the use of clothes than in that of food. The full rise was, however, met to some extent by the use of other raw materials, as wool, silk, flax, alpaca, and the like. So it has constantly been found that a deficiency in the supply of a great convenience of life from ' one source is met by the discovery of the same or a similar utility in some new quarter. The hindrances put on the use of cane sugar during the great French war, led to the cultivation of beet for the supply of this commodity. A similar cause suggested the discovery of certain sources of saltpetre. A deficiency in the supply of 56 hemp has led to the extensive use of jute. Deficiencies in the raw material of paper have led to the use, as yet partial, of other tissues than cotton and flax. It has been stated, though on somewhat, doubtful authority, that the blockade of the Southern ports of the American Union during the late civil war has been the means by which economical dis- | coveries of great importance have been made in some of the states which composed the extinct Southern confederacy. 4. In commodities which can be produced in indefinite quantities at no increased cost, or at only such an increase as is due to the demand for labour, the price, even if demand increases greatly, will be affected only to a slight extent. Thus iron and coal can as yet, it appears, be supplied from this country in indefinite quantities, the amount produced being determined solely by demand. In this case, if labour be abundant and the competi- tion for land from which these articles can be obtained is not so great as to create a general rise in rents for mining localities, prices will remain stationary. Even when a rise in rents is effected, and labour is comparatively dear, improvements in the process of production may serve to neutralise the consequences which might otherwise have fallen on consumers. Thus the consumption -of coal and iron for the home and foreign trade has increased to an enormous extent during the last two years, but without a corresponding rise in price. Here, again, the theory which concludes that a great fall has of late years taken place in the price of the precious metals, or, in other words, that a general rise in prices has occurred, may be refuted, if it be shown, first, that these metals have been produced at equal cost to the miner, or, which is far more important, have been procured at equal cost by the exporter of them. 5. In commodities whose use is wholly voluntary, a great deficiency of supply may occur without any great increase of price. Thus the price of wine in countries where the use of this stimulant is confined to a small section of the community, and only the better growths are consumed, may not rise very markedly even when the vintage has failed to a very great extent. Spanish white wines, we are told, have risen largely in price during the last two or three years. This, however, is not due to deficiency of crops, but to. a very great increase in the demand, consequent on a greater inclination and a wider power of pur- chase among the community. In short, where the article is one of voluntary use, a slight increase in price, or even a threatened increase of price, may stop demand, and arrest the en- hancement of the market value. Price of IVEoney. This expression is ex- ceedingly ambiguous. It means occasionally the rate at which the precious metals are pro- cured in exchange for other commodities. In this sense the laws which govern the price of gold and silver are in no way different from PRICE PROLE VLE those which regulate the cost of other commo- dities. It is- by means of these laws that the precious metals are distributed over the world, the demand, namely, for their use in commerce and the arts, and the power of exchange which the possessor of every object in demand holds in the several markets of the world. It may also, and often does mean, the ease or difficulty with which capital may be lent or borrowed ; in other words, the fulness with which credit is given or taken, and from this point of view it is influenced by the state of the foreign exchanges, i. e. by the need which there may be ofrexport- ing money or increased quantities of goods at lower prices in order to equalise transactions, and by the rate of discount in the advances made by bankers and bill brokers. The origin of this use of the phrase, the price of money, to ex- press what is in effect the price of credit, is to be found in the universal, and indeed necessary practice of estimating all values by money prices. The money is a mere instrument, often being but the basis of a. series of transactions representing in their aggregate amount nmch more than the gold and silver in which they are estimated. For the phenomena which characterise these facts, see Discount and Exchange. Price at the Mint, or Mint Price.— The value of gold at the Mint is 3/. 17s. I0j>d. the ounce, British standard, and any person may bring gold of standard value to the Mint in quanti- ties of not less than 10,000/. in value, and receive in exchange, after the time necessarily spent in manufacturing the same into currency, the same amount, weight for weight, in gold coins, the rate of coinage being 1,869 sovereigns to 40 lbs. troy weight of gold, the gold being \~ fine. The expression, therefore, Mint price of gold, only denotes the value of the currency contained in the troy ounce. The general theory of prices, and the largest information as to prices of commodities, and the causes which have induced, during the history of the last sixty or seventy years, fluc- tuations in prices, are to be found in the work of the late Mr. Tooke, continued by Mr. Newmarch. Of all the questions discussed in these volumes, those of the prices of corn and the price of mercantile accommodation are the most important. Much, indeed, of the reason- ing on both these heads has been contro- versial. Dissertations on the causes which induce fluctuations in the price of food have, it is true, been rendered comparatively unim- portant by the changes which have happily occurred in consequence of the reform of the tariff and the repeal of the corn laws ; but the question whether the price of money, in the technical sense of the rate of discount, has not been made liable to excessive fluctuation, is still an open one. On one point all persons are agreed, that there is nothing which is more desirable for producer, dealer, and consumer, than a generally uniform price, and that any- thing which reduces the oscillations of the market price to the lowest possible amount in I relation to the natural price, is of tnc highest importance and benefit. Prices of Foreign Produce. The price of an article procured from a foreign country depends not upon the cost at which it is produced, but on the cost at which it is pro- cured. For instance, the cost of a cask of Spanish wine is determined not by the price of labour, the rate of profit, and the rent of land in Spain, but by the elements which make up the cost of the commodity or commodities against which the wine is ex- changed in the country to which it is exported. Were all transactions between countries carried on in money, the rule would still hold good, though to a less extent; for money is produced and imported just as any other commodity is, by ■exchange for other commodities, and the specie may be procured by one country at cheaper rates than it can be by others. In case, how- ever, that both countries produced gold and silver, and produced them at the same cost, the price of a commodity like that of wine would be equal in the two countries, with the addi- tion in the case of the importing country of the cost of carriage. Such a combination of cir- cumstances can, however, occur but rarely, if indeed it be not wholly hypothetical. Hence it may happen, that, value for value, a com- modity can be procured at cheaper rates in an importing country, than it is in the country which produces it, and if the cost of carriage were omitted, continually would be. Hence, also, the price of the precious metals may be lower in countries which do not produce them, than in countries which do. Prick Post. In Architecture, a post in wooden buildings framed intermediately be^ tween two principal ones. The term is gene- rally used to express the intermediate post between two, guide ones that are driven into the ground in the case of a wooden fencing. Pricking- "EJp. In Architecture, the first coating of lime and hair in work of three coats upon lath. It is executed in London with coarse stuff made with road drift or Thames sand ; and the surface is scratched over with the trowel to enable the succeeding coats to obtain a better hold of the pricking- up coat. Prickles. In Botany, the hard, sharp- pointed conical processes found on the epi- dermis of plants. Prickly Ash. The name of the Xanthoxy- lon fraxineum. Prickly Pear. One of the names of the Opuntia or Indian Fig. Priest (A. -Sax. preost; Gr. Trpecr^repos, elder). In Christian churches, a minister who presides over the spiritual affairs of a congrega- tion. The word is by many regarded as repre- senting the Greek tepeus, who, like the Jewish priest, had both a sacrificial and mediatorial character; and this idea is embodied in the Catholic or sacerdotal theory of the Christian priesthood. Primse Vise (Lat. the first ways). In PEIMAGE PRIMER Medicine, a term employed, to designate the stomach and bowels. Primage. A certain allowance paid by the shipper or consigner of goods to the master and sailors of a vessel for loading the same. It varies in different places according to their re- spective customs. Primary or Primitive. In Geology, rocks underlying the ordinary and recognisable fossiliferous rocks of a district have in the early days of geology been called by these names. The names assume that such rocks were formed before those which contain fossils ; an assumption not at all safe, since many rocks distinctly igneous and plu tonic are comparatively modern. There is no proof whatever that we have any of the primary or primitive rocks of the earth brought to the surface for oui* examination. Some are certainly very an- cient, but they may have been modified from formations yet more ancient. The terms hy- pogcne, crystalline, and metamorphic express simple facts of observation, and are far more convenient. Primary Assemblies. A name applied to those assemblies in which all the citizens have a right to be present and to speak, as distinguished from representative parliaments. Primary assemblies are of necessity prac- ticable only in small states, such as ancient Athens, and seem to require the existence of a dependent class shut out from all political privileges, and perhaps deprived even of per- sonal liberty. On the other hand, they supply to the members a higher political education than that which is available for the generality of citizens in large states governed by repre- sentative parliaments. (Freeman's History of Federal Government, vol. i. ch. ii.) Primary Colours. The principal colours into which a ray of white solar Jight may be decomposed or separated. Newton supposed them to be seven : red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Mayer considered some of these to be secondary colours, and that there are only three primary colours in the solar spectrum ; namely, red, yellow, and blue, cer- tain proportions of which constitute white light and all the other colours. (Opera inedita, 1775.) Dr. Young assumes red, green, and violet as the fundamental colours. (Lectures on Nat. Phil. p. 439.) It is now known that every portion of the spectrum is a primary or pure colour, and can- not be resolved by further refraction ; conse- quently it is erroneous to assume that some of the prismatic colours are produced by the super- position of others, as green by blue and yellow, orange by red and yellow, &c. [Chromatics ; Light.] Primate (Lat. primas, primatis). A prelate of superior dignity and authority. In England, the archbishop of York is entitled Primate of England ; the archbishop of Canterbury, Pri- mate of all England. Primates (Lat.). The name given by Linnaeus to the first order of animals in his 58 Sy sterna Natures, which associated man with the monkeys and bats, and corresponded to the Bimana, Quadrumana, and Cheiroptera of Cuvier. Prime (Lat. primus, first). In Arithmetic, two numbers are said to ha prime to each other, or one number is said to be prime to the other, when the two have no common measure except unity. A prime number, frequently termed a prime, is one which is not exactly divisible by any other number except itself and unity. In the theory of numbers, complex primes are also considered. [Integer.] We are not yet in possession of any general method for finding primes, although there are many ways of detecting whether an assigned number is or is not prime. [Fermat's and Wilson's Theorems.] Vega's Tables give all primes less than 400,000. For properties of prime numbers, see Fer- mat's edition of Diophantus ; Euler's Algebra, and Analysis lnfinitorum; Legendre, Essai sur la Theorie des Nombres; Barlow's Elementary Investigations, $c. ; and especially the Disqui- sitiones Arithmetics of Grauss, of which there is a French translation by Delisle. Much useful information on the subject will also be found in Prof. J. S. Smith's Report on the Theory of Numbers in the Proc. of Brit. Assoc. for 1859-65. Prime and Ultimate Ratios. A method of calculation invented by Newton, and employ- ed in the Principia, being an extension and sim- plification of the ancient method of exhaustions. It may be thus explained : Let there be two variable quantities constantly approaching each other in value, so that their ratio or quotient continually approaches to unity, and at last differs from unity by less than any assignable quantity ; the ultimate ratio of these two quan- tities is said to be a ratio of equality. In general, when different variable quantities re- spectively and simultaneously approach other quantities considered as invariable, so that the differences between the variable and invariable quantities become at the same time less than any assignable quantity, the ultimate ratios of the variables are the ratios of the invari- able quantities or limits, to which they con- tinually and simultaneously approach. They are called prime ratios or ultimate ratios, according as the ratios of the variables are considered as receding from, or approaching to, the ratios of the limits. (Principia, book i.) Prime Vertical. In Astronomy, the ver- tical circle of the sphere which intersects the meridian at right angles, and passes through the east and west points of the horizon. In dialling, prime vertical dials are those which are projected on the plane of the prime vertical, or a plane parallel to it. Primer. This word, signifying originally a religious work employed in the Roman Ca- tholic service, is now generally used to denote the first book for children. Primer. In Artillery, a small supple- mentary tube, used with the forty -pounder and FRIMER SEISIN sovon-inch screw breech-loading guns. It is placed in the horizontal part of the vent before the vent-piece is placed in the gun, its object being to communicate the flame from the ordi- nary tube to the cartridge. Primer Seisin (Nor. Fr.). An ancient branch of the royal prerogative in England, by which it had possession for a year of the lands and tenements of which a tenant in capite died seised, if the heir was of full age ; or, if not, until he was of age. [Tenure.] Primine (Lat. primus, first). In Botany, the outermost sac or covering of an ovule ; either composed of cellular tissue only, or traversed by numerous veins or bundles of tubes. Priming (Lat. primus). In Architecture, the first coat of painting. Priming. When the steam leaves a boiler, it carries over with it a certain quantity of water in little globules given off by the bub- bles that come to the surface, and there burst. This quantity is sometimes very great when a large passage is opened, on account of the ebullition which frequently causes the water to pass over in the state of a substance re- sembling soap curds, The water so thrown off is technically said to prime. This is a great source of annoyance and loss of power. Priming: and lagging;. The alternate acceleration and retardation of the times of high water, caused by the combined action of the sun and moon. [Lagging.] Primipilus (Lat.). In Koman History, the name of the centurion of the first cohort of a legion, who had charge of the eagle. (Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, art. ' Exercitus ; ' Mem. de VAcad. des Inscr. vol. xxxii.) Primitiae (Lat.). The first fruits of any production of the ' earth, which were uniformly consecrated to the Deity by all the nations of antiquity. [First Fruits.] Primitive (Lat. primitivus, first of its kind). In Geology. [Primary.] Primitive. In Grammar, a word neither derived from any other language, nor com- pounded from any other words of the same. Primitive Colours. In Painting, these colours are red, yellow, and blue, from the mixtures of which other colours may be ob- tained — the secondary, and the tertiary ; and by the addition of white or black, every variety of tint may be acquired. Primitive, Complete. [Differentiae Equations.] Primitive Methodists. [Banters.] Primitive Roots, In Algebra, an imaginary n th root of unity is said to be primitive when it is not at the same time a root of unity of a lower order than the n th . If p u p observes, ' Had the modern art of making paper been known to the ancients, we had probably never heard the names of Faust and Piniguerra ; for with the same kind of stamps which the Romans used for their pottery and packages, books might also have been printed ; and the same engraving which adorned the shields and pateras of the more remote ages, with the addition of paper might have spread the rays of Greek and Etrurian intelligence over the world of antiquity. Of the truth of this asser- tion I have the satisfaction to lay before you the most decided proofs, by exhibiting engraved Latin inscriptions, both in cameo and intaglio, from the collection of Mr. Douce, with im- pressions taken from them at Mr. Savage's letter-press but yesterday [1805]. One of them is an intaglio stamp with which a Roman oculist was used to mark his medicines; the other, which is of metal, and in cameo, is simply the proper name of the tradesman by whom it has probably been used, " T[iti] Valagini Mauri." ' The cut exhibits a fac-simile of the latter stamp. IT VALAGli iNfMAVRl) Books before the Invention of Printing. — The value of books, and the •esteem in which they were held before the invention of printing, were such, that notaries were employed to make the conveyance with as much care and attention as if estates were to be transferred. It was then thought the worthy occupation of a life either to copy or collect an amount of reading which modern improvements now present to us for a few shillings. Galen tells us that Ptolemy Philadelphus gave the Athenians fifteen ta- lents, with exemption from all tribute, and a great convoy of provisions, for the autographs and originals of the tragedies of iEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. ' Pisistratus is said to have been the first among the earliest of the Greeks who projected an immense collection of the works of the learned, and is supposed to have been the collector of the scattered works which passed under the name of Homer.' (DTsraeli, Cur. of Lit.) Among the Romans the bulk or goodness of a man's library was the distinguishing mark of his excellence and wisdom. Middleton {Life of Cicero), speaking of Cicero, says, ' Nor was he less eager in making a collection of Greek books, and forming a library, by the same opportunity of Atticus's help. This was Atticus's own passion ; who, having free access to all the Athenian libraries, was employing his slaves in copying the works . of their best writers, not only for his own use, but for sale also, and the common profit both of the slave PRINTING and the master ; for Atticus was remarkable, above all men, for a family of learned slaves, 1 having scarce a foot-boy in his house who was j not trained both to read and write for him. By this advantage he had made a very large j collection of choice and curious books, and j signified to Cicero his design of selling them ; yet seems to have intimated withal, that he expected a larger sum for them than Cicero 1 would easily spare ; which gave occasion to Cicero, to beg of him in several letters, to re- serve the whole number for him, till he could raise money enough for the purchase. " Pray keep your books (says he) for me, and do not despair of my being able to make them mine ; which if I can compass, I shall think myself richer than Crassus, and despise the fine villas and gardens of them all." Again, " Take care that you do not part with your library to any man, how eager soever he may be to buy it; for I am setting apart all my little rents to purchase that relief for my old age." ' In the year 1274 the price of a Bible, in 9 volumes, 'fairly written,' with a glossary or commentary, was 50 marks, or 331. ; and in 1433, the cost of transcribing the works of Nicholas de Lira, in 2 vols., ' to be chained in the library of the Grey Friars,' London, was 661. 13s. 4d. This shows the enormous cost of books before the discovery of printing; for, if we take the money of those times to be twenty times its present value, the Bible must have been worth 6601., and De Lira 1,333^. 6s. Sd. The pay of a labouring man in 1272 was l^d. a day. (Dugdale's Warm. ; Stow ; Bymer's Fcedera.) Among other writers on this subject, Mr. "Watson, in his History of Printing, refers us to an epistle of Antonius Bononia Becatel- lus, surnamed Panorme, to Alphonsus king of Naples and Sicily, lib. v. Epist. Significasti mihi nuper ex Florentia, §c. 'You lately wrote to me from Florence, that the works of Titus Livius are there to be sold, in very handsome books ; and that the price of each book is 120 crowns of gold : therefore I intreat your majesty, that you cause to be bought for us Livy, whom we use to call the king of books, and cause it to be sent hither to us. I shall in mean time procure the money, which 1 am to give for the price of the book. One thing I want to know of youv prudence, whether I or Poggius have done best ; he, that he might buy a country-house near Florence, sold Livy, which he had writ in a very fair hand ; and I, to purchase Livy, have exposed a piece of land to sale : your goodness and modesty have en- couraged me to ask these things with fami- liarity of you. Farewell, and triumph.' Nor was it in Italy alone that books were valued at immense prices, but in France also, as appears by a letter of Gaguin to one of his friends who had sent to him from Eome to procure a Concordance for him : ' I have not to this day found out a Concordance, except one, that is greatly esteemed ; which Paschasius, the bookseller, has told me is to be sold, but the 63 owner of it is abroad ; and it may bo had for a hundred crowns of gold.' Mr. Ames had a folio manuscript in French vorse called Romans de la Rose (whence Chaucer's translation), on the last leaf of which is written, Cest lyuir costa au palas de Parys quarante coronnes dor, sans mcntyr; i.e. This book cost at tho palace of Paris 40 crowns of gold, without lying (about 331. 6s. 6d. sterling). Brassicanus says, ' The emperor Frederick III. knew no better gratuity for John Capnion, who had been sent to him on an embassy by Edward of Wittemberg, tha' by making him a present of an old Hebrew Bible.' Another instance of the high estimation in which books were held in old times, is to be seen in the front of the manuscript Gosi)els belonging to the public library of the uni- versity of Cambridge, written in an old hand in Latin and Anglo-Saxon, given to the uni- versity by the learned Theodore Beza. ' This book was presented by Leofric, bishop of the church of St. Peter's in Exeter, for the use of his successors.' This Leofric was chancellor of England in the reign of Edward the Con- fessor, and died in 1071 or 1072. About the time of King Henry II. the man- ner of publishing books was to have them read over for three days successively before one of the universities, or before other judges ap- pointed by the public ; and, if they met with approbation, copies of them were then per- mitted to be taken. These copies were usually written by monks, scribes, illuminators, and readers brought or trained up to that purpose for their maintenance. The orders respecting books in the 'Close Polls' of the middle ages are interesting, not only as illustrating the literary taste of the age, but principally because they generally contain some circumstance which shows the scarcity and value of the article. The passion for the enjoyment of books has in all ages led their lovers to cover them with the most costly and ornamental bindings. The ancients commonly adorned them with pendent ornaments of variously coloured cloth, and the covers were stained with scarlet or purple colour : ' Hirsutus sparsis ut videare comis ' ( Ovid), and ' Purpureo fulgens habitu, radian - tibus uncis ' {Martial). The unci were rollers of wood or ivory, round which the books were rolled to prevent injury to their fronts. Ovid and Tibullus call them cornua, from the simi- larity of their ends to horns. Epistles differed from books in this : the leaves were folded to- gether, tied round with linen tape, and sealed with creta Asiatica, while books were ' bound ' as above. If, however, there were more epistles than one, ' or if one epistle was to be preserved in the library, it was enclosed and turned round, and not folded : hence the word volumen ' (Arts of the Greeks and Romans). Block Books. — Block books must be regarded as the immediate precursors of printing. The art of printing books from engraved blocks of wood was without doubt invented in Holland. Apart from the great interest created by the PRINTING object for which the block books were de- signed, namely, the propagation of the Scrip- tures, they are extremely valuable as exhibit- ing the first attempts at engraving on wood in the form of books, many of them having preceded the art of printing by movable types. (Sotheby's Block Books.) That prints without text, or letterpress, as it is termed, were in common use at a period considerably anterior to that of the block books, there is abundant evidence. It is re- lated by Papillon (Traite Historique et Pra- tique de la Gravure en Bois) that the heroic actions of Alexander the Great were engraved on wood by the two Cunio, Alexander Alberic, and his sister Isabella, and impressions printed from the blocks, as early as 1285 ; and his statement has been supported by Ottley {Early Hist, of Engraving upon Copper and Wood, &c. 2 vols. 4to. 1816) and Singer (Hist, of Playing Cards, §c. London, 4to. 1816). But Jackson (Hist, of Wood Engraving) takes some trouble to prove that Papillon was excessively credulous, if not deranged. Playing cards were engraved and printed from blocks to- wards the end of the fourteenth century or probably earlier. The print of St. Christopher carrying the infant Saviour on his back across the sea, in the collection of Earl Spencer, bears an inscription and the date 1423 at the bottom of the same block ; but one in the possession of Mr. J. A. 0. Weigel of Leipsic (a copy of which may be seen in Sotheby's Block Books, vol. ii. p. 161), is supposed to be the work of even an earlier artist. These circum- stances, together with the fact that the go- vernment of Venice published a decree, dated October 11, 1441, wherein the art and mystery of making 'playing cards and coloured figures printed ' are stated to have fallen into decay in consequence of the great quantity which had been made out of that state, and which were now prohibited under pain of forfeiture and fine, all prove that the knowledge and practice of printing, although not applied to the spread of knowledge and the multiplication of books, had yet an existence in Europe long before the time to which it is usually attributed. This Venetian decree may be regarded as the ear- liest authentic document respecting printing. Great numbers of books were produced in the Chinese manner above described : for the diversity of the characters found in block books has been a never-ending puzzle to those who have endeavoured to ascertain the printer by comparing the forms of the letters used. The workmanship of many of these picture books was coarse, without shadowing or ' cross- hatching,' tastelessly daubed over with broad colours, especially those which were printed for circulation amongst the poorer classes. The best known works of this class were called Biblia Pauperum, poor men's books, or rather books for poor preachers, and con- sisted of a series of rude engravings, each occupying a page on one side of the leaf only, and divided into compartments containing pic- 64 torial illustrations of the most remarkable incidents mentioned in the books of Moses, the Gospels, and the Apocalypse. A copy of the Biblia Pauperum in the British Museum is supposed by Heinecken (Idee Generale, cfo. p. 292) to be the first edition. The cuts are coloured by hand. Invention of Movable Types. — About the year 1438, while the learned Italians were eagerly deciphering their recently discovered MSS., and slowly circulating them from hand to hand, it fell to the lot of a few obscure Germans to perfect the greatest discovery recorded in the annals of mankind. The notion of printing by movable types, and thereby saving the end- less labour of cutting new blocks of letters for every page, was reserved for John Gutemberg of Mentz. Born in that city about the begin- ning of the century, he settled at Strasburg about 1424, and commenced printing in the house of one Dritzehen. But having been en- gaged in a lawsuit connected with Dritzehen' s family, and exhausted his means, he returned to Mentz, where he resumed his typographic employment in partnership with a wealthy goldsmith, named John Fust or Faust. After many experiments with his presses and mov- able types, Gutemberg succeeded in printing an edition of the Vulgate, the Mentz or Mazarin Bible, so called from a copy having been discovered in the library of Cardinal Mazarin in Paris. The work was done between the years 1450 and 1455, and was printed on vellum ; but there are several paper copies in England, France, and Germany. The part- nership between Gutemberg and Fust having been dissolved, and the former being unable to repay part of the capital advanced by the wealthy goldsmith, the whole of the printing apparatus fell into the hands of Fust, who, says DTsraeli (Cur. of Lit.), ' printed off a consider- able number of copies of the Bible, to imitate those which were commonly sold as MSS. ; and he undertook the sale of them at Paris. It was his interest to conceal this discovery, and to pass off his printed copies for MSS. But, en- abled to sell his Bibles at sixty crowns, while the other scribes demanded five hundred, this raised universal astonishment ; and still more when he produced copies as fast as they were wanted, and even lowered his price. The uni- formity of the copies increased the wonder. Informations were given in to the magistrates against him as a magician ; and in searching his lodgings a great number of copies were found. The red ink — and Fust's red ink is peculiarly brilliant — which embellished his copies, was said to be his blood ; and it was solemnly adjudged that he was in league with the infernals. Fust at length was obliged, to save himself from a bonfire, to reveal his art to the parliament of Paris, who discharged him from all prosecution in consideration of the wonderful invention.' This Bible was printed with large cut metal types ; but in 1457 a magnificent edition of the Psalter appeared, printed by Fust and his assistant and son-in- PRINTING law, Peter Schceffer, who had been taken into partnership. In this book tho new invention was announced to the world in ' a boasting colophon,' though certainly not unreasonably bold. Another edition of the Psalter, one of an ecclesiastical book, Durand's account of litur- gical offices (Rationale Divin. Officiorum), one of the Constitutions of Pope Clement V., and one of a popular treatise on general science, called the Catholicon (Catholicon Januensis, 1460), filled up the interval till 1462, when the second Mentz Bible proceeded from the same printers. This, in the opinion of some, is the earliest book in which cast metal types were employed : those of the Mazarin Bible having been cut with tho hand. But this is a contro- verted point. In 1465 Fust and Schceffer pub- lished an edition of Cicero's Offices, the first tribute of the new art to polite literature. (Hallam, Europe during the Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 470.) After the lapse of a few years the pupils and workmen of Fust and Schceffer were dispersed into various countries by the sacking of Mentz under the Archbishop Adolphus, and the inven- tion was thereby publicly made known, and the art spread over all parts of Europe. Before the year 1500, printing presses had been set up in 220 places, and a multitude of editions of tho classical writers given to the world. From Mentz the art was transplanted to Haarlem and Strasburg ; from Haarlem to Home, in 1466, by Sweynheym and Pannartz, who were the first to make use of Roman types ; to Paris in 1469; to England in 1474; and to Spain in 1475. So rapid indeed was the spread of the art, that, between the years 1469 and 1475, most towns in Germany, Italy, and the Nether- lands had made successful attempts in the production of printed copies of the most valued authors of the time. Santander, in his interesting and masterly work, Dictionnaire Bibliographique choisi du Quinzieme Steele, fyc. (Bruxelles 1805, 3 vols.), gives at the end of his first volume, the following chro- nological table of 200 places where the art was practised during the fifteenth century, with the names of the printers and of the first produc- tions of their presses. This table is given, not only because it is curious, but because biblio- graphers are enabled to see at a glance the editiones principes of the fifteenth century. Chronological Table of the Towns, Monasteries, Sfc. in which the Art of Printing was practised in the Fifteenth Century ; giving the first portion of the Titles of the First Impressions, with their Bate in each Place, together with the Printers' Names. N.B. — The Figures in Parentheses indicate the Date of the Impressions in which the Printer's Name appears for the First Time. Names of Towns, &c. First Impression with Certain Date Names of the First Printers 1457 1461 1465 1467 1467 1467 1468 1469 1469 1470 1470 1470 1470 1470 1471 1471 1471 1471 1471 1471 1471 1471 1472 1472 1472 1472 1472 1472 1472 1473 1473 1473 1473 Vol. Mentz Bamberg Subbiaco Rome . Elf eld . Cologne Augsburg Venice Milan . Nuremberg Paris . Foligno Treves Verona Strasburg Spires . Treviso Bologna Ferrara Naples Pavia . Florence Cremona Fivizano Padua. Mantua Montereale Munster, in Argau Parma Brescia TJlm III. 65 Psalmorum codex, folio . Recueil de fables, germanice, folio Lactantii opera, 4to . Ciceronis epistolce ad familiares, 4to Vocabularium ex quo, 4to S. August, de Singul. clericor., 4to Meditationes vitas Christi, folio Ciceronis epistolas ad familiares, folio . Miracoli de la glor. V. Maria, 4to . Comestorium vitiorum, folio . Epistolee Gasparini Pergamensis, 4to Leon. Aretini de Bello Italico, folio Hist, de indulgentia B. Francisci, 4to . La Batracomyomachia, folio . Gratiani decretum, folio Postilla super Apocalypsim, 4to Mercurius Trismegistus, 4to . . Ovidii opera, folio Martialis epigram, 4to . Bartholi de Saxo Ferrato lectura, folio . Joann. Mattheei de Gradibus opera me- dica, folio Comment. Servii in Virgil., folio . Angeli de Perusio lectura, folio Virgilius, folio La Fiammetta di Boccaccio, 4to Tractatus Maleficiorum, folio S. Antonini de instruct, confes., 4to Commedia di Dante, folio Roderici speculum, folio . Trionfi di Petrarca, folio Statuta Brixite, folio . Vita di S. Hieronimo, 4to Opus de mysterio missre, 4to . Joan. Fust et Petrus Schceffer. Albert Pfister. Conradus Sweynheym et Arnoldus Pan- nartz. The same printers. Henry et Nic. Bechtermuntze et Wi- gandus Spyes. TJlricus Zell, or Zell d'Hanau. Ginther Zainer, de Reutlingen. Joannes de Spira. Philippus de Lavagna. Joannes Sensenschmidt (1472). Ulricus Gering, M. Crantz et M. Fri- burger, de Colmar, Emilien de Orfinis. Joan. Reynardi. Joan de Verona (1472). Joan. Mentelius (1473). Petrus Drach (1477). Gerardus de Lisa, de Flandria. Balthasar Azzoguidi. Andreas Belfortis. Sixtus Riessinger, de Strasburg. Anton, de Carcano (1476). Bernard Cennini and son. Dion, de Paravesino et Steph. de Mer- linisde Leucho. Jacobus, Baptista Sacerdos et Alexander, Barth. de Valdezochio et Mart, de Sep- tem Arboribus. Petrus- Adam de Michaelibus. Ant. Mathias de Antuerpia et Balthasar Corderius. Fridericus Veronensis. Helias Helye, or de Louffen. Andreas Portiglia. Thomas Ferrandus. Henricus Aiding. Joan. Zainer, de Reutlingen. F PRINTING Dates Names of Towns, &c. 1473 Buda . 1473 Laugingen Mersburg • • 1473 Alost . 1473 Utrecht 1473 Saint Ursio 1474 Viccnza 1474 Como . 1474 Turin 1474 Genoa 1474 Savona 1474 Eslingen . 1474 Basle . 1474 Val Sainte Marie 1474 Valencia . 1474 Louvain 1474 Westminster 1475 Lubeck 1475 Burgdorff . "1475 Blauburren 1475 Cagli . 1475 Casole 1475 Modena . 1475 Perugia 1475 Pieve di Sacco . 1475 Piacentia . 1475 Reggio 1475 Barcelona . 1476 Antwerp . 1476 Bruges 1476 Brussels 1476 Nova Pilzna 1476 Rostock 1476 Pogliano . 1476 Trent . 1476 Lyons 1477 Delft . Deventer • • 1477 Gouda 1477 Angers 1477 Palermo 1477 Ascoli 1477 1477 Seville 1 1478 Cosenza 1 1478 Colle . 1478 Chablis 1478 GrGllCVE • • 1478 Oxford 1478 Prague 1478 Monast. Sorten . 1478 Eichstett . 1479 Wurtzburg 1479 Zwoll . 1479 Nimeguen . 1479 Pignerol 1479 Tusculano . 1479 Toulouse . 1479 Poitiers 1479 Segorba 1480 Oudenarde . 1480 Hasselt 1480 Nonantola . 1480 Beggio 1480 Friuli . 1480 Caen . ... 1480 Saint Albans 1481 Leipsic 1481 Oasal . 1481 Urbino 1481 Vienne, in France 1481 Aurach 1482 Aquila 1482 Erfurt 1482 Memmingen 1482 Passau 1482 lieu tl in gen First Imi ith Certain Date Cronica Hungarorum , folio . S. Aug. de Consensu Evangelistarum, fol, S. Aug. de Qucestionibus Orosii, 4to Speculum conversionis peccator., 4to Historia scholastica novi Testam., folio J. Duns Scotus super tertio sententia- rum, folio Dita mundi, folio Tractatus de appellationibus, folio Breviarium romanum, 8vo Summa Pisanella, folio .... Boethius de Consol. philosophise, 4to Th. de Aquino in Job., folio . Der Sassen Spiegel, folio Breviarium Mogun tin., 4to . Trobes de la S. V. Maria, 4to . Commoda ruralia, folio .... The Game and Playe of the Chesse, folio Rudiinentum Novitiorum, folio Tractatus de apparitionibus, folio . Ob ein Man sey zu nemen Weib, &c. Mafei Vegii, de Morte Astyanactis, 4to . Vita? Sanctorum, 4to .... Virgilius, folio Verulami, de Arte grammatica, 4to Quatuor ordines, hebraice, folio Biblia latina, 4to R. Salomon Jarchi in Pentateuchum, fol. Valasti de Tarenta, de Epidemia, 4to Thesaiu-us pauperum, folio Bocace, du dechiet des nobles, &c, folio Gnotosolitos, folio Statuta synodalia Pragensia, 4to . Lactantii opera, folio .... Petrarca, degli huomini famosi, 4to De obitu pueri Simonis, 4to Legende de Jac. dc Vorages, folio . Biblia, belgice, folio .... Reductorium Bibliaa, folio . . Epistelen en evangel ien, folio . • . Manipulus curatorum, folio . Consuetudines Panormi, 4to . Cronica de S. Tsidoro Menore, 4to . ' . Les triomphes de Petrarque, folio . Sacramentale, 4to Dell' immortalita dell' anima, 4to . Dioscorides, latine, folio .... Des bonnes moeurs, folio Le livre des Saints Anges, folio Expositio in simbolum, 4to . Statuum utraquisticorum articuli, folio . Leonardi Aretini comoedia, &c, folio Summa hostiensis, folio .... Breviarium herbipolense, folio Summulaa Petri Hispani, folio Epistola de privilegiis Ord. Mendicant, 4to Boethius, de Consol. philosophise, folio . iEsopi fabulae, 4to Tractatus de Jure emphyteutico, folio . Breviarium historiale, 4 to Constitutiones synodales, folio Herm. de Petra Sermones, folio Epistelen en Evangelien, 4to . Breviarium romanum, 4to Nic. Perotti Rudim. grain., 4to Platina de honesta voluptate, 4to . Horatii epistolas, 4to .... Laur. Guil. de Saona, Rhetorica nova, 4to Glosa super apocalipsim, 4to . Ovirlii Epist. beroides, folio . Marii Philelphi Epistolarium, 4to . Nic. de Clemangis de Lapsu justitias, 4to LebeTi der Heiligen, folio Vite di Plutareho, folio .... Qua^stiones in libros Arist de auima, 4to Fasciculus temporum, folio Epistola de Morte S. Hieronimi, 4to Summa Pisani, folio .... Names of the First Printers Andreas Hess. No printer's name. Lucas Brandis. Theodoricus Martens. Nicolas Ketelaer et Ger. de Leempt. Joannes de Rheno. Leonardus Achates, de Bale. Ambrosius de Orcho et Dionys. de Para- vicino. Joh. Fabri et Joanninus de Petro. Matthias Moravus et Mich, de Monaco. Bonnus Johannes. Conradus Fyner. Bernardus Richel. Fratres Vitas Communis. Alonso Fernandez de Cordova et L. Pal- mart (1478). Joannes de Westphalia. William Caxton. Lucas Brandis, de Schass. No printer's name. Conradus Mancz. Robertus de Fano et Bernardinus de Bergamo. Jean Fabri. Joan. Vurster, de Campidonia. Henricus Clayn, de Ulm (1476). R. Mescullam, dit Kotzi. Joan. Petrus dc Ferratis. Abraham Garton. Nicolaus Spindeler (1480). Theodoricus Mai'tens, d' Alost. Colard Mansion. Fratres Vitas Communis. No printer's name. Fratres Vitas Communis. Innocentius Ziletus et Felix Antiquarius Hermannus Schindeleyp. Barthol. Buyer. Jacob Jacobs et Maurice Yemants. Richard Paffroet. Gerard Leeu, or Leew. Joan, de Turre et Joan. Morelli. Andreas de Wormatia. Gulielmus de Linis. Barthol. de Civitali. A. M. de la Talla, B. Segura et Alonso del Puerto. Octavianus Salomonius de Manfrcdonia. Joannes Alemanus, de Medemblick. Pierre le Rouge. Adam Steynschawer, de Schuinfordia (1480). Theodore Rood. No printer's name. No printer's name. Michel Reyser. Stephanus Dold, Jeorius Ryser et Joan. Bekenhub. Joannes de Vollehoe. No printer's name. Jacobus de Rubeis. Gabriel Petri. Joannes Teutonicus. J oan.Bouyer et Guillaume Bouchet (1499), No printer's name. Arnoldus Cesaris. No printer's name. Georgius et Anselmus de Mischinis. Barthol. et Laurentius de Bruschis. Gerardus de Flandria. Jac. Durandus et Egidius Quijoue. No printer known. Marcus Brand (1484). Guill. de Canepa Nova, de Campanilibus. Henricus de Colonia (1493). Pierre Schenck. Conradus F) ner. Adam Rotwil. Alemannus. Paulus Wider de Hornbach. Alliertus Kunne. Conradus Stahel, et Bened. Mayr. Johan. Ottmar. PRINTING Dates Names of Towns, &c. First Impression with Certain Date Names of the First Printers 1482 Vienna, in Austria Manipulus Curatornm, 4to . . Joh. Winterburg (1492). 1482 Promentour Doctrinal de Sapience, folio . . . Louis Guerin. 14S3 Magdeburg Officium Missaj, 4to .... Albertus Rauenstein et Joachimus Westval. 1483 Stockholm . Dialogus creaturarum, 4to Joh. Snell. 1483 Ghent Guil, Rhetorica divina, 4to . Arnoldus Cassaris. 1483 Troyes Breviarium Trecence, 8vo . Le chevalier Delibcre, 4to , . . Guil. le Rouge (1492). 1483 Schiedam . No printer known. 1483 Haarlem , . Formula?, Novitiorum, 4to Joh. Andriesson. 1483 Culernburg . Speculum human, sal v., belgice, 4to Jean Veldener. 14S3 Leyden De Cronike van Holland, &c, 4to . Heynricus Heynrici. 1483 Pisa . Franc, de Accoltis consilia, folio . Laurentius et Angelus Florentini (1484). 1484 Bois-le-Duc Toodalus Vj'sioen, 4to .... Ger. Leempt, de Novimagio. 1484 Winterberg Albertus Magnus de Eucharistia . Joannes Alacraw. 1484 Chambery . . Baudoyn, comte de Flandres, folio Antonius Neyret. 1484 Breand-Loudehac Le Songe de la Pucelle, 4to . Robin Foucquet. 1484 Eennes Coustumes de Bretagne, 12mo Pierre Belleesculee et Josses. 1484 Sienna Paul, de Castro, lectura, folio Henri de Colonia. 1484 Soncino Delectus Margaritarum, hebraice, 4to . Josuas Salomon and associates. 1484 Novi . Summa Baptistiniana, 4to Nicpl. Girardengus. 1485 Heidelberg Hugonis Sermones, folio Fridericus Misch (1488). 1485 Ratisbon Liber Missalis Ratisbonnensis, folio Joan. Sensenschmidt et Beckenhaub. 1485 Vercelli Nic. de Auxmo suppl. sum. Pisan., 8vo Jacobinus Suigus de S. Germane 1485 Pescia La Confessione de S. Bern, da Sienna, 4to Franc. Cenni. 1485 Udino . Nic. Perotti Rudim. grammat., 4to Gerardus de Flandria. 1485 Burgos And. Guterii opus Grammatic, folio Fridericus de Basilea. 1485 Zaragoza . Epistolas y Evangelios, folio . Paulus Hurus. 1485 Salamanca . Medicinas de la Peste, 4to Antonius de Barreda (1498). 1486 Abbeville . La Cite" de Dieu de S. Aug., folio . Jean Dupre et Pierre Gerard. 1486 Brunn Agenda Chori Olomucensis, 4to Conradus Stahel et Mattheus Preinlein (1491). 1486 Munster Rudolphi Langi Carmina, 4to Joannes Limburgus. 1486 Schleswig . Missale Sleswicence, folio Stephanus Arndes. 1486 Casale Maggiore Machasor, hebraicd, 4to .... No printer known. 1486 Chivasio Angeli de Clavasio summa, 4to Jacobinus Suigus. 1486 Voghera Alex, de Immola postilke, folio Jacobus de Sancto-Nazario. 1486 Toledo Petri Ximenez confutatorium, 4to Joannes Vasqui (Vazquez). 1487 Besancon . Liber de Pestilensia, 4to Formulario epistolare, 4to Jean Comtet. 1487 Gaeta A. F. (Andreas Fritag). 1487 Valeria El Valerio de las hist, de Espana, folio . Jean de Roca. 1487 Rouen Croniques de Normandie, folio Guillaume le Talleur. 1487 Ischar (Ixar) II. Ordo Arba Turim, hebraice, folio . Eliezer, Alius Alanta. 1488 Tarragona . El conde Partenoples, 8vo Joan. Rosembach (1499). 1488 Viterbo Servii honorati de Metrorum Gener, 8vo No printer known. 148!) Hagenau . Cornutus Joan. Garlandia, 4to Henricus Gran. 1489 Kuttenberg Biblia, Bohemice, folio .... Martin Van Tischniowa. 1489 Lerida Petri de Castrovol, in libros nat. Arist., No printer known. 1489 S. Cucufate El Abad Isach de Religione, 4to . No printer known. 1489 Lisbon Rabbi M. Nachmanidis in Pent., folio . Samuel Zorba et Raban Eliezer. 1490 Orleans Manipulus curatorum, 4to Matthieu Vivian. 1490 Ingolstadt . Rosarium celestis curiae, folio Joan. Kachelofen. 1490 Porto Statuta commun. Ripperias, folio . Barthol. Zanni. 1490 Z amor a Los Evangelios desde Adviento, &c, folio No printer known. "1491 Dijon . Cisterc. ord. privilegia, 4to . Petrus Metlinger. 1491 Angouleme Auctores VIII., Cato, Facetus, &c, 4to No printer known. 1491 Hamburg . Laudes B. M. Virg., folio Joh. et Thomas Borchard. 1491 Nozani P. Turretini disputatio Juris, folio Henri de Colonia et Henri d'Harlem. 1492 Dole . Joan. Heberling de Epidemia, 4to . No printer known. 1492 Leii'ia . Pro verbia Salom., hebraice, folio . Abraham Dortas. 1492 Zinna Psalterium B. M. V., 4to No printer known. 1493 Alba . Alex, de Villa doctrinale, folio No printer known. 1493 Clvtgni Missale Cluniacense, folio Michael Wenssler. 1493 Friburg S. Bonav. in IV. sen tent., folio Kilianus Piscator. 1493 Luneburg . Th. a Kempis, de Imit. Christi, 8vo Joan. Luce. 1493 Nantes Les Lunettes des Princes, 8vo Etienne Larcher. 1493 Copenhagen Reguke de fig. construct, grammat. , 4to Gothofridus de Ghemen. 1494 Oppenheim Wigandi Wirt Dialogus apolog., &c, 4to No printer known. 1495 Fori! . Nic. Ferretti de Elegantia linguas latinse Hieroriymus Medesanus. 1495 Freisingen . Compendiosa mat. pro Juven. inform., 4to Joan. Schaemer. 1495 Limoges . , Breviarium Lemovicence, 8vo Joan. Berton. 1495 Scandiano . Appianus, folio Peregrinus de Pasqualibus. 1495 Schoenhoven , Breviarium Trajecter.se, folio No printer known. 1496 Barco Selicoth, hebraice, folio .... Gerson Mentzlen. 1496 Offenburg . Quadragesimale de Litio, 4to . No printer known. 1496 Proving La Regie des Marchands, 4to . Guill. Tavernier. 1496 Tours . La vie de St. Martin, folio Matthieu Lateron. 1496 Pampeluna Petri de Castrovole sup. lib. Yconom. Arist., folio Arnaldus Guillen. 1496 Granada Franc. Ximenes de Vita Christ, folio . Menardus Ungut. 1497 Avignon Luciani Palinurus, &c, 4to . Nicol. Lepe. 1497 Carmagnola Facini Tibergaa in Alex, de villa, &c. . No printer known. 1498 Tubingen . Pauli lectura in primum Senten., folio . Jean. Ottmar. 67 f 2 PRINTING Dates Names of Towns, &c. First Impression with Certain Date Names of the First Printers 1499 1499 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 (1500) 1475 (1500) (1500) Treguier . Montserrat Cracow Munich Olmutz Pfortzheim Perpignan . Jaen, or Gien . Savillano . Albia . Bhenen Le Catholicon, folio .... Missale Benedictinum, folio . Ciceronis rhetor, libri IV., 4to Aug. Mundii oratio, 4to .... Aug. de Olomvoz contra Waldenses, 4to Joan. Altenstaig vocabularius Breviarium Elncnsc, 8vo Petri Dagui, tractatus de differentiis . Manipulus curatorum, folio . EneiB Sylvii de amoris remedio, 4to Dat leeven van H. maget S. Kunera No printer known. Joan. Luchner Alemannus. (Joannes Haller). Joannes Schobser. Conradus Bomgathem. Thomas Anselmus Badensis. J. Bosembach de Heidelberg. No printer's name. Christoph. Beggiamo et J. Glim. No printer's name. No printer's name. The first book in which Greek types occur is Cicero's Offices, printed in the year 1465, in which the characters are so imperfect that the •words are with difficulty deciphered ; but the first work printed wholly with Greek types is a Greek Grammar written by the learned Con- stantine Lascaris, printed in Milan by Dionysius Paravisinus, in 1476, in 4to. It went through several editions in Italy, France, and Switzer- land. One of them, that of Aldus, printed in Venice in 1495, is the first Aldine book printed with a date. One of the most elegant spe- cimens of ancient Greek typography, valued not only for its beauty, but also for its rarity and the accuracy of its text, is the Argonautica, Flor. ap. Junta, 1500, 4to. editio princeps. It was not unusual for the early printers of Greek as well as of other works, to endeavour to imitate the characters of the MSS. of the age. In this they were more or less successful. An exceedingly beautiful specimen of this kind of printing is the editio princeps of Isocrates, Orat. a Demetrio Chalcondyla, Gr. Mediol. ap. Henr. Germanus et Sebastianus ex Pontremula, 1493, fol. The text of this edition is said to be remarkably accurate. Fabricius considers it more exact than that of the Aldine edition of 1513. The first Greek book printed in Rome was Pindari Opera, Gr. cum Scholiis Callieggi, Rome, 1515, 4 to. This is also remarkable as the first edition with the Scholia. The first Greek work printed at Cambridge was Plato's Menexenus, sivc Funebris Oratio, exhortatio ad Patriam amandam atqiie defendcndam, Cantab. Greek types were not introduced into Scotland till after the middle of the sixteenth century. In a 4to. volume printed at Edinburgh in 1563, entitled, The Confutation of the Abbote of Cros- ragueVs Masse, there is an Epistle from the Printer to the Reader, apologising for his want of Greek characters, which he was obliged to supply by manuscript. The first work printed with Roman types was Cicero's Epistolce ad, Fami- liares, by Sweynheym and Pannartz, at Rome, in 1467. Italic type was invented by Aldus Manutius, about 1500. Italy has the honour also of having printed the first Hebrew Bible, at Soncino, a small city in the duchy of Milan, in 1488, under the superintendence of two Jewish rabbins, named Joshua and Moses The edition of Brescia, of 1494, was used by Luther in making his German translation. But Hebrew types were not introduced into Eng- land for many years after this period ; for we find that in 1524, Dr. Robert Wakefield, chap- lain to Henry VIII., complains, in his Oratio de Laudibus, &c, that he was obliged to omit his whole third part, as the printer (Wynkyn de Worde) had no Hebrew types. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, various works were printed in Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Ar- menian, and Coptic, or modern Egyptian types ; some to gratify the curiosity of the learned, and others for the liturgic uses of the Christians in the Levant. Printing in England. — Until about the period of the Restoration, William Caxton was uni- versally acknowledged to have introduced the art of printing into this country, in or about the year 1471. But, in 1664, Richard Atkyns, in a work called The Original and Growth of Printing, Sfc, brought before the notice of the curious a little book, printed at Oxford, bearing the date 1468, three years before the period usually assigned to the labours of Caxton. This work took literary men by surprise, and gave rise to the most violent discussions. It is related by Atkyns that a Dutchman of the name of Frederic Corsellis was induced to desert his employers in the Low Countries, and that one Richard Tumour, an agent of King Henry VI., assisted by William Caxton, who was well known in Holland as a merchant and therefore likely to throw the jealous possessors of the new art off their guard, brought him to England, where at Oxford he was set to work by Archbishop Bourchier, ten years before the date of Caxton' s first book. The title of Corsellis' volume is Exposicio Sancti Jeronimi in Simbolum Apos- tolorum ad Papam Laurentiaon. And at the end Explicit Exposicio, 8(c. Impressa Oxonioe, et finita anno Domini MCCCCLXVIII. xvn. die Decembris. The silence of Caxton. how- ever, on a subject in which he took the utmost interest, and on a transaction in which he is said to have been an important actor, is a strong argument against the authenticity of the story. Indeed, M. Santander (vol. i. p. 328) does not for a moment entertain the pretensions of Corsellis, and agrees with Dr. Middleton in considering that the date MCCCCLXVIII. ought to have been MCCCCLXXVIIL, an X having been by accident omitted by the com- positor : ' Voila ce que Richard Atkyns imagina, et les moyens dont il se servit, en 1664, pour soutenir contre le corps des libraires de Lon- dres, que l'imprimerie etait un droit de la couronne cn Anglctcrro. Mais lo docteur Middleton, dans sa Dissertation sur V Origine de V Imprimerie en Angleterre, imprim6e a Cam- bridge en 1735, in 4°, a prouve demonstrative- ment que l'impression d'Oxford, de VExpo- sitio 8. Jeronimi in Simbolum Apostolorum, est de Tan 1478, le compositeur ayant omis un X dans la date de la souscription (faute typo- graphique dont nous avons plusicurs exemples dans les impressions du XV e siecle).' In a Bible at Augsburg, the last two figures in the date 1449 have been transposed, and should stand 1494. Other mistakes of a like nature are mentioned by Chevillier, Orlandi, Koelhoff, and Palmer ; and amongst other similar blunders Dr. Middleton points out the following : 4 Whilst I am now writing, an unexpected instance has fallen into my hands, to the support of my opinion ; an Inauguration Speech of the Wood- wardian Professor, Mr. Mason, just fresh from the press, with its date given ten years earlier than it should have been, by the omission of an X, viz. MDCCXXIV. ; the very blunder exemplified in the last piece printed at Cam- bridge, which I suppose to have happened in the, first from Oxford.' Whether, however, Caxton was or was not the first English printer, it is quite certain that he was the first who made use of cast metal types, the works of Corsellis having been executed PRINTING with merely wooden ones. During a long residence abroad, ho had acquired a practical knowledge of the art ; and on his return to England in 1471, set up a press in an old chapel of Westminster Abbey ; and was for many years engaged in translating and printing books on a variety of subjects. His first work is, Le Iiecueil des Histoires de Troyes of Kaoul le Eevre, chaplain to the duchess of Burgundy ; but The Bides and Sayinges of the Philosophers is the earliest book known to have issued from his press with the date and place of printing ; and we have no proof whatever that his six earlier works were printed in this country. Indeed it is stated in the life of Caxton, in Ames's Typ. Antiquities, p. xcv., that the French and English editions of the Histories of Troy are justly ' admitted to have been printed abroad.' Caxton' s types, as well as those of most of the early printers, were the Gothic, or black letter characters, mixed with a kind of secre- tary hand, and having the characteristics found in English MSS. of a period anterior to the Conquest. A facsimile of his types is here given from the dedication to the Game and Playe of the Chesse, showing the formation of his "letters, and proving to our mind that, as compared with those of the Oxford printer Corsellis, they have an undoubted claim to greater antiquity. It will be seen that Caxton' s d at the end of a word is very singular, resembling the letters in the MSS. referred to ; and that, instead of commas and periods, he used an oblique stroke thus /, still used in German books. Like other printers of his time, he never used any direction or catch words, and rarely numbered his leaves, and never his pages. He distinguished his books by a device, consisting of the initial let- ters of his name and a cypher for 74, the date of his introduction of the art into England. Caxton is said to have printed 64 books ; and was followed by his pupils or assistants, Theo- dore Bood, John Lettou. William Machilmia, and Wynkyn de Worde, all foreigners, and Thomas Hunt, an Englishman. All these pio- neers of the art worthily maintained the honour of their master's name ; and Wynkyn de Worde is especially remarkable for his improvements and typographical excellence, and as having been the first printer in England who introduced the Boman letter. He printed 410 works. The spirit and taste of the patrons of the first printers are shown in the character of their 60 earliest works, religious books and romances constituting the greater part of the productions of the father of English printing. But the art, although at first countenanced by the_ clergy, was soon looked upon with extreme jealousy by the hierarchy. Efforts were made towards the publication of the Bible; but for the first sixty or seventy years all copies of the Scriptures were printed in the Latin or some other language not understood by the gene- rality of the people. A new era had, however, arrived. The doctrines of the Beformation had inspired the people with a strong desire to pos- sess Bibles. Wickliffe's translation was never printed. The part of the Sacred Writings in the English language first produced by the printing press, was the New Testament, trans- lated by William Tindal, assisted by Miles Coverdale, afterwards bishop of Exeter : _ it was printed at Antwerp, in 1526; but as it gave offence to Wolsey and the clergy, the whole impression was bought up and burnt The first complete English Bible printed by author- ity, was Tindal' s version, revised and compared PRINTING with the original by Coverdale, and afterwards examined by Cranmer, who wrote a preface for it. Of this edition, hence called ' Cranmer's Bible,' 500 copies were printed by Grafton and "Whitchurch, to whom Henry VIII., in letters patent dated November 13, 1539, granted the sole right of printing the Bible for five years. It was ordered by royal proclamation to be set up in all churches throughout the kingdom, under a penalty of 405. a month in every case of neglect. So great was the demand for copies of the Scriptures in the sixteenth cen- tury, that we have in existence 326 editions of the English Bible, or parts of the Bible, printed between 1526 and 1600. The progress of the art in the first century of its existence was remarkable ; but the ear- liest English printers did not attempt what the Continental ones were doing for the ancient classics. 'Down to 1540, no Greek book had appeared from an English press ; Oxford had only printed a part of Cicero's epistles ; Cambridge, no ancient writer whatever. Only three or four old Roman writers had been reprinted, at that period, throughout England. But a great deal was done for public instruction by the course which our early printers took ; for, as one of them says : " Divers famous clerks and learned men translated and made many noble works into our English tongue, whereby there was much more plenty and abundance of English used than there was in times past." The English nobility were, probably, for more than the first half-century of English printing, the great encouragers of our press : they required translations and abridgements of the classics, versions of French and Italian romances, old chronicles, and helps to devout exercises. Caxton and his successors abundantly supplied these wants, and the im- pulse to most of their exertions was given by the growing demand for literary amusement on the part of the great. Caxton, speaking of his Boke Eneydos, says : " This present book is not for a rude nplandish man to labour therein, nor read it ; but only for a clerk and a noble gentleman, that feeleth and understandeth in feats of arms, in love, and in noble chivalry." But a great change was working in Europe ; the " rude uplandish man," if he gave promise of talent, was sent to school. The priests strove with the laity for the education of the people ; and not only in Protestant but in Catholic countries schools and universities were everywhere founded. Here, again, was a new source of employment for the press — A, B, C's, or Absies, Primers, Catechisms, Grammars, Dictionaries, M'ere multiplied in every direction. Books became, also, during this period, the tools of professional men. There were not many works of medicine, but a great many of law. The people, too, required instruction in the ordinances they were called upon to obey ; and thus the statutes, mostly written in French, were translated and abridged by Rastell, our first law-printer. ' After all this rush of the press of England 70 towards the diffusion of existing knowledge, it began to assist in the production of new works, but in very different directions. Much of the poetry of the sixteenth century, which our press spread around, will last for ever : its con- troversial divinity has, in great part, perished. Each, however, was a natural supply, arising out of the demand of the people ; as much as the chronicles, and romances, and grammars were a natural supply ; and as the almanacks, and mysteries, and ballads, which the people then had, were a natural supply. Taken al- together, the activity of the press of England, during the first period of our enquiry, was very remarkable. Ames and Herbert have re- corded the names of 350 printers in England and Scotland, or of foreign printers engaged in producing books for England, that flourished between 1471 and 1600. The same authors have recorded the titles of nearly 10,000 distinct works printed amongst us during the same period. Many of these works, however, were only single sheets ; but, on the other hand, there are, doubtless, many not here re- gistered. Dividing the total number of books printed during these 130 years, we find that the average number of distinct works produced each year was 75.' {Penny Magazine.') In the sixteenth century the broils conse- quent on the Reformation, although that event stimulated religious enquiry, did much to impede the progress of the art in England. But the civil wars and the gloomy religious spirit which succeeded to the pedantry and verbal criticism of the reign of James I., and which prevailed till the Restoration, interrupted still more the production of works calculated to cultivate the understanding. Indeed, we cannot but regard this period as the least favourable to the diffusion of knowledge of any period in the history of our literature. In the British Museum is a collection of controversial and quibbling tracts amounting to the enor- mous number of 30,000, while the impressions of new books printed during these stormy times were very few. Dr. Johnson has well remarked that the nation, from 1623 to 1664, was satis- fied with two editions of Shakspeare's plays, which, probably, together did not amount to a thousand copies. But during this period we must not forget the present authorised version of the Bible, translated by the forty-seven distinguished scholars appointed by James I., and printed in 1611, which is allowed by com- petent judges to be one of singular merit, and indeed the most perfect ever produced. An unfavourable effect was also produced on our national litei'ature, and on the progress of the press, by the licentiousness introduced by the literary parasites and courtesans of the Re- storation. Under such a state of mental depression, Milton could obtain only 15/. for the MS. of his immortal Paradise Lost, and an Act of Parliament was actually in force enacting that only twenty printers should practise their art in the whole kingdom ! Burton, who lived near this time, has drawn a miserable picture PRINTING of the abject condition of literary men when they had such patrons to rely upon: ' Rhe- toric only serves them to curse their bad for- tunes; and many of them, for want of means, are driven to hard shifts. From grasshoppers they turn humble-bees and wasps, plain para- sites, and make the Muses mules, to satisfy their hunger-starved paunches and get a meal's meat.' In addition to these impediments, the crown j endeavoured, in the reign of Charles II., to destroy the activity of the press ; ' and in this it had the example not only of all former reigns (in which nothing had been legally J published without a license), but of the Long Parliament itself, which had laid severe re- 1 strictions upon the printing of " scandalous and unlicensed papers." At one time, indeed, it I was ordered that no printing should be carried on anywhere but in the city of London, and | the two universities ; and all London printers j ■were to enter into a bond of 30GV. not to print anything against the government, or without j the name of the author (or at least of the licenser) on the title-page, in addition to their own.' (Eccleston's English Antiquities, p. 325.) j Speaking of the consequent scarcity of books in country places in the year 1685, Lord Macaulay {History of England) says : — 'Literature which could be carried by the post bag then formed the greater part of the intellectual nutriment ruminated by the country divines and country justices. The difficulty and expense of conveying large packets from place to place was so great, that an extensive work was longer in making its way from Pa- ternoster Row to Devonshire or Lancashire than it now is in reaching Kentucky. How scantily a rural parsonage was then furnished, even with books the most necessary to a theologian, has already been remarked. The houses of the gentry were not more plentifully supplied. Few knights of the shire had li- braries so good as may now perpetually be found in a servants' hall, or in the back parlour of a small shopkeeper. An esquire passed among his neighbours for a great scholar, if Hudibras and Baker s Chronicle, Tarltons Jests and the Seven Champions of Christendom, lay in his hall window among the fishing rods and fowling pieces. No cir- culating library, no book society, then existed even in the capital ; but in the capital those students who could not afford to purchase largely had a resource. The shops of the great booksellers, near Saint Paul's Church- yard, were crowded every day and all day long with readers ; and a known customer was often permitted to carry a volume home. In the country there was no such accommodation ; and every man was under the necessity of buying whatever he wished to read.' And he adds in a note that ' Cotton seems, from his Angler, to have found room for his whole library in his hall window ; and Cotton was a man of letters. Even wdien Franklin first visited London in 1724, circulating libraries were unknown there. 71 ^sellers' shops in Little (I by Roger North in his The crowd at i h Britain is menti Life of his brother Job It has been ascertained by counting that the whole number of books printed during the fourteen years from 1660 to 1680, was 3,550, of which 947 were divinity, 420 law, and 15;} physic, so that two-fifths of the whole were professional books ; 397 were school-books, and 253 on subjects of geography and navi- gation, including maps. Taking the aver- age of these fourteen years, the total number of works produced yearly was 253 ; but de- ducting the reprints, pamphlets, single ser- mons, and maps, we may fairly assume that the yearly average of new books was much under 100. Of the number of copies con- stituting an edition we have no record ; we apprehend it must have been small, for the price of a book, so far as we can ascertain it, was considerable. The period from the accession of George III. to the close of the eighteenth century is marked by the rapid increase of the demand for popu- lar literature, rather than by any prominent features of originality in literary production. Periodical literature spread on every side ; newspapers, magazines, reviews, were multi- plied ; and the old system of selling books by hawkers was extended to the rural district's and small provincial towns. Of those thus produced, the quality, with a few exceptions, was indifferent, and their cost was considerable. The principle, however, was then first developed, of extending the market, by coming into it at regular intervals with fractions of a book, so that the humblest customer might lay by each week in a savings-bank of knowledge. This was an important step, which has produced great effects, but which is even now capable of a much more universal application than it has ever yet received. Smollett's History of England was one of the most successful number-books ; it sold to the extent of 20,000 copies. We may exhibit the rapid growth of the publication of new books, by examining the catalogues of the latter part of the eighteenth century, passing over the earlier years of the reign of George III. In the Modern Cata- logue of Books, from 1792 to the end of 1802, eleven years, we find that 4,096 new works were published, exclusive of reprints not al- tered in price, and also exclusive of pamphlets. Deducting one-fifth for reprints, we have an average of 372 new books per year. This is a prodigious stride beyond the average of 93 per year of the previous period. But we are not sure that onr literature was in a more healthy condition. From some cause or other, the selling price of books had increased, ift most cases 50 per cent., in others 100 per cent. The 2s. 6d. duodecimo had become is. ; the 65. octavo, 10s. 6d. ; and the 12s. quarto, 1/. Is. It would appear from this that the exclusive market was principally sought for new books ; that the publishers of novelties did not rely PRINTING upon the increasing number of readers ; and that the periodical works constituted the prin- cipal supply of the many. The aggregate in- crease of the commerce in books must, how- ever, have become enormous, when compared with the previous fifty years; and the effect was highly beneficial to the literary charac- ter. The age of patronage was gone. {Penny Magazine.) According to the last census, upwards of 30,000 persons are employed in printing, and 12,000 in bookbinding. Printing in Scotland. — Printing was intro- duced into Scotland, and begun in Edinburgh, about thirty years after Caxton had brought it into England. Mr. Watson, in his History of Printing, says that the art was introduced into Scotland from the Low Countries by the priests who fled thither from the persecutions at home. Be this as it may, we find James IV. granting a patent in 1507 to Walter Chapman, a mer- chant of Edinburgh, and Andrew Mollar, a workman, to establish a press in that city. According to bibliographers, the most ancient specimen of printing in Scotland extant is a collection, entitled the Porteus of Nobleness, Edinburgh. In 1509, a Breviary of the Church of Aberdeen was printed at Edinburgh ; and a second part in the following year. Very few works, however, appear to have issued from the Scottish press for the next thirty years; but from 1541, the date from which we find James V. granting licenses to print, the art has been pursued with success in the metropolis. At present, and from the beginning of the present century, it is perhaps the most distinguished craft in the city, being conducted in all its departments of typefound- ing, printing, publishing, and, we may add, paper-making at the mills in the vicinity. Ireland. — Printing was not known in Ireland till about the year 1551, when a book in black letter was issued from a press in Dublin ; but till the year 1700, very little printing was exe- cuted in that country, and until very recently Ireland had acquired little celebrity in this department of the arts, although possessing some respectable printing establishments. America. — The art of printing has readily taken root and flourished among the civilised inhabitants of North America. The first printing press established in the American colonies was one set up at Cambridge, in Massachusetts, in the year 1638, the era of the foundation of Harvard College. It was established by the exertions and joint con- tributions of different individuals in Europe and America; and there is no doubt that the mechanism and types were imported from England. The first work which issued from this press was the Freeman's Call, and the second the Almanac for New England, both in 1639; the first book printed was the New England version of the Psalms, an octavo volume of 300 pages. In 1676, books began to be printed at Boston; in 1686, the art became known in Philadelphia ; and in 1693, 7 '2 in New York. In the year 1700 there were only four printing presses in the colonies. Since that period, and especially since the revolution, which removed everything like a censorship of the press, the practice of the art has undergone enormous expansion. Among the occupations enumerated in the census of 1850 were 14,740 printers, and 3,414 book- binders. In their style of typography and bookmaking, the Americans are still inferior to the English, sacrificing beauty and durability to economy and despatch. {Chambers's Inform.) France. — The activity of the French press has very greatly increased since the time of the first Napoleon. Count Daru, in 1827 {Notions Statistiques sur la Librairie), estimated the number of printed sheets (exclusive of newspapers) produced by the French press in 1816, at 66,852,883; and it appears that in 1836 the number of printed sheets (exclusive of newspapers) had increased to 118,857,000; so that it may now be fairly estimated at from 130,000,000 to 140,000,000 sheets. The qua- lity of many of the works which have issued from the French press is also very superior, such as the Biographie Universelle, the Art de verifier les Bates, and Bayle's Bictionary ; and it is doubted whether such books could have been published in any other country. Germany. — The German printing press is always in a state of the greatest activity ; the trade in books being very much facilitated by the book fairs of Leipsic, the Easter fair espe- cially being frequented by all the booksellers of Germany, besides those of France, Switzer- land, Denmark, Livonia, &c, in order to settle their mutual concerns and form new con- nections. In 1814 began a literary deluge, which still continues to increase. For the 5,000 works which then sufficed for the annual demand, we have now from 6,000 to 8,000. Private libraries are diminishing, and the public ones are daily increasing. In Austria the printing press has made rapid strides of late years. The Imperial printing office in Vienna, under the able management of M. Auer, has become an establishment of the highest interest. At the Exhibition of 1851, he presented to the notice of the public a collection of the Lord's Prayer, printed with Koman type in 608 languages and dialects, the second section of which contained 206 lan- guages and dialects, printed in the characters proper to the languages of their respective nations. He has collected together the follow- ing founts, many of which are, however, to be found in the British type foundries : — Hieroglyphic. Hieratic. Demotic. Ethiopic and Amliaric. Himyaritic. Hirnyaritie (ornamented'). Palmyric. Estrangelo. Syriac Cufic. Arabic, Neschi. Mauritania. Cabylie, American inscript. Phenician (ornamented). Touaric and Thugga. Punic. Ancient Hebrew. Numidian. Samaritan. Etrurian. Hebrew. Ancient Italian. Raschi, or Rabbinic. Runic. German Hebrew. Gothic. German Raschi. Celtic. Hebrew, Spanish, Levantine. Celtic (new shape). Aramaic. Anglo-Saxon. Chaldcu. Ancient Greek. PRINTING Crick. Coptic Ciryllic. Ciryllic (differently shaped). Russian, Servian, Wallachian. Glagolitic. Albanian. Albanian (differently shaped). Lycian. Armenian. Georgian. Georgian (ccclcsiast. letters). rerscpolitau cuneiform letters. Tehlvi. Zend. Cabul. Pcguan. Oldest Ind. signs. Western Grotto inscription. Acoka inscription. Inscription of Guzerat. Dynasty of Gupta (Allahabad). Bengali. Ahoni. Tibetan. Passopa. Kutila (ten years after Christ). Dcvanagari (Sanscr. No. 1). Devanagari (Sanscr. No. 2). Kashmerian. Sikh. Assam inscript. Mahratta. Orissa. Gujeratee. Kayti-Nagari. nandscha. Band8chin>Mola< Mnltan. Sindhee. Nerbudda. Kistna. Telinga. Karnata. Tamul. Malayalim. Cingalese. Maldivian. Javanese. Kiousa. New Pali (No. 1.) Now Pali (No. 2). Siamese. Kambogo (with joint and with- out). Laos. Birmese. Shyan. Bugis. Bisaya. Batta. Tagala. Mongolese. Mandschu. Chinese. Coreanic. Formosan. Japanese (Katakana No. l\ Japanese (Katakana No. 2). Russia. — The art was not introduced into Russia till the year 1560, when it was made known by a Russian merchant, who conveyed thither the materials of a printing office, with which many neat editions were printed. But as the Russians are a very superstitious nation and apt to raise scruples without any founda- tion, some of them, apprehending that printing might make some confusion or change in their religion, hired men to destroy the types and presses. No attempt was made to repair this injury or to discover the perpetrators of the fact. However, since that time they have admitted the press into Moscow and St. Peters- burg, where until recently it made but slow progress. Peculiarities of Early Printed Books. — The following are the points peculiar to the earliest productions of the first printers : — Their forms were generally either large or small folio, or at least quarto : the lesser sizes were not in use. The leaves were without running title, direction- word, number of pages, or divisions into paragraphs. The character itself was a rude old Gothic mixed with secretary, designed on purpose to imitate the hand-writing of those times; the words were printed so close to one another, that it was difficult and tedious to be read, even by those who were used to manuscripts, and to this method; and often led the inattentive reader into mistakes. Their orthography was various and often arbitrary, disregarding method. They had very frequent abbreviations, which in time grew so numerous and difficult to be understood, that it became necessary to write a book to teach the mode of reading them. Their periods were distinguished by no other points than the double or single one, that is, the colon and full-point; but a little after, they introduced an oblique stroke, thus, /, which answered the purpose of our comma. They used no capital letters to begin a sen- tence, or for proper names of men or places. 73 They left blank spaces for titles, and initial letters or other ornaments, in order to have them supplied by the illuminators, whose art, though in vogue before and at that time, did not long survivo the improvements made \>y the printers in this branch of their art. [Illu- mination, Art of.] These ornaments were, exquisitely fine, and curiously variegated with the most beautiful colours, and even with gold and silver ; the margins likewise were fre- quently charged with every variety of figures of saints, birds, beasts, monsters, flowers, &c, which had sometimes a relation to the contents of the page, though often none at all. These embellishments were costly; but for those who could not afford a great price, there were inferior ornaments, which could be done at a much cheaper rate. The name of the printer, his place of re- sidence, &c. &c, were either wholly omitted, or put at the end of the book, not without some pious ejaculation or doxology. The date was likewise omitted or involved in some cramped circumstantial period, or else printed either at full length, or by numerical letters, and sometimes partly one way and partly the other; thus, One Thousand CCCC and lxxiiii. &c, but always at the end of the book. There was no variety of characters, no inter- mixture of Roman and Italic, these being of later invention ; but their pages were con- tinued in a G-othic letter of the same size throughout. They printed but few copies at once, for 200 or 300 was then esteemed a large impression ; but upon encouragement from the learned, they increased their numbers in proportion. Types. — Although most of the early printers were type-founders themselves, it does not appear in any prologue or colophon to the books printed by Caxton that he lays claim to the title of type-founder. It would appear that he obtained his type, which is precisely of the same character as that of John Brito of Bruges, from that city, or from the same founders who supplied or manufactured it for John Valdener of Utrecht. But as the art extended, the work- manship became inferior; so that while the productions of the first printers were executed in a very superior style, and the embellish- ments showed a great proficiency both in design and engraving, the productions of their com- petitors had all the crudeness and imperfection of a new invention ; and in the seventeenth century the art sank into a very low state. At the commencement of the eighteenth cen- tury, Caslon made great improvements in cast- ing types; as also Baskerville of Birmingham, in 1750, both in types and printing, which were subsequently carried to great perfection by Besley, Bulmer, Clowes, Corrall, Davison, McCreery, Spottiswoode, "Whittingham, and a few others in London ; by the Foulis, in Glas- gow ; by the Ballantynes, in Edinburgh ; by Bodoni at Parma ; by Didot in Paris ; and by Brockhaus in Leipsic. PPJNTING Practice of Printing. — Two classes of workmen are generally employed in printing : viz. compositors, who set up the types into lines and pages according to the MS. or copy fur- nished by the author ; and pressmen, who apply ink to the surface of the form of types, and take off the impressions upon paper. The pressmen who work steam presses are called machine minders. The following is the mode of proceeding adopted in most of the extensive establish- ments in London : The first thing done, when the sizes of page, type, and paper, are de- termined on, is to look over the MS., and see that it is correctly paged. It is then handed to a clicker, or foreman of a com- panionship, or certain number of compositors, each of whom has a taking of copy, or con- venient portion of MS., given to him, to be set up in type. Printers' types are of great variety in size, amounting to forty or fifty ; the smallest is Up called brilliant, but is seldom used; diamond is a size larger, and pearl larger still, which latter type is used for printing the smallest Bibles and Prayer Books. The larger sizes, used for printing bills posted in the streets, are usually called double pica, two-line pica, two-line English, jive-line pica, ten-line pica, and so on. A complete assort- ment of printing types of one size is called a fount, and the fount may be regulated to any weight. Type-founders have a scale, or bill, as it is called, of the proportional quantity of each letter required for a fount, the letter e being more frequently used than other letters. A full account of printers' types is given under the heading Type. Each compositor works at a kind of desk, called a frame, and generally has a frame to himself. The frames project laterally from the wall, with a left-hand light. Each frame is constructed to hold two pairs of cases, upper and lower, at the top. The types are arranged, iper. A B C D E F G A B c E F G H I K L M N O H , | K L M N j O P Q R S T V W P Q R S X V W X Y Z JE (E J u Y z JE (E J U a e i 6 u a e i 6 U § t 1 2 3 4 5 6 e j i 6 U 1! t 8 9 0 £ 9 H.S. k a e s 6 u If # Lower. c ae oe ' j e Thin Sp. ( ? ! n b c d i 8 f g ft" fi ffl 1 m n h o y P > w in em z V u t Spaces. a r q Quadr. X each sort by itself, in little cells or boxes. The used so frequently as the smaller letters ; and upper case, having ninety-eight boxes, all of in the lower case, which has fifty-four boxes of equal size, contains the capital and small capital four different sizes, are disposed the small let- letters, figures, accents, and other types not ters, together with the points, spaces, quadrats, 74 immn TING &c. Tho boxes in the cases are arranged in the best possible manner for facilitating the work of the compositor, and enabling him to pick up the types rapidly, the letters most frequently used being placed nearest to his hand ; thus the point to which he brings the letters, after picking them out of their cells, is not far removed from the centre of the lower case ; so that in a range of about six inches on every side he can obtain the c, d, e, i, s, m, n, h, o, p, u, t, a, and r. The spaces required for the division between every word lie close to his hand, at the bottom of the central division of the lower case. The cases, particularly the upper case, are placed in a sloping position, that the compositor may the more readily reach the upper boxes. The diagrams on p. 74 ex- hibit a pair of cases arranged according to the modern method. The compositor stands opposite to his cases ; and, having received directions respecting tho size of the type, the width of the page, the author's wishes as to punctuation, capitals, italics, &c, places his copy before him, on a spare part of the upper case, and holds in his left hand a small instrument called a com- posing stick, usually made of iron, with a movable slide, capable, by means of a screw, of being adjusted to the different widths re- quired in miscellaneous printing, as seen in the illustration. Having adjusted his stick to tho proper width or measure, he lays in it a setting rule, or smooth piece of brass, the width of the measure, and the height of the type. With the right hand he now picks up the types, and arranges, or sets, them one by one in his com- posing stick. He does not look at the face of each, but only glances at the nick (see cut in art. Type), and takes for granted that if it come from the right box it must be the right letter. He secures each letter with the thumb of the left hand, as the types are placed side by side in line from left to right ; and, when he comes to the end of his line, and finds that he has a syllable or word which will not fill out the measure, he has to perform a task which requires considerable care and taste. This is called justification. The first and last letters must be at the extre- mities of the line ; and there must not be wide spaces between some words and crowding in others, but the distances between them must be made as nearly as possible uniform by changing the spaces (or short blank types, not so high as the letters, and therefore giving no impression), and thus getting in or driving out part or the whole of a word. The first line being thus justified, the compositor proceeds with the setting up of the next, and so on with a suffi- cient number of lines to fill his stick, and then, clasping the stickful by the rule and between the thumbs and' first and second fingers of both hands, lifts the mass of types out of the stick, and places it upon a galley, or oblong tray of wood or metal, having an edge at the left side and top half an inch in height. This operation of filling and emptying the stick is repeated till the galley is sufficiently full, or the taking of copy is finished ; when the matter, as it is then called, is taken away by the clicker, who divides it into the required lengths of pages, placing head-lines, signatures, &c, and binding them round tightly with cord. The clicker then lays down the pages in their proper positions on the imposing stone — a, flat, smooth slab of stone, or, better, of iron— and they are fastened together in a chase. This operation is called imposing. The chase is a rectangular frame of different dimensions, according to the size of the paper to be printed, having two cross- pieces of the same metal, called a long and short cross, formerly mortised at each end, so as to be taken out occasionally, but now fixed. By the different situations of these crosses, the chase is fitted for different volumes: for quartos and octavos one traverses the middle lengthwise, the other broadwise, so as to intersect each other in the centre ; for twelves and twenty-fours the short cross is placed nearer one end of the chase than the other ; for folios, the short cross only is required, and for broadsides and small jobs no cross is wanted. For fixing the pages in their places, the form is dressed thus : a set of furniture, consisting of slips of wood or metal, about half an inch in height, and of various thicknesses, is placed, some at the head, called head- sticks, some between the pages, called gut- ters, and others at the sides and feet, called side and foot sticks. The side and foot sticks are larger at one end than at the other, so that small wedges of wood, or quoins, may be driven tightly between them and the sides of the chase, locking up the types so firmly that the form, as the mass is then called, and which is represented in the cut (which by the way has no cross to the chase), may be car- ried from place to place with perfect safety. A form of eight pages of this Dictionary con- tains between 40,000 and 50,000 separate letters and spaces. PRINTING The sizes of books are reckoned by the num- ber of leaves into which a sheet of paper is folded. Tims the largest size is broadside, or the whole size of the sheet ; folio, or half the sheet ; quarto, or a sheet folded into four leaves ; octavo, or the sheet folded into eight leaves ; duodecimo, or the sheet folded into twelve leaves ; and so on. In imposing, the pages are of course laid down in positions the reverse of those which they will take when printed. The following diagrams show the mode of imposing sheets of 8vo and 1 2mo, the outer form being the outside, and the inner form the inside of the sheet. Sheet of Octavo. Outer Form. Inner Form. 16 51 13 II 14 Sheet of Twelves. Outer Form. Inner Form. 61 91 05 01 SI Pi 9 « [ I 9 61 81 t> a I 3 B 2 22 23 a It is necessary that the distances between the pages in each form should be placed with such exactness that the impression of the pages in one form shall fall exactly on the back of the pages of the other ; thus making what is termed register. As it is next to impossible but that mistakes should occur in setting up the types, the form is carried to a proof press, and an impression is taken, called the first proof. This proof, with the MS., is handed to the corrector of the press, or reader, and a reading boy reads the copy to him while he examines the proof and marks the necessary corrections and errors of the compositor. In correcting a proof sheet a set of symbols are used for the purpose of calling the attention of the compositor to the several kinds of errors, and to direct him how they are to be amended. These marks are best shown by the specimen of a corrected proof given under the head Correcting. When the corrector, or reader, has read his proof, it is handed to the compositor, who 76 unlocks the form, and makes the corrections in the types, by lifting out the wrong letters by means of a sharp awl, or bodkin, and putting in right ones in their places. The form is then locked up again, taken to the press, and an- other proof is pulled. This is termed the revise, and is sent to the reader, with his first proof, that he may see that all the corrections have been properly made, put queries against doubt- ful matters for the authors consideration, and send it, thenceforth called a clean proof, with the MS., to the author. When the author returns his proof and revise, and is satisfied that the sheet is correct, the form, after having been finally read with care for press, is taken to the press or machine to have the requisite number of impressions struck off. Before this is done, however, care is taken that the matter at the beginning of the sheet connects with that at the end of the preceding, that the pages are correct, and that the signatures are in order. The signatures are generally small capital PIUN TING letters placed at the foot of the first page of each sheet, commencing with n, and omitting the J, v, and w. They are said to have been first used by John Koelhof, at Cologne, in 1472 ; but they exist in an edition of 'Terence, printed by Antonio Zorat, at Milan, in 1470. There is a Venetian edition of ' Baldi Lectura super Codic' &c, printed by John de Colonia and Jo. Manthen de Gherretzem, in 1474, in which it is evident that these printers had only just become acquainted with the use of signatures, as these marks were not introduced till one- half of the work had been printed. The fol- lowing tables show the signatures and folios of any given number of sheets, up to twenty-two in 8vo and 12mo, and up to eight in 18mo : — Sheet of Octavo Sheet of Twelves Sheet of Eighteens No. of Sheets Signature Folio No. of Sheets Signature Folio No. of Sheets Signature Folio i l -L> I I I I I o u Q 1 7 2 Q 25 Q 13 Q O T) XJ 33 3 D 49 25 4 E 49 4 E 73 2 E 37 5 F 65 5 Jf 97 F 49 6 a 81 6 G- 121 G 61 7 H 97 7 H 145 3 H 73 8 i 113 8 I 169 I 85 9 K 129 9 K 193 K 97 10 L 145 10 L 217 4 L 109 11 M 161 11 M 241 M 121 12 N 177 12 N 265 N 133 13 0 193 13 O 289 5 0 145 14 P 209 14 P 313 p 157 15 Q 225 15 Q 337 Q 169 16 K 241 16 R 361 6 R 181 17 S 257 17 S 385 s 193 18 T 273 18 T 409 T 205 19 U 289 19 U 433 7 U 217 20 X 305 20 X 457 • X 229 21 Y 321 21 Y 481 Y 241 22 Z 337 22 Z 505 8 Z 253 The paper used in printing is always damped before being sent to the press, wet paper taking the ink considerably better than dry. The warehouseman delivers the proper quantity of paper to the wetter, which is generally wetted thus : The quire of paper is opened, the fold at the back broken, and the paper divided into three, four, or five portions, or dips, drawn through a trough of clean water and laid on a board, dip after dip, till a convenient heap is made. This is put into a screw-press, a little pressure applied, and the next day the whole is turned and slightly pressed again, so that fresh surfaces of the paper coming into contact, the moisture is equally diffused throughout the heap. The paper used in printing is of three kinds : imperfect paper, consisting of 20 quires of 24 sheets, or 480 sheets to the ream ; perfect j paper (that most generally used) consisting of j 2l£ quires, or 516 sheets ; and news paper, con- j sisting of 20 quires of 25 sheets each to the | ream, or 500 sheets. The stamped sheets of j news paper (generally called stamps, and the : plain paper blanks) are always received and j delivered by the net number without allowing j 77 for spoilage in the press work ; but in book work it is the practice to allow 16 sheets in each ream for tympan sheet and spoiled sheets. This number of sheets is, however, not all spoilt ; the difference between the bad and the extra 16 sheets being delivered to the publisher as overplus. The table on the next page shows the quantity of perfect and imperfect paper required for one sheet of 16 pages of a work like this Dictionary, from 12 to 10,000 copies. When the sheet is printed off by the press- man (as described below), the compositor lays up the forms, distributes the type, and pro- ceeds, sheet after sheet, till the body of the work is finished ; then the title, dedication, preface, introduction, contents, and any other matter left to the end is proceeded with, these being usually printed last. The distribution of the types, or putting back the letters into the several compartments of the case to which they belong, is performed with the greatest rapidity. The compositor wets the whole page or form, and takes up a number of lines on his composing rule. This wetting causes the types to adhere slightly together, and renders the PRINTING Quantity required of Quantity required of Perfect Paper Imperfect Paper reams quires s leets reams quires sheets 0 0 15 0 0 15 0 1 4 0 1 4 0 2 G 0 2 6 0 3 7 0 3 7 0 4 8 0 4 8 0 5 9 0 5 9 0 6 12 0 6 12 0 7 13 0 7 13 0 8 14 0 8 14 0 10 18 0 10 18 0 12 22 0 12 22 0 15 0 0 15 0 0 16 3 0 16 3 0 17 4 0 17 4 0 19 6 0 19 6 1 0 0 1 1 12 1 1 4 8 6 14 1 1 5 10 18 2 1 10 18 1 12 6 1 13 0 1 14 10 1 17 4 1 18 17 2 0 0 3 0 2 10 18 2 13 18 3 0 0 3 4 12 3 18 18 3 15 6 o 4. 6 o 6 0 0 6 9 0 8 0 0 8 12 0 10 0 0 10 15 0 12 0 0 12 18 0 14 0 0 15 1 0 16 0 0 17 4 0 18 0 0 19 7 0 20 0 0 21 10 0 manipulation easy. He then takes up a few words between his right-hand finger and thumb, and by a dexterous motion throws off the several letters into their various boxes. Dis- tribution is performed about four times faster than composition. Presswork. — The pressman's business is to work off the forms thus prepared and corrected by the compositor ; in doing which there are four things required : paper (prepared as above described), ink or colouring matter, balls or rollers, and a press or machine. [Paper; Printing Ink; Press; Printing Balls or Pollers ; Printing Machine.] In working at a hand press, the pressman first lays the inner form on the press, and prints one copy, which is called a press revise ; this he takes to the person appointed to revise it, and while that is being done proceeds to secure the form on the table of the press by means of quoins ; to place his tympan sheet ; to fix the points, which make small holes in the paper, enabling him to cause the pages to fall precisely on the back of each other when the second side of the paper is printed, and to produce an even and uniform impression in all j 78 For printing 1 Sheet of 1G Pages Total Number of Copies the Paper will make 12 copies 15 25 „ 28 50 „ 54 75 „ 79 100 „ 104 125 „ 129 150 „ 156 175 „ 181 200 „ 206 250 „ 258 300 „ 310 350 „ 360 375 „ 387 400 „ 412 450 „ 462 500 „ 516 600 „ 618 700 „ 722 750 „ 774 800 „ 826 900 „ 928 1,000 „ 1,032 1,250 „ 1,290 1,500 „ 1,548 1,750 „ 1,806 2,000 „ 2,064 3,000 „ 3,096 4,000 „ 4,128 5,000 „ 5,160 6,000 „ 6', 192 7,000 „ 7,224 8,000 „ 8,256 9,000 „ 9,288 10,000 „ 10,320 the pages. He then cuts his frisket, which preserves the margin of the paper clean, and, when the revise is corrected, proceeds to ink the surface of the types by means of balls or (most frequently) rollers. "When the whole impression of one side of the paper is printed, he lifts the form off the press, washes the ink off the face of the type with lye, and rinses it with water. He then proceeds in a similar manner with the outer form, which completes the sheet. This process is continued sheet after sheet till the work is complete, care being taken that the work is printed of the proper colour, and that that colour should be uniform throughout the book. Warehouse Work. — When the sheets have been printed on both sides, the warehouseman takes them away, and hangs them up on poles to dry, varying the number of sheets hung up together from five or six to ten or eleven, according to the heat of the room, or the pressure of business. When dry the sheets are taken down from the poles, carefully knocked up, and put away in the warehouse in piles. The sheets are then cold-pressed. The pressure is applied by means of hydraulic Til IN TING small pumps, of from two to five hundred tons p .sure. They consist simply of double-ac force-pumps, with rums or cylinde bore, but with a great force from an engine to act upon the pistons. This forces the water through a very strong pipe beneath the floor to | other large cylinders, fitted also with pistons, j under the presses. Of course, whatever force ' is applied to the small pistons in the pumps, an j equal amount of pressure is produced on every square inch of the large pistons in the cylinders under the presses, and thus a prodigious pres- sure on the sheets of paper is the result. Above the upper part of one of these large cylinders are square iron plates, which form a base on which to rest the piles of sheets of paper to be pressed. These plates, like those of similar function in the printing-press, are very thick and are stiffened beneath by iron braces. Each press may be connected with the pump, or disconnected from it at pleasure, so that one may be giving up or receiving a supply of sheets while the others are full and in action. Each sheet, before it is put into the press, is placed between two sheets of thin smooth millboard. The process of filling in the sheets between the millboards is performed at very wide tables. It requires two boys at each table to do each work. One takes out from between two sheets of pasteboard the sheet of paper that has been pressed, and the other, almost at the same instant, puts another in, shifting the several sheets, both of paper and paste- board, from pile to pile, in the course of the manipulation, with dexterity and rapidity. As fast as a sufficient number of the rearranged sheets are ready, a boy takes them away, and places them in the press, while another boy con- tinually brings a fresh supply of those that have been pressed to take their places. The pressing which the sheets receive in this ope- ration makes an astonishing difference in the smoothness and beauty of the paper when the book comes to be bound. When the book is nearly finished, from ten to fourteen consecutive sheets are laid upon the gathering board in order, and collected sheet by sheet by boys, who deposit each gathering in a heap at the end of the table, so constructed that when a boy has deposited his gathering he has only to turn himself and begin again. These gatherings are then carefully collated, to ascertain that the different sheets are correct and in order, and folded up the middle. When the work is finished the gatherings are put to- gether, or in books, one of each forming a copy of the work, and pressed. The work is now completed, and awaits the order of the book- seller, &c, for delivering the copies into the hands of the bookbinder. Printing in Colours. — In many of the early printed books, the initial letters, and occasion- ally other parts, were printed in red. This was done by two workings at press, and was an imitation of the earlier fashion of illuminating MSS. This is the case with the Mentz Bible by Fust and Gutenberg. The first printers 79 soon began to print these large ornamented letters, the letter itself being in some instances red and the ornamental part blue, in others the letter is blue and the ornamental part red. These letters were afterwards finished by hand, as is apparent in the Psalter of 1457, printed by Fust and Schceffer, who also showed great in- genuity and skill in the large letter B in the same book, which is printed with red ink, and the ornamental part, consisting of a flourished line, as if it had been drawn with a pen, ex- tending from the top to the bottom of the folio page, with blue ink. Of two copies which we have examined, one was in the library of George III. at Buckingham Palace, and the other is in the possession of Earl Spencer. The first edition of the Speculum Humana Salvationis, which was printed at Haarlem, about the year 1440, by Laurence Coster, has engravings on wood printed in a different coloured ink from the body of the work. A, copy of this rare and curious work, which Mr. Savage examined some years ago, in the valu- able collection of Messrs. Longman, impressed him momentarily with the idea that the engrav- ings were pen-and-ink drawings, and that the ink had turned brown with age, so precisely was this effect produced by the tone of the ink. We mention these early specimens of print- ing with coloured inks, and in the case of the Psalter having two blocks of wood with two different colours, as being produced by means of the press, coeval with the generally received date of the invention of printing, to show the impossibility of the case. For, looking at the freedom of the engraving in the letter B, and the skill of the workman in printing it, it must be evident to every person conversant with the art that this perfection could only be obtained by long practice ; and the contrast between these productions of the first practi- tioners and their competitors, when the art became public, puts the question beyond a doubt, as an examination of the facsimiles given by Heinecken from fables printed at Bamberg about 1461, from the Legendes printed at the same place about 1470, and also the Fables of Msop by Caxton, will, we think, satisfy the most scrupulous and sceptical. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the art was extended to the imitation of pen-and- ink sketches with a coloured ground, by the great masters of painting ; and in a few years it was further extended to the imitation of drawings in chiaroscuro, and that with such success as to induce some of the first artists to encourage it by drawing the subjects on the blocks. The first practisers of this extension of the art were, Michael Wohlgemuth of Nu- remberg, who furnished the designs for the Nuremberg Chronicle, and also engraved them on wood, and Mair, a native of Landshut, the disciple of Martin Schon ; between whom the priority rests of printing in chiaroscuro. After them were Girolamo Mocetto, Lucas Cranach, Baldassar Peruzzi, Hans Burghmair, and Ugo di Carpi (who has been generally PRINTING regarded as the inventor of this style of print- ing, but dates prove this opinion to he errone- ous), Domenico Beccafumi, John Ulric, Albert Altdorfer, Hans Baldung, Lucas van Lev den : all these were horn in the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century, there were Antonio da Trenta, Giovanni Nicolo Vicentino (called Kossigliani), Herbert Goltz or Goltzius, Andrew Andreani, Henry Goltz or Goltzius, Abraham Bloemaert, Paul Moreelze, Bartolomeo Corio- lano, Giovanni Battista Coriolano, Clvristopher Jegher, George 1'AUeniand, and Frederick Bloemaert. In the seventeenth century, there were Louis Businck, Vincent le Sueur, Antonio Maria Zanetti, Nicholas le Sueur, Comte de Caylus, Edward Kirkhall, and John Baptist Michael Papillon. This last-mentioned en- graver, in his treatise on Engraving on Wood, expressly states that Albert Durer en- graved some subjects in chiaroscuro, and that he had examined them in the collec- tion of the king of France ; Parmigiano also superintended the printing in this manner of a number of his own designs ; Titian, Kaffaelle, and other eminent masters made designs on the blocks for printing; and the author of An Enquiry into the Origin of Printing in Europe states, that ■ one of the greatest princes and con- noisseurs of our age used to say, he saw nothing in prints that could give him the pleasure he received from looking at the wood prints done i n chiaro-oscuro by Hugo di Carpi.' This prince- was the duke of Orleans, regent of France. After these were John Baptist Jackson, who executed a number of subjects, of a large size, in chiaroscuro, copied from celebrated paint- ings in churches in Italy, and from private collections ; he afterwards established a manu- factory at Chelsea for printing paper-hangings in oil colours, a speculation, however, which was unsuccessful. Some of his productions printed in colours were complete failures, the oil having spread in the paper ; and the sub- jects being in the first instance engraved with strong lines, they have the appearance of coarse engravings coloured by children. Jackson flourished from 1720 to 1754. Mr. John Skippe, an amateur, executed many subjects in chiaroscuro very adroitly. Gubitz, an engraver at Berlin, has produced a great number of subjects printed in colours, of a very superior character, but none of them can be called imitations of drawings. Mr. Savage was the first who attempted to imitate drawings in water colours by means of the common printing press, and accomplished the applying of all the colours used by artists to the composition of printing ink, thus serving as a pioneer to more skilful persons who might devote themselves to this branch of art ; and he succeeded in producing fac-similes of the drawings of different artists so as to deceive everyone who examined them. Messrs. Whit- ing and Branston, of Beaufort House, applied printing in coloured inks to the prevention of forgery, and to embossing on paper ; and Messrs. Vizetelly and Branston have produced 80 some very tasteful things in colours ; but neither of these establishments, to our know- ledge, turned their attention to the imitation of drawings. Mr. Baxter subsequently executed beautiful specimens in a manner that would have been deemed totally impossible in the early state of the art. The practice of printing parts of books in red ink is still followed in some prayer-books and almanacs, the saints' days and holidays being red-letter days. Some years ago a curious book was written and published on printing in colours by Mr. Savage. Still more recently, printing in gold and other metals has been practised. This is done by printing with a sort of size, and afterwards applying the metal leaf. But the copies of some of the works of the great painters, considered as specimens of printing in colours, are really beautiful as works of art. The copy picture is made in colours, and the blocks for printing each colour and shade are cut in relief on surface-meted, consisting of perfectly smooth plates of type metal. These plates are then printed by the ordinary method, great care, however, being taken that each colour falls in its right place. Several ingenious contrivances have been in- vented for working in various colours, such as Dolby's, Loft and Stafford's, Carpenter's ma- chines, &c. It will be sufficient to describe the last, as given in Wood's Typographical Advertiser : — ' The invention patented some time ago by Mr. C. Knight, is a process whereby fac-similes of designs in four colours are produced on the same sheet, before it leaves the press, by means of a revolving carriage or bed upon which the blocks are secured. The process, invented a few years ago, for printing in four colours by means of turning the tympecn with the sheet secured on it, was somewhat less complicated than Mr. Knight's. These methods, however, necessitate the application of the four coloured inks at every revolution and impression ; and also involve considerable outlay for machinery. W. Carpenter's process, on the contrary, gives rise to no expenditure whatever ; and, in its manipulation, everything is carried on in as straightforward a manner as ordinary black printing. It may be thus briefly described : A form, for example, is set-up by the composi- tor ; he then divides it into four sections, and so imposes them, in one chase, that the same relative corner of each (whichever may bo chosen) shall point towards the middle of the chase. It is then ready for the pressman. It requires making-ready, with points placed, ac- cording to the tact of the workman, in such position as may be deemed expedient ; four points being sufficient in all, and these so placed that the sheet may be pointed when turned either to the right or to the left hand. Should a thousand copies be required, the two hundred and fifty sheets are printed in the first colour. They are then simply turned round, in either direction, and again printed with the second colour. They arc then again turned round, PRINTINGS and printed with the third colour, and again for the fourth. And now we have a thousand per- fected impressions, consisting of four varie- ties—that is, with the four colours differently arranged : two hundred and fifty of each kind. Should the whole possible number of combina- tions of four colours — nameby, twenty-four — be required, nothing more is necessary than, while the sheets are being worked in the second colour, to turn a portion of their number into the third and fourth positions — which produces three kinds of sheets, or twelve single varie- ties—and, while working the third colour, take half of each of the three kinds, and work them respectively in the second, third, and fourth positions — producing six kinds of sheets, or twenty -four single varieties. It will be readily seen that, in the production of four varieties only, a different arrangement of them will be produced according to the direction in which the sheets are turned, and likewise the order in which the several colours are employed. It will also be seen, by practical men, that the blocks and the tympan retaining their relative positions throughout, the inner-lays are not- interfered with, as they would be if a revolu- tion took place in either case. Moreover, one inking apparatus is sufficient ; and each colour has time to set before another is worked over it — which may sometimes be required.' The following is the mode of printing cuts with two or more rainbow tints at the same time : Take the cut, which is to be printed in black, ink it well and rather full, and get a perfect impression on paper not very damp ; then lay the face of the printed paper carefully on the surface of the block prepared for engra- ving the whites on the tinted ground, and give it a good soft pull. This will transfer to the tint block a fac-simile of the wood engraving itself. The tint-block is then handed over to the engraver, who cuts out the whites for the high lights, &c, according to his taste, and with a view to effect. The tint-block is printed first, and the pressman must be careful in distribut- ing his different inks to make them fade away and blend at the given points. This is an easy matter after a little practice. The black block is then worked over the tint in the usual way. Composing and Distributing Machines. — The desire to expedite the process of composing and distributing has led to the invention of some ingenious machines for those purposes. One, the work of M. Sorensen, of Copenhagen, was exhibited at Paris in 1855, and was de- scribed by Mr. Charles Knight in his report. Three others, the inventions of Mr. Young, of Fleet Street, London, and of Mr. Alden and Mr. Mitchell, both of New York, were shown at the Great Exhibition in London in 1862. We can only afford room for a short account of the latter, as described by the inventor himself. Two of each of his composing and distributing machines have been for some years at work in the establishment where this Dictionary is printed. The compositor (says Mr. Mitchell) is in shape a right-angled triangle, placed hori- Vol. III. 81 zontally, with a key-board at one of the sides, furnished with thirty-nine keys. Each key, when pressed, strikes out a type, from one of an equal number of brass slides standing at an in- cline upon the machine in a row nearly parallel to the key -board. The type thus liberated is conveyed upon a band, moving in a direction at right angles with the key-board, to another band (forming the hypothenuse of the triangle), which carries it on to its destination. Arrived here, it is. placed on end and pushed forward, to make room for the next type, by means of a notched or serrated wheel called the setting wheel. The words are thus put together with great rapidity, in a long line of about thirty inches, which is afterwards divided by the compositor into lines of the required length. The principle of the machine consists in the combination of bands of lengths and velocities of revolution so varied as to enable the types at different distances from the wheel to reach it in the order in which the keys are struck. The compositor is capable of setting up types at the rate of six letters per second, or 21,600 per hour ; but as the human fingers cannot attain to such rapidity, and allowance must be made for the operations of justifying and correcting, the work of an average trained operator will probably not exceed 24,000 or 25,000 ens per day, which is about equal to the work of two men setting up type in the ordinary mode. As each machine can employ two opera- tors, the daily production is about 50,000 ens. The distributor is a small machine of cir- cular form. The lines of type to be distri- buted are placed successively in a long channel, in which they are pressed forward towards a vibrating metal finger. By this finger each type is separated from the line, pushed aside, and dropped on to a grooved brass wheel revolving horizontally. In the grooves of this wheel pins are placed, on which the types are hung by means of nicks, the ends of the types projecting below the under surface of the wheel at distances varying according to the position of the nicks. As each letter arrives over its receptacle, it is lifted off its pin, and dropped into its place, being pushed a little forward to make way for the next arrival. When the line is filled in this way, it is removed by the boy to the compositor. The distributor is self-acting, and requires only the attention of a boy. It distributes 8,000 letters per hour. Printing for Special Purposes. — The art- printing called Nature Printing is described under its own heading. But a newer art-pro- cess, based upon the same principle, or rather direct nature-engraving, has been invented by Mr. George Wallis. By this method, called by the inventor autotypographi/, drawings are so executed that they can be afterwards impressed or engraved in soft metal plates by an analo- gous process (although differing in details) to that employed, in impressing natural objects. The drawings are executed on paper, sheet gelatine, and even on the plate-glass bed of the special machine. When on the former, a tint G PRINTING is also impressed in the plate, which can be afterwards treated as a mezzotinto for the high lights, &c. The majority of the specimens exhibited by the inventor are from drawings executed on gelatine, with a suitable drawing material, which constitutes an important ele- ment in the invention. The most delicate touches, both of pen and brush, are transferred to the plate from this medium, which being transparent affords every facility for the accu- rate tracing of the design or writing; and as the subject is reversed in the process of im- pressing or engraving, an almost instantaneous operation, which takes up only two or three seconds, no reversal of the drawing or writing is required as in the case of ordinary en- graving. The plates are printed from at an ordinary copper-plate press in the usual man- ner, and when the surface is hardened by a coating of steel or nickel, will yield a consider- able number of impressions. The chief aim and merit of the invention is, that the original expression, spirit, and touch of the artist who executes the drawing are preserved and trans- mitted to the plate. The drawings are stated to be as easy of production, within certain well- defined limits, as those of ordinary pjn and washed drawings. The cost of printing is of course that of ordinary plate printing ; but as several plates can be engraved from the same drawing, the delay of printing from only one plate can be avoided without the cost of electro- typing. By the process of electro-block printing, drawings, engravings, letterpress, or music, can be reproduced either greatly extended or re- duced in size. To effect this on an enlarged scale, the surface of a sheet of vulcanised Indian rubber, equal in size to the subject, is coated with a thin film of an elastic composition, and on it is taken an impression of the print, block, or plate. This is done without difficulty, and without injury to the print from which it is taken. By means of an ingeniously contrived frame with a double-screw action, the Indian rubber is stretched equally on all sides to the size required. While retained in this form, it is laid down on a lithographic stone or zinc plate, properly prepared ; and it is then in aconditiou to furnish impressions in the ordinary method. The reduction of objects is obtained by stretch- ing the Indian rubber sheet of the size required till it can cover the subject; the impression being then taken, it is released from the strain and returns to its original size, and the process is continued as above described. For surface printing, some further operations are required. The impression of the desired size having been received on zinc plate or stone, the sur- face of either is exposed to the action of an acid which will eat away the parts of the surface unprotected by the ink, leaving the impression in relief. From this a matrix is taken, and an electrotype or a stereotype cast can be produced, fitted for any of the ordinary modes of type-printing. Another contrivance for printing is that of 82 ■M. Auguste Leouillet, of Paris. His numero- teurs mccaniques are made for numbering cou- pons, ailway certificates, and bank-notes, for paging account books, or for any other pur- pose for which a continuous series of numbers is required. It may be adapted either for use in the hand, or for printing in a press. The hand instrument consists of a rowel-formed circle, on the points of which are cut in steel the ten numerals. It turns on an axle which may hold from two to six or more of these rowels. The figure or figures that are to move are left free ; those that are stationary are fixed by a screw at the side to prevent their being disturbed by the action of the others. The figure is changed by the action of a small lever that rises up by the wooden handle, the pressure of which turns the rowel so as to bring the next figure in its place, and at the same time inks itself from a small inking apparatus fixed above the figures. Thus, with six rowels, numbers 1 to 999,999 may be impressed, the first of the series appearing 000,001. This instrument may also be used dry for stamping anything where colour is not needed, but only an impression ; or with common marking-ink for stamping bales or goods of wooden packing- cases. For printing, eight rowels with ten axils each may be used fixed in a form, or rather on a plate, furnished with spaces to admit the movable types. If we suppose that they number, as at first prepared, from 1 to 80, a horizontal handle moves all the necessary figures, and the next impression would give from 81 to 160. This process may be combined with the printing of labels requiring dates, such as those of the month and year. In such cases the necessary fixed type is prepared in the usual manner, and space is left for the numero- teurs to be inserted, which are then operated on in the manner already described. Messrs. Waterlow and Sons exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1862 a railway ticket printing machine, worked by steam, but which can easily be adapted to hand working. In it the fixed type is placed in a frame, and the movable figures or letters are engraved in steel on a brass rowel. By a vibrating action the frame is brought under a press to convey the impression to the paper, and the reversed movement brings the next type in succession to its place. It is self-inking. Harrild's newspaper addressing machine con- sists of a sliding groove of some length, on which is placed a gcdley containing as many of the required directions as it will hold set up in type, and locked up. A treddle moves it along under a sort of parchment frisket or tympan, till a direction arrives just under the space cut in the frisket, the newspaper envelope is laid over the frisket, and the treddle brings down a pres- sure on it. The galley continues sliding on till all the directions have been impressed, when it is removed to make room for another. Bank-note Printing. — The old method of printing bank-notes was from copper, and sub- sequently from steel, plates. But in the year PR1N TING 1853, Mr. Alfred Smec, surgeon to tlte Bank I of England, suggested to the directors that the time had arrived for the adoption of surface printing instead of plate printing, in the pre- paration of the notes, as admitting of greater rapidity and more complete identity of ap- ; pcarance. Although objecting to any additional change in the form or device of the note, the directors consented to the prosecution of a series of elaborate experiments. In these experiments Mr. Smee was assisted by Mr. Hensman, en- gineer to the Bank, and by Mr. Coe, super- intendent of the note-printing machines. En- gravers, press-makers, paper-makers, and ink- makers, all contributed their opinions or in- ventions towards the preparation of bank-notes by surface printing. At length, in 1854, all the difficulties were surmounted: on January 1, 1855, the first bank-note appeared under the new system. The bank-note differs very little from its predecessor ; the Britannia is, perhaps, somewhat more artistic ; but the letters, figures, and flourishes are scarcely altered. Indeed, it was a fixed policy on the part of the directors to render any change in the appearance of their bank-notes as little perceptible as possible. The great novelty was in the preparation of the plate for surface-printing. Until the year 1837, the device was engraved on the plate itself from which the impressions were to be printed ; from 1837 to 1854, the engraving was managed on the siderographic process ; but on the new system, introduced in 1855, the design for the note is made up and engraved on seve- ral small pieces of copper, brass, and steel, according to the quality and minuteness of the engraving ; the lines of the device being raised instead of sunken. From the model thus made a metallic mould is obtained, by electro- deposition. Mr. Smee's platinised silver voltaic batteries are employed as the source of power. These batteries had already been advantageously used in multiplying the copper -plates for the Ordnance maps. The model is left in the pre- cipitating trough containing sulphate of copper solution until a layer of copper has been de- posited upon it thick enough to bear handling ; the device of course appears on this film in intaglio, not in relief, and serves as the mould from which copies of the original model are to be made. Being separated from the original model, and again immersed in the solution, this mould receives a deposit, which, when thick enough, is separated from the mould giving the device. It is this, in relief instead of intaglio, when backed up and strengthened by solder or other metal, which forms the plate from which Bank of England notes are printed. There are about seventy or eighty kinds of Bank of England notes, differing either in their denominations (51., 101., &c), or in the town where they are issued (London, Manchester, Birmingham, &c.) ; each of these has required its- own original model ; but any one model would suffice for an almost endless number of notes — seeing that one model will yield an indefinite number of moulds, and one 83 I mould an indefinite number of plates. By the electro-metallurgic process, nearly ten million bank-notes are printed annually without any necessary renewal of the original models. The paper, supplied by the same establishment in I Hampshire which has furnished bank-note paper for a long series of years, is manufactured in a manner which exhibits almost as many novelties as the preparation of the plates. Until the year 1855, the water-mark (one of the safeguards against forgery) was produced by forming a device with fine wire in the mould or frame employed in making the paper. Now, however, the device for the water-mark is en- graved on steel-faced dies, and transferred by stamping to brass plates ; by a delicate process these brass plates are adjusted to or within the paper-making mould. There is a gradation of light and shade in the present water-mark, very difficult to imitate. The sheets of paper, before they leave the Hampshire mill, undergo a process of dry-glazing by rolling. It has been necessary to make a change in the ink as well as in the paper, in adapting the ar- rangements for surface printing. The bank-note ink, instead of being prepared from the husks of Bhenish grapes, is now made by a combination of a peculiar varnish with the soot resulting from burning coal-tar naphtha in closed cham- bers. The printing presses, and the mode of printing, differ materially under the present surface-printing system, as compared with the old plate printing ; the mechanism comprises many beautiful novelties. Excellent as are now the Bank of England notes, there are not wanting experienced men who contend that a more elaborate device, practicable only by the plate-printing method, would be better. Forgery has diminished, but it has not quite died out. The Bank directors opposed any marked change in the simplicity of the device on these grounds : That forgers can imitate elaborate engraving sufficiently well to deceive the public, if not bank-clerks ; that parti-coloured notes, invented by Sir William Congreve, were successfully imitated ; that the general public, not being judges of artistic effect, and having little discrimination for the different styles of different artists, are apt to be easily deceived by the same general appearance in a forged note with which they have been familiar in a real note, and take im- perfect imitations of it quite as readily ; and that on the whole, long familiarity with one form of inscription and one style of ornament is the best preventive against forgery. These opi- nions were contested by the late Mr. Henry Bradbury, in a lecture delivered at the Koyal Institution, on May 9, 1856 ; the lecture was afterwards printed as a quarto pamphlet, with engravings of three specimen bank-notes from designs by Mr. John Leighton. Mr. Bradbury contends that the object to be aimed at should be to impart to each bank-note an individu- ality, thereby expressing qualities which are not within the province of mechanical imitation. This is to be done by employing a design of a g 2 PRINTING high artistic character ; seeing that the work I which has the genius of an artist imprinted on it, is not to be imitated by an inferior mind. ! The vignette is the part of a note on which the most artistic skill is displayed ; and Mr. Brad- bury urges that this skill should be still further exercised. Early in the present century the Plymouth Dock Bank, to lessen the forgery of its notes, caused a vignette to be engraved ; the forgeries at once ceased. When a really skil- ful artist can engrave a vignette of a high cha- racter, his social position and prospects are such as to take him out of the influence and temptation of forgers. The higher the class of the engraving, the less the likelihood of forgery ; seeing that the work of every real artist has an individuality about it which others could not imitate. Admitting that the Bank of England note exhibits simplicity of design, Mr. Bradbury remarks, ' The objection I have to submit is that its simplicity is too simple — not having upon the face of it those features which cha- racterise the true art-point. The vignette is a specimen the reverse of what I have been ad- vocating; it is alike deficient in conception and execution. Surface-printing having been chosen as the medium, the Bank authorities were restricted in the application of their art. In consequence of this, the Bank of England note in its present form is unworthy of the bank and the nation.' Assuming that high art should be employed to give character to the simplest parts of the note, Mr. Bradbury would employ machine-engraving — such as medallion work, and guilloche or rose-engine' work — to produce ornamental details of any desired degree of complexity ; straight lines, waved lines, circles, ellipses, &c, may be combined in ways almost illimitable. To produce these re- sults — the combination of high art and simplicity with mechanical intricacy, as a double cheek to the forger — Mr. Bradbury believes that plate- printing would be necessary. Mr. Grubb, engineer to the Bank of Ireland, has expressed opinions very similar to those of Mr. Bradbury. (Knight's English Cyclopaedia.) Laws affecting the Press. — These laws are 39 Geo. III. c. 79, amended by 51 Geo. III. c. 65, and 2 & 3 Vict. c. 12. There is no censor- ship over the press, which is, however, amen- able to the remedy of an injured party, or to the correction of criminal justice. (Wharton's law Lex. 2nd ed. 1860.) Glossary of terms used in printing, most of them not explained in the body of this work :— - Ascending Letters. Capital letters and the following small ones : b. d, f, h, k, 1. The descending letters are the g, j, p, q, y. Astronomical Characters. The signs for the twelve zodiacal constellations, for the planets and dragon's head and tail, for the aspects, and for the moon in her various changes. Author's Proof. The proof sheet or slips of a work corrected by the author himself. Back Boxes, The compartments of the compositor's upper case not required for the ordinary types, but used for irregular sorts. Bad Copy. Badly written or troublesome MS. 81 Batter. When the faces of types become injured in a form. Beard of a Letter. The outer angle of the square shoulder of the shank of a type. Benvenue Money. Money paid by a new hand to his fellow workmen, who spend it in beer. The term is evidently a corruption of bien venn, or welcome. Bill. A weight of a fount of types, in certain fixed proportions. [Type.] Blank Pages. Pages which do not print, made up of quadrats and furniture. Bodkin. A sharp-pointed piece of steel wire, used for drawing letters out of a form in correcting. [Correcting.] Body of a Work. The subject-matter of a book, without the title-page, preface, contents, introduction , and index. Book. A complete copy of a work, the gatherings being put together ready for the bookbinder. This operation is called booking. The press used for pressing the books just before binding is called the book press. Book House. A printing office in which book work is its chief employment. A News House is confined to newspaper printing. Bottom Notes or Foot Notes. The notes at the foot of a page. Brace. A character made to various lengths and bodies, thus — ^— . Brass Rules. Pieces of brass of various fractional parts of a pica in thickness, type high, for printing lines. Bringing up or Making ready a form of type. The operation of overlaying or underlaying, cutting out, &c. for equalising the impression, or bringing out the light and dark parts of woodcuts. Cassie Paper. The two outer quires of a ream of paper. Casting zip. A calculation of the number of thou- sands of types contained in a sheet of a work, made for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the com- positor's work. Clean Proof. A sheet composed with very few errors, or a proof pulled after correction for the author. Clicker. The compositor who has the management of a companionship, or number of men engaged in setting up one or more works. Close Spacing. When thin and middling instead of thick spaces are used between words by the compositor. It is objectionable, as is also open spacing. Cock-up Letter. A large letter, standing above the line, formerly used for the first word of a book. Collate. To examine the signatures of a book, to see that it is complete and ready for the bookbinder. Companionship. See Clicker. Corrector. The old name for the reader, or person employed to detect the errors made by the compositor in setting up the types. Dele. In correcting a proof, the mark thus &?, ex- punging a letter or word. Devil. In old times boys employed to take the printed sheets off the tympan of the press. They were com- monly bedaubed with ink. Taking-off boys at machines are now called flies or fly boys. Double. In composing, a word or words set up twice. Drive out. To space widely, and also if copy makes more matter than was reckoned upon. The reverse is called to get in. Even Lines. When work, such as newspaper compo- sition, is in great haste, paragraphs are divided into a few lines to each man, and he is required to begin and end a line, often with very close or wide spacing. Fat. With compositors, short or blank pages and widely leaded matter ; and with the pressmen, small numbers paid as much as if 250 copies were worked off. Fat-face. Thick-face types, giving very black im- pressions. Fine Presswork. [Printing.] Fire-eaters. Rapid compositors. First Proof. The first impression pulled from the type after composition. Fly Boys. See Devil. PRINTING PRINTING INK Foot Notes. See Bottom Notes. Fore Edge. The outer edge of a sheet when folded to the proper size of a book. Foreign. All composition in foreign languages. Fractions. Types cast in one piece representing J, J, {!> &i I) h Half-fractions are cast to one-half the body of a type, and make all kinds of combinations. Fragments or Oddments. The few pages at the end of a book which do not make a sheet, and the title, preface, contents, &c, imposed so as to print off eco- nomically. Frame. The kind of desk on which a compositor ' rests his cases. French Rules. Dashes mostly of brass, thus : Friar. A pale patch in a printed sheet where the form has not taken the ink as in the other parts. Black patches are called monks. Frisket. An iron frame, covered with paper, and cut out to the sizes of the pages when being printed off, so as to keep the margin of the paper clean. Full-face Letter. Types in which the ascending letters occupy the whole of the body, and the descending letters hang over, and are kerned. Geometrical Characters. Types used for the plus-, minus, &c. Get in. See Drive out. Good Copy. Well-written MS. or printed copy. Gutter. The space between the pages forming the back margin of a book. Horse. A charge made for work not done, a practice to be discouraged for obvious reasons. Also an appa- ratus, of a desk-like form, used by the pressman on which to lay his white paper. Imperfect Paper. A ream containing only 480 sheets ; perfect paper containing 516 sheets. Imperfection. A sheet required by the bookbinder to make a volume complete. Types not cast up to the proper quantity are also so called. Inner Form of a sheet. The form which begins with the second page, usually worked off first. Letter. Type. Literals. Errors made by compositors in single letters only. Lye. A solution of alkali, used for cleaning the ink off the forms of type. Macule. A faulty impression, appealing somewhat doubled in the printing off. Make up. To put matter into pages. Making ready. See Bringing up. Margin. The white paper round the printed portion of a sheet. Matter. Types set up. Metal. Type metal, used also for stereotype plates. Monk. See Friar. Nick. The mark in a type by which the compositor sees which side to put into his stick in setting up. [Type.] Oddments. See Fragments. Oriental. Eastern languages. Out. Matter omitted by the compositor in setting up. Outer Form. The form beginning with the first page of the sheet, and worked off last. Outside Quires. See Cassie Paper. Overlays. Pieces of paper pasted on a sheet put be- tween the tympans, for the purpose of obtaining a regular and flat impression. Overrun. To carry over parts of lines or pages. Overseer. The manager of a printing office. Pamphlet. A work consisting of more than one sheet, but not more than five sheets. Perfect Paper. See Imperfect Paper. Periodicals. "Works published at stated intervals, but neither newspapers nor those which are proposed to be finished in a certain number of parts. Picker. A man who corrects stereotype plates. . Picks. Dirt in a form, or metal flaws in stereotype plates. 85 I*ic. Broken matter. Plane down. To flatten the face of the form of type. Platen. That part of the press which comes down upon the form, producing tlie impression. Point Holes. Holes made in working off a sheet of white paper, so that when the outer form is worked the pages shall fall in register. Pull. To take an impression. Reader. See Corrector. Register, to. make. To arrange the pages of both sides of a sheet so that they shall fall precisely upon one another. Reiteration. The outer form, or second form worked off ; called also, by abbreviation, the ret. Revise. A proof pulled after the corrections have been made by the compositor. Set off. The ink from one recently printed sheet coming off upon and spoiling another. Slur. An impression smeared at pres?. Specimen Page. A page pulled neatly on good paper to show the proposed size and type. Stet. [Correcting.] Taking. A portion of copy given to a compositor at one time. Token. Ten quires of paper. Two-line Letters. The large types sometimes used at the beginning of a book or chapter, and occupying two or more lines in depth. Tympan. The parchment frame on which the sheet to be printed is laid at press. Underlays. Pieces of paper pasted under pages or woodcuts to bring them up to the required height. White line. A line of quadrats producing a blank the depth of a line of print. Printing' Balls or Rollers. The balls by which the ink was formerly applied to the forms in presswork [Pkinting] were made of a sort of wooden funnel with handles, the cavities of which were filled with wool or hair, and a piece of felt or leather nailed over the cavity, and made extremely soft by soaking in urine and being well rubbed. One of these the pressman took in each hand, and, applying them to the ink-table, daubed and knocked them together, to distribute the ink equally, and then blacked the form, by beating with balls upon the face of the letter. A con- siderable improvement upon this plan has been effected by means of rollers, invented by Mr. B. Foster, and now and for some years past in general use. These rollers consist of a com- bination of treacle and glue, which runs on the ball stock, a cylinder of wood covering an iron rod, affixed to which are two handles. Instead of beating, as in the case of balls, the cylinder is rolled over the face of the form, and the ink thereby applied in a much more even manner, and with a considerable decrease of labour. Experience, however, teaches us that the ball is the best means of inking fine wood engravings and producing the most brilliant impressions. The best method of keeping a roller in good condition is to smother it in common ink when out of use, hanging it up in a cool place in warm weather, and in a warm place in cool weather, but never in a draught or current of air. Printing- Ink. The black ink used in printing books is prepared from certain quan- tities of linseed oil, black resin, soap, and lampblack. An excellent black ink has been made by Mr. Savage, who gives the following PRINTING MACHINE opinions as to the requisites of black printing ink for fine work : ' Intenseness of colour, impalpability, covering the surface of the type or engraving perfectly, quitting the surface of the type or engraving when the paper is pressed upon it and adhering to the paper, not smearing after it is printed, and retaining its appearance without any change. The linseed oil is boiled, and after the smoke begins to rise from the boiling liquid, a bit of burning paper stuck in the cleft end of a long stick should be applied to the surface, to set it on fire, as soon as the vapour will burn ; and the flame should be allowed to continue (the pot being meanwhile removed from over the fire, or the fire taken from under the pot), till a sample of the varnish, cooled upon a pallet-knife, draws out into strings of about half an inch long between the fingers. To six quarts of linseed oil thus treated, six pounds of resin should be gradually added, as soon as the froth of the ebullition has subsided. Whenever the resin is dissolved, one pound and three-quarters of dry brown soap, of the best quality, cut into slices, is to be introduced cautiously, for its water of combination causes a violent intumescence. Both the resin and soap should be well stirred with a spatula. The pot is to be now set upon the fire again, in order to complete the com- bination of all the constituents. Put next of well-ground indigo and Prussian blue, each 2^ ounces, into an earthen pan, sufficiently large to hold all the ink, along with 4 pounds of the best mineral lampblack, and 3^ pounds of good vegetable lampblack ; then add the warm varnish by slow degrees, carefully stir- ring, to produce a perfect incorporation of all the ingredients. This mixture is next to be subjected to a mill, or slab and muller, till it be levigated into a smooth uniform paste.' The following is Mr. Savage's recipe for making one pound of superfine printing ink : Balsam of capivi, 9 ounces ; lampblack, 3 ounces ; indigo and Prussian blue together, p. seq. lj ounce ; Indian red, f ounce ; turpentine (yellow) soap, dry, 3 ounces. This mixture is to be ground upon a slab, with a muller, to an impalpable smoothness. The pigments used for colouring printing inks are, carmine, lakes, vermilion, red lead, Indian red, Venetian red, chrome yellow, chrome red or orange, burnt terra di Sienna, gall-stone, Roman ochre, yellow ochre, verdigris, blues and yellows mixed for greens, indigo, Prussian blue, Antwerp blue, umber, sepia, &c. In consequence of the late immense rise in the prices of the materials for making ink, experiments are said to have been made on petroleum, gas refuse, &c, and the ink thus pro- duced has been mixed with the genuine. These filthy compositions spoil the books in which they are used, exhibiting a disagreeable-looking halo round the print, and imparting a most un- pleasant odour to the volume when opened. Printing machine. The earliest printing presses were the common wooden screw press, for the first essential modification of which the 86 world is indebted to the late Earl Stanhope* [Press.] In Dr. Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron may be seen cuts of the earliest printing presses. Prior to the introduction of printing machines ' presswork was one of great labour whenever extraordinary expedition was required. It was particularly the case with newspapers, of which, with the utmost exertion, scarcely more than 750 copies per hour could be obtained ; the con- sequence was that in newspaper offices where the circulation was extensive, it was found ne- cessary, in order to get the paper published in time, to compose two or more sets of types, and work them off simultaneously at as many presses. An enormous increase in the com- position and presswork was the result. In describing the various machines, it will be observed that in the diagrams illustrating their leading principles or arrangements — The black parts represent the inking apparatus. The diagonal lines represent the paper cylinders which give the impression. The perpendicular lines represent the types or plates. The arrows represent the track of the sheet of paper. In the year 1790 Mr. W. Nicholson, the editor of the Philosophical Journal, took out a patent for certain improvements in printing ; and, on reading his specification, everyone must be struck with the extent of his ideas on the subject. To him belongs, beyond doubt, the honour of the first suggestion of printing by means of cylinders ; the following are his own words, divested of legal redundancies : — ' In the first place, I not only avail myself of the usual meth ds of making type, but I likewise make and arrange them in a new way, viz. by rendering the tail of the letter gradually smaller. Such letter may be imposed on a cylindrical surface ; the disposition of types, plates, and blocks, upon a cylinder, are parts of my invention. • In the second place, I apply the ink upon the surface of the types, plates, &c. by causing the surface, of a cylinder smeared with colouring matter to roll over or successively apply itself to the surface of the types, &c, or else I cause the types to apply themselves to the cylinder. It is absolutely necessary that the colouring matter be evenly distributed over this cylinder, and for this purpose I apply two, three, or more smaller cylinders, called distributing rollers, longitudinally against the colouring cylinders, so that they may be turned by the motion of the latter; if this colouring matter be very thin, I apply an even blunt edge of metal or wood against the cylinder. ' In the third place, I perform all my im- pressions by the action of a cylinder, or cylindrical surface, i. e. I cause the paper to pass between two cylinders, one of which has the form of types attached to it, and forming part of its surface, and the other is faced with cloth, and serves to press the paper so as to take off an impression of the coloiir pre- PRINTING MAC1IINI viously applied ; or otherwise, I cause the form of types, previously coloured, to pass in close and successive contact with the paper wrapped round a cylinder with woollen cloth.' Ho also described a method of raising the paper cylinder to prevent the type from soiling the cloth. Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Nicholson's arrangement Nicholson's arrangement for arched type. for common type. This specification describes the principal parts of modern printing machines ; and had Mr. Nicholson paid to any one part of his inven- tion that attention which he fruitlessly bestowed on attempts to fix types on a cylinder, or had he known how to curve stereotype plates, he would, in all probability, have been the first maker of a printing machine, instead of merely suggesting the principles on which they might be constructed. The first working printing machine was the invention of Mr. T. Kcenig, a native of Saxony; he submitted his plans to Mr. T. Bensley, the celebrated printer, and to Mr. R. Taylor, the scientific editor of the Philosophical Magazine. These gentlemen liberally encouraged his exer- tions, and in 1811 he took out a patent for improvements in the common press, which, however, produced no favourable result. He then turned his attention to the use of a cylinder, in order to obtain the impression, and two machines were erected for printing the Times newspaper, the readers of which were told, on the 28th of November, 1814, that they held in their hands a newspaper printed by machinery, and by the power of steam. In these machines the type was made to pass under the cylinder, on which was wrapped the sheet of paper, the paper being firmly held to the cylinder by means of tapes. The ink was placed in a cylindrical box, from which it was forced by a powerful screw, depressing a tightly fitted piston ; thence it fell between two iron rollers. Be- low these were placed a number of other rollers, two of which had, in addition to their rotatory motion, an end motion, i. e. a motion in the direction of their length. The whole system 'of rollers terminated in two, which applied the ink to the types. In order to obtain a great number of impressions from the same form, a paper cylinder (i.e. a cylinder in which the paper is wrapped) was placed on 87 Koenig's single, for one side of the sheet. each side of the inking apparatus, the farm passing under both. 'I'll.- machine produced 1,100 impressions per hour; subsequent im- provements raised them to 1,800 per hour. The next step was the invention of a machine (also by Mr. Kcenig) for printing both sides of the sheet: it resembled two single machines, placed with their cylinders towards each other, at a distance of two or three feet. The sheet was conveyed from one paper cylinder to the other by means of tapes ; the track of the sheet exactly resembled the letter S, if laid horizon- tally, thus, co . In the course of this track the sheet was turned over. At the first paper Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Kcenig's double, for both sides of the sheet, cylinder it received the impression from the first form, and at the second paper cylinder it received the impression from the second form ; the machine printed 750 sheets, on both sides, per hour. This machine was erected for Mr. T. Bensley, and was the only one made by Mr. Kcenig for printing on both sides of the sheet : this was in 1815. About this time Messrs. Donkin and Bacon were also contriving a printing machine, having in 1813 obtained a patent for a machine in which the types were placed upon a revolving prism. The ink was applied by a roller, which rose and fell with the irregu- larities of the prism ; and the sheet was wrapped on another prism, so formed as to meet the irregularities of the type prism. One of these machines was erected for the uni- versity, of Cambridge, and was a beautiful specimen of ingenuity and workmanship ; it was, however, too com- plicated, and the inking was defective, which prevented its success. Nevertheless, a great point was attained ; for in this machine were first introduced inking-rollers, covered with a composition of treacle and glue ; in Kcenig's machine the rollers were covered with leather, which never answered the purpose well. In 1815 Mr. Cowper obtained a patent for curving stereotype Fig. 6. plates for the pur- pose of fixing them on a cylinder. Se- veral of these machines, capable of printing 1,000 sheets per hour on' both sides, are at work at the present day ; Donkin and Bacon's machine for type. Cowper's single, for curved stereotype. PRINTING MACHINE and twelve machines on this principle were made for the Bank of England a short time previous to the issue of gold. Fig. 7. Cowper's double, for both sides of the sheet. It is worthy of note that the same ob- ject seems to have occupied the attention of Nicholson, Donkin and Bacon, and Mr. Cow- per, viz. the revolution of the form of types. Nicholson sought to do this by a new kind of type, shaped like the stones of an arch. Donkin and Bacon sought to do this by fixing types on a revolving prism ; and at last it was completely effected by the curving of a stereo- type plate by Mr. Cowper. In these machines two paper cylinders are placed side by side, and against each of them is placed a cylinder for holding the plates. Each of these four cylinders is about two feet diameter ; on the surface of the plate cylinder are placed four or five inking-rollers, about three inches diameter ; they are kept in their position by a frame at each end of the plate cylinder, the spindles of the rollers lying in the notches on the frame, thus allowing perfect freedom of motion, and requiring no adjust- ment. The frame which supports the inking- rollers, called the waving-frame, is attached by hinges to the general frame of the machine ; and the edge of the plate cylinder is indented, and rubs against the waving-frame, causing it to wave or vibrate to and fro, and, consequently, to carry the inking-rollers with it, thus giving them a motion in the direction of their length, called the end motion. These rollei*s distribute the ink upon three-fourths of the surface of the plate cylinder, the other quarter being occupied by the curved stereotype plates. The ink is held in a trough ; it stands parallel to the plate cylinder, and is formed by a metal roller re- volving against the edge of a plate of iron. In its revolution this roller becomes covered with a thin film of ink, which is convej^ed to the plate cylinder by an inking-roller vibrating between both. On the plate cylinder the ink be- comes distributed, as before described, and as the plates pass under the inking-rollers they become charged with. coloiu\ As the cylinders continue to revolve, the plates come in contact with a sheet of paper in the first paper cylinder, whence it is carried, by means of tapes, to the second paper cylinder, where it receives an impression on its opposite side from the plates on the second plate cylinder, and thus the sheet is perfected. These machines are applicable only to stereo- type plates, but they formed the foundation of the future success of Applegath and Cowper's printing machinery, by showing the best me- thod of furnishing, distributing, and applying the ink. In order to apply this method to a machine capable of printing from type, it was only necessary to do the same thing in an extended flat sur- face or table, which had been done on an extended cylin- drical surface. Ac- cordingly Mr. Cow- per constructed a machine for printing Fig. 8. Applegath and Cowper's single machine. both sides of the sheet from type, securing by patent the inking apparatus, and the mode of conveying the sheet from one paper cylinder to the other by means of drums and tapes. Applegath and Cowper's double machine. Mr. A. Applegath, who was a joint pro- prietor with Mr. Cowper in these patents, obtained patents for several improvements. Mr. Cowper had given the end motion to the distributing rollers by moving the frame to and fro in which they were placed. Mr. Applegath suggested the placing of these rollers in a diagonal position across the table, thereby producing their end motion in a sim- pler manner. The diagonal rollers have an admirable tendency to spread out the ink in a smooth stratum, by the sliding of the table in a different direction to the lines of revolution ; but there must be considerable friction at their axes by the constant tendency of the table to thrust the rollers sideways or endways, which must be provided against, or they will soon wear untrue. He also contrived a method of applying two feeders to the same printing cylinder ; these latter inventions are more adapted to newspaper than to book printing. Numerous machines have been constructed upon the joint inventions of Messrs. Applegath and Cowper, which are modified in a great number of ways for the various purposes of printing books, bank-notes, newspapers, &c. ; they have, in fact, superseded Mr. Koenig's machines in the office of Mr. Bensley (who was the principal proprietor of Koenig's patent), and also in the office of the Times, as was announced in that journal. No less than forty wheels were removed from Koenig's ma- chines when Mr. Bensley adopted the improve - ments of Messrs. Cowper and Applegath. PRINTING MACHINES Having, on the first trial of their machines, discovered the superiority of the inking roller and table over the common balls, they imme- diately applied them to the common press, and with complete success. The invention, however, was immediately infringed throughout the kingdom, and copied in France, Germany, and America ; and it would have been as fruitless to attempt to stop the infringement of the patent as it was found in the case of the kalei- doscope. This invention has raised the quality of printing generally. Improvements in printing machines were effected by Mr. Wayte and by Mr. David Na- pier ; but the immense and increasing demand of the Times upon their powers, rendered it necessary to provide a machine which would work off from 12,000 to 15,000 copies per hour. This demand was supplied by the invention of the late Mr. Applegath, who gave the author the following description, first published by the late Dr. Lardner : He decided on abandon- ing the reciprocating motion of the type form, arranging the apparatus so as to render the motion continuous. This necessarily involved circular motion, and accordingly he resolved upon attaching the columns of type to the sides of a large drum or cylinder, placed with its axis vertical, instead of the horizontal frame which had been hitherto used. A large central drum is erected, capable of being turned round its axis. Upon the sides of this drum are placed vertically the columns of tyipe. These columns, strictly speaking, form the sides of a polygon, the centre of which coincides with the axis of the drum, but the breadth of the columns is so small compared with the diameter of the drum, that their surfaces depart very little from the regular cylindrical form. On another part of this drum is fixed the inking table. The circumference of this drum in the Times printing machine measures 200 inches, and it is consequently 64 inches in diameter. This drum is surrounded by eight cylinders, also placed with their axes vertical, upon which the paper is carried by tapes in the usual man- ner. Each of these cylinders is connected with the drum by toothed wheels, in such a manner that their surfaces respectively must necessarily move at exactly the same velocity as the sur- face of the drum. And if we imagine the drum thus in contact with these eight cylinders to be put in motion, and to make a complete revolu- tion, the type form will be pressed successively against each of the eight cylinders, and if the type were previously inked and each of the eight cylinders supplied with paper, eight sheets of paper would be printed in one revolution of the drum. It remains, therefore, to explain, first, how the type is eight times inked in each revolution ; and secondly, how each of the eight cylinders is supplied with paper to receive their impres- sion. Beside the eight paper cylinders are placed eight sets of inking rollers ; near these are placed two ductor rollers. These ductor rollers receive a coating of ink from reservoirs placed 89 ! above them. As the, inking table attached to , the revolving drum passes each of these ductor j rollers, it receives from them a coating of ink. | It next encounters the inking rollers, to which it delivers this coating. The types next, by the continued revolution of the drum, encounter these inking rollers, and receive from them a coating of ink, after which they meet the paper cylinders, upon which they are impressed, and the printing is completed. Thus in a single revolution of the great central drum the inking table receives a supply eight times successively from the ductor rollers, and delivers over that supply eight times suc- cessively to the inking rollers, which, in their turn, deliver it eight times successively to the faces of the type, from which it is conveyed finally to the eight sheets of paper held upon the eight cylinders by the tapes. Let us now explain how the eight cylinders are supplied with paper. Over each of them is erected a sloping desk, upon which a stock of imprinted paper is deposited. Beside this desk stands the layer on, who pushes forward the paper, sheet by sheet, towards the fingers of the machine. These fingers, seizing upon it, first draw it down in a vertical direction between tapes in the eight vertical frames until its vertical edges correspond with the position of the form of type on the printing cylinder. Arrived at this posi- tion, its vertical motion is stopped by a self- acting apparatus provided in the machine, and it begins to move horizontally, and is thus carried towards the printing cylinder by the tapes. As it passes round this cylinder it is impressed upon the type, and printed. It is then carried back horizontally by similar tapes on the other side of the frame, until it arrives at another desk, where the taker off awaits it. The fingers of the machine are there dis- engaged from it, and the taker off receives "it, and disposes it upon the desk. This move- ment goes on without interruption ; the mo- ment that one sheet descends from the hands of the layer on, and being carried vertically downwards begins to move horizontally, space is left for another, which he immediately sup- plies, and in this manner he delivers to the machine at the average rate of two sheets every five seconds ; and the same delivery taking place at each of the eight cylinders, 16 sheets are delivered and printed every five seconds. It is found that by this machine in ordinary work between 10,000 and 11,000 per hour can be printed; but with very expert men to de- liver the sheets, a still greater speed can be attained. Indeed, the velocity is limited, not by any conditions affecting the machine, but by the power of the men to deliver the sheets to it. In case of any misdelivery a sheet is spoiled, and, consequently, the effective performance of the machine is impaired. If, however, a still greater speed of printing were required, a ma- chine of the same kind, without changing its principle, would be sufficient for the exigency ; * PRINTING MACHINE but it would be necessary that the types should be surrounded with a greater number of print- ing cylinders. It may be right to remark, that these sur- rounding cylinders and rollers, in the case of the Times machine, are not uniformly dis- tributed round the great central drum ; they are so arranged as to leave on one side of that drum an open space equal to the width of the type form. This is necessary in order to give access to the type form so as to adjust it. One of the practical difficulties which Mr. Applegath had to encounter in the solution of the problem, which he has so successfully ef- fected, arose from the shock produced to the machinery by reversing the motion of the horizontal frame, which in the old machine carried the type form and inking table, a mov- ing mass which weighed one ton ! This frame had a motion of 88 inches in each direction, and it was found that such a weight could not be driven through such a space with safety at a greater rate than about 45 strokes per minute, which limited its maximum producing power to 5,000 sheets per hour. Another difficulty in the construction of this vast piece of machinery was so to regulate the self-acting mechanism that the impression of the type form should always be made in the centre of the page, and so that the space upon the paper occupied by the printed matter on one side may coincide exactly with that occu- pied by the printed matter on the other side. The type form fixed on the central drum moves at the rate of 70 inches per second, and the paper is moved in contact with it of course at exactly the same rate. Now, if by any error in the delivery or motion of a sheet of paper it arrive at the printing cylinder l-70th part of a second too soon or too late, the relative posi- tion of the columns will vary by l-70th part of 70 inches — that is to say, by one inch. In that case the edge of the printed matter on one side would be an inch nearer to the edge of the paper than on the other side. This is an incident which rarely happens, but, when it does, a sheet is, of course, spoiled. The waste, however, from that cause is considerably less in the present vertical machine than in the former less powerful horizontal one. The vertical position of the inking rollers is more conducive to the goodness of the work — for the type and engraving are only touched on their extreme surface — than the horizontal machine, where the inking rollers act by gra- vity ; while any dust shaken out of the paper, which formerly was deposited upon the inking rollers, now falls upon the floor. With this machine 50,000 impressions have been taken without stopping to brush the form or table. The principle of this vertical cylinder ma- chine is capable of almost unlimited extension. Notwithstanding the great powers of pro- duction of Mr. Applegath's machine, the still- increasing requirements of the Times, with the repeal of the paper duty and the consequent demands of the cheap newspapers, made it ne- 90 cessary that something more should be done. An American machine, the invention of Messrs. Hoe and Co. of New York, has been recently introduced into this country, and several have been constru?ted by Mr. Whitworth of Man- chester for the Times and other newspapers. By means of these machines, combined with a recently discovered process of stereotyping and multiplying type-high forms, there is practi- cally no limit to the number of copies of a newspaper which can be produced within a given time. The printing presses of Messrs. Hoe and Co. had, like Applegath's vertical machines, been invented previous to 1851, and cannot there- fore be regarded as novelties ; but at that date only one had been introduced into Europe, and no sample or even model was exhibited in Hyde Park. There was a small model of the ten-cylinder press in the Exhibition of 1862, but nothing else to illustrate the mechanism by which the principal newspapers of the me- tropolis and great provincial towns are printed. The first presses sent by Messrs. Hoe and Co. to this country were for Lloyd's Weekly News- paper, and were of the six-cylinder size. These were followed by two ten-cylinder machines ordered by Mr. Walter for the Times, with the condition that they were to be made by an English machinist who should' be approved by him. The Star and the Manchester Examiner also ordered Hoe presses of English make, and the example thus set was speedily followed by the Manchester Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the Scotsman, the Illustrated London News, and in fact all the leading papers in the United Kingdom. The experience, however, of the English-made machines, had. meanwhile (pro- bably from the novelty of the manufacture) not been quite so satisfactory as that of those produced by Messrs. Hoe and Co., and this gave a decided preference to the New York machines. Mr. Walter still continues to use two of Applegath's eight-cylinder vertical ma- chines in printing the Times and Evening Mail, but only as subsidiaries, the chief burden of the work falling on the two ten-cylinder Hoes made by Mr. Whitworth, and these are now said to perform admirably. They are driven at the rate of thirty -two revolutions per minute, which gives a printing rate of 19,200 per hour, or about 16,000 including stoppages. Much of the ingenuity exercised both in the Applegath and Hoe machines was directed to the chase, which had to hold securely upon its curved face the mass of movable type required to form a page. The complicated contrivances by which this was effected have now been entirely superseded by the use of stereotype plates ; but before proceeding to describe the process by which these are obtained, it may be well to draw attention to some of the points which seem to have determined the preference now given to the Hoe presses over the Apple- gath. The course of the sheet in laying on at the Hoe machine is as direct as it can be made, short of printing from a continuous web, PRINTING, NATURE and the taking off is performed with great re- gularity by means of a wooden frame, which rises and falls with each impression of the printing cylinders. At the Applcgath press the direction of the sheet has to be changed from a perpendicular to a lateral motion to correspond with the vertical position of the J main drum. A taker off is also required for 1 each impression cylinder as well as a layer on, j thus considerably increasing the number of j hands. The American machine also possesses a decided superiority in the arrangements for j securing good register, though the ingenious | finger motion by which this result is obtained j becomes objectionably rapid in the largest size j of presses. For the mode of producing the j plates for the Times and other newspapers, see I Stereotyping. The Spottiswoode Press. — The first successful application of steam, as a motive power, to printing presses with a platen and vertical pressure, was made in the establishment where i this Dictionary is printed. Convinced of the ' superiority of the impression made by flat as ! compared with that of cylindrical pressure, the late Mr. Andrew Spottiswoode (a name to be remembered amongst the most eminent in his profession), assisted by his chief engineer, Mr. Brown, succeeded, after many experiments, in perfecting a machine which combines the ex- cellence of work of the hand press with four times its speed, and with a uniformity of colour which can never be attained by inking by hand. The main point of the invention is the endless screw or drum which takes the carriage and type from each end under the platen, and after the impression is taken by means of a crank return's it to its original position. The frisket is attached to the tympan at the bottom near the tympan joints, so that when the tympan is lifted from the form by the ma- chinery, the tympan and frisket open at the upper end, contrary to the usual way in presses worked by manual labour, and the printed sheet is left on the tympan resting on the frisket. These presses are called double platens ; but they ought, in honour of their inventor, to be named Spottiswoode presses. Printing-, Nature. [Nature Printing.] Prior. [Abbot.] Prioress. The superior of certain convents of nuns. Prisage (Fr. prise, a taking). An ancient right of the crown, by which the king or his butler was empowered to take two tuns of wine from every ship importing twenty tuns or more into England. It is mentioned in the earliest pipe rolls as a source of royal revenue. By a charter of Edward I. it was commuted to a tax of two shillings on every tun of wine imported by merchant strangers. The commutation, on the presumption that thirty to forty tuns were the average lading of a ship carrying Bordeaux or Gascony wine, is pretty nearly equivalent to the ordinary price of wine at the latter end of the thirteenth cen- tury, i.e. sixty to eighty shillings would have 91 nilSMATIC COMPASS purchased, and frequently did purchase, hvo tuns of 252 gallons each.' This low price of wine was partly due to the fact that French wine was freely consumed in England six hundred years ago, partly to the political con- nection which subsisted between this country and Guienne up to the latter part of the fourteenth century. After the rupture of the peace of Bretigny, and the reduction of Guienne, French wine became much dearer. [Wine.] Priscillianists. In Ecclesiastical History, a sect of the fourth century ; so named from Priscillian, a Spanish bishop, put to death in a.d. 382 by Maximus, tyrant of Gaul, on the accusa- tion of another bishop, Ithacius ; the earliest in- stance of anyone put to death for heresy. The opinions of Priscillian and his followers are said to have been Manichaean ; but it is re- markable that Sulp. Severus, himself sufficient- ly zealous against their doctrines, admits that their persecutor Ithacius was a man of disre- putable character, and that purity and austerity of manners were often sufficient with him to ground an accusation of Priscillianism. This affords a curious parallel with the history of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when ac- cusations of Manicheism were liberally brought against sectaries whose avowed tenets extended only to the reformation of ecclesiastical matters and denial of the church's authority. (Milman's Latin Christianity, bk. ii. ch. iv.) Prism (Gr. irpiaixa, from irplcc, I saw). In Dioptrics, a piece of glass or other diaphanous substance, more or less long, with triangular ends, employed to separate a ray of light into its constituent parts or colours by refrac- tion. The prism is the instrument by means of which many of the remarkable phenomena of light and colours are exhibited. [Chromatics ; Optics ; Kefr action.] Prism. In Geometry, a polyhedron, two of whose faces are equal, similar, and parallel, while all the rest are parallelograms. Prisms take par- ticular names from the figures of their ends, or opposite equal and parallel sides. When the ends are triangles, they are called triangular prisms ; when the ends are square, square prisms ; when the ends are pentagonal, penta- gonal prisms ; and so on. A right prism has its sides perpendicular to its ends ; an oblique prism is that of which the sides are oblique to the ends. The solid content of a prism is found by multiplying the area of the base into the perpendicular altitude ; hence all prisms are to one another in the ratio compounded of their bases and altitudes. Prismatic Analysis. The resolution of a beam of light into its constituent rays of different refrangibility. [Chromatics ; Spec- trum Analysis.] Prismatic Colours. The colours pro- duced by decomposing light by a prism. [Primary Colours and Chromatics.] Prismatic Compass. A surveying in- strument, much used, on account of its con- venient size and form, in military sketching, and for filling up the details of a map where PRISMOID great accuracy is not required. The construc- tion is as follows : The compass-card, divided into degrees and minutes, is attached to the needle and turns with it. On one side of the compass-box stands a perpendicular slip, called the sight-vane, having a long narrow perpendicular slit in it, along the middle of which a fine thread is stretched. On the side of the box opposite to the sight -vane, there is a prism, through which and through the sight- vane an object is observed, and bisected by the thread. The use of the prism is this : the rays of light passing from the thread to the eye are refracted in passing through the prism, so that the thread appears to be prolonged and to intersect the circle on the card on which the divisions are ; consequently, the magnetic azi- muth of any object which the thread bisects is indicated immediately by the division with which the thread coincides. The angle between two stations is thus obtained, being equal when the stations are on opposite sides of the meri- dian to the sum of their azimuths, and to the difference of the azimuths when they are on the same side of the meridian. The card is divided to 15' of a degree, which is, perhaps, a smaller angle than can be measured by this instrument. (Simm's Treatise on Mathematical Instruments.) Frismoid. An imperfect prism ; a figure resembling a prism, but not answering exactly to the definition. Prison (Fr. prendre, to take). Imprison- ment is commonly used in civilised states for three purposes : for safe custody of persons charged with offences, for the detention of debtors, and for punishment; under which latter head the reformation of prisoners must be comprehended, as an adjunct to punishment. The first principles of order seem to require that these three classes of prisoners should be kept entirely distinct, and, if possible, in separate places of confinement ; but even the former rule has been generally very imperfect- ly observed, while the latter is in most places impracticable by reason of expense. The alleviation of the horrors of imprisonment, by physical improvement of the condition of pri- soners and the imparting of religious instruc- tion, has been from very early times an object with philanthropists; but the adaptation of imprisonment to serve the end of punishment has been, comparatively speaking, only very recently attempted. The Society of the Bro- thers of Mercy, in Italy, paid much atten- tion to the former subject in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; and the names of Carlo Borromeo and Vincent de Paul have derived from it much of their lustre. But the earliest^ instance of a prison managed on any principles of policy and humanity seems to be that of the Penitentiary at Amsterdam, erected in 1595 ; an example which was soon followed by some of the German towns, especially Hamburg and Bremen. In England it is well known that the impulse of prison improvement was first communicated by the celebrated 92 PRISON Howard, whose sufferings, when taken by a privateer and imprisoned at Brest, during the Seven Years' AVar, are said to have first directed his attention to the subject. The fruits of his observations, in his repeated visits to most of the prisons of Europe, were given to the world partly in his publications, and partly on exa- mination before a committee of the House of Commons in 1774. To his suggestions, and those of Jonas Hanway, are principally owing the provisions of the 19 Geo. III. c. 74 (passed in 1778), truly called the basis of succeeding legislation on the subject. Solitary imprison- ment was then first instituted. The works of Neeld and others, and the labours of the Prison Discipline Society (founded, we believe, chiefly by Mr. Powell Buxton), kept the attention of the public fixed on the subject. In 1813, the construction of the Millbank Penitentiary was begun. This establishment was designed to serve as a species of model prison ; but from many errors committed in its foundation and first management, it was long before it answered in any degree the views of its projectors. Mean- while practical improvement hasproceededmuch further in the United States of America, where the experiments of solitary confinement and of association in silence were both first instituted on an extensive scale, and have formed the basis of two different systems, which now di- vide the suffrages of observers. Europe, took in this matter lessons from America; and the reports of French visitors to its prisons, especially Messrs. Beaumont and De Tocque- ville, 1834, contributed largely to the formation of public opinion on the subject. In 1834, inspectors were appointed to report annually on the state of English and Scottish prisons — a measure which had been earlier adopted with reference to Ireland. The chief heads of im- provement in prison discipline then recom- mended or introduced were : 1. Inspection and control ; 2. Classification ; 3. Separate or soli- tary punishment ; 4. The silent or non-inter- course system ; 5. The introduction of labour ; 6. Eeligious and intellectual instruction. — 1. The first of these is matter rather of practical than theoretical developement. The history of the plan originally suggested by Sir Samuel Bentham and his brother, Jeremy Bentham the philosopher, which has formed, to a certain ex- tent, the basis of later experiments, is mentioned under the head Penitentiary. 2. Classifi- cation, under the English Gaol Acts of 1823 and 1824, has been extensively introduced into prisons. It is, of course, a great improvement on the indiscriminate mixture of prisoners of all classes and characters which formerly pre- vailed ; but as a means of reformation, or of punishment, it has not answered the views once entertained of it. And the reason is obvious : the only object of classification is the exclusion of the moral influence of more or less corrupted minds ; but by no system of classification (and as many as fifteen classes have been introduced in some prisons) can this be excluded. In every class, whether arranged according to age, PRISON or degree of offence, or in any other practicable mode, there will probably be some unusually depraved characters ; and then the experiment must fail. The only perfect classification is that which constitutes the basis of, 3. The separate system ; namely, the entire separation of prisoners from each other in solitary cells. When this has been carried to excess as a means of punishment, namely, seclusion by day and by night, without labour, without employ- ment, with only the occasional silent visits of the turnkey or the medical attendant, it has generally proved more than human nature can bear, at least for any considerable time; but separate confinement with labour as an allevia- tion, and with occasional visits for religious in- struction, is a very different mode of treatment. The separate system was specially established in the great eastern penitentiary of Philadelphia, and in that of Glasgow. 4. The difficulty of en- forcing solitary confinement, in some American prisons, seems to have led to the adoption of the silent system : of which the prison at Auburn, in Pennsylvania, affords the most celebrated instance. The prisoners work together in the day, but are prevented from all communication : at night they are separate. It was, we believe, introduced several years ago in the Maison de Force at Ghent. In England, it is in operation at Coldbath Fields, Wakefield, and elsewhere. With respect to the comparative advantages of the two systems, the work of Messrs. Beaumont and De Tocqueville may be consulted for an impartial summary of evidence, without the expression of decided opinion. (Part i. chap. ii. s. 3.) The chief objections to the separate sys- tem are: (1) As a punishment, its inequality, being felt far more severely by some than others ; but to this it may be answered, that those who do feel it are precisely those whom it is most desirable to affect — the more de- praved. (2) Its effects on the mind and passions ; a very difficult and delicate subject, and by far the most serious charge against it. (3) That even as a system of reform, for which, in subjects presenting any prospect of amend- ment, it is best calculated, it is utterly useless in short terms of imprisonment. To the silent system, its enemies object : (1) The extreme difficulty of carrying it into successful ope- ration. (2) Its supposed effect in irritating, degrading, and even brutalising the minds of prisoners, by its vexatious discipline. They appeal in support of this position to the quan- tity of punishment (corporeal, or by solitary confinement) which is required to carry it fiito effect. 5. With respect to the introduction of labour into prisons of punishment, the chief question seems to be, whether it ought to form part of the punishment, and be of a vexatious and severe nature ; or whether it should be used as an alleviation to the rigour of separate confinement and preparation of the criminal for re-entrance into society. The former is the principle commonly adopted in England ; the ordinary sentence, for many offences, being imprisonment with hard labour, and with 93 PRISONS, MAMERTINE ' occasional intervals of solitary confinement ; the treadwheel being the most common species of labour. On this subject the reader may consult the original article ' Prisons ' in the Ency. Brit. ; but the views of the author are somewhat too dogmatically expressed. The policy and practicability of making prison labour pay or contribute largely towards the maintenance of the prison has not been much discussed in England, where, from our less economical habits, the experiment has hardly been tried. In America several, it is said, afford a revenue to the state. ^(De Tocqueville, Du Systeme Penitentiaire aux Etats- Unis.) In Belgium they have long been rendered very productive ; the works of the present very able inspector-general, M. Ducpetiaux, contain ample information on the subject. It appears also, from various reports of the Irish prison inspec- tors, that the cost of work has been from time to time more than repaid by the return in every prison ; but it does not appear clearly what is comprehended under the former head, and the numbers seem not altogether accurate. By the Act 2 & 3 Vict. c. 56, separate con- finement was for the first time distinguished from the severer punishment of solitary con- finement, and the justices were empowered to make rules for classification, &c, subject to the approval of the secretary of state. The discontinuance of transportation, except to a very limited extent in 1853, and the sub- stitution of the punishment of penal servitude, made prison discipline a matter of even more importance than it had previously been. The result of observation of the separate system in the model prison at Pentonville ended in its being reduced to nine months for men and a year for women (1854), except in cases of short sentences of one or two years, it being held that the whole of a short imprisonment might be beneficially passed in this manner. The labour of prisoners has been devoted, as far as practicable, to the construction of public works. In 1857, after much oscillation of opinion, the principle of remitting part of the sentence for good behavioxir was adopted by government : a scale of remissions being in- troduced in proportion to the length of the sentence. The Irish system of convict dis- cipline is said to go further in the direction of relaxation than the English, ' bringing the convicts nearer to the condition of free citizens.' For the latest discussions on this subject, see the Evidence appended to the Report on Se- condary Punishments of the Commission of 1864 ; and for the system designed to effect the amendment of the juvenile criminal population in separate establishments, see Reformatory. Prisons, ZVSamertine. Places of confine- ment in ancient Rome, chiefly intended for state prisoners. They were constructed of large uncemented stones ; and, from the speci- mens of them which remain, it is difficult to imagine a more horrible place for the confine- ment of a human being. There were two apartments, one above the other, to which PRISTIS there was no entrance except by a small aper- ture in the upper roof ; and a similar hole in the upper floor led to the cell below, there being no staircase to either. The upper prison was 27 feet long by 20 wide, and the lower, which was elliptical, was 20 by 10 ; the height of the former was 14 feet, of the latter 7. Pristis (G-r. vpi P'"> & c « : then the probability of the event E is hp + h'p' + h"p" + h'"p"' + &c. The preceding examples will suffice to give 96 some idea of the manner in which the probabi- lity of the occurrence or failure of events de- pending on chance is submitted to numerical estimation ; but for the methods of applying the calculus in particular cases, and especially when Ihe formula? involve high numbers and the or- dinary processes of arithmetic become unavail- able, reference must be made to works specially devoted to the subject, a list of which is given at the end of this article. The calculus of probabilities had its origin in the speculations of Pascal, Fermat, Huy- gens, and other eminent mathematicians of the seventeenth century. It was first applied to the solution of questions connected with games of chance ; but it has since, by the researches t of James Bernoulli, Montmort, De Moivre, i D'Alembert, Simpson, Condorcet, Lagrange, j La Place, Poisson, and others, become one of | the most interesting branches of mathematics, and has been applied with equal success and ad- vantage to numerous important questions belong- ing to natural and political philosophy. One of its most familiar and useful applications is to the subject of annuities, assurances, reversions, and other interests depending on the average dura- tion of human life, and the expectation of the continuance or survivorship of lives of given ages. [Annuity ; Expectation of Life ; Mor- tality, Law of.] Another important applica- tion is to determine the most probable mean, or. average, of a great number of observations ; and hence its utility in many cases of practical astro- nomy and general physics. [Probable Error.] Condorcet has applied it to determine the value of testimony, the verdicts of juries, and the best mode of constituting tribunals, and of collecting votes in elections. In such applica- tions, it is true, assumptions more or less arbitrary must be admitted, and great uncer- tainty will always attach to results which are influenced by human will or caprice ; neverthe- less, the knowledge derived from an accurate and systematic analysis of the circumstances concerned, and of the consequences of their various combinations, affords important aid in guiding our judgments, and may be of great use in the practical affairs of life. The following are the principal works on the subject : Montmort, Analyse cles Jenx de Hasard (1st edit. 1708; 2nd, 1713); Bernoulli, Ars Conjcctandi, 1713; De Moivre, Doctrine of Chances (1st edit. 1718 ; 3rd, greatly enlarged, 1785); Simpson, Laws of Chance, 1740; Con- dorcet, Essai sur V Application de V Analyse a la Probabilite des Decisions vendues a la Pluralite des Voix, 1785; La Place, Theorie Analytique des Probabilites, 3rd edit. 1820 ; Poisson, Rccherchcs sur la Probabilites des Jugemens, 1837; the article in the Ency. Metrop. by Professor de Morgan, and that in the Ency. Brit, by Mr. Galloway (which is published separately). For elementary works, the reader may be referred to Simpson's Laws of Chance, and Lacroix's Traite Elementaire, &c. ; and for an explanation of the objects and results of the science, without mathematical investigation, to PROBABLE ERROR PROCELLARLE Professor de Morgan's ' Essay on Probabilities, and on their Application to Life Contingencies and Insurance Offices,' in the Cabinet Cyclo- pedia. Probable Error. In Astronomy and Physics, when the value of any quantity or element, as the declination of a star, the lati- tude of a place, the specific gravity of a body, &c, has been determined by means of a num- ber of independent observations, each liable to a small amount of error, the determination (in whatever way it may have been deduced from the observations) will also be liable to some uncertainty; and the probable error is the quantity which is such that there is the same probability of the difference between the deter- mination and the true absolute value of the thing to be determined exceeding or falling short of it. Thus, if twenty measurements of an angle have been made with the theodolite, and the arithmetical mean or average of the whole gives 50° 27' 13''; and if it be an equal wager that the error of this result (either in excess or defect) is less than 2 seconds, or greater than 2 seconds, then the probable error of the determination is 2 seconds. The method of computing the probable error, which is de- duced from the theory of probability, is as follows : Let I, I', I", &c. be the observed values, h the number of observations, m the average value (i.e. the sum of the observed values divided by number of observations) ; then if we call l — m the error of the observation I, and* 2 (l—m) 2 the sum of the squares of the errors of all the observations, the probable error is ■674489 x **gf&. h i. e. the square root of the sum of the squares of the errors, divided by the number of obser- vations, and multiplied by the decimal "674489. It is frequently convenient to compute the probable error of a result from another func- tion, which is called the weight. The weight is the square of the number of observations divided by twice the sum of the squares of the errors; and the probable error is -476936 divided by the square root of the weight. This definition agrees with the former, for •674489 = -476936 x */2. Probang-. A flexible piece of whalebone with a ball of sponge attached to its extremity, used for the purpose of removing obstructions in the oesophagus. Probate of a Will. In Law, the ex- hibiting a will before the proper court by the executor, and obtaining a proved copy there- of, is termed obtaining probate. The present Court of Probate was established in 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 77), with jurisdiction to grant letters of administration of the effects of persons dying intestate, and probate of the wills of testators; the powers of the ecclesias- tical courts in these matters being abolished. The court is presided over by a single nidge, Vol. III. 97 from whom an appeal lies direct to the Ho u so of Lords; so far as personal property is concerned, it has exclusive jurisdiction in all questions relating to the competence of a testator or the due execution of his will. The probate copy of a will forms the authorita- \ tive instrument on which the executors act, the original will being retained in the registry 1 of the court, where an official copy of it may be inspected by any person on payment of a fee 1 of one shilling. Probe (Lat. probo, I try). A surgical ; instrument, generally made of silver wire, 1 rounded at one end and pointed at the other, used for the purpose of examining wounds. Problem (Gr. irp6^Kvp-a). In Geometry, a proposition requiring some operation to be performed or construction to be executed ; such as to bisect a line, to describe a circle passing through three given points. Proboscidians. The name of a family of Pachydermatous Mammals, including those which have the nose prolonged into a pre- hensile trunk or Proboscis ; as the elephant and mastodon. Proboscis (Gr. irpofioffids, from p6, / feed). In Entomology, the oral instrument of the Diptera is so called, in which the ordi- nary trophi are replaced by an exarticulate sheath, terminated by a pair of tumid lobes (labella), and containing one or more lancet- shaped instruments (scapella), covered by a valve. Pkoboscts. In Malacology, this term is ap- • plied to the tongue of certain Gastropods, when it is so long as to be capable of being protruded for some distance from the mouth ; in which case it is generally organised at the extremity for the purpose of boring the shells of other testacea, and of destroying by suction the soft parts of the inhabitant. Proboscis. In Mammalogy, the prehensile organ formed by a prolongation of the nose, of which the trunk of the elephant is an example. Procedendo or Procedendo in Eio- quela. In Law, a writ which lies where an action has been removed from an inferior to a superior jurisdiction on insufficient grounds, to send the cause back to the inferior court for further proceeding. Procedendo ad Judicium. A writ which issues out of the Court of Chancery, com- manding inferior courts to proceed to judgment where it has been unjustly delayed. This is practically superseded by the writ of manda- mus from the Queen's Bench. Procellarise (Lat. procella, a storm). A Linnsean genus of web-footed birds, now the type of a family of the Longipcnnate Palmi- pedes in the system of Cuvier, characterised by the beak being hooked at the tip, with its ex- tremity appearing as though a piece had been articulated to the rest ; the nostrils are united to form a tube, which lies along the back of the upper mandible; and their feet, instead of a back toe, have merely a claw implanted in the heel. Those species in which the lower H PRO CE S-VERBAL mandible is truncated belong to the true P o- ccllarice. Some smaller species, with a shorter bill, rather longer legs, and black plumage, commonly called Storm-birds, or Mother Can y 's chickens, are associated under the generic name Thalassidroma. The Proc Uarice range over the high seas at the greatest distance from land. Their name of Petrel, which is a dimi- nutive of Peter, has been applied to them from their habit of walking on the waves, which they appear to do with the assistance of their wings. Proces-Vert>al. In the language of French Jurisprudence, an authentic written minute or report of an official act or proceeding, or state- ment of acts. The term is also used to signify minutes drawn up by a secretary or other officer of the proceedings of an assembly. Process. In the language of English Common Law, this term is used in two senses, to signify (1) the whole proceedings in an action or prosecution; and (2) the means whereby the defendant in an action is compelled to appear in court. When actions were, com- menced by original writ, original process was that which was founded on that writ, com- mencing with notice, writ of attachment, &c. Mesne, or intermediate process, was, properly speaking, such process as issued pending the writ on some collateral or interlocutory matter; as to summon juries or witnesses. But in popular language it was taken to sig- nify the whole process, from the commence- ment of the suit, before the final process which ended it. Thus a defendant was said to be arrested on mesne process, i.e. on a writ of capias issued pending the suit. This was done originally when the defendant, being summoned, or attached, neglected to appear or made de- fault. In course of time, by a legal fiction the summons and neglect were supposed ; and the writ of capias became the commencement of the proceedings, to which the term mesne process was still inaccurately applied. The term mesne process is now commonly applied to the writ of summons, which is the instru- ment now in use for commencing personal actions. Thus the popular inaccuracy of lan- guage is retained. Fined process is the writ of execution used to carry the judgment into effect. In ordinary language, the regular pro- ceedings of every court of judicature in a suit are called its process. Proclamation (Lat. proclamatio, a calling out). Public notice given by the king to his subjects. [King ; Privy Council.] The power of issuing proclamations is a branch of the king's prerogative, and vested in him alone. They have a binding force on the subject, in so far as they are grounded on and enforce the laws of the realm. They may be said to be of two sorts : the one, enforcing an actually existing law by giving it a particular application of time, place, and circumstance; the other, exercising an extraordinary power vested in the king, which until so exercised is j dormant ; as a proclamation to prohibit any j 98 1 PROCRIS subject from leaving the realm during a certain time. Proclamations must be under the great seal. By 31 Hen. VIII. c. 8 it was enacted that the king's proclamations should have the force of law : an enactment which, while it subsisted, did, in effect, make a complete revo- lution in the government of this country. It was, however, repealed five years afterwards by 1 Edw. VI. c. 12. Nevertheless, in later times, it was held by crown lawyers, that the king might suspend or dispense with an exist- ing law in favour of particular circumstances. But by 1 Wm. & Mary stat. 2 c. 2 it is declared that no such power exists. Procoelian (Gr. irpo. before ; ko7\os, hollow). In Anatomy, those vertebrae are so called which have a cavity or cup at the fore part of the body, and a ball at the back part. The term is also applied to a group of animals — e.g. a certain family of reptiles which manifest this vertebral character. It is found in most existing Saurians, but not in any extinct terres- trial species of earlier date than the Wealden period. The oolitic Pterodactyls were pro- coelian. Proconsul. Originally an officer invested with consular command without the office. Thus, a consul sometimes had his command prolonged to him after his year of magistracy had ceased, with the title of proconsul. The provinces which at first were governed by praetors were, for the rfio«t part, subsequently put under proconsuls and propreetors, who were at first especially appointed at the Comitia Tributa ; but afterwards, by the Sempronian law, they entered on their provincial jurisdic- tions forthwith, on the expiration of their year of consulship or praetorship. The office was properly annual ; but it might be prolonged, as was done in the case of Caesar. In the time of the republic the proconsul held the military command as well as the civil jurisdiction of his province, and accordingly had about him a large staff of officers, as the lieutenants or legati, prsefects, &c. But Augustus, on as- suming the chief power in the state, remodelled the system by a new partition of the provinces, and by separating the civil jurisdiction, which was left to the proconsul, from the military com- mand. Under the emperors, the proconsul and propraetors were distinguished by the former being appointed to the provinces under the especial superintendence of the senate ; the latter, with the title of legati Ccssaris, to those which the emperor held. Procris (Gr.). This beautiful creation of mythical speech is described in the Athenian tale as a daughter of Erechtheus ; but in un- conscious fidelity to the old phrase her mother is still Ilerse, the dew. In the spring time of her youth, she wins the love of Kephah s (Cephalus), a chieftain of Phokis (Phocis), who is also loved by Eos. By the persuasion of the latter, Kephalos is at last tempted to try the constancy of Procris ; he therefore leaves her, and after a while coming to her again in disguise, succeeds in gaining her affection. PROCRUSTES On discovering her shame, Procris flies to Crete, where Artemis gives her the spear that never misses its mark, with the bound which attended her in the chase. These gifts are coveted by Kephalos, to whom Procris (dis- guised in her turn) refuses to give them except in exchange for his love. They are thus re- united ; but the unerring spear in the hand of Kephalos soon smites Procris, who was hidden by the thick bushes ; and Kephalos, journeying westwards, in his sorrow, reaches the Leuca- dian cape, whence he sinks into the sea. This beautiful legend shows beneath a veil almost transparent the loves of the sun and the dew. Kephalos is the head of the sun ; while the name Procris is explained by a reference to the Sanscrit prush and prish, to sprinkle, and thus the myth resolves itself into a few simple phrases. Kephalos loves Procris, as the sun loves the dew ; but Eos also loves Kephalos, as the dawn loves the sun. Procris is faith- less, yet she gives her love to the same Ke- phalos, as the sun shines reflected from the various dewdrops. Procris lastly is killed by Kephalos, as the dew is absorbed by the sun. For a further analysis of the myth, see Max Miiller, Comparative Mythology, 54 ; and Cox, Gods and Heroes, 49 &c. Procrustes (Gr. irpoKpovarris, the stretcher). In Greek Mythology, a surname for the robber Polypemon or Daniastes, who placed his vic- tims on a bed which was either too small or too large, and to the size of which he adapted their limbs by force. He was slain by Theseus. Proctor (Lat. procurator). In Ecclesias- tical Law, he who undertakes for his fee to manage a cause in the Ecclesiastical Court. In the English Universities, both at Oxford and Cambridge, two masters of arts are ap- pointed annually to the office of proctor. Each college, in both (and at Oxford the halls col- lectively), nominates a proctor in rotation according to a cycle of years drawn up on mathematical principles, the basis of the calcu- lation being the average number of masters of arts on the books of each society. The proctors are officers of considerable import- ance ; being, in the first place, the chief police magistrates for the time being of each uni- versity. With their deputies the pro-proctors, they have not only power to enforce the rules of academical discipline on the student's, but also an exten'sive summary authority over the townspeople, according to the special privileges of the universities. They also have, in both universities, peculiar legislative authority as assistants to the heads of houses, and official votes in the election of many professors and other officers. The proctors must be masters of arts, and their standing as such, at Oxford, from four to fifteen years. Originally the functions of the proctor in the universities consisted in the management of academical funds, both those collected by the bedels from all members of the university, and those which were derived from estates either possessed by the university in its own right, or held in trust 99 PROCURATOR by the university for particular corporations. Hence, conjointly with the chancellor, they kept the keys of the academical treasury, and their formal admission to office was accom- panied by the delivery of these keys. One of these treasure chests is preserved in the pic- ture gallery of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and is fastened by a lock which springs twelve or fourteen bolts, the key of which was in the custody of the chancellor, and by two padlocks, the two keys of which were kept by the two proctors. The exercise of academical disci- pline by these officials is of comparatively late date. As the universities discouraged the study of the common law, and adopted the rules of the civil code, in their local jurisdiction, they styled the advocates who were empowered to plead in their courts by this name also. Such persons were called proctors ad lites, their chief func- tion being that of suing out process for debts. Till within the last few years, this office was filled at Oxford by masters of arts, but by a late change attorneys at law are admissible to practice, on nomination from the vice-chan- cellor. The representatives of the clergy in Con- vocation are also called proctors, because they were intrusted with the assessment of taxes granted by that body. Originally, the proctors in Convocation received wages, as did the knights of the shire and the burgesses of parliamentary towns. Procurator (Lat. pro, for, and cura, care). A Roman provincial magistrate, whose office it was to manage the affairs of the revenue, and exercise a judicial authority in matters per- taining to it. Sometimes the procurator dis- charged the office, of governor, especially in a small province, as did Pontius Pilate in Judaea ; in which case, but not otherwise, he had the power of inflicting capital punishment. This magistracy did not exist under the republic, its duties being comprised under these of the praetor or proconsul. Under the emperors these magistrates were called procuratores Casaris, to distinguish them from the common procurator, who was merely an agent employed by private persons to manage their affairs in their absence when an action was brought against them. Procurator, Procureur, &c. In the Civil Jurisprudence, one who undertakes the care of any legal proceeding for another, and stands in his place by virtue of a power of procuration from him. A mandatory is said to differ from a procurator in that the latter acts only by virtue of an express written instrument. In France, before the Revolution, the procureurs (procuratores ad lites) were officers legally em- powered to carry on suits on behalf of clients. This body was abolished in 1791, and that of avoues substituted in its place. The procureurs du roi in France are officers of whom one is appointed to every tribunal of arrondisse- ment, together with a sufficient number of substitutes. H 2 PROCURATOR FISCAL Procurator Fiscal. The title of the public prosecutor in the inferior courts of Scotland. The procurator fiscal, who usually makes the preliminary enquiries as to crimes committed in his district, acts under the lord advocate, who is the principal public prosecutor. Procureur-General.* The public advocate of the crown in France. Every parlement or cour souveraine had, before the Revolution, a procureur-general attached to it. Under the present system of judicature, one of these officers is established in every cour royale, for the criminal part of its proceedings : and under him an avocat-general, for the civil department of the court. The public accusers in the in- ferior courts of assize and premiere instance, are termed respectively procureurs criminels and procureurs d'etat. These officers are charged with the conduct of all criminal pro- ceedings on behalf of the prosecution ; and are placed under the immediate control of the minister of justice. Procyon (Gr. irpoKvcav). In Astronomy, the name given to the brightest star in the constellation of Canis minor. Procyon. In Zoology, a genus of Plan- tigrade Carnivorous mammalia, of which the common racoon {Procyon lotor) is the most notable species. Prodigy (Lat. prodigium). In ordinary modern language, this word signifies a surpris- ing though natural event ; in contradistinc- tion to miracle, which denotes something out of the course of nature. Among the Romans, however, any extraordinary event or appearance, to which, from insufficient acquaintance with natural history, they could not assign a cause, was termed a prodigy, and regarded as indi- cating the dispositions of their gods. Hence the number of recorded prodigies which occur in Roman history. [Omens.] Prodomus (Gr. irpSSo/xos). In Ancient Architecture, the portico before the entrance of the cella of a temple ; the same as pronaos. [Naos.] Produce, Haw. A formula used in Political Economy in a somewhat more limited sense than raw material. Thus, sugar, corn, cotton, are called raw produce, while ores, timber, dye, &c. would be raw material. In the latter case, little or no labour has been expended on the article beyond that which is necessary in order to appropriate it ; in the former, some, and often great, labour has been laid out in the culti- vation of the article. No precise line, however, can be drawn between the proper use of either term. [Material, Raw.] Product (Lat. productus, brought forward). In Arithmetic and Algebra, the result of, or quantity produced by, the multiplication of one number by another, or a quantity of any kind by a number. [Multiplication.] Producta (Lat.). An extinct genus of fossil bivalve shells, closely allied to the living genus Terebratula. They only occur in the older secondary rocks. 100 1 PRODUCTION, COST OF Production (Lat. productio, from prod uco, 1 lead forward). In Political Economy, the pro- cess by which the labour either directly applied by man, or indirectly (i. e. in the guidance given by labour to the muscular powers of animals), and the mechanical powers of certain physical ob- jects, as steam, wind, or running water, are made available for the developement of utilities from the materials and forces supplied by nature. As no labour is possessed of any economical significance unless it be exercised on articles possessing a value in exchanges, and destined to be exchanged, so all production which has an economical value is of commodities in demand. Similarly, a nation will not be sti- mulated to the production of any commodity beyond its own immediate or habitual wants, and therefore will not enter on any operations in exchange, unless it be offered some article which it desires and cannot produce, or can- not produce so easily and cheaply as other la- bour can. Thus, when after emancipation the negroes in the British West India islands, having only the lowest and most rudimentary tastes for the conveniences of civilisation, and possessing the means of gratifying them in abundance, were invited to produce com- modities by their voluntary labour, the ex- pectation that they would respond to the in- vitation was necessarily disappointed. But the extension of the desire for the higher class of utilities is a great stimulus to production ; and the policy which discouraged, by means of sumptuary laws, any expenditure among the poorer classes of society beyond what was required for the bare necessaries of life, was not only an unwarrantable intrusion upon private liberty, but a great hindrance to economical | progress. The neglect of the distinction between the use of the reasonable comforts and con- veniences of life in the fullest measure that can be achieved consistently with prudence and economy, and the depraved taste for vicious indulgence, forms the fallacy of Mandeville's paradox that private vices are public benefits, in his fable of ' the bees or knaves turned honest.' On the other hand, mere expenditure is not production, nor a stimulus to production. When Louis XIV. answered Madame de Main- tenon, on her requesting him to give alms to the people in a time of scarcity, that the best charity 5 he could give was in spending money, the fallacy was equally irrational ; he could only spend on luxury, by taking from pover- ty. Production in particular articles may be in excess, and in consequence the market price may fall below the cost of labour ex- pended on the article ; but there cannot be a general over-production, for this would only mean that everybody had more of everything with less labour. General over-production is, in fact, identical with the phrase a general glut, which is a contradiction in terms. [Glut.] Production, Cost of. It is a fundamen- tal position in Political Economy, that labour which has an economical significance is always undertaken with a view to profit or advantage. PRODUCTION, COST OF The exchange of produce manufactured with such a purpose is determined by supply and demand, for both of these, if action be free and uncontrolled, are affected by the competition of buyers aud sellers, or of production and exchange, the measure of both products being money. If, therefore, that which holds good between individuals affects communities also, the dis- covery of any means by which the cost of pro- duction may be lessened, gives an advantage in trade to the individual or the community which may possess the easier and less costly means of producing the commodity or commodities in which it trades. And as everyone is busied, eco- nomically speaking, in getting the largest ad- vantage for the least labour, free action will al- ways strive to diminish to the minimum amount the cost of production in the manufacture of all articles which are demanded and may be sup- plied, whatever be the form of industry adopted by a community, or presented to it by favour- able conditions of soil, climate, and the like. The two contributories to the cost of pro- duction are labour and profit. Kent does not diminish or increase the cost of production, but variations in the cost of production and in the demand for the produce increase and diminish rent. The interest of the landowner is not, therefore, except in a very indirect way, con- trary to the interest of the public, as Eicardo thought ; but the advantage of the public, and the general prosperity of all classes, is of the highest significance to the interest of the land- owner, since it is by the demand for agricultural produce (not, as the authors and supporters of the old corn laws imagined, for grain only, but for all produce), that larger claims can be made for the use of such natural powers as the soil possesses. That rent does not increase the cost of production is manifest ; for no one imagines that if all rents were extinguished, population and its demands for agricultural produce re- maining the same, prices would fall. The only difference would be, that the whole of the difference between the cost of production and the price at which the produce was sold would become the advantage of the agriculturist ; i. e. he would take not only the wages of his labour, the insurance on the risks of his occu- pation, and the profit of his capital, but indi- rectly the rent of land. Nor does this affect rent which is derived from land employed in tillage only ; exactly the same circumstances belong to land let for building purposes, and occupied in thoroughfares or other localities particularly suitable for business. Kent ob- tained for such sites does not increase the ex- pense of carrying on such a business, but the business is of such a character as to secure larger advantage to the occupier than could be obtained in a less favourable locality ; and as far as this advantage is not due to the intelli- gence, capital, and labour of the trader, the landlord is enabled by the principle of com- petition to obtain a share of the commercial fertility of the site, just as he does of the natural fertility of a rich soil. 101 The cost of labour as affecting the cost of production is measured not necessarily by the wage,, of labour, but by its efficiency. Low wages may be economically dear, high wages may be economically cheap." The wages of domestic servants in India are very low; but if the aggregate of service obtained by a dozen na- tives does not equal the effectiveness of one Euro- pean domestic, the cost of service may be much higher in that country than it is in England. Similarly, if the charge to which a contractor is put in hiring one kind of manual labour is one-half the rate at which another kind of labour may be hired, and the latter kind does treble the work of the former, the latter is cheap, the former dear. So, in a manufactory, the labour of children may be hired for three shillings a week, and that of some artisans employed may be as much as three pounds ; but the result of the former kind of labour may not, and often does not, represent so large an advantage as that which is derived from the labour of the latter. It is even possible that a shorter time of labour at equal wages may be more advantageous to the employer, because the gross produce of the labour is larger, as its quality is better; and that which- applies to human labour, applies equally to its substi- tutes. The old-fashioned English cart-horse might fifty years ago have been purchased for five pounds, and might have been kept at five shillings a week. A good modern cart-horse may cost fifty pounds, and require food valued at twelve shillings. But if the power of draught in the old cart-horse was equal only to ten tons, and that of the better bred animal to thirty, it is more economical to employ the latter labour than the former. So with machinery. A threshing machine may cost two hundred pounds ; but if the produce of this substitution for human labour represents a gain of twenty per cent, on the old manual labour, it is better to buy or hire the machine than to continue the nse of the flail. The same observations apply to reaping and ploughing machines, which can commend themselves to public notice and use only in the event of their performing the ser- vices done by manual labour with equal efficiency and at less aggregate cost. In those countries where the real cost of labour is high, owing to the existence of large and easily procurable tracts of fertile land, and to the scantiness of population, the stimulus to the substitution of mechanical for manual labour is exceedingly strong, and the invention of ma- chinery in aid of human labour is remarkably progressive. The United States have in effect produced many machines which in great degree supersede human labour, and in all cases mul- tiply its efficiency. Such are the sewing ma- chine in private life, and the various agri- cultural machines which have been adverted to. So great is the demand for such aids, and so abundant is the supply of these aids in sub- stitution or multiplication of human labour m the United States, 1 hat, as the writer is informed, though the contribution of the state of Ohio to PRODUCTION, COST OF the late war was nut less than 90,000 males, J late census indicating a notable decline in the out of a population of little above two millions, purely agricultural counties. Nor does a di- the labour of housing one of the largest har- i minished cost of production in one branch, or vests ever known in that state, that of 1864, I indeed in all branches of agricultural industry, was accomplished easily by the abundant use \ diminish rent, provided the demand be fully of agricultural machines. But where labour is commensurate with the increase effected. It cheap and population dense, the stimulant is less vigorous. This comparative indisposition to employ mechanical forces in aid of human labour is most manifest where, as in this country, a legal provision is made for the relief of the poor, the tenure of land is precarious, or at least the tenant is liable to the caprice of the landowner. The rate of profit or interest has its effect on the cost of production, partly because the pro- ducer in so far as he is a capitalist will need to be satisfied by receiving, in the aggregate of what is called his profit, the ordinary rate of interest, partly because in many productive operations much capital is borrowed. If, therefore, the rate of interest is raised by any insecurity felt as to the repayment of the advance, industry is seriously hindered, and undertakings cannot be entered on, or not entered on with ease and safety. With high rates of interest, where the investment is secure and the sole cause of the high rate is the large competition for capital consequent on high rates of profit or advantage, the cost of production is indeed enhanced ; but industrial occupations may be carried on with great energy, because wages and profits being high, the borrower receives his benefit in the large payment made for his industry and skill. It would seem at first sight that a diminished cost of production, consequent on the substitution of mechanical for manual labour, would lower the rate of wages. It is notorious that no such result has ensued, notwithstanding the gradual increase of population in this country, and the considerable employment of these aids. Thus, for instance, one branch of agricultural labour has been almost entirely superseded ; that, namely, of hand threshing. Where labour is far short of the demand for it, the possibility of a reduction in wages is remote ; if, of course, only one kind of labour could be supplied by an individual, the total cessation of employment in this di- rection would induce great distress. But it rarely happens, that labour, especially that which is dependent on those pursjiits in which such results might be anticipated, is of so spe- cial and simple a character. The agricultural labourer performs many different functions, and the progress of agricultural science has rather added to than diminished their number by the substitution of machinery. Besides, almost all occupations (those, for instance, which supply machines for agricultural pur- poses) need a considerable amount of un- skilled labour. The construction of railways, an operation as relevant to agricultural as to manufacturing pursuits, has absorbed a large amount of what may be called the surplus population of country districts', and the demand for labour in those regions which are peculiarly manufacturing has occupied many more, the 102 must be remembered that an agriculturist is engaged in a large number of operations. It is possible, indeed necessary for the well-being of society in densely peopled countries, that the first necessaries of life should be supplied abundantly by importation from abroad ; but it does not by any means follow that the gains of the agriculturist will be diminished, or the rent of the landowner lowered. Neither have been so affected, as we know by facts ; the cause of this result, unexpected or disputed when it was only theoretically certain, is to be found in the fact that greater prosperity has given enlarged powers of purchase to the general public. If a community is maintained, on an average of years, entirely upon the produce of its soil, the number of persons other than agriculturists which the country contains will denote the rate of production, or the cost of producing food. Similarly, if information can be procured as to the general rate of production from given areas at any period in the history of a community, during which no actual or no important sup- ply of food has been introduced from a foreign country, the evidence so obtained will be a fair basis on which to conclude what was the popu- lation of a country, in the absence of any direct evidence derived from an enumeration or census. Now, there can be little doubt that the rate of production in this country, before the intro- duction of root crops, artificial grasses, and the improvement in the herds of horses, oxen, sheep, and pigs, was little if any more than one- twelfth of that which is at present obtained from the soil ; and conversely it is certain that the whole population was regularly or occa- sionally occupied in agricultural pursuits. As measured by quantity, therefore, the cost of production was far greater in ancient or medi- aeval than in modern times ; and similarly, the amount of the population must have been, it may be safely concluded, no more than an eighth of that which now inhabits England and Wales. Nor is this reasoning without its modern parallels. In the most fertile states of Western America, the rate of pro- duction is little more than from twelve to twenty bushels of wheat to the acre, the power of abundant export being derived from the large area of land available for cultivation, the ease and cheapness of transit, and the substi- tution of mechanical for manual labour. The increase in the rate of production and the diminution in the cost of production have not, therefore, it may be safely asserted, been de- rived from the necessity uniformly alleged in the ordinary theory of rent, that namely of increased expense incurred in the cultivation of inferior soils, but in the discovery and adaptation of forces in agricultural cheniis- PROEDRI try; in the study of practical physiology in the herds of animals, both of which means for cheapening the process have been developed to a remarkable degree ; and in the application of mechanical force in aid or in substitution of human or manual labour. The diminution in the cost of production in the supply of manufactured goods is still more notable ; and the reader may be referred to Mr. Babbage's Economy of Machinery and Manufacture for information and illustration on this topic. The question how far the cost of production is increased by the operation of trades' unions and the accompanying machinery of strikes, will be found below under the head Trades' Unions. The reader may be referred to the same head for a statement of what appears to be the real incidence of such attempts to raise wages, as also to the articles Combination, Labour, and Wages. Proedri (Gr. irpdedpoi). Certain Athenian officers chosen to superintend the proceedings in the two legislative assemblies ; so called because they had the privilege of sitting in the front seats (irpoiSpia). The proedri of the senate were ten in number. [Prytanes.] The proedri of the ecclesia were more in number, one being appointed from each tribe, which did not con- tain the prytanes for the time being. Their duties extended only to the one assembly of the people, a new set being elected each time ; and one of their number was appointed Epi- states or president. Their employment was to propose the subject of debate to the people, and to count the votes. Proem (Gr. irpooi^iov, an opening, from olpos, a path). A word sometimes used as sy- nonymous with Preface or introduction. By the ancient Greeks it was used especially to denote a short hymn introductory to a longer poem. Proemptosis (a word made up from Gr. irp6, before, iv, in, and tttuktis, a falling). The term applied to the lunar equation or addition of a day to prevent the new moon happening too soon ; this must be done every 330 years, and another day must be added every 2,400 years. The opposite term is metemptosis, which is used to signify the solar equation ne- cessary to prevent the new moon from falling a day too late, or the suppression of the bissextile every 134 years. Professor (Lat.). The recognised title, in all universities, of the public and authorised teachers in the various faculties. In the origin of those institutions the degrees conferred on students were, in fact, licenses to commence as public teachers ; and the terms master, doctor, and professor seem to have been used in- differently. But as in process of time the great body of graduates ceased, in most univer- sities, to have any concern in public instruction, a separate body of recognised teachers gradually arose ; endowed in some instances with salaries, in others paid by fees. These were the pro- fessors. But in those universities in which 103 PROFIT collegiate foundations prevailed, as in Oxford and Cambridge, these officers fell into a secondary situation. The necessary business of instruction was transacted, and still con- tinues to be so, by the functionaries of the several colleges. The professors therefore, and the instruction which they convey by lectures, have become only auxiliaries, instead of prin- cipals, and attendance on their lectures is in few cases compulsory. On the other hand, in universities destitute or nearly so of collegiate endowments (as those of Scotland, Germany, and others founded on the German model), the professors have become at once the governing body of the university, and the sole recognised functionaries for the purpose of education. Profile (Fr. profil, Ital. profilo). In Archi- tecture, the contour of the different parts of an elevation, whatever may be the style adopted. Profile. In the Fine Arts, an outline of the principal parts of an object, free from all foreshortening, showing their real projections, indentations, &c. Profile. In Fortification, a vertical section through a work, perpendicular to the face of the' work. Profit (Fr. ; Ital. profitto, from Lat. profec- tus, advantage). In Political Economy, that rate of increase on capital with which the capitalist is so far satisfied as to constantly accumulate, either on the presumption that his capital will with moral certainty be re- paid him in case he makes an advance to others, or on the conviction that his capital will be replaced in case he employs it for bis own advantage. There is, therefore, no funda- mental difference between the rate of interest and the rate of profit : the distinction lies only in the employment of the capital accumulated, for interest is always used to designate the profit on a loan, while profit is made to imply at once the recompense made for advances, and the addition made to capital employed by its possessor. It is, therefore, important to distin- guish profit from wages, and to understand by wages not only payments made to labour, but all that part of a man's advantage from the employment of capital which is obtained by the fact that he devotes labour and skill to the" occupation in which he is engaged, and by which (in case any risk attaches to his business) he secures himself such an increased remuneration as forms, so to speak, a species of insurance on his outlay ; in other words, a capitalist must be paid for his trouble, as well as be rewarded for abstaining from spending his possessions on his personal enjoyment. "Wages of labour in similar occupations tend to an equality; and, either consciously or unconsciously, every- one attempts to insure himself against risk. When, therefore, the labour is satisfied, and the risk is obviated, the remaining portion of the increase is profit ; and as this remain- ing portion is on hypothesis secured to the capitalist as fully as the cost of the items which make up what is popularly called profit in business, it will not, and cannot be, more FROFIT than the rate of interest. Hence, when it is said that a small trader in a small town re- quires a large rate of profit on his trans- actions, while a great one is satisfied with j less, no more is meant than that the wages of labour distributed over each sale, and perhaps the risks of his occupation, are necessarily larger, pro rata, than those of the trader whose business is more extensive, and thus it is that traders with large business can always j offer goods to customers at lower rates than those whose occupations are circumscribed and whose market is narrow. The rate of interest on capital is the same, the remuneration of other elements is larger. The rate of profit is the least sum which persons will accept as an inducement to accu- mulation. If the persons who possess property are thrifty and averse to spending, they will be, and constantly are, satisfied with low rates of profit. The Dutch were thus satisfied, though the low rate which they accepted was forced upon their trade by themselves, in consequence of their foolishly endeavouring to maintain high prices by checking or regulating supplies. This fact was overlooked by Adam Smith, who ascribed the low rate of profit prevailing in Holland before the close of the eighteenth century, to the heavy taxation to which the country was subject. But taxation may be heavy, and general profits high, or taxation may be low and general profits low, for the rate of profit is not necessarily connected with taxation at all, since taxation need not do more than curtail the power of enjoyment possessed by individuals. On the contrary, if the habits of society in any community are such as to make them indisposed towards saving when the rate of profit is materially lowered, accu- mulations will cease, or, what is more fre- quent, capital will be destroyed by invest- ment in undertakings which are ultimately un- productive or scantily profitable. In short, it is hardly necessary to say that there are two sets of economical phenomena which are parti- cularly liable to the stimulus of inconsiderate investment; that, namely, in which the rate of profit is apparently high, and that in which the .rate of interest is temporarily very low. Adam Smith held that the cause which led to a diminution in the rate of profit was the competition of capitals. We have seen above that he also considered it might be the effect of increased taxation, and have adverted to what appears to have been the real cause of the low rate to which he refers as a fact in the history of Dutch trade and finance. But, unfortu- nately, when he says that a competition of capitals lowers profit, he* does not inform us of the way in which this result ensues. It cannot be by a general lowering of prices, because this would mean that everyone got more for less money, and so no one would be the worse. Nor can it mean that it occurs because a com- petition in one branch of business lowers what are called the profits of the business by lower- ing the price of the article consumed, since no 104 one has recognised more clearly than Smith has, that there is, all other things being equal, a tendency to equal profit in all callings. It remains, then, that the competition of capitals lowers profits by raising wages. This appears to be the case in all avocations but that of agriculture, where a low rate of profit may prevail in consequence of the competition of farmers for the occupation of the soil, the price of labour being uniform, .and the in- creased rent for the license of cultivation becoming the advantage of the landlord. Of course this specialty will not remain as a per- manent characteristic of the demand for land capable of cultivation, since the competition of capitals will tend ultimately, other things being equal, to equal rates of profit in agriculture and commerce. But if capitals lower rates of profit by competition, it must needs b%by the com- petition for employment; and as the employ- ment of capital is the maintenance of labour, the reduction of the rate will imply, as a con- sequence from large accumulations of capital, a large payment to labour for services. In other words, capital is working investment, and the only form which the investment can really take, whatever may be the apparent direction, is in the maintenance of labour. If the capi- tal be very large, the only means in which it can be employed is in the enlargement of wages. It need hardly be said that this com- petition may not lower prices ; it may in effect, by the demand for the materials of production, considerably raise them in certain directions. The direction which an accumulation of capital considerably in excess of the ordinary or general requirements of an existing com- munity may take, will be either that of in- creased labour on the soil, or increased produc- tion for foreign trade. But it does not seem absolutely necessary, in order that larger pro- ducts should be obtained from the soil, that lands hitherto not susceptible of cultivation, or not up to this time cultivated profitably, should be occupied and tilled. This will not be necessary till all the capital which can be employed is devoted to the better cultivation of areas already cultivated, but cultivated im- perfectly. And this, in fact, is what has hap- pened historically in this country. It is pro- bable that in the more settled parts of Eng- land — excluding, for instance, the Scotch and Welsh marshes, as much land was under the plough five hundred years ago as at present. We may certainly argue hypothetically, from the case of all possible capital being applied to areas at present cultivated, that the prac- tice of agricultural skill has by no means reached the limit of productiveness, since it certainly has not absorbed all the capital with which it may be supplied. By far the most powerful means, however, by which the re- duction in the rate of profit may be averted, lies in the increase of production for foreign trade ; and this has been the means by which the vast accumulations of capital in this country, and to some extent in other countries PROFIT also, have been made, and are employed with- out any notable reduction in the rate of pro- fit or interest, but, on the contrary, are accom- panied by certain phenomena which indicate a rise in the rate. Political economists are apt, in interpreting the phenomena of wealth, to ignore, in some degree at least, the fact that the reciprocal relations of communities are rapidly modify- ing the conclusions which have been accepted from the various restrictions which the policy or fears of administrations have laid upon international intercourse. In fact, the inha- bitants of civilised communities are getting more and more into the condition of members of the same economical state, denser popula- tions representing towns and manufacturing districts, scantier ones the regions where agriculture prevails. From this point of view, the emigration of settlers is attended, only on a larger scale, by the same phenomena as the immigration into towns, and does not so much represent the relief of a redundant population, as the creation of facilities for the cheap production of food, which shall be ex- changed against the manufacture of the more densely inhabited regions. In this way, the customs duties collected on foreign goods correspond to the octroi which is levied on consumable articles in towns ; and the creation or improvement in the means of transit from country to country is analogous to the act of making a railway from a town to a rural district, between which localities there has hitherto been either imperfect communication or no communication at all. Just, too, as the produce of country districts could not be pur- chased, unless a town supplied commodities of its own manufacture or commodities imported by its labour in a carrying trade, so no inter- course will take place with distant countries except on the terms of mutual advantage. Now, the more widely this intercourse is extended, the more fully communities understand that they have mutual and inseparable interests of the very highest significance, and see that differences tending to war, and the cessation of intercourse between nations, vary only in degree from the folly and ferocity of civil war, the more distinctly public opinion is led to the true interpretation of national jealousies and narrow patriotism, as being a mask for the aggrandisement of administrative vanity, or for the satisfaction of personal spleen, at the expense of the general community ; the more certainly all the speculations of political eco- nomists, as to the mininum rate of profit, the effect of taxation on public resources, the possible exhaustion of fertile soils, and the en- hanced cost of cultivating inferior ones, become practically unimportant, because their contin- gency is made so exceedingly remote, and will have only a theoretical value, never to be of immediate interest except as consequent on the ultimate overcrowding of the human race on the whole surface of the earth. Up to this time, on the hvpothesis of a larger and more 105 complete understanding of what really consti- tutes the friendly intercourse of nations, the occurrence of a minimum rate of profit will be indefinitely postponed by investment in what are called indeed foreign undertakings, but which are in reality, when the undertaking is of an industrial character, means for cheapen- ing articles sold in the home market ; the pro- cess by which all fertile soils employed for raising food are exhausted, will in all proba- bility be extended into a geological period ; the effect of taxation (unless indeed, as is rarely the case, it be levied for ind\istrial purposes) will be seen to be the destruction of capital, and the creation of an order of persons un- fitted for industrial pursuits ; and the wisdom of administrations will be directed towards effecting a closer unity and larger interdepend- ence of all societies composing the civilised world, instead of being, as is commonly the case at present, an alternation of suspicion, timidity, military aggrandisement, and econo- mical loss. It is in consequence of the partial develope- ment of these wiser and happier views as to the intercourse of nations, that the predictions of many economists have been falsified by events. The land of this country has not increased a square mile in the last five hundred years, it has probably decreased by the abrasion of the sea ; the agricultural pro- duce has, as we have elsewhere stated, increased twelve times, the manufacturing industry fifty- fold during the last two hundred years. .But the rate of profit, as measured by the rate of interest, has not varied notably for the last hundred and fifty years, i. e. since the time that legal interest was fixed by the statute of Anne at five per cent. This uniformity is to be assigned partly to the enormous develope- ment of the internal resources possessed by the country, and as much to the foreign trade developed by it ; but that foreign trade has been rendered possible only by the growth of' wealth among other nations, by the increase of their powers of production and purchase, and, as is attested by facts, by the rate of profit being sufficient not only to stimulate accumu- lation, but to develope those faculties of ob- servation and research which have issued in such singular and prodigious discoveries in the materials and the powers of nature. It will be seen that, in the account given of profit, the word has been treated as identical with interest on advances, the sole difference discoverable in the two terms consisting in the fact that interest is understood to mean the payment made for loans, profit the advantage derived from the employment of capital by its owner. There is, it appears, no reason for recognising any other difference in the two terms, any more than there is for distinguishing that portion of the produce of the soil which is paid as rent to a landlord, and that which is retained by the cultivator in excess of the receipts of the tenant farmer, when such a cultivator happens to be also the owner of the PROGNOSIS soil. Commonly, however, just as rent is con- founded with interest on capital and wages of labour when the same person is the recipient of all these, so profit is confounded with wages when the same individual is at once capitalist and labourer. There would be, indeed, no practical evil in such an error, but only a logical indistinctness, were it not that in this confusion of wages and profit a different cri- ticism were customarily applied to different individuals or different classes. It will not be difficult to discover instances of such a con- fusion and such a criticism. A combination to raise profits, if profit be understood to mean the interest on capital, or, as Adam Smith calls it, the profits on stock, will be wholly nugatory, just as all legal regu- lations affecting to limit rates of interest have been invariably inoperative and illusory. But a combination to raise wages under the name of profits is not only possible, but general. Where the use of the combination is adopted by the worker, for wages paid by a capitalist, the mechanism is open, and we call the asso- ciation of labourers a trades' union ; but where the body of capitalists unite to maintain prices, or to fix a standard below which professional etiquette will not permit a fee to be taken, the mechanism is secret, and the real significance is obscure. But in effect trade and professional regulations are of exactly the same nature as the combinations of workmen, assume the same line of defence, are open to the same regula- tion, and are virtually unions for the increase of wages, however much they may affect to be attempts to secure uniform rates of profit. In short, although competition will be found to determine interest, rent, and insurance, it will be found, on a careful examination of facts, to have only a limited operation in determining the rate of Wages. Everyone can understand what is the meaning of the more violent attempts to increase wages by a monopoly, by a trades' union, or by legislative enactments which give one of two contracting parties a power to fix prices, by refusing the same discretion to the others ; but there are many other invasions of the natural freedom of eco- nomical action, which would be justly inter- preted by a sound and scientific exposition of the principles on which the mutual services of mankind should be appraised and exchanged. Among these none are more frequent than combinations to raise wages, under the name of profits, and few have done more to hinder the mass of consumers from receiving all the benefits of fiscal reform and free trade. [Taxation ; Wages.] Prognosis (Gr. from irp6, and yvwais, knowledge). An opinion respecting the pro- gress and termination of a disease. Programme (Fr. ; Gr. Trpoypa/x/jLa). An old university term, signifying an outline of the speeches or orations to be delivered on a particular occasion ; but now applied in a more extended sense to the outline of any enter- tainment or public ceremony. 106 PROJECTILE Progress (Lat. progressus, a going for- ward). The state journeys of royal personages were called by this name in old English eti- quette. In the reigns of Elizabeth and James they were frequent, and somewhat costly to the wealthier subjects, inasmuch as they were usually honoured with the onerous privilege of affording hospitality to royalty. The pro- gresses of Queen Elizabeth form the subject of a work by Mr. Nicholl. Perhaps the most celebrated progress in English history is that of James I. from Scotland to London on his accession. Progression (Lat. progressio). In Arith- metic and Algebra, this term is synonymous with series. [Arithmetical Progression ; Geometrical Progression; Harmonic Pro- gression.] Prohibition (Lat. prohibitio, a hindering). In Law, a writ to forbid any court from proceeding in a cause then depending, on suggestion that the cause does not properly belong to that court. In modern times, the writ of prohibition is chiefly used where parties have been impleaded before the ecclesiastical courts. It issues properly out of the Court of Queen's Bench ; but it may also be had in some cases out of the Chancery, Common Pleas, or Exchequer. It is the proper remedy where the court against which it is sued has exceeded its jurisdiction in taking cognisance of matters not properly belonging to it. It is granted on motion ; but if the question of jurisdiction be doubtful, the court directs the party suing the writ to declare in prohibition, i. e. to bring an action against the other party, praying that a writ of prohibition may issue, and gives judgment that the writ do or do not issue, as justice may require. Projectile (Lat. projicio, I throw forward). In Gunnery, a body designed to be projected by the force of gunpowder. It was shown in the article Gunnery that the resistance of the air materially retards a projectile in its flight, and that elongated pro- jectiles are less retarded than spherical ones of the same weight. The retardation of a projec- tile is also greatly influenced by the form of its head, and to some extent by that of its hind Fig. 1. part. Newton, in his Principia, gives a form of body which would, in passing through a fluid, experience less resistance than any other (fig. 1) ; and Pio-' bert proposes the form represented in fig. 2, in length five times its greatest diameter, and with its largest section Fig. 2. placed at two-fifths of the length of the pro- jectile from its base. This form is very nearly PROJECTILE followed by Mr. Whitworth in some of his projectiles. In the last century, Dr. Hutton and Borda respectively carrie'd on experiments upon bodies of different forms, moving with low velocities ; and from Borda's experiments it appeared that the ogival form of head experi- enced the least resistance. A recent experi- ment, made under direction of the Ordnance Select Committee, to determine the relative retardations of elongated projectiles of equal weight (average 41 lb.), having similar bases, but differently formed heads, and fired at nearly equal high velocities, gave the following results : — Form of projectile Cylindro-ogival Cylindro-conoidal . Cylindro-parabolic . Cylindro-hemispherical . Cylindro-conical Cylindrical or flat-headed Loss of velocity in 460 yards ft. per second 70 98 111 112 117 170 The ogival form of head was less retarded than any other, and the conoidal head, used in our service, was next in the scale. The flat- headed projectile, as might be expected, ex- perienced very great resistance. The form of a projectile also affects its flight as regards deviation from the line of fire. When a round shot is fired from a smooth- bored gun, its deviation is uncertain, and depends upon the rotation which it has received, and which varies by reason of certain varying causes. Windage is the first and great cause of irregularity in flight ; other causes of deviation, such as imperfect form, roughness, and want of homogeneity in a shot, will not be entered upon here, as they should be overcome by improving manufacture. By reason of windage, when a shot is pro- pelled, it bounds and rebounds along the bore, and finally leaves the muzzle in an accidental direction, and with a rotatory motion depending chiefly on the position of its last impact against the bore. A shot, the last impact of which is against the right side of the bore, will tend at first towards the left ; but will have a rotation from left to right (fig. 3), which will cause it Fig. 3. to bear gradually towards the right, to such an extent that, at any but short ranges, the deflec- tion will be to the right of the line of fire. The probable reason of this, as shown by Robins, is, that as the air in front of the ball is greatly condensed, its friction offers great resistance to the ball, behind which there is almost a vacuum, and therefore no counterbalancing force ; hence the ball will tend to deflect in the opposite direction to that at first given to it. Ac- cording to Magnus, if a ball leaves a gun, its 107 fore part rotating on a vertical axis from left to right, it causes to rotate with it a portion of air; this is opposed to the resisting atmosphere on the left side, but acts with it on the right side (fig. 4). There will therefore be greater Fig. 4. pressure on the left side than on the right, and so the ball will deflect to the right. With any other direction of rotation there will be corre- sponding deviation ; in one case only will there be none, viz. when the ball rotates on an axis parallel to the axis of the bore, or coincident with the line of fire. To give the projectile such a rotation is the object.of rifling a gun, and the various methods of accomphshing this object are treated of in the article Eifjled Gtjns. Elongated projectiles, the advantages of which have been noticed in the article Gunnery, can be successfully fired from rifled guns, although they cannot be ad- vantageously used with smooth-bored pieces, because they turn over during flight. If to a flat-headed body, suspended horizon- tally from its centre of gravity, a pressure be applied before and below such centre of gravity, the head will thereby be depressed. If a force be similarly applied to a conoidal-headed body, its head will be raised. This is capable of easy proof either mathematically or by experiment. Now, the resistance of the air always does so press on the head of an elongated shot during flight, as shown in figs. 5 and 6. The shot is Fig. 5. acted on by the force of propulsion P, and that of gravity G. Its motion is in the direction of their resultant, and consequently the air's Fig. 6. resistance R is in the opposite direction. Therefore, a flat-headed shot, fired without ro- tation, will be turned head downwards round its shorter axis, a conoidal-headed shot point PROJECTILE upwards. But the imparting a rotatory motion to the projectile round its longer axis gives stability to that axis, and prevents the pro- jectile from turning over. The elongated projectile fired from a rifled gun is, however, in practice found to deviate from the line of fire to an extent more or less constant, and either to right or left according to the shape of the head, and the direction of rotation of the projectile. A conoidal-headed shot, fired with a right-handed rotation (i. e. a rotation from left to right of a spectator looking from behind the gun), will always deviate to the right; a flat-headed shot, with similar rotation, to the left. If the rotation is reversed, opposite results will ensue. An ex- planation of this phenomenon, would extend beyond the limits of this article, but it may be briefly stated thus; take, for instance, the service cylindro-conoidal shot with right- handed rotation, as from the Armstrong gun : the resistance of the air will cause its point to be deflected to the right, and this resistance then acts obliquely on the whole projectile, and so deflects it to the right. This constant deviation is called by artillerists derivation, a word adopted from the French, and it must be allowed for in laying the gun. [Sighting Ordnance.] The velocity of rotation, which an elongated projectile requires to keep its rotation stable round its longer axis, will depend upon the ini- tial velocity, form, and density of the shot, and the position of its centre of gravity. As the initial velocity increases, the resistance of the air, tending to upset the projectile, becomes greater. Long projectiles are more easily turned over than short ones of equal weight, for the upsetting force acts with longer leverage. The same applies to a shot with its centre of gravity far back. Flat-headed projectiles are more easily turned over, for the air acts directly on their heads, instead of gliding by as with a pointed or rounded head. The less the density of a shot in proportion to size, the more rapidly will the air's resistance decrease the shot's velocity of rotation. The projectile, therefore, must be made ac- cording to these laws, or else, to meet any of these cases, a very high velocity of rotation must be given to it, and this is objectionable, as causing (1) a very great strain on the metal of the gun, (2) extreme deflection upon grazing, and (3) too great a lateral spread of the pieces of shell. It now remains to notice the best form and material of projectile for the various purposes of war. And, first, as regards the great problem of the modern science of artillery, the penetra- tion of iron armour-,plate. The materials used in the manufacture of projectiles for this pur- pose have been cast iron, wrought iron, and steel. Service cast-iron shot, cast in sand in the usual manner, are found to be very ineffi- cient, breaking up easily on impact, though penetration has been obtained by them. The heaviest cast-iron shot yet fired in this country 108 1 were those from the Horsfall gun ; one weigh- ing 279 1b. with an initial velocity of 1,631 feet, completely penetrated the 'Warrior' target at 200 yards, doing great damage ; but at 800 yards, similar shot, though having a velocity on striking of 1,300 feet, failed to penetrate. A fifteen-inch cored cast-iron shot, weighing 430 lb., fired with 35 lb. of powder from the United States' monitor ' Weehawken,' shat- tered, at about 300 yards' range, the armour of the Confederate iron-clad Atlanta,' doing fright- ful damage; but an eleven-inch ball of 169 lb., with 20 lb. of powder, did not break the same armour. The Atlanta's' armour, however, was composed only of laminated plates of the aggregate thickness of 4£ inches, very inferior to a solid plate of the same thickness, and was backed by yellow pine, a wood very inferior to teak. Good results have been obtained from some chilled cast-iron shot proposed by Major Palliser ; and if by further experiments we can obtain shot of this nature, possessing hardness enough for penetration, without too much toughness, they will be very valuable for use against iron-clads ; for we shall obtain the advantage of their breaking into frag- ments after penetrating, besides saving much expense. Wrought-iron shot have been occasionally tried. They never break up, but are much set-up or altered in form after impact. Expe- riments have all gone to prove that wrought iron, though somewhat superior to ordinary cast iron, is far inferior to steel, and is not to be recommended as a material for projectiles to be used against iron plates. Undoubtedly by far the most damaging pro- jectiles yet tried against armour-plated vessels are steel shells, and to Mr. Whitworth belongs the honour of first proving that a shell could be sent through an iron-plated ship of war. His shell and that of Sir W. Armstrong differ con- siderably ; the former is solid at the head, and open at the rear to receive the bursting charge, being afterwards closed by a screwed-in steel cup ; the latter is open in front, and a hollow cast-iron head is screwed on, which breaks up on impact. The latter form seems the best, as allowing the force of the bursting charge to act forwards instead of backwards. The terri- ble effects of the 612 lb. steel shell at 1,000 yards on the 'Warrior' target were greater than any yet seen. In fact, it is now established that the 'Warrior' target can be easily pierced at 2,000 yards by a shell containing a bursting charge of 24 lb. of powder. During some experiments lately made in Eussia, some steel shells, manufactured by Krupp, of Essen in Prussia, penetrated a tar- get covered with 4^ -inch armour-plates. These projectiles were made of the very best and most costly description of steel. As regards form, elongated projectiles have far greater power of penetration than spherical shot. Their comparative effects may be thus summed up : the elongated projectile striking a plate with the same momentum as a spherical PROJECTILE one, will penetrate deeper than the latter, for, although the force of the blow given by each projectile will be the same, there will be a greater amount of resistance due to the greater diameter of the spherical projectile; conse- quently its penetration is less than that of the elongated projectile, but the force of the blow is more spread, and the shattering effect is greater. Experiments also led the Committee on Iron to report that conical-ended shot are superior in accuracy and range to flat-ended projectiles, and that, except perhaps for oblique firing, they are also superior for penetration. The following is the evidence of Sir W. Arm- strong : ' I do not see how you can produce with steel round shot an effect comparable to the effect which can be obtained with cylindrical rifled shot. With respect to employing steel spherical shell, capable of penetrating iron plates, I consider it out of the question. It is only by means of the elongated form of the projectile that we can produce a steel .shell capable of piercing an iron plate, and it is due to the principle of rifling that the elongated form can be adopted.' For all ordinary purposes, experiments tend to show that a gun of about 12 tons weight, capable of firing a shot of about 200 lb. weight, with a charge of 45 lb. of powder, is quite powerful enough to give a good account of any iron-clad vessel which is ever likely to be brought against us. A good supply of such guns for $ur coasts and ships, with a large provision of steel shells and shot hard enough for penetration, is what is urgently required. The following table, extracted from Major Owen's Lectures on Artillery, gives the effects produced on the same description of target (the 'Warrior') by various projectiles, fired with different charges, and at several ranges. •g f B.L. UO-pr. (A.). <5 « nuto ss l*I.L. 120- pr. „ S.B. Horsfall . . . Ditto ■g JM.L. 7" (A.) S 1 Ditto . . R. 70-pr. (W.) . . . S.B. 68-pr S.B. 100-pr. (A.) . . R.M.L. 7-in. (A.) . . R.M.L. 150-pr. (W.I* Ditto . . . . R. 600-pr. (A.). Projectile Elongated shot Spherical Chilled cast-iron : — f Elongated R.H. shot Steel : — Elongated F.H. Spherical Elongated R.H. „ F.H. shell R.H. cast-iron head shell . ditto . . . 74| Velocity Effect on Target Tndent too small to be measured. Depth of indent 3-1". Through target; hole in plate 28"x25" and in skin 5 ft. square. Hole in plate 2'x I'll" ; penetrated to 12" Hole in plate 8 -5" x 7 - 5"; penetrated to a depth of 9". Through target; hole in plate 8"x7"5", hole in skin 18" x 14". Through plate, and 5" Into backing. Through plate, and 4i" into backing. Hole in plate 9" x 9",~ depth to shot 6-5", skin cracked. Through target; hole in plate 8"x7-5", hole in skin 18"x 12". Through target; hole in plate 85" X 7 - 5", and in skin 13", fragments inside target. Through target; hole in plate 8" X 8 5". Through target ; hole in plate 7\V, and in skin 10", fragments inside target. Through target; hole in plate 24"x21", and in skin 50"x24" ; target shattered. Through target ; hole in plate 16" x 1 5 V', and in skin 4'x2'5"; one plate blown off; fragments inside target. S.B. smooth bored. E. H. elliptical head. F. H. flat head. R.H. round head. * At first called 120-pounder. R. rifled. lb. (A.; Armstrong. Bursting charge of Whitworth's 130 lb. shell 5! (W.) Whitworth. , For breaching masonry, whether protected by iron plates or unprotected, heavy solid shot must be used, followed by shells with large bursting charges. Ricochet fire is now so en- tirely abandoned for shell fire, that the elongated shell holding a large bursting charge seems the best projectile for other siege purposes. In the field, Sir W. Armstrong's segment shell has with us superseded all other pro- jectiles, being capable of use either as shot, shrapnel shell, common shell or case, though as shot it is no better than the common solid shot and much more costly, while it is not thoroughly efficient as either common shell or case, and a special case shot, invented by Lieut. Reeves, R.A., is about to be introduced on this account ; and it has lately been decided that another form 109 151 lb. „ „ Armstrong's 610 lb. „ 24 of shrapnel shell (Boxer's) is far superior in destructive effect. Finally, wherever it is practicable, the gun should be made for the projectile, and not the projectile for the gun, and both should be of as simple construction as possible. It is ne- cessary in the first place to determine the con- ditions of velocity, form of shot, &c, requisite to obtain accuracy, range, and penetration ; also the shape of the projectile best adapted to the destructive purpose for which it is in- tended ; secondly, to contrive a gun which shall give a certain projectile the necessary initial velocity and velocity of rotation, and which shall combine excellence and simplicity of construc- tion with the requisite weight, strength, and durability. PROJECTILE For further information, see Gun ; Gun- j nery; Rifled Guns; &c. ; and the follow- ing works : Major Owen's Lectures on Artil- lery, 4th edit. ; Owen's Motion of Projectiles ; | Holley On Ordnance and Armour ; Reports of the Committee on Iron Plates, Bluebooks ; Cap- tain Harrison in Royal Artillery Institution Proceedings, vol. iv. ; Report of Armstrong and Whitworth Committee ; &c. Projectile. In Mechanics, a body which having had a motion in space impressed on it by the action of an external force, is abandoned by this force, and left to pursue its course. Thus, a stone .thrown from the hand or a sling, an arrow shot from a bow, and a bullet discharged from a cannon, are projectiles while they con- tinue in motion. , Projection (Lat. projectio, a throwing for- tbard). In Astronomy, this term is employed when a star actually occulted by the moon appears to be projected on its disc. It is an optical illusion which frequently occurs. Projection, Iðod of. A modern and very powerful method of investigating and generalising the properties of plane as well as of non-plane curves. In general any two curves traced on the same cone may be con- sidered as projections one of the other. The vertex of the cone is called the point or centre of projection, and one, at least, of the curves is usually conceived to lie in a plane, the plane of projection. Each generator of the projecting cone is called a projecting ray. The graphic, as distinguished from the me- trical properties of non-plane curves, may be advantageously studied by means of their plane projections. To illustrate this, we may observe that : 1. The plane projection of a non- plane curve must be of the same order as the latter ; for the number of intersections, with the projection of any right line, must neces- sarily be equal to the number of points in which the projecting plane of that right line meets the non-plane curve. 2. The class of the projection will be equal to the rank of the curve ; in other words, to the order of its de- velopable osculatrix [Curve] ; for the latter is equal to the number of tangents to the curve which meet any projecting ray, and therefore to the number of tangents to the pro- jection which pass through the point where that ray intersects the plane of projection. 3. The number of stationary tangents (points of inflection) of the projection will be equal to the class of the curve; for the latter is equal to the number of osculating planes which pass through the centre of projection, and each such osculating and projecting plane contains two consecutive tangents of the curve, and there- fore two coincident consecutive tangents of the projection. 4. To every stationary point on the curve corresponds a stationary point on the projection ; for through such a stationary point pass three consecutive tangents, a property which is clearly projective. 5. The number of double points on the projection will indicate how many projecting rays meet the curve in iio PROJECTION, METHOD OF two points, coincident or distinct ; it will be equal, therefore, to the sum of the real and apparent double points of the curve, or, in other words, to the number of ' lines through two points ' which pass through a given point. [Curve.] 6. Double tangents of the projec- tion also arise from apparent as well as real double tangents of the curve, and their number merely indicates how many 1 planes through two lines' pass through an arbitrary point (the vertex). From the above analysis it will be easily understood how Plucker's equations, connecting the ordinary singularities of plane curves, may be generalised to suit the case of non-plane curves. Mr. Cayley has, in fact, done this in a paper published in the Cam. and Dublin Math. Jour. vol. v. "We proceed to notice some of the more im- portant properties of plane projections of plane curves. It is obvious, from what has been al- ready stated, that the ordinary singularities of such curves all reappear in their plane projec- tions ; these singularities are included in the so- called projective properties of figures. It should be here stated, however, that such properties are not exclusively graphic. Many metrical properties are also projective, and, what is most important, anharmonic ratios of points and lines are so. [Anharmonic Ratio.] Thus a pole and its polar with respect to any conic become by projection a pole and polar of another conic ; for the polar A of any point a with respect to a conic 2, is simply the locus of the harmonic conjugate of a with respect to the intersections with 2 of any transversal through a. This simple theorem is extremely rich in consequences ; we cannot, however, dwell upon them, and must refer the reader to Poncelet's classic work on the Proprietes Projcctives des Figures, or to the writings of Chasles, Steiner, Salmon, &c. We will merely add that many important theorems with respect to conies may be easily demonstrated by remembering that, with a proper choice of the centre and plane of projection, any conic may be projected into a circle, and at the same time any line in the plane of that conic into the line at infinity. If this be done with the above conic 2 and polar A, for instance, the projection of the pole a will manifestly be the centre of the circle into which 2 is projected. Further, two non-intersecting conies may always be projected into two circles, and if the former have double contact, the chord of contact being imaginary, the latter will be concentric. We have still to mention the plane projec- tions of figures obtained by assuming the centre of projection to be infinitely distant. In this case the projecting cone becomes a projecting cylinder. The projection is termed orthographic or orthogonal when the plane of projection is perpendicular to the generators of the projecting cylinder; in other cases it is called oblique. In descriptive geometry, for example, orthographic projections of objects upon a vertical and a horizontal plane are taken ; whilst in Cartesian coordinates a figure PROJECTION OF THE SFIIERE 5n space is determined by its orthographic projections on three rectangular coordinate planes. In orthographic projection, lines parallel to the plane of projection are not altered in length, others are shortened in the" ratio of unity to the cosine of their inclination to the plane of projection. The area of the orthogonal projection of a figure is equal to that of the figure itself multiplied by the Cosine of the inclination of its plane to that of projection. The orthogonal projection of a circle, inclined to the plane of projection, is always an ellipse whose centre is the projection of the circle's centre, whose major axis is equal to the diameter of the circle and parallel to the intersection of its plane with the plane of projection, and whose minor axis is of course equal to that diameter multiplied by the cosine of the inclination of the two planes. A useful form of orthographic projection, suitable for the representation as well as for the investigation of geometrical figures whose principal lines, like those of a parallelopiped, are parallel to one of three mutually rectangu- lar axes, was invented by Farish, and termed isoiwtrical ; since, the plane of projection being equally inclined to the three axes, all distances parallel to the latter are shortened in the same ratio, viz. that of a/3 : a/2. The projections of the principal lines of the figure make an angle of 120° with each other. The projec- tions of level lines, i.e. of lines parallel to the plane of projection, are of the same length as their originals, and are necessarily perpendicu- lar to the projections of one set of principal lines and inclined at an angle of 30° to those of the other two sets. The lines of greatest slope on the principal planes are represented by lines parallel to the projections of one set of principal lines, and consequently inclined to those of the other two at an angle of 60°. Such lines are shortened by projection in the ratio of a/3 : 1. Every circle on a principal plane is projected into an ellipse with its major axis parallel to the projections of the lines of level and equal to the diameter of the circle, the ratio of its two axes being that of a/3 : 1 . Projection of the Sptaere. On account of their importance in the construction of maps, charts, &c. we have reserved for a short separate notice the more important methods of projecting figures traced on the surface of a sphere. 1. Orthographic Projection. — The general character of this method having been already explained, it is only necessary to add that ortho- graphic projections of the sphere are usually made either on the plane of the equator or on the plane of a meridian. When on the plane of the equator, the meridians are all represented by straight lines intersecting in the centre of the projection, and the parallels of latitude by circles whose radii are respectively equal to the cosines of the latitude. When the repre- sentation is on the plane of a meridian the other meridians are represented by ellipses, and the parallels of latitude by straight lines 111 parallel to the diameter of the projection. The chief defect of orthographic projections of a hemisphere is, that near the circumference of the representation tho figures are greatly crowded and distorted. 2. Stcreographic Projection. — The plane of projection may here be that of any great circle ; the centre of projection is then taken at one of its poles. Accordingly the spherical figure and its projection are inverse to one another [In- version] ; hence all circles are projected either into straight lines or into other circles, and the angle between any two intersecting curves on the sphere is preserved unchanged in the pro- jection. The first of these important proper- ties was known to Hipparchus and Ptolemy, the former of whom invented the projection and gave it the name of planisphere. The second property was first demonstrated by Dr. Halley in the Phil. Trans, for 1696 ; an important con- sequence being that corresponding small por- tions of the spherical figure and its projection are similar. 3. Gnomonic or Central Projection. — In this projection, also described by Ptolemy, the eye is situated at the centre of the sphere, and the plane of projection is a plane which touches the sphere at any point assumed at pleasure. The point of contact is called the 'principal point and the projections of all other points on the sphere are at the extremities of the tangents of the arcs intercepted between them and the principal point. As the tangents increase very rapidly when the arcs exceed 45°, and at 90° become infinite, the central projection cannot be adopted for a whole hemisphere. A modification of this projection consists in taking the plane of one of the polar circles as the plane of projection. It is then called a polar projection of the sphere. 4. Globular Projection. — This projection was proposed by Lahire. The plane of any great circle being taken as the plane of projection, a point in its axis, outside the sphere, is as- sumed as the centre of projection. In order that the representation of the more distant hemisphere may be as little distorted as pos- sible, the shortest distance from the eye to the sphere must have to the radius the ratio of the side to the diagonal of a square. 5. Conical Projection. — The centre of pro- jection being still the centre of the sphere, the surface of. pi-ojection is now a right cone which may either touch the sphere in a parallel of latitude or intersect it in two such parallels. The conical surface is ultimately supposed to be unfolded into a plane, when, manifestly, meri- dians will be represented by right lines con- verging to a point, and parallels of latitude by circular arcs around that point as centre. 6. Cylindrical Projection. — The centre of projection being the same as before, the surface of projection is here supposed to be a cylinder touching the sphere at the equator. When I the. cylinder is unfolded, meridians and parallels I of latitude are each represented by parallel i lines, the linos of longitude, corresponding to PROJECTURE successive degrees, being equidistant, and per- pendicular to the lines of latitude whose dis- tance apart increases rapidly with the latitude. Mercator's Projection may be considered as a modification of the present one, the projecting rays being curved instead of straight. 7. Homolographic Projection, — This, like Mercator's, is not a proper projection. It may be described as a representation of the sphere on the principle of the conservation of relative areas, in other words, so that the areas of any two portions of the map shall have the same ratio to each other, as the areas of the corre- sponding portions on the sphere. Flamsteed solved the problem approximately ; Cauchy investigated it mathematically ; and Babinet has, we hear, published maps constructed on the basis of Cauchy's calculations. Projecture (Lat. projectura). In Archi- tecture, the jutting or leaning outwards of the mouldings and other members of architecture beyond the face of a wall, column, pilaster, cornice, &c. Prolapsus (Lat. part, of prolabor, / fall forward). A protrusion or falling down of a part of a viscus that is uncovered. Prolate Spheroid. In Geometry, a sphe- roid produced by the revolution of an ellipse about its major axis ; so called in opposition to the oblate spheroid, which is produced by the revolution of the ellipse about its minor axis. [Spheroid.] Prolegomena (Gr.). In Literature, pre- liminary or introductory observations or dis- sertations prefixed to any work. Prolegs. In Entomology, the fleshy exarfi- cnlate, pediform, often retractile organs, which assist various larvae in walking and other mo- tions, but which disappear in the perfect insect. Prolepsis (Gr. an anticipation). In Rhe- toric, a figure by which the speaker anticipates and answers imaginary objections to the senti- ments which he is urging. Proletarian (Lat. proletarius). In the con- stitution attributed to Servius Tullius, Roman citizens who did not possess the amount of property requisite for admission into the lowest class were so called (as it is said from proles, offspring, because they had only their children to offer to the state). Hence, in modern politi- cal language, the name is frequently applied to the destitute portion of the population. [Capite Censi.] Prologue (Gr. Trp6\oyos). Apiece inverse recited before the representation of a play, and serving as an introduction to it. [Epilogue.] Prolongs (Fr.). In Artillery, a rope used to drag a gun-carriage without the limber, when it is required to retire firing through a street of a village, or any narrow defile. Prolusion (Lat. prolusio). A classical word which has been adopted in a rather general sense by authors unwilling to claim for their own productions a more ambitious designation. Thus used, the term denotes an essay or pre- paratory exercise, in which the writer tries his j strength, or throws out some preliminary re- j 112 PROMETHEUS marks on a subject which he intends to treat more profoundly. The early and fugitive pieces of some poets (as the Cukx and others attri- buted to Virgil) have been termed, by critics, their prolusions. Prometheans. A term applied to paper matches enclosing small glass tubes containing concentrated sulphuric acid, and surrounded with an inflammable mixture, which becomes ignited on sufficient pressure being applied to break the glass tube. Prometheus (Gr.). In the Hesiodic Theo- gony, a son of the Titan Iapetus ; but accord- ing to iEschylus, a son of Themis (law). It is impossible to harmonise the legends of his life and acts. In the tale of JEschylus, Pro- metheus, the fore-thinker (as his brother Epi- metheus is one who takes counsel after the event), feels compassion for the misery of men, who know neither how to cook food or to build houses. Having stolen fire from heaven, he imparts the gift to mortals, who are now taught by him the arts necessary to civilise and to sweeten life. This myth, it is obvious, conveys an idea altogether opposed to that of the He- siodic Ages, in which men are represented as beginning with a golden existence and gradually degenerating. The favour shown to men by Prometheus rouses the anger of Zeus, who forgets the aid received from him in the war against Cronos. Zeus bids Hermes to chain Prometheus on the rocks of Caucasus, where an eagle perpetually gnaws his liver. While Pro- metheus is there exposed, Io in her wandering comes to him, and learns that from her is to spring his future deliverer Heracles. But the wrath of Zeus was not yet satiated. Prome- theus had warned his brother Epimetheus to receive no gift from the gods; but Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mould a virgin who should receive some grace from each of the gods. Thus invested with all the charms that could attract men, Pandora was presented by Athena to Epimetheus, who received her into his house, in which lay the cask containing under its closed lid all the evils that may afflict mankind. Pandora raised the cover, and all the evils flew out. Frightened at the result, Pandora replaced the lid and made Hope a prisoner in the cask, and thus deprived men of all alleviation of their sufferings. It has, indeed, been contended that tho shutting-up of Hope within the cask was an act of mercy, and that, as the escape of Hope would have left men to utter despair, Pandora was bidden by Zeus to replace the lid ; but the genuineness of the line which contains this command is very doubtful; while the whole legend represents Zeus as inexorably hostile to men, and as unlikely to interfere in their behalf. In Mr. Grote's opinion, the point is one which does not admit of question. 'Pan- dora,' he says, ' does not, in Hesiod, bring with her the cask. . . The case is analogous to that of the closed bag of unfavourable winds which iEolus gives into the hands of Odysseus, and which the guilty companions of the latter force PROMISSORY NOTE PROPAGANDA open, to the entire ruin of his hopes. . . . The diseases and evils art; inoperative so long as they remain shut up in the cask ; the same mischief-making influence which lets them out to their calamitous work, takes care that Hope shall still continue a powerless prisoner in the inside.' (History of Greece, part i. ch. iii.) In some versions of the myth Athena is the accomplice of Prometheus in the theft of fire, and his tortures on Caucasus are a punishment for his unlawful love which is returned by the virgin child of Zeus. [Minerva.] In other legends Prometheus is called the father of Deucalion, whom he warns to build the ark which saves from the flood the scanty remnant of mankind. After the flood, Prometheus made men from mud, and the winds breathed life into them. Another cause for the feud between Zeus and Prometheus is given in an institutional legend which accounts for the portion of each sacrifice assigned to the gods. Prometheus, "warning men that their substance would be wasted if they consumed the victims with fire, slew an ox, and, dividing the body, placed the entrails and flesh under the skin, and the bones under the fat. Zeus, being bidden to lay his hand on the portion which he desired for him- self, took the fat, and his rage was kindled when he found that henceforth the bones were to be his share, while the flesh belonged to men. This version represents Zeus as taking away in consequence the gift of fire, with which men had already been made familiar. In the Hindu traditions, the Pramantha is the wooden churn used for kindling fire with dried pieces of wood. Promissory IKFcte. A note or writing by which one or more persons promise to pay a certain specified sum of money at a certain date. Such documents, if drawn on proper stamps, are legal negotiable instruments enjoy- ing the same privileges as bills. No negotiable or transferable bill or note (not being a draft on a banker) can be lawfully drawn or made for any sum under 20s. Promontory (Lat. promontorium, from mons, a mountain'). In Geography, a point of land, whether high or low, projecting into the sea. [Cape.] Promptuary (Lat. promptuarium, a store- house). In Literature, a title sometimes given to works of the class of summaries, hand- books, and the like, in which subjects are so arranged as to he, prompt, or ready for use. Promulgation (Lat. promulgatio). In Jurisprudence (though not strictly in English Law), the name commonly given to the acts of publication of laws and other instruments from the date of which (unless otherwise spe- cially provided therein) they become valid. Thus, in France, a law becomes executable as soon as it is inserted in the printed Bulletin des Lois. Promuscis (Lat.). The name of the sucto- rious organ of the Hemipterous insects, formed by the union of the two jaws (niaxillce) to the Vol. III. 113 lower lip, which they embrace ; thus forming a jointed organ, containing four long capillary lancets and a short tongue. Pronaos (Gr.). In Ancient Architecture, the front porch of a temple. This corresponded with the Narthex of the early Christians [Naos.] Pronator IVZuscles (Lat. prono, I make prone). Those which are used in turning the palm of the hand downwards. Pronoun (Lat. pronomen). In Grammar, a part of speech used in the stead of nouns, to avoid needless or inconvenient specification. Pronouns are divided into substantive or per- sonal, and adjective ; the latter including pos- sessive, demonstrative, relative, indefinite, and interrogative pronouns. Proof (Fr. epreuve, from Lat. probo, / try or test). In Engraving, an impression taken from an engraving to prove the state of it dur- ing the progress of executing it ; also one taken before the letters are engraved on the plate. Proof. In Printing, an impression of a sheet of a work on which the errors and mis- takes are marked for the purpose of being corrected. Proofs are : first proof, which is the impression taken with all the errors of workmanship. After this it is read by the copy, and the errors having been corrected, another impression is printed with more care, to send to the author ; this is termed a clean proof. On it he makes his corrections and alterations : when those are altered in the types, another proof is printed (on the paper proposed for printing the work, so as to settle the margin), and read over carefully, previously to the whole number being printed off ; this is called the press proof. Proof. [Evidence ; Historical Credibility.] Proof of Ordnance. All guns are proved at Woolwich before being issued for service. The tests are instrumental, water (for muzzle- loading guns only), and fire proof. Any gun failing to reach the standard of any of the tests is returned for alteration or rejected. Proof Spirit. A mixture of equal weights of absolute alcohol and water ; the specific gravity of such a mixture is 0-917 ; but that of the proof spirit of commerce is 0-920 at 60°. The term proof appears to be derived from the gunpowder test. Spirit was poured over gun- powder and the vapour inflamed : if it fired the gunpowder, it was over-proof ; if it burnt without igniting the powder, owing to the re- siduary water rendering the powder damp, it was said to be under-proof. The weakest spirit capable of firing gunpowder was the proof spirit of pharmacy, specific gravity 0-920. [Alcohol ; Hydrometer.] Propaedeutics (Gr. 7rpo7ra(8et;&>, I instruct beforehand). A term used by German writers to signify the preliminary learning connected with any art or science. Propaganda (Lat. ). The name given to an association, or, as it is termed, the congrega- tion Be propaganda Fide, established at Rome by Gregory XV. in 1622, for diffusing a know- PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL ledge of Catholic or Papal Christianity through- I out the world. It is a committee of cardinals and special agents of the pope, under whose presidency it meets every week. Its duties are, the superintendence and assistance of missionaries in all parts of the globe, the maintenance of recent converts, the publica- tion of religious works in foreign languages, &c. Derived from this celebrated society, the name propaganda is applied in modern political language as a term of reproach to secret associations for the spread of opinions and principles which are viewed by most governments with horror and aversion. Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, Society for the. [Societies.] Propagation of Plants. The greater number of plants are propagated naturally by means of seeds. Many plants, however, in- crease by extending over the surface, on which they take root by the production of runners or lateral shoots, which spread along the surface, and root at the joints or buds, from which they send up new plants ; by the deve- lopement of suckers or side shoots from the roots ; and by various other natural means. Artificially, plants are propagated by seed, by runners, suckers, offsets, dividing the tubers, layers, cuttings, grafting, budding, inarching, &c. Seeds are gathered when mature, and sown on recently stirred soil, and covered to different depths, according to the size of the seed, the nature of the soil and situation, and other circumstances. The plants formed by runners are separated from the parent plant by cutting through the runner, and removing the young plant, in order to place it elsewhere. Suckers, slips, or side shoots from the roots, are separated from the parent plant by being slipped down, or cut off, so as to carry with them a portion of fibrous roots; and they are afterwards planted in suitable soil, &c. Offsets are small bulbs which are produced round the base of larger ones, and, being taken off and planted, become plants. Tubtrs are under- ground stems, containing leaf-buds ; and these may be separated and planted entire, or cut into as many pieces as there are buds, in either of which cases new plants will be formed. Layers are branches or shoots of either woody or herbaceous plants, which are bent down, and a portion of their length buried a few inches in the soil ; that portion having been previous- ly wounded by cutting, bruising, or twisting, which, by checking the descent of the sap, gives rise, after a certain period, to the production of roots. After these roots are formed, the portion of the layer which has produced them is separated from the main stock or parent plant, and planted by itself. Cuttings are portions of shoots, either of ligneous or her- baceous plants, entirely separated from the parent and planted under suitable conditions, which vary with different species. They are made of the young shoots with the leaves on, or of the ripened wood either with or without its leaves; and after they have, either in a 114 PROPERTY herbaceous state with the leaves on, or with the wood mature and with or without the leaves, been properly prepared and planted, they form roots at their lower extremity, each cutting becoming a perfect plant. In general, cuttings should be taken from those shoots of a plant which are nearest the soil ; because, from the moisture and shade there, such shoots are more predisposed to emit roots than those on the upper part of the plant ; neither excessively vigorous nor very weakly shoets should be chosen, -and the young or last-formed shoots are in most cases to be taken in pre- ference to older shoots, though in some in- stances it is necessary that they should be nearly matured before being removed. The cutting is to be prepared by paring away with a very sharp knife its lower extremity just below a joint, the lenticels or root-buds being there most abundant. When the cut- ting is planted, the principal part of the art consists in making it quite firm at the lower extremity, so as completely to exclude the air from the wounded section. Cuttings emit roots at this section, either in consequence of the action of the accumulated sap in the cutting, as in the case of the ripened wood in deciduous trees and shrubs ; or in consequence of the joint action of the accumulated sap and of the leaves, as in the case of cuttings of soft wood with the leaves on, and in a living state. A few plants are propagated by cuttings of the leaves, the petiole of the leaf being slipped off from the parent plant, and probably containing the latent embryos of buds ; and some plants are increased by fragments of the fleshy leaves themselves, as in Begonia and Gloxi?iia. Grafting and budding are processes which have been already explained. [Budding ; Grafting.] Inarching may be described as a species of grafting, in which the scion is not separated from the parent plant till it has become united with the stock. Propeds. The name given by Kirby to the soft, fleshy, inarticulate, pediform appendages of certain larvae, placed behind the true feet, and disappearing in the mature insects. Propeller. [Steam Navigation.] Propempticon (Gr. from Trpoireuirru), I send forth). In Literature, a poetical address to one about to depart on a journey. Perhaps the finest in existence is that of Schiller to the duke of Weimar when about to visit France. Proper. In Heraldry, any object repre- sented of its natural colour is so termed. Proper Z&oticn. In Astronomy, the real motion of the sun and stars through space, as opposed to apparent motion, produced by the actual movement of the earth. It was first suspected by Halley in 1718. (Phil. Trans. vol. xxx. pp. 736-8.) Property. In Logic, a predicable which denotes something essentially conjoined to the essence of the species. There are enumerated in books on logic four kinds of property, which are termed universal, but not peculiar; pecu- liar, but not universal; universal and pcca- PROPHET liar; universal and peculiar, but not at every time. The last kind is more properly desig- nated as aecideni. [Logic; Pbedicable.] PropSiet. The Greek word irpo^TTjs de- noted strictly one who speaks for another, and especially one who speaks for a god and inter- j prets his will to men. Thus Teiresias is called by Pindar the prophet or interpreter of Zeus, and the Pythian priestess is called the prophetess of Apollo, and poets the prophets or interpreters of the Muses. In the New Testament the word is used commonly by St. Paul and in the Acts of the Apostles to signify an interpreter of Scripture, a preacher. (Liddell and Scott, Greek and English Lexicon, s.v. vpo(pr)Tr]s). In the Hebrew Scriptures, persons who de- clared the will of God are called at first seers, and afterwards nabi, or prophets, who spoke as moved by the Spirit of God ; but prophecy ' in its more extensive meaning com- prehended the whole course of religious educa- tion,' this .instruction being given in schools called the 'schools of the prophets. The out- ward gestures of the prophets indicated some- times an excitement not unlike that of the Py- thian priestess, as in the instances recorded of King Saul. (1 Sam. x. 11 ; xix. 24.) The word ! prophecy was also used to express the occur- j rence of marvellous events. Thus the body of j Elisha is said to have prophesied, in reference to the revivification of the dead Moabite on coming into contact with his bones. A further meaning of the word was that of prediction or the foretelling of future events ; and the Book of Jonah, which relates the disappointment and indignation of the prophet at the non-fulfilment of his prophecy in its literal meaning, seems pointed at an exaggerated theory then preva- lent respecting this characteristic. The great Hebrew prophets were, pre-eminently, fearless spiritual teachers, who appeared among their countrymen to declare the Divine Will at all costs and at every sacrifice, and to assert the existence of a moral law which godless rulers and a superstitious people were tempted to ignore or to defy. ' But, setting aside their j Divine commission, the prophets were the great j constitutional patriots of the Jewish state ; the champions of virtue, liberty, justice, and the strict observance of the civil and religious law, against the iniquities of the kings and of the people.' (Milman, History of the Jews, book viii.) The Old Testament contains sixteen prophetical books, viz. those of the four termed the great prophets,' Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve lesser prophets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Prophylactic (Gr. irpo, I defend). In Medicine, this term is used to denote the means employed to pre- vent disease. Propionic Acid. Metacetic acid. Meta- cctpnic acid. A crystalline acid closely related to acetic acid and formed by oxidising oleic acid. It is also produced by the reaction of cyanide of 115 PROPORTION ethyl and alcoholic solution of potash, and by the action of sodium ethyl upon carbonic acid. Propolis (Gr.). A name applied to the sub- stance employed by bees in closing up crevices in their hives, and in strengthening the mar- gins of the cells of the comb. It is a glutin- ous resin, of a reddish-brown colour and an aromatic odour, and in time acquires a firm consistence. It is collected from the wild poplar and other trees. [Hives.] Proportion (Lat. proportio). In Arith- metic and Geometry, the equality or similitude of ratios ; four numbers or magnitudes being said to be proportional, or in proportion, when the ratio of the first to the second is the same as the ratio of the third to the fourth, or when the first divided by the second gives the same quotient as the third divided by the fourth. The definition of proport ion has given rise to much controversy among writers on the elements of Geometry. Euclid's celebrated definition in the fifth book, whatever may be said in favour of its ingenuity and exactness, is found by ex- perience to be much too complicated and refined to be understood by beginners ; and accordingly many attempts have been made to substitute for it one more intelligible ; but, on account of the difficulty of defining the term ratio in such a manner as to include incommensurable quan- tities, none of these attempts can be said to have been perfectly successful. This imper- fection, however, must be understood as be- longing merely to the metaphysical accuracy of the definition, for many of ' the treatises which have been composed with the view of super- seding Euclid's have all the simplicity and elegance which can be desired. On this sub- ject the reader may consult Barrow's Mathe- matical Lectures, the notes to Playf air's Euclid, Oamerer's Euclid, Berlin 1825; De Morgan On the Connexion of Number and Magnitude, 1836 ; and the article ' Proportion' in the Pe?iny Cyclnpcedia. Proportion consists of, at least, four terms ; of these the two which constitute the antecedents, as well as the two which form the consequents of the equal ratios, are said to be homologous terms. When, in a proportion, the antecedent of one ratio is equal to the consequent of the other, the three unequal magnitudes are said to be continual proportionals; in other cases the proportion is said to be discrete. Two quan- tities of the same kind are said to be directly proportional to two other quantities like each other and respectively related to the first, when in equal ratios the two related quantities are either both antecedents or both consequents. When the quantity related to the antecedent of one ratio, however, is the consequent of the other, the proportion is said to be inverse, and two of the magnitudes are said to be in versely or reciprocally proportional to their, respec- tively, related magnitudes. It is a property of proportional numbers, derived immediately from the definition, that the product of the first and fourth terms is equal to the product of the second and third, i 2 PROPORTION Hence, when three terms of a proportion are given, the fourth can be found. This is the object of all questions in the Rule of Three. The preceding remarks apply exclusively to geometrical proportion ; i. e. when the proportion consists in the equality of ratios. Writers on arithmetic also mention arithmetical proportion, and harmonica!, proportion, for which see the respective terms. [Arithmetical Progres- sion; Harmonic Progression.] Proportion. In the Fine Arts, the most proper relation of the measure of parts to each other and to the whole. The Greeks used the word av/j.fjL€Tp'ta {symmetry), to express this idea. In many instances 'proportion may be considered almost synonymous with fitness, though there is a distinction between them ; since every form susceptible of proportion may be considered either with respect to its whole as connected with the end designed, or with respect to the relation of the several parts to the end. In the first case, fitness is the thing considered ; in the second, proportion. Fitness, therefore, expresses the general relation of means to an end, and proportion the proper relation of parts to an end. It is hence need- less to dwell on the intimate connection that exists between beauty and proportion, in all complex forms. Proportions, Definite. In Chemistry. [Affinity.] Proportional Compasses. Compasses with two pairs of opposite legs, by which distances are enlarged or diminished in any proportion. Proportional Logarithms or Logistic Logarithms. This name was given to tables (intended to be used with the old Nautical Almanac) by which the fourth proportional to three given numbers, of which the first never varied, could be conveniently found. They are now rarely used. Proportional Parts. A name given in logarithmic and other tables, to other small tables introduced for the purpose of facilitating interpolation. In each set of tables, the use of the table of proportional parts is usually fully explained. Proportional Scales. [Scales.] Proportionals. The terms of a proportion ; of these the first and last are the extremes, and the intermediate the means, or the mean when the proportion consists of only three terms. [Proportion.] Proposition. In the scholastic system of Logic, a proposition is denned a sentence indicative; i.e. a sentence which affirms or denies. Thus, sentences in the form of com- mand or question are excluded from the cha- racter of propositions. Logical propositions are said to be divided, first, according to substance, into categorical and hypothetical ; secondly, ac- cording to quality, into affirmative and negative ; thirdly, according to quantity, into universal and particular. 1. A categorical proposition affirms or denies absolutely, as ' Man is mortal.' A hypothetical proposition is defined to be two or 116 PROPOSITION more categoricals united by a conjunction, as ' If Caius is man, he is mortal.' There are several sorts of hypothetical propositions : con- ditional, disjunctive, causal, &c. But all dis- junctive hypothetical may be resolved into two or more conditional propositions, ' Either A is B or C is D,' being equivalent to ' If A is not B, C is D,' and ' If C is not D, A is B.' Hence their disjunctive character arises only from their form, their meaning being in all cases con- ditional. In such propositions no assertion is made of the truth of either proposition, all that is maintained . being the inferribility of the one from the other. Thus in the proposition, ' If the Koran comes from God, Mahomet is the prophet of God,' the real subject of predication is the whole proposition, ' Mahomet is the pro- phet of God,' the affirmation being that this is a legitimate inference from the proposition, ' The Koran comes from God.' Hence the subject and predicate of hypothetical propositions are names of propositions. (Mill, System of Logic.) 2. An affirmative proposition is oiie whose co- pula (or conjunction) is affirmative, as 'Man is mortal ;' a negative proposition has a negative copula, as 'Tyrants are not happy.' 3. A uni- versal proposition is when the predicate is said of the whole of the subject, as ' All men are mortal,' ' Caius is mortal ; ' a particular, when it is said of part of the subject only, as ' Some men are rich.' To these two species may be added the indefinite proposition, when the sub- ject has no sign of universality or particularity, or is a singular noun, which is either universal or particular according to the matter. The matter of a proposition is said to be either necessary, impossible, or contingent ; and if the matter of an indefinite proposition be either of the two former, it is equivalent to a universal ; if the last, to a particular : e. g. ' birds fly,' i. e. all birds — universal. 4 No birds are quadrupeds ; ' here the matter is impossible, and the proposition universal. 'Birds sing,' i.e. some birds — par- ticular. The fourfold division of propositions according to quality and quantity is denoted by arbitrary signs; e.g. A stands for a universal affirmative, in the logic used at Oxford ; E for a universal negative; I for a particular affir- mative ; O for a particular negative. A cate- gorical proposition is composed of two terms united by a copula. [Term ; Copula.] The first term, i.e. that of which the other is affirmed or denied, is the subject ; the other (that which is affirmed or denied respecting the first) the predicate. In the collocation of our language, the subject usually, but not invariably, precedes the predicate. Thus, 'Diana of the Ephesians (subject) is great' (predicate), is transposed into ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians.' In some languages, as Greek and Latin, the latter form of collocation is not less natural or usual than the former. When the subject of a proposition is a common term [Term], it is said to be distributed, when the universal sign {all, no, every, &c.) is prefixed and the proposition is consequently universal. Tho predicate is said to be distributed in all ne- PROPOSITION gative but not in affirmative propositions, inas- much as a negative proposition denies that any part of the predicate agrees with the subject, whereas an affirmative can never assert that every part of the predicate agrees with the subject; i.e. can never do so necessarily, by the logical force of the proposition, although it may undoubtedly happen that the predicate agi'ees with the subject and with nothing else : e.g. 1 Caesar was the first Roman emperor.' Two propositions are said to be opposed, when, having the same subject or predicate, they differ in quantity, in quality, or in both. The two universals (A and E) are termed contraries to each other ; the two particulars (I and 0) subcontraries ; the universals and particulars (A and E, I and 0) subalterns ; A and 0, or E and I (those which differ both in quantity and quality), contradictories. A proposition is said to be converted when its terms are transposed ; i. e. when the subject is made the predicate, and the predicate the subject. [Conversion.] It must be carefully remembered that proposi- tions relate not to words or to our ideas of things, but to things or facts, in other words to phe- nomena ; all propositions, affirmative or nega- tive, being assertions that of two phenomena one agrees with, or includes, or is connected with the other, or that it does not so agree with it. The proposition ' Eire burns ' cannot be resolved into the assertion that our idea of fire causes our idea of heat : it can mean only that the natural phenomenon fire causes or is fol- lowed by the natural phenomenon heat. If we wish to assert anything respecting ideas, we speak of those ideas by name, as when we say, ' The ideas entertained of the Deity have a great effect on the characters of mankind.' ' The notion,' says Mr. Mill, ' that what is of primary importance to the logician in a pro- position is the relation between the two ideas corresponding to the subject and predicate (instead of the relation between the two phe- nomena which they respectively express) seems one of the most fatal errors ever introduced into the philosophy of logic' Proposition. In Mathematics, a theorem proposed to be demonstrated, or a problem in which something is proposed to be done. Propraetor. A Roman magistrate, bearing to the praetor the relation which the procon- sul bore to the consul. [Proconsul.] Under the emperors, propraetors, as distinguished from proconsuls, were appointed as governors to the imperial provinces, the latter being the servants of the senate. Propylaea (Gr. irpoirv\aia). Strictly, the entrance to a temple or sacred enclosure. But when the term is not specially used of Egyptian temples, it denotes generally the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens. These propylaea were completed in the time of Pericles, b. c. 432, the cost being upwards of 2,000 talents. The building was in the Doric style, and the archi- tect was Mnesicles. (Leake, Topography, c. viii. ; Beule, U Acropole d'Athenes; Edinburgh Beview; July 1859.) 117 PROSELYTE Prorogation (Lat. prorogatio). The con- tinuance of the parliament from one sitting to another by command of the crown, whereby all business is suspended, and proceedings, with one or two exceptions, quashed. [Parliament.] Proscenium (Gr. irpoanriviov, fromirpd, and ffKt\vr\, a tent). In Architecture, the frontispiece, or part in a theatre where the drop scene sepa- rates the stage from the audience ; it is situated beyond the orchestra. In ancient theatres it comprised the whole of the stage. Proscription (Lat. proscriptio, an out- lawry). The most vindictive species of pro- scription was that introduced by Sylla when he wrested Rome from the hands of the Marian faction. It consisted in making out a list of persons supposed to be obnoxious to the state, and getting a sentence of condemnation passed, which made it unlawful to harbour them. By these measures thousands of citizens perished in the civil wars of Rome. The most celebrated proscription was that of the triumvirs, Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, in which Cicero was slain. Prose (Lat. prorsa oratio ; from prorsus, adv., direct or straightforward). In Literature, all language not in verse. Prose diction, to be good, or even admissible, in ordinary criticism, must be conformable to the rules of composi- tion as to style, cadence, &c. Prosecution (Lat. prosecutio, a pursuing). In Law, the popular rather than legal name for the collective steps taken in order to bring an alleged offender to trial and con- viction. The law of England differs from that of other countries in having no office analogous to what is termed in France ministere puMic for the prosecution of offences. At com- mon law, therefore, and in the great majority of cases, the so-called prosecutor is merely the person injured by an offence, who in the first instance obtains a summons or warrant against the accused. In case of injury to the public, however, the Attorney-General is the recognised public prosecutor ; and sometimes government originates proceedings in private cases of great importance or scandal: while informations for misdemeanours, in many sta- tutable cases, are prosecuted by the informer. Proselyte (Gr. irpoa^Kvros, one who arrives as a stranger). A term in use among the Jews after their connection with the Greeks, and appbed to such foreigners as embraced their religion. These they divided, according to the common opinion, into two classes, distin- guished by the terms proselytes of the gate and proselytes of righteousness. Of these the former were such as merely renounced idolatry, and believed in and worshipped the true God, receiving their name from being admitted within the first gate of the temple. The latter class were those who submitted to circumcision, and in every other respect conformed entirely to the customs of the Jewish people. Dr. Burton, however, thinks this distinction un- founded (Lectures on the Eccl. History of the First Three Centuries, i. iii.), and it probably is so as regards the Jewish national history, PROSENCIIYMA PROTEACEJE having been introduced by the Rabbinical body from two to five centuries after the Christian era. (Smith, Dictionary of the Bible, s.v.) Prosenenyma (Gr. irpoa^yxeci), 1 pour still onore upon). In Botany, that form of cellular tissue the cellules of which taper to each end, and consequently overlap each other at their ex- tremities. Itis the first approach on the part of cellular tissue to the condition of woody tissue. Proserpine. In Mythology. [Perse- phone.] Prosody (Gr. irpocrcfdla). The science which treats of quantity, accent, and the laws of harmony, both in metrical and prose composi- tion. In the Greek and Latin languages every syllable had its determinate value or quantity, and verses were constructed by systems of recurring feet, each foot containing a definite number of syllables possessing a certain quan- tity and arrangement. [Foot.] The versifica- tion of modern European languages, in general, is constructed simply by accent and number of syllables. They have, therefore, no prosody strictly so called. The Germans, however, have laboured to subject their language to the ancient metrical system, but with indifferent success. (Hallam, Lit. Hist. pt. i. ch. i. p. 29.) Prosopis (Gr. irpSawsrov, a visage). A genus of Leguminous plants of the sub-order Mimosa, consisting of trees found in various tropical countries, and remarkable for having their pods filled in between the seeds with a pulpy or mealy substance. Thus P. dulcis, which, with several varieties often described as distinct species, is widely spread over Central and Southern America, is sometimes planted for -its sweetish succulent pods, used for cattle- feeding, called Algarobo, after the Spanish Algarobo or Ceratonia, which it resembles in flavour. P. spicigcra, in the East Indies, has also a sweet pod, there compared to the Algarobo. The pods of several species supply a large quantity of tannin. P. glandulosa, the Mezquit of Texas and the regions to the West, yields excessively hard and durable timber, and likewise affords a large quantity of gum resembling gum-arabic. Prosopite (Gr. irpovooireToi', a mask, from its deceptive or masked condition). A rhombic variety of fluor spar found at Altenberg in Saxony in brilliant dark blue crystals or in every state of alteration into Kaolin. It may be either a new dimorphous variety of Fluor or pseudomorphous after Heavy spar or Latholite. Prosopography (Gr. irpSaccnou, figure or person, and ypacpw, I describe). In Rhetoric, a word used by some critical writers to signify the description of animated objects. Prosopopoeia (Gr. m pSaomov, and ttoi4w, I make). A figure by which inanimate objects or abstract ideas are personified, and addressed or represented by the poet or orator as if endowed with human shape or sentiments. Milton's famous digression of Sin and Death, in the Paradise Lost, is at once a prosopopoeia and an allegory. [Personification.] 118 | Prospectus (Lat.). In its most extended I sense, this word is applied to the outline of any plan or proposal submitted for public approbation; but it is most usually confined to literary undertakings, in which it signifies an outline or sketch of the plan or design of a I work, together with such other circumstances connected with the publication, &c, as it may | be thought desirable to enlarge upon or make j known. Prostate Gland. In Comparative Anatomy, the prostate gland retains its single compact form in most of the Quadrumana, but is bifid in the Euminantia. In the Roclentia and Insec- tivora it is resolved into numerous slender elon- gated csecal tubes ; in the mole it is remarkable for its periodical increase of size. Prostates (Gr. itpoo-tottjs). The name given to the guardians of the foreign settlers at Athens, whose business it was to represent them in courts of law, and protect them from injury. [Metceci.] Prosthapheresis (a word made up from Gr. irpSaQsv, in front of, and acpaipeais, subtrac- tion). A term used by the older writers on Astro- nomy to signify the difference between the true and mean motion, or the true and mean place of a planet, or the quantity which must be taken from or added to the mean anomaly, in order to get the true anomaly. Let P (or P') be the place of a planet in its orbit, S the sun, C the centre, and A the ' c ^ perihelion of the orbit; the angle ASP is the true anomaly ; A C P is the mean anomaly ; and the difference between ASP and A CP is SPC, which is the pro- sthapheresis. If A C P be less than a right angle, SPC must be added to A C P in order to get the true anomaly ; but if it be greater than a right angle the angle SPC must be deducted. The angle S P C is called by modern writers the equation of the centre or equation of the orbit. Prosthesis (Gr. an addition). A figure of Grammar by which one or more letters are prefixed to a word ; as in the common English participles, Moved, bereft, &c. [Metapeasm.] Prostyle (Gr. Tvp6Tos, and irTepSv, a feather). An order of fishes in which the endoskeleton is partly osseous and partly carti- laginous ; the exoskeleton as cycloid scales ; pectorals and ventrals as flexible filaments ; gills filamentary, free ; no pancreas ; swim- bladder as a double lung, with an air-duct ; intestine with a spiral valve. The Protoptertts or Lepidosiren forms an example of the order. Protosaurus (Gr. Trpcoros, and aavpos, a , lizard). The first fossil Saurian discovered, PROTOTYPE and described by Spener in the year 1710, from the copper slates of Thuringia. The original specimen is now in the Royal Col- lege of Surgeons' Museum. It indicates the existence, during the period of the Permian strata, of a large, probably aquatic reptile, with a powerful neck and head, and sharpened teeth which enabled it to seize and overcome the struggles of the active fishes of the waters which deposited the old Thuringian Kupfer- schiefer. Prototype (G-r. irpcaTSrviros, after the first form). In the Fine Arts, the original pattern or model of a thing whereon are founded prin- ciples of imitation. Protozoa (Gr. irpSerds, and C&ov, animal). A name synonymous with Acrita and Oozoa, and applied to the simplest living beings, or those which stand, as it were, on the first step of organisation. Protractor (Lat. protraho, I draw forth). A mathematical instrument for laying down angles on paper, used in surveying, plotting, &c. In its simplest form, the protractor consists merely of a semicircular limb of metal, divided into 180°, and subtended by a diameter, in the middle of which is a notch to mark the position of the centre. On placing this notch over the angular point, and laying the diameter along a given straight line, an angle of any number of degrees may be made by marking the point on the paper which coincides with the given degree on the limb, and joining this point with the centre, when the instrument is removed. The protractor is rendered more commodious by transferring the divisions to the edge of a parallel ruler. For plotting surveys on a large scale a more accurate form of protractor is employed (Simms On Mathematical Instruments) ; the principle, however, is the same in all. Proustite or Eiigiit Ued Buby Silver- ore. A sulpharsenide of sulphide of silver ; composed, when pure, of 19 - 4 per cent, of sulphur, 15*2 arsenic, and 65*4 silver. It is a' valuable ore of silver, and is found in Saxony, Bohemia, Spain, Mexico, Peru, &c. Named after J. L. Proust, the French chemist. Provencal language. The language of the Troubadours — one of the Romance dialects which sprang up on the decline of the literary Latin. For the relation of the Provencal to other cognate dialects, see Language. Provencal Poetry. [Troubadours ; Trouveres.] Proverb (Lat. proverbium). A familiar saying, which has been variously defined. In point of form, there are two species of proverbs ; one containing a maxim directly expressed in a concise and familiar style ; the other, in which a maxim is expressed metaphorically, e. g. honesty is the best policy, or rather allegorically, e. g. strike while the iron is hot. In point of substance, proverbs are for the most part rules of moral, or, still more properly, of prudential, conduct. 124 PROVISIONS In dramatic literature, chiefly French, the term has been applied to short pieces, in which some proverb or popular saying is taken as the foundation of the plot. They originated in the fondness of the higher classes of France for private theatricals, which became a sort of passion about the middle of the last century. Carmantelli was the most successful writer of proverbs at the time of their highest popularity. Those of M. Theodore Leclercq, at the present time, have met with considerable success. Proverbs of Solomon, The. One of the canonical books of the Old Testament. Accord- ing to the arrangement in its present shape, the first nine chapters form a species of introduction; those from the tenth to the twenty-fourth con- tain the proverbs ascribed to Solomon ; and the remainder furnishes a kind of appendix ; in- cluding the thirtieth and thirty-first, which contain the proverbs ascribed to Agur, the son of Jakeh, and ^o King Lemuel. According to Mr. Aldis Wright (Smith's Dictionary of the Bible s.v.) it is probable that the portion im- mediately following ch. xxii. contains a col- lection made by the learned men of the court of Ilezekiah. Provincia. Those countries were called by the Romans provinces, which, having been reduced under their power, were subjected to government by magistrates sent from Rome. The laws of a province were generally settled by ten commissioners, despatched from Rome in conjunction with the victorious general. In its modern acceptation, the term province sig- nifies a grand division of a kingdom or state, comprising several cities, towns, &c, all under the same government, and usually distinguished by the extent either of the civil or ecclesiastical jurisdiction ; in the latter case, the province, being a union of several dioceses, is subject to the archbishop. Provision (Lat. provisio, a foreseeing). In Ecclesiastical Law (but not in use in England), the supply of an incumbent to a clerical office : consisting of designation and collation. Provisions. In the Army. Daily: At home — f lb. meat, 1 lb. best seconds bread in barracks, or l£ lb. in camp. The stoppage paid by the soldier for this home ration is 4^d. a day. Abroad — 1 lb. bread, or f lb. biscuit, 1 lb. of meat, fresh or salt ; at some stations special rations are issued for sanitary reasons connected with the climate ; during active operations the officer commanding may increase the bread ration to 1^ lb. bread, or 1 lb. biscuit, and may issue wine or spirits. The stoppage for a foreign ration is S^d. daily. The families of soldiers abroad receive fractions of rations : wife, £ ; child under 7, 5 ; from 7 to 14, ^ ration. The provision of forage consists daily of 10 lbs. oats, 12 lbs. hay, and 8 lbs. straw for each horse : issued to the soldiers without stoppage, but to the officers subject to a stoppage of 8^d. per ration. From these arrangements it will be perceived that the sailor (who has equal pay) is materi- PROVISIONS PROXIMATE PRINCIPLES ally better off than the soldier. The former is supplied gratuitously with all his provisions, while the latter receives a portion of them, having to make a small but covering payment for the rest, while he has also to provide other articles of diet from the remainder of his pay. Provisions. In the Navy. Daily: l\ lb. of biscuit or \\ lb. of soft bread ; spirits, | of a pint ; sugar, 2 oz. ; chocolate, 1 oz. ; tea, \ oz. ; when procurable, fresh meat, 1 lb., 'and fresh vegetables, £ lb. When fresh provisions cannot be procured : salt pork, 1 lb. with split peas, ^ of a pint ; or salt beef 1 lb. with flour 9 oz., suet | oz., and currants or raisins 1| oz. Weekly : oatmeal, \ pint ; mustard, £ oz. ; pepper, \ oz. ; vinegar, £ pint. These are all issued to the sailor free, i. e. without any stoppage from his pay. Provisions. In Prisons and Workhouses. The dietary tables of workhouses are generally uniform. At the present time, those of the metropolis are divided into several classes, which are provisioned at different rates. Thus the allowance of able-bodied paupers is gene- rally 12 oz. of bread, 1| pint of gruel, 1|- pint of soup or broth every day ; the females having the same allowance as the males, except that two ounces less bread is served to them. Three times a week they have 5 oz. of cooked meat and ^ lb. of potatoes at dinner ; on three other days, as stated before, l£ pint of soup ; and on one day 14 and 12 oz. of pudding re- spectively. When broth is not served at supper, they have 2 oz. of cheese instead. Aged persons have the same allowances, except that an ounce of butter and a pint of tea are supplied daily instead of the gruel, cheese, and broth of the able-bodied inmates. Children are supplied according to their age ; the youngest, i.e. under two years, having bread and butter at discretion, and a pint of milk, 3 oz. of meat, and £ lb. of potatoes daily. The amount increases as they grow older, and when they reach nine years they are generally rated as able-bodied women. Suckling women are allowed 3 oz. more meat on days when meat is served, but are otherwise treated as able-bodied women. Casual paupers are gene- rally allowed 6.oz. of bread. When the paupers are employed in the service of the parish, and are therefore' partially earning their support, their allowances are increased. The meat served is, of course, exclusive of bones. A prison dietary is generally constructed on a progressive scale, the allowances for short times being much scantier than those served for longer periods of imprisonment. Thus the diet of a prisoner confined for seven days is a pint of gruel for breakfast and another for supper, and a pound of bread for dinner. A slight variation, but no material addition, is made for terms not exceeding twenty-one days, while those who exceed twenty-one days get small allowances of soup and meat thrice a week ; those committed for longer periods still, get meat four times a week, and cocoa for breakfast and supper. The dietary for long 125 terms is a little in excess of that served to paupers, both in quality and quantity. Cri- minals who commit prison offences are put on the sparest diet. Proviso. In Law, a qualifying clause inserted in an instrument, commencing usually with the words provided that. Provisors, Statutes of. Several statutes passed in the reigns of Edward I., Edward III. and Richard II. (35 Edw. I., 25 Edw. III., 27 Edw. III., 38 Edw. III., 3 Rich. II., 7 Rich. IT. &c.) for the purpose of checking the claims of the popes to present to bishoprics and livings in England. Provisory. In Politics and Jurisprudence, an agreement, law, or institution, is said to be provisory, which, established or entered into on account of immediate wants, requires further completeness of sanction to render it permanent, and subsists only provided it is so sanctioned. Provost (contracted from Lat. propositus, placed over). The title of the chief municipal magistrates of Scotland, equivalent to mayor in England. The chief magistrates of Edin- burgh and Glasgow are styled lord provost. This title also belongs to the heads of some colleges in the English universities. Provost X&arsnal. In the Army, an officer appointed in camp to preserve good order and discipline, to take charge of prisoners, and prevent crime. He is intrusted with au- thority to inflict summary punishment on any soldier or individual connected with the army, whom he may detect in the actual commission of any offence against order and discipline. Provost of a University. [University.] Prow (Fr. proue, Lat. prora). The fore part of a ship, generally ; and, in particular, the pointed beak or cutwater. Prozenus (Gr. irp6&vos). In the ancient Greek states, a citizen who was intrusted with or took upon himself the charge of guarding the interests of the citizens of a foreign state, was called in the former case a irp6£ei os, in the latter i0€\oirp6^vos. The relation, however, was at first wholly voluntary, having arisen from the hospitium privatum or private ties of friendship between citizens of foreign states connected with each other. But when in two states, between which public hospitality had been established, no citizens came forward voluntarily to fill the office, then some one was formally appointed to it by the state. The early Spartan custom was to send a Spartan to the foreign state, to see to the interests of his countrymen, like the modern consuls ; but generally the proxeni were citizens of the state to which the stranger came. Thus Alcibiades was the Spartan proxenus at Athens. The duty of the proxenus was chiefly to entertain am- bassadors, and to mediate in any disputes which might arise between his own townsmen and the strangers for whom he acted as proxenus. [Prostates.] Proximate Principles. Distinct com- pounds which exist ready formed in animals and vegetables, such as albumen, gelatin, fat, PHOXY &c. in the former; and sugar, gum, starch, resins, &c. in the latter, which are so called without reference to their ultimate composition. Proxy (Lat. proximus). In Parliamentary Law, every peer, spiritual or temporal, can (by license, supposed to be obtained from the king) constitute another lord of parliament, of the same order with himself, his proxy, to vote for him in his absence. Proxies cannot be used when the house is in committee, nor in any judicial causes, nor can a proxy sign a protest. By an order of 2 Ch. II. (May, 'Parliamentary Practice, ch. xii. ) no peer can hold more than two proxies. [Parliament.] Prud'horame (Lat. homo prudens). In France, during the middle ages, municipal tri- bunals composed of citizens exercising a sort of conciliatory or equitable jurisdiction, as arbi- ters of disputes, inspectors of police, &c, were termed councils of prud" homines. In 1806, a court of this denomination was re-established at Lyons by a law of Napoleon ; and several others have since been created. Their prin- cipal office is the decision of disputes between masters and workmen in manufacturing towns. Prune. [Prunus.] Pruning 1 (this word is connected by Mr. Wedgwood with the Old .Norse prjon, the Scottish preen, or prin, a pin or knitting needle, from the notion of picking or arranging nicely with a pointed implement : Dictionary of English Etymology). In Arboriculture and. Gardening, the art of cutting off parts of plants, and more especially of trees and shrubs, in order to strengthen those which remain, or to bring the tree or plant into some par- ticular form calculated to increase particular products. Pruning therefore varies according to the kind of plant or tree to be pruned, and according to the object in view. In the case of forest trees, the general object of pruning is to increase the quantity of timber in the trunk by diminishing the side branches, commencing at the lower part of the tree when it is quite young, and gradually advancing upwards as the tree increases in growth. In the case of hedges, the object is to produce a dense mass from the ground upwards, which is effected by shortening the side branches. In pruning trees which are cultivated for the sake of their fruit or blossoms, the object is to thin out the branches so as to admit the light and air more freely to their leaves and blossoms, and to concentrate and increase the nourishment for the branches which remain. In the case of trees, or shrubs cultivated for the beauty of their shapes, whether natural or artificial, the object of pruning is to deprive the trees or shrubs of all those branches which deviate from or interfere with the natural shape, or with the form which is in- tended to be produced by art. In pruning with -a view to produce fruit, it is necessary to know on what branches and buds the fruit is produced. In some trees, as in the peach, it is generally produced on the wood of the preceding year; in others, as in the apple 126 PRUNUS [ and pear, it is generally produced on wood of two years' growth ; and in the vine it is produced on shoots of the current year. The general effect of priming on plants is to increase their longevity ; since the tendency of all vegetables is to exhaust themselves, and, consequently, to shorten their duration, by the production of seeds. In the operation of pruning, the shoots are cut off close to the buds, or at a distance from them not greater than the diameter of the branch to be cut off ; because, without the near proximity of a bud, the wounds will not heal over. In shoots which produce their buds alternately, the cut is made at the back of the bud, sloping from it, so that it may be readily covered by bark in the same or in the following year. This is readily done with a pruning knife, by a slant- ing cut, made at an angle of 45° with the direction of the branch ; but, in the case of branches where the buds are produced oppo- site each other, either one bud must be sacrificed, or the branch must be cut off at right angles to its line of direction. Root pruning con- sists in shortening the principal roots so as to check over-exuberance of growth, and induce fruitfulness. It is practised chiefly with fruit- trees and ornamental flowering plants. The operation of pruning may in many cases be superseded by rubbing off, or pinching out, the leaf-buds, so as to prevent superfluous shoots from being produced. Pruning Knife. A knife the blade of which has a straight edge, formed of well- tempered steel, and of no great breadth, with a narrow point, in order that it may be more readily introduced among crowded branches. Formerly, pruning knives were hooked at the point ; but the cuts made by such knives had a tendency to crush the shoot, and leave a rough section, more readily injured by the air and water, and less likely to be speedily healed over. Such knives, when of a large size, were called pruning hooks. Pruning Shears. Shears in which one of the blades moves on a pivot working in an oblong instead of a circular opening ; by which means a draw cut is produced similar to that effected by a knife, instead of the crush- ing cut produced by common shears, which fractures the section left on the branch, and renders it liable to become diseased or to decay, instead of being covered over with fresh bark. Pruning shears are particularly adapted for cutting spiny or prickly shrubs, such as the different species of thorns, gooseberries, or roses. Prunnerite. A calcareous Tufa, of a greyish- violet colour, found in Faroe. Prunus (Lat. a plum-tree). A genus of Drupacecs which includes, with the common Sloe and Bullace of our hedges, the apricot and plum trees of our gardens ; though the apricot is sometimes referred to the genus Armeniaca. [Apricot.] The sloe or blackthorn is a shrub whose upright stems are sought after for walk- ing sticks, whose leaves are used to adulterate PRURIGO tea, and whoso fruit is employed in the manu- facture of fictitious port wine. The Plum is a well-known and highly esteemed fruit, of which many varieties are grown. Some are employed for preserves, and for making the prunes of the shops. The prunes which come from Brignoles, in the South of France, are prepared from a variety called the Pcrdrigon. The neighbour- hood of Tours is celebrated for the quantity of prunes which it furnishes. The German prunes are prepared from an oblong purple variety called Zwetsche, a Slavonian name which is spelt variously on the Continent. Damsons are plums well known and much used in this country for preserving, and so are the small round nearly wild sorts called bullaces. P. myrobolana, the Cherry Plum, which is a Canadian species, bears medium-sized heart- shaped fruit, in great abundance, and of toler- ably good quality, but it is not equal to the European varieties. Prurigo (Lat. an itching). An itching of the skin with or without the eruption of small pimples. The term is also carelessly applied to irritation of various parts of the body from other causes, as from vermin, worms, &c. Prussian Blue. This pigment was acci- dentally discovered by Diesbach, a colour-maker at Berlin, in the year 1710. It is largely con- sumed in the decorative arts, and in dyeing, and calico-printing : it is used in making some of the varieties of what is called stone-blue, and is sometimes added to starch, though for this purpose, as well as for covering the yellow tint of paper, smalt or cobalt blue is preferable. Prussian blue is prepared of different degrees of purity, by precipitating solutions of peroxide of iron by ferrocyanide of potassium, various additions being made according to the purposes for which it is required. Pure Prussian blue is obtained by adding a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium to per- sulphate of iron, thoroughly washing the pre- cipitate, first with water slightly acidulated by sulphuric acid, and then with pure water, and ultimately drying it in a warm place. Prussian blue is of a peculiarly rich and intense blue, with a copper tint upon its surface : it is in- sipid, inodorous, insoluble in water, in alcohol, and in dilute acids, and is not poisonous. The alkalies decompose it into soluble ferrocyanides and oxide of iron ; hence, as a dyeing material, it does not resist the action of soap. Accord- ing to Chevreul, Prussian blue becomes white in the direct rays of the sun, but regains its blue colour in the dark. It is occasionally used in the composition of writing fluids. Prussian blue is regarded as a compound ©f cyanogen and iron, but various views have been taken of its atomic constitution, as it has been considered to contain, or not to contain, the elements of water. When anhy- drous, it contains seven atoms of iron and nine of cyanogen ; or four atoms of iron and three of ferrocyanogen ; but it is generally admitted that it cannot practically be obtained in this state, and that it always contains water, or the . 127 1 PSALM [elements of water, which cannot he expelled [ without decomposing the compound; if so, it is probably a hydroferrocyanate of the sesqui- oxide of iron. Commercial Prussian blue is generally con- taminated with alumina, and often with chalk, plaster of Paris, and starch. TurnbulUs Prus- sian blue, which is of a singularly brilliant tint, is the precipitate obtained by adding a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium to a solution of protosulphate of iron. When a solution of perchloride of iron is poured into one of ferro- cyanide of potassium the precipitate which falls is insoluble in saline solutions, but after having been washed so as to deprive it of adherent salts, is soluble in pure water : it is known as soluble Prussian blue. Prussic Acid. The composition and che- mical characters of this acid are given under the head of Hydrocyanic Acid. Prussic acid is frequently used medicinally as a powerful sedative and anti-irritant, especially to allay cough in phthisis, and to mitigate the spas- modic action in hooping-cough ; but from its poisonous nature it requires to be employed with much caution. The antidotes for prussic acid, where it has been taken as a poison, are solution of chlorine, by which it is chemically decomposed ; and ammonia, which combines with it, and acts as a stimulant. [Cyanogen; Hydrocyanic Acid.] Prytarcseum (Gr. irpvTaveiov). The place of assembly of the Prytanes. In a Greek city the Prytanseum was the home of the community, and answered to the private homes of individual citizens. Hence a fire was always kept burning in the Prytanreum as on the hearths of private houses. In this building were entertained those citizens who by virtue of their office or for merit received the privilege of having their meals at the public cost. At Athens this was among the highest honoivrs which could be conferred on anyone. Hence Socrates, when asked to adjudge his own penalty, named this as the recompense due for his past life and teaching. Prytaxies (Gr. Trpvrdveis). The Athenian se- nate consisted of 500 persons, fifty being elected from each of the ten tribes ; each of these fifties took it by turn to preside with the title of Pry- tanes, having one-tenth of the year assigned to it ; or, more accurately speaking, 34 days were allotted to each of the first four tribes, and 35 to the last six ; the Attic year consisting of 354 days. Each fifty was again subdivided into five bodies of ten, which, when prytanes, took it by turns to perform the duties of proedri (wpSsSpoi), seven days being allotted each. From these proedri, again, was chosen by lot an epistates (evacr-raT^s) or president, whose office lasted one day. Praibramite. Cadmiferous sulphide of Zinc from Przibram in Bohemia. The name has also been given to the capillary variety of Gothite, which is met with at the same locality. Psalm (Gr. tyaA/jJs, from \f/aAAo>, / sing). A sacred song or hymn, originally accompanied with music. The book of Psalms is called, in PSALTER the modern Hebrew, Thehillim (praises). It is popularly ascribed to King David, by whom it may have been partly collected and to some extent composed. The Jews divide it into five books, ending with Psalm xli. lxxii. lxxxix. cvi. and cl. respectively. They, as well as all Chris- tians, retain the number 150 ; but the divisions have varied. An apocryphal 151st is added in some Greek versions. The 119th and following Psalms to the 134th, called by some gradual psalms, or psalms of the stairs, a term of which various explanations have been given, are thought by Calmet and others to , have been composed on the occasion of the de- j liverance from Babylon ; possibly by Esdras, | who is considered as the first collector of the Psalms ; but they were at least partially used before, as early as the reign of Hezekiah. An attempt has been made to determine the re- spective ages of a large number of the Psalms by their employment of the names Elohim and j Jehovah. (Bishop Colenso On the Pentateuch t and Book of Joshua ; Bishop Harold Browne, | The Elohistic Psalms.) The latest Psalms, ac- cording to views now prevalent, are subsequent j to the Babylonish captivity, and celebrate the ' rebuilding of Jerusalem. -Psalter. A book of devotion containing the psalms. (Palmer's Origines Liturgicce, vol. i. p. 207.) Fsalterium (Lat.). The name of the manyplies or third cavity of the complex stomach of the ruminant quadrupeds, so called because it is occupied by numerous broad folds of membrane resembling the leaves of a book. Psaltery (Gr. xl/aArripiou). A stringed in- strument in use among the ancient Jews, by whom it was called Nablum. It resembled, according to Burney, partly the lyre and partly the harp. Psaturose (Gr. tyadvpSs, fragile). A sul- phantimonite of silver, composed, when pure, of 70-36 per cent, silver, 14-01 antimony, and 15-63 sulphur. It is of a dark lead-grey colour inclining to iron-black, and is found at Schemnitz in Hungary, Freiberg in Saxony, and Zacateeas in Mexico. [Stephanite.] Psellismus (Gr. ^tAXia/nds, a stammering). An imperfect articulation. Stuttering. Psephoi (Gr.). A general name given to several things made use of by the Greeks in giving their suffrages, and in their computa- tions, as small stones, shells, beans, &c. They were synonymous with the Calculi of the Komans. Pseudsesthesia (Gr. \J/€u5t?s, false, and alorBriais, perception). Imaginary or false feeling. Pseudepigraphy (Gr. \peudeir'iypa(pos, with false inscription). The ascription of false names of authors to works. This practice was carried to a great extent among the Christians of the earliest centuries. (Mackay, The Tu- bingen School and its Antecedents, part iii. 25.) Thus, many of the verses known by the name of Sibylline are evident Christian forgeries ; and it is extremely difficult to distinguish the 128 PSEUDOSCOPE spurious works of the Fathers from the true. (See Gieseler, Textbook of Eccl. Hist., 1st period, chap. iii. sec. 52, for a good section on Christian pseudepigraphy ; Fabricii Codex Pseudcpi graphics ; Barbier, Diet, des Ouvragcs Anonymes et Pseudonymes, contains a notice of most works falsely ascribed to their alleged authors in the French language.) Pseudo-bulb. In Botany, an enlarged aerial stem, resembling a tuber, from which it scarcely differs, except in being formed above ground in the epidermis, being often extremely hard, and in retaining upon its surface the scars of leaves that it once bore. Pseudoblepsis (Gr. \pevSr]s, and /JAeVw, / see). There are various forms of false vision, some apparently dependent upon nervous irritation, others upon organic derangement. Specks, network, colours, and imaginary bodies floating or dancing before the eyes, distorted vision, double vision, are among the most common modifications of this complaint. They occur in plethoric as well as in debilitated habits, and are the consequence occasionally of intense study, of weakening evacuations, of debauchery, of hysteria, and of hypochondri- asis : the treatment, therefore, which is required is very various. Attention to the stomach and bowels, local bleeding, camphor, ether, and other nervine stimulants, change of scene and occupation, varied exercise, are among the efficient remedies. When this condition is brought about by organic disease of the brain, the treatment must vary according to the na- ture of the lesion. In such cases, however, there is generally little hope of recovery. Pseudodipteral (Gr. vj/euSris, and 8'nrrepos, with two wings). In Architecture, a building in which the distance from each side of the cell to the columns on their flanks is equal to two intercolumniations ; the intermediate range of columns which would stand between the outer range and the cell being omitted. Pseudomalacnite. Native phosphate of copper. [Phosphorochalcite ; Pkasine.] Pseudomorpnous Crystals (Gr. i^euS^y, and /J-opcpif, form). Substances found in crys- talline forms not belonging to them, and being, as it were, casts of other crystals. Pseudonym (Gr. tyevScouv/jios, falsely named). In Literature, a false or imaginary name assumed by a writer ; more strictly, however, the former. Those who only assume a fanciful name, e. g. Junius, being more com- monly ranked with anonymous writers. Pseudopods (Gr. v|/eu8?7S ; irovs, foot). A name applied to a tribe of Polygastric Infu- soria (comprising Amoeba and its allies), in- cluding those in which the body, by various contractions and changes of form, produces pediform processes. Pseudoscope (Gr. \pevS6s, and (TKo-rtiw, I view). A name given by Professor Wheatstone to the stereoscope when employed to produce what he calls conversions of relief. These con- versions may be produced in three different ways : ( 1 ) by transposing the pictures from one PSEUDOSCORPIONS to the other; (2) by reflecting each picturo separately, without transposition ; and (3) by inverting the pictures to each eye separately. The converse figure differs from the normal figure in this circumstance, that those points which appear most distant in the latter are the nearest in the former, and vice versa. The pseudoscope consists of two reflecting prisms placed in a frame, with adjustments, so that when applied to the eyes each eye may sepa- rately see the reflected image of the projection which usually falls on that eye. The instru- ment being directed to an object, and so ad- justed that the object shall appear of its proper size, and at its usual distance, the distances of all other objects are inverted; all nearer ob- jects appear more distant, and all more distant objects nearer, and this constitutes the con- version of relief . The inside of a teacup appears a solid convex body. A china vase ornamented with coloured flowers in relief, appears to be a vertical section of the interior of the vase, with painted hollow impressions of the flowers. A small terrestrial globe appears a concave hemisphere ; when the globe is turned on its axis, the appearance and disappearance of different portions of the map on its concave surface has a very singular effect. A bust regarded in front becomes a deep hollow mask. When regarded in profile the appearance is equally striking. A framed picture hung against a wall appears as if embedded in a cavity made in the wall. (Athenaum for 24 Jan. 1852,) [Stereoscope.] Pseudoscorpions. A family of Arach- nidans, including those with an oblong body divided into several segments, with two or four eyes, and six or eight legs, as the book-crabs. (Chdi fer.) Pseudothyron (Gr. ipevSodvpov). In Ancient Architecture, a false door. Psidium. An extensive genus of South American trees belonging to the order Myr- tacece. The most important species is the Guava- tree, P. Guaiava, which produces the well- known Guava fruits of tropical countries, a small tree, seldom growing more than fifteen or twenty feet in height. Several varieties are known, the two most common, distinguished by the shape of the fruit — P. pomiferum, with a round apple-shaped fruit, &nd P. pyriferum, with pear-shaped fruit — being sometimes described as distinct species. Both are natives of tro- pical America and the West Indies, whence they have been introduced into and become naturalised in India and other Eastern coun- tries. They also produce very good fruit in our hothouses. Their fruits have a thin bright- yellow rind, and are filled with a pulpy yellow- ish or red flesh, which has a pleasantly acid- sweet flavour ; but the pear-shaped variety is sweeter and more agreeable in a raw state than the apple- shaped, though both make very good jelly or preserve. Guavas are of too perishable a nature to permit of their being brought to this country in their natural state ; but con- siderable quantities of guava -jelly and guava- Vol. III. 129 PSORA LEA cheese are brought by the West-India mail steamers. The wood of the Ghiava- tree has a fine close grain. P. Cattleyanum, the I * 1 1 r- ) » 1 * - Guava,, probably a native of Brazil, yields abundantly deep claret-coloured fruit having a pale juicy flesh which is agreeably subacid. Psilanthropists (Gr. \pik6s, mere, and &vdpa>7rus, man). A name sometimes used to denote those who believe that Jesus Christ was an ordinary man, and the son of Mary and Joseph. Psilomelane (Gr. bare, hence smooth ; /j.4\as, black ; from its smooth or botryoidal form and black colour). A common ore of manganese, of very variable composition, probably only a mixture of the proto-peroxide Mn 3 0 4 , with pyrolusite Mn0 4 , and usually a little potash, baryta, and water. The principal British loca- lities are Pestormel Royal Mine, Cornwall ; Upton Pyne, Black Down, Ashton near Chud- leigh, and near Bideford, Devonshire ; Bren- don Hill Mine, Somersetshire ; Drygill, Cum- berland ; Hartshill, Warwickshire ; Leadhill, Lanarkshire ; Old Kilpatrick, Dumbartonshire ; Braeborough (coralloidal), and the Orkneys. Psittacines (Parrot tribe). The name of a tribe of Scansorial birds, of which the genus Psittacus is the type. Psittacus (Lat. ; Gr. ^irraKos). The parrots belonging to the restricted genus Psittacus commonly have a strong bill, the head large without crest, the face covered with feathers, the body thick, the tail short and square. The prevailing colour is green. The common grey parrot is the Ps. erythacus, a native of Africa, which has been known to breed in Europe. Psoas XVXuscle (Gr. i{/(kt, the muscles of the loins). A large muscle upon the fore part and sides of the lumbar vertebras. It bends the thigh forwards, and assists in turning it outwards. Psophia (Gr. $ov|). Latreille has given this term to two small, hard, movable- bodies, in the form of little elytra, directed backwards, and terminating at the origin of the wings. They arise from the two sides of the anterior extremity of the trunk, near the exterior base of the two first legs, instead of from the second segment of the trunk, like true elytra. They are present in Lepidopterous and Strepsipterous insects. Pterygoid (Gr. irrepvycadrjs, wing-shaped). This name is applied to processes of the sphenoid bone, which complete the osseous palate be- hind, and form distinct bones in the oviparous vertebrate animals. 131 PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM Ptisan (G v. irTioavi}, barley-water). A medi- cated drink prepared in France from the flowers of Malva sylvestris. It is also called Tisane. Ptolemaic System. The astronomical systems of the Greek philosophers were based for the most part on theories for the truth of which no attempt was made to adduce the evi- dence of facts. But although they had thus a speculative character, they aided (sometimes not insensibly) the progress of a real science, as requiring the observation of phenomena in support of their several hypotheses. The Pythagorean doctrine (the life and date of Pythagoras himself are shrouded in doubt and obscurity) asserted that the earth is not motionless in the centre of the universe, but that the central place is occupied by a mass of fire, which was mysteriously called the Altar of Nature and the Mother of the Gods. Round this centre, ten bodies moved in circular orbits, in the following order : at the highest extremity the heaven containing the fixed stars, next the five planets, then the sun, then the moon, then the earth, and after the earth the Antichthon. (Sir G. C. Lewis, Astronomy of the Ancients, 124.) The first systematic explanation of the periodic motions of the planets came from Eudoxus of Cnidos (406-350 B.C.), who as- serted that they were held in solid revolving spheres. This hypothesis of revolving spheres, which had been simple and intelligible enough while confined to the movement of the fixed stars, was made still more intricate by Calippus (a contemporary of Aristotle), who added seven spheres to the twenty-six of Eudoxus. With Aristotle as with Plato* the earth was fixed at the centre of the universe, which, like Eudoxus, he held to be composed of revolving spheres, the motion of the bodies placed in these spheres being measured by their distance from the centre. But Aristotle saw that the motions of some of the planets were more intricate than those of the sun and moon, which he believed to be more distant from the external sphere. The solution of this difficulty he found in the conscious life of the stars, owing to which ' each orb accomplishes its circuit according to the best means at its command.' From the gravitation of matter to a centre he inferred the sphericity of the earth ; and the compara- tive smallness of its size he gathered from the fact, that a slight change of distance to north or south changes the position of the fixed stars in those directions. His system was, in fact, substantially that which, under the name of Ptolemy, maintained its ground until it was finally set aside by the system of Copernicus. It was supported by the logic of Euclid, and in Galen's day the demonstration was as thoroughly believed as that two and two make four. Against this system one remarkable protest was made by Aristarchus of Samos, who pro- posed a theory of the world exactly similar to that of Copernicus. [Heliocentric System.] The date of Aristarchus is fixed by the testi- K 2 PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM mony of Ptolemy, who states him to have observed the summer solstice of the year 280 B.C. His theory is known to us only from secondary sources ; but among these is the testimony of Archimedes, who could not fail to understand the hypothesis and to report it correctly. Archimedes was born 287 b. c. ; and the theory of Aristarchus may have been published after he had reached his manhood. (SirGr, C. Lewis, Astronomy of the Ancients, 190.) From Archimedes, who rejected the theory, we learn that Aristarchus believed the earth to revolve in a circle, of which the sun was the immovable centre, the fixed stars being also motionless; that he assigned to the earth a rotation on its own . axis ; and that he explained the apparent annual motion of the sun in the ecliptic, by supposing the orbit of the earth to be inclined to its axis. {Edinburgh Review, July 1862, p. 94.) The Alexandrian school of astronomy is pre- eminently distinguished by the names of Era- tosthenes, Apollonius, Hipparchus and Ptolemy. Between the two latter there intervened a period of nearly 300 years, during which the practical astronomy of the Greeks made little progress. Hipparchus observed at Rhodes about 140 years b.c. This illustrious man appears to have paid little regard to the theo- retical speculations of his contemporaries, but adopted the only method by which a cor- rect knowledge of nature can be obtained, namely, assiduous and accurate observations. Among his important discoveries are the precession of the equinoxes ; the length of the solar year ; the eccentricity of the earth's orbit ; the periodic time of the moon's revo- lution with respect to the stars, to the sun, to her nodes, and her' apogee ; the eccentricity and inclination of the lunar orbit. He in- vented the planisphere, determined the places of 1,080 stars, and was the first who introduced into geography the method of fixing the posi- tions of places on the surface of the earth by means of their latitudes and longitudes. The name of Ptolemy is still more cele- brated than that of Hipparchus, although, as an astronomer, he occupies a far inferior rank. His principal astronomical discovery is the inequality of the moon's motion, technically called the evection ; but his fame chiefly rests on his great work called Syntax, or Composi- tion ; in which he explains the apparent motions of the sun, moon, and planets, according to a hypothesis invented by Apollonius of Perga some centuries before, and which consists in supposing each of these bodies to be carried by a uniform motion round the circumference of a circle called the epicycle, the centre of which is carried uniformly forward in the circumference of another circle called the (liferent. This second circle may be the epicycle of a third, and so on as long as inequalities remained to be explained ; the earth occupying a position near, but not at, the centre of the last circle. This hypothesis is utterly demolished by a few accurate observations of the present day; but 132 in the time of Ptolemy it served to explain all the deviations from circular motion then known, particularly the phenomena of the stations and retrogradations of the planets ; and it was even of service to astronomy, by offering a means of reducing the apparent irregularities of the planetary motions to arithmetical calculation. Ptolemy's share of the merit belonging to the invention of this ingenious hypothesis consists in the determination of the proportion between the radius of the epicycle and that of its deferent circle, and between the velocity of the planet and the velocity of the centre of its epicycle. The Ptolemaic system continued in vogue till the revival of astronomy and the other sciences in the fifteenth century, when it gave place to theories founded on more enlarged views and more accurate observations. Fourteen centuries elapsed between Ptolemy and Copernicus ; and during this long interval astronomy continued nearly in the same state. The elements of the solar and lunar tables had indeed received many corrections ; and various improvements in the methods of observing and calculating had been introduced, principally by the Arabs ; but in respect of theory, no change had taken place. But an epoch had now arrived when men's minds could no longer be held in thraldom by reverence for ancient authority ; and a spirit of investigation and enquiry had arisen, which produced the happiest results in all the departments of natural science. Copernicus, guided perhaps in some measure by the opinions of Pythagoras, but more by his own meditations on the planet- ary phenomena, and the comparison of the numerous observations accumulated by Purbach, Regiomontanus, and Walther, in the latter half of the fifteenth century, had the glory of esta- blishing the system of the world on its true basis. In his great work, Be Revolutionibus Orbium Cce/estmm, published in 1543, he showed that all the apparent motions are easily explained by simply attributing a double mo- tion to the earth ; a diurnal rotation about its axis, and an annual motion about the sun. The doctrine of the earth's motion was opposed to the religious dogmas of the age, and accordingly the theory of Copernicus met with great resis- tance ; but as observations now began to be greatly multiplied, and to be performed with greater accuracy, the evidences in favour of it daily acquired strength, and in a short time commanded universal assent among astrono- mers. Tycho Brahe, indeed, an excellent ob- server, and one to whom astronomy is under the greatest obligations, made an attempt to save the ancient prejudices ; while he explained the phenomena by supposing the sun, accom- panied by the planets, to perform a diurnal revolution about the earth. This system, how- ever, on account of its physical improbability, never obtained many followers. The next important step in astronomy was made by Kepler. By means of a laborious comparison and calculation of observations, Kepler discovered that the orbits of the planets PTOLTCMATTES are not circles but ellipses, having the sun inono of the foci. He also found t hat the motion of any planet in its elliptic orbit is so regulated that the spaces passed over by a straight line drawn from the planet to the sun are equal in equal times ; and that the periodic times of the different planets are in a certain given ratio to their distances from the sun. It is difficult to estimate the importance of these discoveries, cither with reference to the amount of preju- dice they overthrew, or their influence on as- tronomical theory. The circular and uniform motion of the celestial bodies was an axiom that had never been disputed. It was even admitted by Copernicus, who was obliged, in order to reconcile it with the observations, to suppose the sun placed at a little distance from the centre of each of the planetary circles. The elliptic motion was a proposition as bold as it was original ; and, combined with the equal description of areas in equal times, led to the discovery of universal gravitation, and all the sublime results of physical astronomy. Ptolemaites. A sect among the Gnostics, who maintained that the Mosaie Law came partly from God, partly from Moses, and partly from the traditions of the Jewish doctors. Ptyalin (Gr. tttvuXov, saliva). A supposed peculiar animal matter obtained from saliva. It is insoluble in alcohol, and is said to be analogous to the vegetable substance termed diastase, and to convert starch into dextrine and glucose ; it has therefore been termed salivary diastase. [Saliva.] Ptyalism (Gr. irTvahia-^os). An increased flow of saliva. Salivation. Ptychotis (a word coined from Gr. ttvxv, a fold, and o3?, an car). An Umbelliferous genus of annual or biennial plants, one species of which, P. Ajowan, is much cultivated in Bengal, where its fruits, called Ajowains, are valued for their aromatic properties, and are used both for culinary and medicinal purposes. Pubescent (Lat. pubescens, hairy). In Botany and Zoology, when a part or whole is covered with very fine short hairs. Public Safety, Committee of. In the first French Revolution, this famous body, formed out of the Convention, April 6, 1793, was in- vested with very general powers to provide for the supposed welfare of the state, even the pewer of arrest and imprisonment being soon conferred upon it. After the downfall of the Girondist party [Girondists], this committee became the virtual government of France, by a decree of Dec. 4, 1793. Its members were, at this period, elected every month, but in general the members were re-elected. From this period its history is, in effect, that of the revo- lution. It appointed tribunals, composed of committees, invested with sovereign power to try offences against the state, over the whole country. It was in the committee of public safety that the opposition to Robespierre originated ; but, on the overthrow, of that personage, its powers were limited by the Convention ; and, on the introduction of the new constitution of 133 tuck October, 1791, it became extinct along with t he Assembly out of which it had been formed! Public Schools. [Schools, Public] Public Weal, War of the. In French History, this name has been given to that struggle between the feudal aristocracy and the monarchy, which was ended by the defeat of the confederation entitled the League of the Public Weal, by Louis XI. The great feudal chiefs, especially of the houses of Foix, Albret, and Armagnac, saw with dislike and fear the growth of an absolute power in which they could have no share ; but although the al- liance into which they entered was nominally based on the interests of the people, and pro- fessed to redress their injuries, it had little or no popular support. It had become clear to the French that only under a strong govern- ment could they be secured against the violence of military ruffians and the lawless exactions of feudal chieftains. This discontent of the nobles came to a head, when the dukes of Brittany, Burgundy, Alencon, Bourbon, and the count of Dunois, leagued themselves under Charles duke of Berry, brother of Louis XL and heir presumptive to the throne. But Louis contrived to prevent the interference of Edward IV. of England ; the duke of Berry died sud- denly at Guienne, not without suspicion that be had been poisoned by the king, and the less powerful vassals were rigorously punished, and the league finally crushed in 1472. (Hallam, Middle Ages, ch. i. part i.) Publicans (Lat. publicani). The farmers of the public revenue of Rome. They formed two distinct classes : the farmers-general of the revenues, who were regarded as belonging to one of the most honourable grades of citizens ; and deputies or under publicans of an inferior" caste, whose reputation was very questionable. Hence, in the New Testament, the rsX&vai, or pid)licans, are almost always placed in jux- taposition with sinners. (Milman's Hist, of Christianity.) This term was also applied as a nickname to the Albigenses. Publicist. A term sometimes applied to writers on International Law. Publilian Laws. In the ancient history of Rome, the name of three laws said to have been enacted by the dictator Q. Publilius Philo, b. c. 339. By the first of these laws the decrees of the plebs were to bind the whole community. By the second the senate was bound to give a preliminary consent to all laws put to the vote in the comitia of centuries. The third provided that one at least of the censors should be a plebeian. For the historical difficulties in- volved in the various accounts of these enact- ments, and of the earlier Publilian agitation assigned to the year 470 b.c, see Sir G. C» Lewis, Credibility of Early Roman History, ch. xii. sect. 32 and ch. xiii. sect. 22.. Pucha-pat. An Indian name for Patchouli. [PoGOSTEMON.] Puck (Old Norse puki, "Welsh pwca : Wedgwood. Dr. Latham says that the. Slavonic word bog, deity — whence the English PUDDING STONE / — is 'almost certainly the same word as Puck; perhaps the root of Bacchus' The connection of bogy with bug is attested by the expression bug-bear, to denote that which scares or terrifies). In Mediaeval Mythology, the 4 merry wanderer of the night,' whose cha- racter and attributes are depicted in Shak- speare's Midsummer Night's Dream. This celebrated fairy is known by a variety of names ; as Robin Good-fellow and Friar Rush in England ; and in Germany, as Knecht Ruprccht; but it is by his designation of Puck that he fs most generally known both in England, Germany, and the more northern nations. He was the chief of the domestic tribe of fairies, or brownies, as they are called in Scotland ; and innumerable stories are told of his nocturnal exploits, among which draw- ing the wine and cleaning the kitchen while the family were asleep, are the most pro- minent. Pudding- Stone. A name sometimes given to a peculiar variety of Conglomerate consisting of pebbles, rounded by the action of water, cemented together with a large quantity of silicious paste. Masses of such conglomerate are common in Hertfordshire. The pebbles within them bear a fanciful resemblance to the raisins in a plum pudding, but the stones are generally much larger than raisins. Puddling:. The method resorted to in iron works for the conversion of cast into wrought iron. It consists of two operations, the first being designed for the purpose of allowing the impurities of the iron to escape in the course of the refining process, while the second, which is the more correctly named process of puddling, consists in reducing the cast iron to the state in which it is susceptible of being drawn, hammered, and roiled into the shape of bars in the state of wrought-iron. Puerperal fever (from Lat. puerpera). A fever attended by peritoneal inflammation, which comes on about the third day after delivery. The usual febrile symptoms are attended with great tenseness and tenderness of the abdomen ; the milk disappears, and the bowels are usually affected by diarrhoea. It is most common in the autumn, and appears to be contagious. It is an alarming disease, and re- quires great promptitude and judgment in its treatment. It must be regarded as the result of contamination of the blood by animal poison generated in the system, and not as a local affection. This poison is probably produced by the decomposition of coagula or other material retained in the uterus. Bleeding, modified according to the circumstances of the case, calomel, saline sudorifics, and occasionally opium, to quiet pain and induce rest, are among the remedial means ; but it often hap- pens that great irritability of the stomach and bowels, or even incessant purging and vomit- ing, are predominant symptoms, and the fever assumes a typhoid character, in which case the system requires support from cordials. i 5 u£f ball. [Lycoperoon.] 134 Fig. 1. PULLEY Pufflerite. The name given to the globular Prehnite of the Seisseralp in the Tyrol. Pugging. In Building operations, the word pugging is used to denote the coat of lime and hair, or chopped straw, laid upon the sound boarding, in order to resist the transmission of sound between one story and another. Pugil (Lat. pugillus). A quantity of any- thing which may be taken up between the thumb and two fingers. Pug-mill, A mill used by brickmakers for the purpose of thoroughly blending the materials. It is an upright cylinder, in the axis of which a shaft revolves having several knives projecting from it, arranged spirally round the arbor, so as effectually to knead and mix the mass of clay, which is finally forced through a hole in the bottom of the cylinder. Puisne Judge (Nor. Fr. puisne, younger). The judges and barons of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, with the ex- ception of the chief justices and chief baron, are so called. Pulley. In Mechanics, one o£ the six simple machines, or mechanical powers. It consists of a wheel, movable about an axis, and having a groove cut in its circumference, over which a cord pas -es. The axle is supported by a box or sheave, called the block, which may be either movable or fixed to a firm support. A single pulley serves merely to change the direction of motion ; but several of them may be combined in various ways, by which a mechanical advantage or purchase is gained, greater or less, according to their number and the mode of combination. The purchase gained by any combination is readily computed by comparing the celerity of the weight raised with that of the moving power, according to the principle of virtual velocities, which is alike applicable to all machines of whatever kind. In fig. 1, which represents a system where tho several portions of the cord are parallel to each other, suppose the weight W to rise 1 inch, the two blocks would approach each other by that quantity, and consequently the length of cord connecting a single pair of pulleys would be shortened by 2 inches, so that the power P would descend 2 inches. Let the number, of pulleys in each block be n ; then, while the weight ascends 1 inch, the power descends 2n inches, and, consequently, when there is equi- librium, the power is to the weight as 1 to In. In the combination represented in fig. 2, the purchase is much greater. If n be the number of pulleys, it is readily seen that the relative velo- cities of P and W are as 2 n to 1, so that the power is to the weight as 1 : 2 n . In the combination represented by fig. 3, the mechanical advantage with n pulleys is still greater, and is easily proved to be as 1 to Fig. 2. 2 »+i rULMOGRADES Tliis theoretical advantage, however, is in all eases greatly diminished by friction and the rigidity of the rope. The last two combinations are of little, if use in practice, but various modifications of the first are common. Smcaton's pulley, or Smeaton's tack, as it is usually called, contains two rows of wheels, one under the other, in each block, and a single cord is made to pass over them in such a manner that the power and the weight both I 1-3 act in the same line with the centres i w | of the two blocks, so that there is no tendency to twist. But this ingenious arrangement is open to several objections, the chief being the great amount of lateral friction of so many independent wheels. In White's pulley (tig. 1 ) the wheels in each block turn on the same axis, and consequently revolve in the same time ;• and they are of different sizes, their dimen- sions being so proportioned that a point on the circumference of any wheel moves with the velocity of the rope on that wheel. To effect this the diameter of the wheels in the upper block must be as the numbers 1, 3, 5, &c, and in the lower as 2, 4, 6, &e. - Instead of sepa- rate wheels, the upper and lower blocks are cut in grooves in the above proportions, whereby the friction is reduced to that of one wheel in each block. In the Great Exhibition at South Kensington, in the year 1862, an ingenious application of the system of pulleys was exhibited under the name of Weston' 's 'patent pulley block, which dealt with weights of from two to three tons, with the motive power of only one man. The sheaves of the blocks in this machine revolved in such a way as to offer a resistance to the motion of the rope, or chain, in case the power were suddenly withdrawn, so that the weight would remain suspended; and it required no hoisting crab, which is a serious drawback to the ordinary pulley blocks. There was no dif- ference, however, in the principles regulating the arrangement or the sizes of the details of this machine from the principles generally observed. Pulmogrades(Lat. pulmo, a lung ; gradior, i" advance). The name of a tribe of Acale- phans, including those gelatinous species which swim by the contraction of the vascular mar- gin of the disc-shaped body, where respiration also probably takes place. Pulmonaria (Lat. pulmo). A genus of perennial herbs, often met with in old gardens, and remarkable for the spotted leaves of some of the species, from which cause, and some reputed but wholly imaginary value in lung diseases, it was called Lungwort. It is also called Jerusalem Cowslip. Pulmonaries. The name of the order of Arachnidans including those which breathe by means of pulmonary sacs or lungs. Pulmonates. The name of an order of Gastropodous Molluscs, including those which breathe air, to which the blood is ex 135 PULSE while circulating through a vascular network lining the internal surface of the bronchial cavity. The order is subdivided info the Pulmonata terrestris, comprehending the Linnseau genera Limax and Helix, with Clausilia, Drap., and Achatina, Lam. ; and the Pulmonata aquatica, comprehending the genera Onchidium, Bucha- nan; Planorbis, Cuv. ; Limnceus, Lam.; Physa, Drap. ; Auricula, Lam. ; Conovulus, Lam. Pulp (Lat. pulpa). In Botany, the juicy tissue found in the interior of plants. The term is applied in an especial sense to such tissue in fruits. Pulpit (Lat. pulpitum). In Architecture, the raised part in a public building from which an oration is delivered. In the ancient thea- tres it was the higher part of the stage on which the musicians stood. Pulque. The fermented juice of the Agave. Pulse (Lat. pulsus, a beating). The pul- sation of the arteries, depending upon the im- pulse given to the blood by the action of the heart. [Heart.] The pulse is usually felt by pressing the radial artery at the wrist, and the rapidity, regularity, and force of the cir- culation thus ascertained furnish an important criterion of the phenomena and progress of disease. The range of the pulse as to fre- quency, in a healthy adult, is usually between 60 and 80, but there are persons whose pulses rarely beat 60 times in a minute, and others, not out of health, in whom the frequency exceeds 80 ; the pulse, in short, is extremely capricious, and before any correct inferences can be drawn from it, the peculiarities of each individual require to be carefully con- sidered. Slight mental affections, indigestion, irritability, and many other causes producing modifications of the pulse, do not admit of any general description. The terms hard, full, soft, and wiry pulse, are used to indicate other ob- vious modifications independent of the number of pulsations. The average rate of the pulse of a healthy infant is, for the first year, from about 120 to 108 ; for the second year, from 108 to 90 ; for the third, from 100 to 80 ; from the seventh to the twelfth year, the pulsations are about 70. When the pulse exceeds 140 beats in a minute, it is not easy to count it precisely, and to this it attains in some febrile diseases. An intermitting pulse is by no means un- common, and often produced by trivial causes : with many persons in perfect health the pulse will be subject to very extraordinary irregu- larities ; and there are cases on record in which a person's pulse which has always in- termitted in a state of health has acquired regularity on the accession of disease. The state of the digestive organs, more especially in gouty persons, has often a marked influence upon this condition of the pulse. Pulse. Leguminous plants cultivated for their pods or seeds, such as the pea, bean, kidney-bean, &c. PULSE GLASS PUMP Pulse Glass. A tube of about a quarter of an inch diameter and five or six inches long, with a bulb at each end, and about half filled with spirit of wine, care having been taken to expel the whole of the air before sealing the tube. When held in an inclined position, one of the bulbs being grasped in the hand the ebullition of the included liquid causes the latter to rise and fall in the tube, or to pulsate. Pul villi (Lat.). In Entomology, the cushions of short hairs very closely set, or a membrane capable of being inflated, or very soft and concave plates, which cover the under- side, or their apex, of the four first joints of the manus or tarsus, and sometimes even of the ends of the. movable spines situated at the apex of the tibia, which act so as to produce a vacuum, and enable the insect to suspend itself, or walk against gravity. Pulvinated (Lat. pulvinar, a pillow). In Architecture, a term used to express a swelling in any portion of an order, such, for instance, as that of the frieze in the modern Ionic order. Pulvinus (Lat. a cushion). In Botany, the cushion-like enlargement seen at the base of the leaves, or at the apex of the petioles in certain plants. Pumice (Lat. pumex). A porous rock ob- tained only in volcanic districts, and produced by the action of gases on materials melted by volcanic heat. It is light, spongy, and fibrous, of an ashy grey colour, and extremely rough to the touch. It is somewhat largely used in the arts, owing to its uniform roughness and the absence of irregularities of hardness. It can only be regarded as a variety of trachytic lava. Pump (Ger. pumpe, Fr. pompe). A ma- chine for raising water. Though the forms under which this useful engine is constructed, and the mode in which the power is applied, may be modified in an infinite number of ways, there are only foxir which can be considered as differing from each other in principle. These are the sucking pump, the forcing pump, the lifting pump, and the centrifugal pump : so called from the manner in which they act. The sucking pump, or common household pump, is an apparatus of which the principle and construction will be evident from the an- nexed figure. A A is a pipe of any convenient length, the lower end of which reaches below the surface of the water in the well or reservoir ; B is a barrel, generally of greater dia- meter than the pipe ; C a valve opening upwards ; D a piston moved by the rod E : in this piston there is also a valve opening upwards. When the piston is raised, the air in the barrel between the valves is ex- panded, and its tension consequently diminished; the pressure of the air in the pipe, therefore, opens the valve C, and the whole air in the pipe and barrel becomes less dense. In this state the atmospheric pres- 136 Fig. 1. sure on the surface of the water causes it to rise in the pipe, until the tension of the con- fined air becomes equal to the pressure of the atmosphere. On again depressing the piston, the valve in it opens, and the air passes through it from the barrel as it descends ; but the valve C is closed by the downward pressure, and the volume of water which has entered the pipe remains. On again raising the piston, bhe same effect is repeated, and an additional quantity of water enters the pipe. Thus, by the alternating motion of the piston, a column of water is raised in the pipe until it reaches the piston when at the bottom of the barrel, and the whole of the air below it has been excluded. On raising the piston when the water has reached it, the fluid will be com- pelled to follow by the pressure of the atmo- sphere on its surface in the well. When the piston is again depressed, the water flows through the valve in it, and ascends into the barrel, and by the succeeding strokes of the piston is lifted up until it reaches and flows out of the spout F. Although in theory the limit of the height to which water may be raised by the sucking pump, from the surface of the fluid in the well to the highest position of the movable piston, is about thirty-four feet (the height of a column of water which balances the pressure of the atmosphere), it is not found practicable, with pumps of the ordinary construction, to raise it more than about twenty-eight feet. The difference arises from the difficulty of making the apparatus absolutely air-tight. The forcing pump is represented in fig. 2. The piston-rod E D is attached to a solid plunger D, adjusted to the cavity of the barrel. A pipe G II, furnished with a valve F, opening outwards, communicates with the barrel at G. On elevating the plunger D, the water will ascend through the valve C, in the same manner as in the sucking pump, till the barrel is filled to D. Now, when the plunger is depressed the valve C will shut, and the water between D and C be forced throiigh the valve F into the pipe GH. When the plunger is raised, the valve at F shuts, the pressure on its under side being removed, so that the water which was forced into the pipe by the previous stroke cannot return into the barrel. At the next stroke of the piston more water is again forced into the pipe, and so on till it is raised to the ' height required. In this pump the pipe A A may be dispensed with, and the barrel B immersed in the reser- voir ; in which case the action of the pump is independent of the atmospheric pressure, and could be maintained equally well in a vacuum. In order to produce a continued stream through the pipe G H, an air vessel m n may be attached to the lateral branch above the Fig. 2. Fig. PUMP valve F (fig. 3). The pipe G II roaches nearly to the bottom of the air vessel ; and when the water has been forced into the vessel by the action of the pump, until it reaches above the lower end of the pipe at Gr, it is evident that, as all communication is then cut off with the external atmosphere, every additional quantity of water thrown into the vessel will tend more and more to compress the air with- in, which, acting by its pressure on the surface of the water, forces it through the pipe G- H in a continued stream. The lifting pump is represented by fig. 4. The barrel of the pump is immersed in the water and fixed to an immovable frame. The piston with its bucket and valve C, opening upwards, is attached at E to another frame, G- H I K L, consisting of two strong iron rods, H I and L K, which move through holes in the frame-work to which the pump is fixed. An inclined branch M N, either fixed to the top of the barrel, or movable by means of a ball and socket, is fitted exactly to the barrel, and furnished with a valve at M. Sup- pose the barrel immersed in the water to a certain depth: if the piston frame be now thrust down by the handle at G, the piston will descend, and the water be forced by its upward pressure through the valve C, so as to maintain the same level in the pump as in the well. But when the piston frame is elevated, the valve C will shut (as shown in the figure), and the water above C be lifted up with the piston, and forced through the valve M into the branch M N, from which its return will be prevented by the shutting of the valve M when the piston descends. In each of these different kinds of pumps which have been described, the total effort re- quired to work the machine, independently of f riction, is equal to the weight of a column of water, the base of which is equal to the area of a section of the working barrel, and the altitude equal to the distance between the sur- face of the water in the reservoir and the point to which it is raised. In the sucking pump the whole of this effort is expended in raising the piston ; in the forcing pump, one part is ex- pended in raising and the other in depressing the piston, and it is advantageous to dispose the machinery so that these two parts shall be nearly equal. In small pumps for domestic purposes, the strength of man is usually em- ployed as the moving power ; but in raising water from great depths, as the bottoms of mines, the steam engine is applied to this pur- pose. [Fire Engine.] For an account of the mechanism of different kinds of pumps, see Gregory's Mechanics, vol. ii. ; the Aide- Memoire of the Military Sciences may also be consulted, 137 PUNCH both for the bibliography and the description of the different kinds of pumps. The centrifugal or rotary pumps are those in which a rectilineal vertical motion is com- municated to the water to be raised by means of a wheel, bearing a series of fixed arms •rotating at a high velocity in a close drum, and receiving its supply through apertures in the side of the drum close to the axis. The shape of the arms has a very material in- fluence upon the useful effect of these pumps ; and, after many experiments, it has been found that the most advantageous form to be given to them is to curve them backwards to the direc- tion of the movement, so as to form a tangent to the circumference of the wheel at the points where they intersect it. Amongst the most valuable forms of these centrifugal pumps for drainage purposes, are those manufactured by Mr. Appold, or by Messrs. Gwynne & Co. ; and perhaps it may be desirable to add that the latter work with the smallest loss of power compared to the useful effect, with small lifts : Appold's pumps, however, present more satis- factory results when higher lifts are required. All these engines are inferior to the best forms of force pumps when large volumes of water have to be raised to great heights ; and their use would appear, in their present forms at least, to be most advantageously limited to lifts of about thirty or forty feet vertical as a maxi- mum. (English Ci/clopadia, Arts and Sciences.) The chain pump sometimes used in ships of war consists of an endless chain moving over a wheel on the gun deck, which is turned round by winches, and over a roller in the pump-well, having saucers or flat circular pistons at cer- tain intervals. Near the pump-well, on the side on which the chain on turning the winches ascends, are a few feet of pipe ; through this the saucers raise the column of water, which, being lifted over the upper orifice of the pipe, falls into the cistern, and thence into the waste- pipe, called the pump-dale, which carries it overboard. The descending portion of chain falls through another case called the back case. Chain pumps, in large ships, throw out a ton a minute. Pumpernickel. The name of a species of rye bread peculiar to "Westphalia. It forms the chief -food of the Westphalian peasants, but is regarded as a great delicacy in other parts of Germany, whither it is exported in large quan- tities. The loaves sometimes weigh 60 lbs. The term is said to be of French derivation, and to have originated in a French soldier having rejected the bread with disgust, exclaiming, ' C'est bon pour Nicolas : ' i.e. for his horse. Pumpkin. The Cucurbita pepo, a large kind of Gourd, cultivated as an esculent. Pun. A play upon words, the wit or point of which depends on a resemblance between the sound of two or more words, which have different, and perhaps opposite, meanings. [Paronomasia.] Punch (Ital. punzecchiare, to punch, from punzone, a goad). The process of producing a PUNCHEON hole in a piece of metal by direct pressure is called punching. This process can be applied only to the malleable metals, such as lead, zinc, copper, iron, &c, cast iron or bronze being liable to break or to produce a ragged edge, if so treated. The action of piercing the plates by means of a drill must not be confounded with punching. Puncheon. In Architecture, a short post ; also the small quarters of a partition, above the head of a door. Puncheon. A measure of capacity for li- quids, containing 84 gallons or one-third of a tun. Punctate (Lat. punctum, a point). In Zoology, when a part is beset with many points or minute impressions, which do not perforate the surface. Punctuation. In Printing and Writing, .the dividing words, propositions, or sentences from each other by means of certain marks or points, designed to facilitate the apprehension, or to regulate the enunciation, of written lan- guage. Points or stops are said to have been first used by Aristophanes, the Alexandrian grammarian ; but the modern system of punc- tuation is due to Aldo Manucci (Manutius), a learned printer, who lived at Venice in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The marks most commonly in use are : 1. The comma (,), which is placed between the less important divisions of a sentence or passage ; as, for in- stance, before and after qualifying propositions or clauses; between single words not con- nected by conjunctions; before conjunctions which unite sentences, &c. 2. The semicolon (;), which distinguishes the longer or more important members of a sentence ; as when the latter part is an inference from, or qualifica- tion, explanation, or illustration of, the former. 3. The colon (:), which is chiefly used to dis- tinguish such members of a sentence as are themselves divided by semicolons into two or more principal parts. 4. The period or full stop (.), which stands at the end of a complete sentence. Besides these may be enumerated the note of interrogation (?) or enquiry ; of exclamation (!), expressing admiration, endear- ment, or any considerable emotion ; the paren- thesis ( ), used when a clause is inserted which interrupts the progress of the sentence ; with other marks, either less commonly used, or for the use of which the rules are less easily defined. Punctum C cecum (Lat.). That part of the retina of the eye immediately about the spot at which the optic nerve unites with it is found experimentally to be totally insensible to the stimulus of light, and hence it has been called by writers on Optics the punctum ccecum. Pundit. [Pandit.] Punic Language. The language of the ancient Carthaginians. It was a Phoenician dia- lect, and substantially the same as the Hebrew. Punic Wars. The name given to the celebrated contests in which the Eomans and Carthaginians were engaged for more than 138 PUNISHMENT three centuries, and which finally terminated in the destruction of Carthage. The first com- menced A.c. 264, and ended A. c. 241; the second lasted from a.c. 218 to A.c. 202; the third from a.c. 149 to A.c. 147, ending with the destruction of Carthage. Punic Wax. In Painting, the vehicle used by the Greek painters in their wax and en- caustic pictures, &c. Punic wax, says Pliny (cera Punica), was the ordinary yellow wax purified and bleached, by being boiled three times in sea water with a little nitre, the water being changed each time : it was then taken out of the water, covered with a thin cloth, and placed in the sun to dry. So prepared it was mixed with various colours and made into ceres fit for the painter's use, and it was also employed in varnishing or polishing. Punica (Lat. punicus, red). The genus of the Pomegranate, which is called by botanists P. granatum. The fruit is peculiar, being composed of two whorls of carpels placed one above the other. It is the produce of a tree growing in Northern Africa and Western Asia, and varying from fifteen to twenty-five feet in height. The flowers are usually scarlet and yield a red dye. The fruit is greatly valued in warm countries on account of its cooling and refreshing pulp. Many varieties are grown, some being sweet and vinous, and others acid or of a bitter astringent taste. It is generally about the size of the fist, and has a tough leathery rind of a beautiful deep golden colour tinged with red. The rind, especially that of the bitter kind, contains a large quantity of tannin, and is used for tanning the celebrated morocco leather. Some double-flowered varieties are very beautiful garden shrubs. Punicin. A peculiar principle having the appearance of an oleo-resin obtained from the root of the Pomegranate, Punica granatum. Punishment (Lat. poena, punishment). In Jurisprudence, the infliction of suffering, under legal sanction, upon those who have violated the law. It is undoubtedly true, that both in legislation and in public opinion respecting punishment, the vindictive theory which con- sidered it as a retribution for crime, and to be governed by our moral feelings of indignation against the offender, has far too generally prevailed, and that the primary end, the interests of society, has been overlooked. But it may perhaps be doubted whether the present course of opinion does not run too exclusively in the contrary direction, and whether they who adopt the common formula, that ' the object of all punishment is the prevention of the offence in future,' have reflected on all the conse- quences of that position. For instance, it is the common practice in this country, as well as in others, to connect the administration of justice with the enforcement of the tenets of religion and morality. In passing sentence, wherever there is any pecu- liarity in the case calculated to call forth such remarks, the judge rarely fails to comment on PUNISHMENT the moral deformity of tho act ; not merely in its tendency to injure society, but subjectively, as showing moral depravity in tho person com- mitting it. (Lord Russell, The English Govern- ment and Constitution, ch. xxiv. 1865.) The solemnities of public worship which form part of the ceremonial ; the public harangues of the judges (as, for instance, in the English custom of charging the grand jury); the language in which the jury is commonly addressed, both by the judge and the advocates ;"all these seem based on the assumption, that the moral quality of acts is one of the matters to be brought under their consideration. But if the judge has really no concern whatever with that moral quahty, and is simply there to see that society may be guarded, as far as possible, from exposure to material injury by fraud or violence, it may be thought that all these ceremonies are out of place, and that they can be defended only as politic devices, employing the machinery of religion to aid in deterring offenders from the commission of crime, or as concessions to popu- lar ignorance. And it is certain that in such a case it would be far better to abolish them altogether, as leading the mind to dwell on that view of the object of punishment which it is the purpose of Bentham and his school to extirpate, as irrational and false. Again, in popular estimation, the moral atrocity of an offence is one of the elements in the correct measure of punishment. On whatever ground philosophers may object to sanguinary laws, this conviction has retained its hold on the public mind. In the case of forgery, for example, the feeling of the ma- jority triumphed in the end over the severity of the law, not so much because the penalty was thought disproportioned to the injury in- flicted on society or to the importance of re- pressing the crime, as because it was thought not to deserve it in a moral point of view. Now all such expression of sentiment, on the theory in question, is founded on a wrong principle ; and the writers who adhere to it are forced to admit this feeling as a dis- turbing cause, preventing the right doctrine from being fully carried out ; they are forced to admit, as part of their definition of a good punishment, that it shall not be such as to shock the popular notion of moral justice — an admission which they can make con- sistently only by maintaining that punishments which shock popular notions of justice and equity are likely to multiply offences or ag- gravate their character, and so to interfere with the real interests of society. That the interest of society is the first object of punishment must be conceded on all hands. That the specific object of preventing the offence from being committed is a very important part of that general object, probably by far the most important, may also be con- ceded. But it is a further question, whether the general object does not comprehend other particular objects also ; and whether a punish- ment which should answer in the highest 139 degree the advantage of repressing that par- ticular offence, or class of offences, might not be imperfect, notwithstanding. This question can be solved only by deciding the great preliminary difficulty of political science, in which so many others are involved ; whether the ruling power which we call the state, or society, or tho legislature, has or has not any moral authority. Those who conclude that it has nothing to do beyond preserving the personal security and property of individuals, of course deny that it has any. But those who believe that it has, also, what may be termed paternal power, and is intrusted by Providence with the maintenance of religion and moral principle, must, consistently, admit that there may be a moral object in punishment beyond the mere prevention of the offence, un- less they maintain that the moral authority of the state is to be exercised not in punishment but in prevention, as by education. And it must be observed in passing, that those who do hold the state to possess such a moral authority, and have such moral duties imposed upon it, need not, therefore, hold those to be its principal objects. It may very well be that the primary object of the association of men in a political body is security and self- defence ; yet that association may have other ends not inconsistent with this. And although those other ends are in themselves incomparably the most important, it does not at all follow that they are the most important as regards the state. "When men enter into a particular contract with each other, their mutual duties under that contract are primarily those con- nected with the object of that contract ; they may have other and more important mutual duties, which yet, as regards that contract, are secondary. No religious man will deny that the connection of master and servant involves some duties of a very exalted character ; but the principal object of that connection is, nevertheless, the rendering of service in lieu of a remuneration. It must, however, be remembered that the theory of the moral vocation of the state does not necessarily justify retribution as an object of punishment. No one can apportion retri- butive justice who cannot judge of the motives of actions. The moral authority of the state, even by those who have carried its divine character to the highest point, has only been likened to the paternal ; and no father has the right to chastise a child by way of retribution. He has no right to punish at all, except with a view to reformation. Omitting this mistaken end, the real objects of punishment may be classed as follows : — 1. The interest of society ; which must be subdivided into — 1. Its security from the injury to person or property occasioned by the crime. ii. Its moral and religious improvement. 2. The reformation of the offender. This is admitted as one of the ends of punish- ment by all writers ; but Bentham and his PUNISHMENT followers regard it as such only so far as it conduces to the security of society by prevent- ing the repetition of the offence ; those who embrace the other view regard it as an end, both on this account and also as the fulfilment of the duty of the state towards the offender himself. Considered in either view, it is clearly a secondary object only, the good of society being the first. The security of society is attained by punish- ment in four ways : 1. By forcibly preventing the offender from repeating his offence ; as by death, mutilation, or perpetual imprisonment. 2. By reforming the habits of the offender, and thereby taking away the desire to offend. 3. By deterring the offender from repetition by the fear of fresh punishment. 4. By deterring others through example. And this last is clearly the chief practical end of all legal inflictions. The admission of other principles, in order to satisfy the idea of the existence of the state as a moral agent, need not prevent the legislator from keeping this steadily in view. If Bentham's theory of punishment be de- fective in its main principles, it is so at all events only from being imperfect, not erroneous ; as far as it goes, it is logical, consistent, and definite. And as he was nearly the first writer who introduced anything like clearness or arrangement into the popular notions on penal laws, so we are inclined to think that, on the whole, he has done more for society in this particular than in any other of the various subjects to which he applied his reforming genius. It must not be forgotten that Sir S. Romilly and Sir J. Mackintosh were the pupils who carried his speculation into practice. Bentham divides punishments into corporeal and privative. The first of these are: 1. Sim- ply afflictive, those which consist in the mere infliction of temporary pains, the lash, &c. 2. Complexly afflictive, in which pain is joined with permanent loss : as in the old punishments of mutilation and disfigurement. 3. Restric- tive, under which he classes together imprison- ment, or the total deprivation of liberty, and banishment, which deprives of a certain portion of liberty. 4. Active or laborious ; such as the galleys, hard labour, &c. Transportation com- bines this character with the former. 5. Priva- tive punishments, or those which deprive the criminal, 1. Of life. 2. Of reputation only; such, perhaps, as the amende in French law. 3. Of property: as by fine and confiscations. 4. Forfeiture of condition; which, more or less, accompanies infamous punishments in most countries: e.g. civil infamy, in France, is attended with various disabilities. These punishments comprehend all the simple forms in ordinary use ; but he adds a few, which he terms anomalous, and only mentions them in order to hold them up to general reprobation. 1. What he calls vicarious punishments ; as when the family of a suicide are punished by the forfeiture of his chattels. 2. Transitive ; 140 when the penalty passes to future generations ; corruption of blood in the English law. 3. Collective ; of which he gives, as an instance, j the punishment of corporations for the acts of j individual corporators ; a more ordinary one is, | the compelling the inhabitants of a hundred to make good the damages occasioned by a riot. I 4. Fortuitous ; where individuals wholly uncon- nected with the offender are implicated, as it were casually, in the consequences of his crime ; of which he gives as an instance, the avoidance of mesne conveyances by some kinds of con- fiscation, and consequent loss of innocent pur- chasers ; and the imposition of deodands, where no negligence is imputed. (Bentham, Theory of Punishments and Rewards ; Ed. Rev. vol. xxii. ; Lucas, Systeme Penal; De^Tocqueville, Du Systeme Penitentiaire aux Etats-Unis ; J. S. Mill, Oh Liberty, ch. iv.) On the subject of capital punishment, opinions have of late years undergone con- siderable modification. The argument which based the infliction of such punishment on an alleged divine command, supposed to be con- tained in Genesis, has been tacitly, if not avowedly, abandoned, and the argument from expediency has been more prominently brought forward in its stead. The Report of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, 1866, re- commends the substitution of private for public executions, and proposes to introduce a distinc- tion between two varieties of crimes, now classed together as murder and capitally punishable. Of the commissioners, two were in favour of the immediate abolition of the death penalty. The gradual change in opinion on this subject is illustrated in Lord Russell's Treatise on the English Government and Constitution. In the first edition, published in 1825, Lord John Russell, while declaring that 'there cannot be many offences to which capital punishment ought to be attached,' asserted that ' all wil- ful acts tending directly to inflict death ought to be punished with death,' and added that, ■ murder, stabbing, shooting at, burning of dwelling-houses or buildings contiguous to dwelling-houses, and setting fire to the clothes of a person, are crimes of this description.' In the introduction to the second edition, pub- lished in 1865, Lord Russell, while still he doubts not the right of a community to inflict such punishment, or the expediency of exer- cising that right in certain states of society, adds, ' When I turn from that abstract right and that abstract expediency to our own state of society, when I consider how difficult it is for any judge to separate the case which re- quires inflexible justice from that which admits the force of mitigatory circumstances, how invidious the task of the secretary of state in dispensing the mercy of the crown, how critical the comments made by the public, how soon the object of general horror becomes the theme of sympathy and pity, how narrow and how limited the example given by this condign and awful punishment, how brutal the scene of the execution, I come to the con- PUNNEERIA elusion that nothing would bo lost to justice, nothing lost in the preservation of innocent life, if the punishment of death were altogether abolished.' Punneerla. An Indian genus of Solanacece, found in Seindc and Afghanistan. The berries of the only species, P. coagulans, a shrubby plant, growing from one to three feet high, are known to the natives as possessing the proper- ty of coagulating milk, in the same manner as rennet, for which they are substituted by the Beloochees and Afghans, who call them punneer-bund, i.e. cheesemaker. Punt (Dutch pont, Fr. ponton). A small open pontoon, resembling a boat with a flat bottom and ordinarily with square ends. Though occasionally fitted for oars, the punt is in gene- ral propelled by poles acting on the bottom. It is useful for navigating shallow waters, as rivers, marshes, &c, or for any operation in which a steady base is desirable. Pupa (Lat.). A genus of land snails, so called from the resemblance of the shell to the pupe, or chrysalis of an insect. Several species are British, as Pupa umbilicata, Drap. ; P. marginata, Drap. ; P. cdentula, Drap. Pupe (Lat. pupa). The name of the ovi- form nymphs of lepidopterous insects ; also applied to metabolian insects generally, when in the second stage of their metamorphosis. Pupil (Lat. pupilla). A term applied to the central opening of the eye, because it re- flects the diminished image of the person who looks into it. It is the central aperture of the iris. Pupll (Lat. pupillus). In Jurisprudence, properly, an infant or other under a guardian ; popularly, a scholar under a teacher. Pupipara (Lat. pupa, and pario, I bring forth). Those insects are said to be pupiparous which produce their young in the condition of a pupe or nymph ; as the forest-fly, Hippobosca equina. Pupivora (Lat. pupa, and voro, I devour). The name of a tribe of Hymenopterous insects, comprehending those of which the larvse live parasitically in the interior of the larvae and pupae of other insects. Purana (Sanscr. a poem). The sacred books of India which contain the explanation of the Shaster. There are eighteen books of the Purana s ; chiefly filled with legends of the inferior gods and the heroes of Hindustan. {Mem. de I' 'Acad, des Inscr. vol. xxxviii.) Much doubt is entertained as to the great antiquity of the Puranas. (Professor H. H. Wilson, trans- lation of the Vishnu Purana, Asiatic Journal, Dec. 1840 ; Max Muller, His. of Sansk. Lit.) Pur beck. Beds. A compact shelly lime- stone or imperfect marble, alternating with clay and fossil limestones, resting on the Portland beds, and forming the uppermost group of the great series of the oolites in England. Among the beds are some which are called -Dirt-beds ; these seem to have been portions of an ancient vegetable soil. Others are marbles, used in churches and other buildings in some parts of 141 PUPJFICATION England. Most of them are of fresh-water origin. The Purbeck beds aiv thin, but per- sistent, over a considerable space in the county of Dorsetshire; they are, however, very local, no exact representative appearing in the middle or north of England, and none on the Continent. Above the dirt-becls of the Purbeck series are compact beds of oyster shells, known locally as the Cinder-bed, and others occa- sionally quarried for building-stone and slate. The well-known Purbeck marble, loaded with remains of Pcdudina, occurs in the upper parts of the series. The lithological characters of the Purbeck beds, as well as their order of succession and the nature of their fossils, is shown in con- siderable detail in the published sections of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. Purchase. In Law, generally the acquisi- tion of lands or tenements by any other means than descent ; as by devise, gift, or contract. Purgatory (Lat. purgatorius, cleansing). A place appointed for the satisfaction of tem- poral punishments, which, according to the Roman Catholic church, are distinguished from the eternal, the latter only being remitted by the death of Christ. The doctrine of pur- gatory, which Augustine of Hippo mentions as a new opinion, was much discussed between the Greeks and Latins at the council of Ferrara, 1438. The present Roman Catholicbelief is thus expressed in the creed of Pope Pius IV. : ' Con- stanter teneo purgatorium esse, animasque ibi detentas suffragio fidelium juvari.' To which it may be added, that the sins supposed to be punished in purgatory are of two kinds — mortal, but repented of ; and venial. This article of the creed is derived from the canon of the council of Trent on the subject, sess. 25. The ' Romish doctrine ' of purgatory is con- demned by Art. 22 of the English church. The reader will find the general argument for pur- gatory well stated (among Protestants) by Hooker in his 3rd Sermon ; the latter part, in which he replied to it, is lost. See also Tracts for the Times, No. 79. Purification (Lat. purificatio, a cleansing). An observance enjoined on the Jews upon occa- sion of certain accidental defilements which are scrupulously recorded in the Levitical code. The purification was generally by water ; and in the case of women, who were consi- dered impure after childbirth for the space of forty days if delivered of a male, and eighty if of a female, the offering of a lamb or some other sacrifice was required. The purification of the Virgin Mary is a festival in the calendar, and is observed on February 2, being forty days after Christmas. This festival was esta- blished in the sixth century, and is variously termed in ecclesiastical antiquities by the names of Pestum Candelarum, Candlemas, the Pre- sentation. The processions of this day were instituted by Gregory the Great. Eor an account of the ceremonies of puri- fication among the Greeks and Romans, see Lustration. PURIM Purim. The name of the solemn festival among the Jews in which they commemorate their deliverance from the wiles and stratagems of Human, as recorded in the book of Esther. The observance of this festival has been re- ligiously maintained by all the Hebrew race down to the present time. It is a movable feast. Purism (Lat. purus, pure). Asceticism in taste ; a preference for the emaciated and af- fected to the beautiful and natural. Overbeck may be considered as one of the most pro- minent of the Purists. [Quattrocentismo ; Prjeraphaeeite. ] Purist. A name sometimes applied to rigorous critics of purity in literary style. Puritans. The name by which the dis- senters from the church of England were gene- rally known in the reign of Elizabeth and the first two Stuarts. The term was applied to them from the fact that they professed to follow the Word of God alone, purified from all human inventions and superstitions, of which they believed the English church to retain a considerable share, notwithstanding its alleged reformation. According to Fuller, the use of the name commenced about 1564. (Neale's History of the Puritans.) [Dissenters.] Purlin. In Architecture, a piece of timber ; lying on the principal rafters of a roof, for the purpose of dividing the length of the bearing of the common rafters. Purple (Gr. iropcpvpa, Lat. purpura). In Painting, a colour produced by the mixture of red and blue, and thence partaking of the hue of each. Among the ancients, purple was always the distinguishing badge of power and distinction ; and, of all the various kinds in use, the Tyrian dye is the most celebrated. This colour was produced from an animal juice found in a shell-fish called murex, or conchy- lium, the quality of which, however, varied with the different coasts on which it was caught. [Murex. ] Purple of Cassius. A compound of the oxides of tin and gold, obtained by adding a mixture of protochloride and perchloride of tin to a solution of chloride of gold. It is used as a purple colour for porcelain painting, and also for staining glass, to which it imparts a fine ruby red. Purple Copper-ore. A mineral of the composition 3Cu 2 S + Fe 2 S 3 containing from 55 to 70 per cent, of copper. [Erubescite.] Purpura (Lat. purple). An eruption of small purple specks and patches, caused by extravasation of blood under the cuticle; it is attended by constitutional debility, and some- times by fever. Aperient medicines, and oc- casional purgatives, carried to a greater or less extent, followed by mild tonics, and in some cases by wine, bark, and acids, are the principal remedies ; but, in the treatment, much will depend upon the concomitant symptoms. Purpura. In Zoology, a generic name of the univalve Gastropod which secretes the purple fluid forming the base of the Tyrian dye. [Murex.] 142 PURSUIT, CURVE OF Purpure. Purple. In Heraldry, one of the colours or tinctures used in blazonry. It is equivalent to amethyst among precious stones, Mercury among planets. In engraving, it is represented by diagonal lines from the sinister to the dexter side of the escutcheon. Purpuric .Acid. A substance resulting from the action of nitric acid upon uric acid ; it forms deep red or purple compounds with most bases. [Murexide.] Purpurifers (Lat. purpura, purple ; fero, / bear). The name of a family of Gastropodous Molluscs, including those species which secrete the purple substance forming the celebrated dye of the ancients. Purpuric. One of the colouring matters of madder ; closely allied to alizarin. Purree or Indian Yellow. A yellow colouring matter imported from India and China. Its origin has not been accurately as- certained, but it is supposed to be of animal origin, and to consist of a peculiar acid (pur- reic or euxanthic acid) combined with mag- nesia. [EUXANTHINE.] Purse. A Turkish money of account con- taining 500 piastres, and worth on the average (for Turkish money is very debased) about U. 135. 9d. sterling. Purser (from purse, Fr. bourse, ItaL borsa, Gr. fivpcra). Formerly an officer in the British navy, whose chief duty consisted in keeping the accounts of the ship to which he belonged ; but he also acted as purveyor. The title of this officer has been since. 1844 Paymaster. Pursuit, Curve of. The curve described by a point which pursues, with uniform velocity, another point which describes with a different, but still uniform, velocity a given right line not passing through the first point. The curve was first discussed by Bouguer in the Mcmoires de V Academic, 1732. It again came under dis- cussion in consequence of a problem, respecting a dog following its master, which was proposed in the Correspondance de VEcole Poly technique, t. ii., and which was solved by St. Laurent in Gergonne's Annates, vol. xiii. The arcs of the curve are obviously proportional to the inter- cepts, on a fixed line, between the tangents at their extremities. Taking the fixed line as ordinate axis, the intercept upon it made by the tangent at (xy) will be y—x^=y—px. The increment of this, which is —a? dp, being proportional to the increment of the arc, which is ds = dx*/l +p 2 , we have at once, for the differential equation of the second order, x dp + A dx VI +p* = 0, where A is the relative velocity of the two points. By integration we arrive at the equation of the curve, which contains two arbitrary con- stants a and b, and may be written in the form 2 (y-b)= vy ' A + 1 + x- A-l The curve, therefore, is always algebraic ex- PURSUIVANTS cept when A = 1, when a logarithmic term will enter into its equation. Pursuivants. In Heraldry, a kind of probationers in the Heralds' College of Eng- land., not admitted to the full privileges of the college, but advanced by succession into its higher offices. They aro styled Portcullis, liovge Dragon, Blue Mantle, and liouge Croix. Pururavas. [UnvAsi.] Purveyance (Er. pourvoir, Lat. providere, to provide). Among the privileges possessed by the English monarchy down to the time of the Restoration, and the subsequent abolition of feudal incidents, was that which, known under the name of purveyance, entitled the officers of the household to take corn and cattle for the use of the king, and to employ beasts of burden for the carriage of the king's effects. As the monarch, like other great land- owners or feudal lords, generally travelled from one manor or castle to another, accompanied by his retinue, and resided on the spot till the store was consumed, the infliction of purveyance was very general ; and as the privilege, belonging originally only to the king and his family, was frequently usurped by his household, the bur- den was very severe. Moreover, as the pay- ments were made in tallies on the exchequer, the prospect of such remuneration as the crown gave was very remote ; and as the king bought in a larger measure than that fixed by the stan- dard, the loss was large, as well as capricious in its incidence. Hence the statute book is full of enactments, limiting the number of per- sons who should possess the privilege, defining the measure by which the corn should be pur- chased, prescribing the occasions and times for impressing beasts of burden, and assur- ing the payment of the debts incurred. As, however, these statutes are constantly repeated, we may conclude that they were constantly broken, and we know from the rolls of Parlia- ment that the grievance was felt to be intoler- able. In order to evade these exactions bribes were freely given, and to large amounts, to the king's officers, either with a view of getting rid of the purveyance altogether, or with that of making the transaction as light as possible. The system, as far as regards purchases and impressments of cattle, was got rid of by stat. 12 Ch. II. The only relic of purveyance which remains to the present day, is the right possessed by the crown, and exercised through the War Office, of billeting soldiers upon innkeepers, the ratio at which the soldier is to be lodged and boarded being fixed by the military authorities. In prac- tice this exaction does not fall upon the metropolis or on such towns as have permanent barracks, and is perhaps not over-onerous in other places since the facilities of transit have been so con- siderably increased by railway communications. But in theory the system belongs to a bygone age, is partial in its incidence, and unjust in principle. It is possible that, while the billeting of soldiers on small public-houses may be no in- convenience to the owners, and even indirectly 113 y PUTREFACTION a source of profit, it may fall with undue seve- rity on such inns as are constructed for the accommodation of the wealthier classes. Of course it is impossible for the innkeeper t<> house his involuntary guests, and he. has to pay for their lodging elsewhere. This payment forms a tax upon his occupation, heavy because it affects some of the traders and not others, and because, if shifted at all, it is put upon those who make use of the inn, in enhanced rates for food and lodging. Pus (Lat.). A bland yellowish fluid, some- what like cream, found in abscesses, and formed upon the surfaces of what are termed healthy sores ; it is heavier than water, and when viewed under the microscope appears composed of translucent globules floating in a colourless serum. The globules contain fatty matter and cholesterin. An albuminoid substance has also been found in pus, called pyin, soluble in water, but precipitated by acetic acid and by a solution of alum. Boedecker has announced the presence of leucin and of a peculiar crystal- lisable acid in pus, which li3 calls chloridic acid, and Forbes has obtained a blue compound (pyo- cyanin) from certain purulent secretions which are occasionally met with, and which leave a blue stain on linen. Puscnkinite. A green, yellow, or red variety of Epidote from Siberia. Putamen (Lat.). In Botany, the inner coat, or shell, or stone of a fruit ; commonly called the endocarpium. Putclauk. One of the Eastern names ap- plied to the roots of the Costus, Aplotaxus Lappa. Putlog 1 . In Architecture, short pieces of timber used in scaffolds, for supporting the scaffold boards. They are placed at right angles to the wall, one end of them resting on the ledges of the scaffold, and the other on holes left for them in the wall. In many of the ancient Roman buildings, as in the Pent du Grard, the holes thus left are treated as parts of the ornamentation of the building, under the name of columbaria, according to Vitruvius, from the supposed resemblance of the holes so left to the holes in a dove cote. Putorius (Lat. putor, a stench). A genus of carnivorous mammalia, distinguished from the Martens, to which they are most nearly allied, by their shorter muzzle, the suppression of one premolar above and below, and the absence of an internal tubercle to the lower carnassial tooth. The polecat (P. fcetidus), of which the ferret is an albine variety, the weasel (P. vul- garis), and the stoat or ermine (P. kerminea), form the English representatives of the genus. Putrefaction (Lat. putrefacio, / make rotten). The spontaneous decomposition of animal and vegetable substances, attended by the evolution of fetid gases. The putrefaction (or putrefactive fermentation) of animal sub- stances is usually attended by more foetid and noxious exhalations than those arising from vegetable products. This appears principally referable to the more abundant presence of PUTREFACTION nitrogen and of sulphur in the former ; and hence the vegetables which abound in these principles (such as most, if not all, of the cru- ciferous plants) exhale similar effluvia: hence, also, such animal products as are destitute of nitrogen are either unsusceptible of what is commonly called putrefaction, or suffer it slowly and imperfectly. The formation of ammonia, or of ammoniacal compounds, is a characteristic of most cases of animal putrefaction ; while other combinations of hydrogen are also formed, especially carburetted hydrogen, together with complicated and often deleterious vapours or gases, in which sulphuretted hydrogen is dis- cerned. These putrefactive effluvia are for the most part easily decomposed, and resolved into new and comparatively innocuous com- pounds, by the agency of chlorine ; hence the importance of that body as a powerful and rapidly acting disinfectant. The rapidity of putrefaction, and the nature of its products, are to a great extent influenced by temperature, moisture, and access of air; they do not ensue below the freezing point, nor in dry substances, nor under the entire ex- clusion of oxygen ; and hence various means suggest themselves of retarding or preventing putrefaction, as well as of modifying its re- sults : a temperature between 60° and 80°, a due degree of humidity, and free access of air, are the circumstances under which it proceeds most rapidly. The most effective antiputre- factives or antiseptics are substances which either absorb or remove a portion of the water or moisture, and enter into new combinations with the organic.matter ; hence the great effi- cacy of certain salts, sugar, alcohol, and several other applications, among which, perhaps, the most remarkable are carbolic acid and some volatile oils, such especially as kreasote and other empyreumatic products obtained by the destructive distillation of wood, pyroligneous acid, and pyroligneous spirit : the latter is eminently useful in the preservation of dead bodies for the purposes of dissection, and, when properly and sufficiently injected into the ves- sels, and externally applied, indefinitely sus- pends the ordinary steps of the putrefactive process. The astringent or tanning principle of vege- tables is also a powerful preserver of most or- ganic tissues ; it enters into chemical combina- tion with the albuminous and gelatinous mem- branes and fibres ; and the resulting compound, of which leather furnishes a characteristic ex- ample, is comparatively little prone to change. Among saline substances, the antiputrefac- tive powers of salt are commonly known. When a piece of flesh is salted, brine runs from it, in consequence of the energy with which the salt abstracts the water of the muscular fibre ; the flesh becomes indurated, and its susceptibility to putrefactive changes greatly diminished ; it becomes at the same time less easy of digestion as an article of food. Corro- sive sublimate is a more powerful preservative than common salt ; and it appears to act not 144 PYCNITE by the mere abstraction of water, but by render- ing impossible the developement of animalcules, to which, as Pasteur has lately demonstrated, all putrefactive processes are essentially due. Sulphate of copper and several other metallic salts are similarly efficacious ; and the most pu- trescible substances, as for instance the brain, after having been steeped in such solutions and dried, will remain without further change for an indefinite period. The poisonous nature of these and many other metallic salts prevents their employment in the preservation of articles of food. It is probable that the ancient Egyptians employed several of the above-mentioned anti- putrefactive and preservative substances in the preparation of their mummies, which have re- mained for so many hundred years without signs of decay or decomposition. Yet in these and similar cases, when by the careful ap- plication of various solvents the preservative substances are removed, the flesh resumes its susceptibility of putrefaction. The inhabitants of northern climates avail themselves of freezing to prevent the putrefac- tion of their food, and the supplies of game and other articles in the Russian markets are retained in a frozen state. Our fishmongers resort to the same expedient for the preserva- tion of their unsold fish, which is daily removed to the ice-house after having been exhibited in their shops. Salmon is packed in ice for the purpose of transport and preservation. [Pre- servation of Meat.] It is curious to remark the wonderful in- fluence of vitality in opposing those chemical changes which constitute putrefaction, and in retaining that arrangement of the organic ele- ments which is requisite for the functions of life. When a part of the body dies, the phe- nomena of gangrene or mortification, i.e. of local putrefaction, ensue ; and the putrefactive changes are the more energetic in consequence of the proximity of the dead part to the living. All organic tissues may be indefinitely pre- served by cautious desiccation ; and it is in consequence of the comparative absence of water that the animal part of bone resists putrefac- tion. Dried bones may thus be stored up for ages ; and when it is required to extract their nutritive parts, these are found but slightly impaired. Putty (Fr. potee). In Architecture, a very fine cement used by plasterers, made of lime only. It differs from fine stuff in the manner of preparing it, and in its being used without hair. Also a composition used by glaziers for the purpose of fixing sheets of glass in the wood frames. It consists of whiting and linseed oil. Pycnite (Gr. irvttv6s, dense). Schorlous Topaz. A massive variety of Topaz, having a parallel columnar structure and oblique trans- verse divisions, along which it may be easily broken. It is translucent, and of a dull yel- lowish or reddish-white colour. It is a silicate of alumina, with one- seventh of the oxygen PYONODONTES PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT replaced by fluorine. The chief localities where Pyocyanin. [Pus.] it is found, are at Altenberg, in Saxony; and Pyrallolite (Gr. irvp,fire', &A\os, other; and Schlackenwald and Zinnwald, in Bohemia. \(6os, stone). An altered form of Augite in Pycnodontes (Gr. ttvkv6s, and oSovs, which magnesia takes the place of lime. It tooth). A family of fossil lepidoganoid fishes, occurs, of a greenish-white to a yellowish-grey in which the vomer, as in Anarrhichas, opposes colour, at Pargas in Finland, generally massive, its pavement of teeth to that of the two closely The name has reference to the change of colour approximated premandibular or dentary ele- , which takes place before the blowpipe, merits of the tinder jaw. They were mostly j Pyramid (Gr. irvpajxls). In Geometry, a deep-bodied fishes, symmetrically compressed j solid contained by a plane polygonal base and from side to side. They were notochordal; a i other planes meeting in a point. This point is few of the earlier forms were heterocercal, but called the vertex of the pyramid ; and the the majority of the family were homocercal. 1 planes which meet in the vertex are called the The family is found from the carboniferous to j sides or faces. These are necessarily all tri- the earlier tertiary periods. angular. Pycnostyle (Gr. itvkp6(tti>\os). In Archi- j The principal properties of pyramids are the teeture, an arrangement of columns in which following : 1. Every pyramid is equivalent to the intercolumniations are equal to one dia- one-third of a prism having the same base and meter and a half of the columns. altitude. Hence, 2. All pyramids having equi- Pycnotrop. A kind of Serpentine. valent bases and equal altitudes are equivalent. Pygmy (Gr. irvyp.a?os, dwarfish ; from I 3. The solid content of a pyramid is measured ■Kvyiii), a cubit). By ancient authors on natural j by the product of the area of the base into one- history this name was applied to a fabulous third of the altitude. 4. If a pyramid is cut race of dwarfish human beings ; it is now re- by a plane parallel to its base, the frustum striated to a species of ape, the Troglodytes nigtr (or part comprehended between the base and of Geoffroy St. Hilaire, or the chimpanzee, the section) is equal to the sum of three (Tyson's Anatomy of a Pygmie, with an Essay pyramids having for their common altitude concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients, fol. ! that of the frustum, and of which the bases ] 699.) Homer (//. bk. iii.) described a nation of • are respectively the lower base of the frustum, pygmies dwelling somewhere near the shores of j the upper base of the frustum, and a mean the Ocean stream, and maintaining perpetual proportional between them. (Legendre's Gio- wars with the cranes. Ctesias, the Greek his- j metry, and Notes.) torian, as quoted by Photius, represented a na- I Pyramids are denominated from the figures tion of them as inhabiting India, and attending of their bases, being triangular, quadrangular, its king on his military expeditions. Others pentagonal, &c, according as the base is a believed them to inhabit the Indian islands ; ; triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon; &e. and Aristotle places them in Ethiopia, Pliny | Pyramids of Egypt. Celebrated momi- in Transgangetic India. These numerous 1 ments of massive masonry, which, from a square fables appear to originate partly, as Strabo I base, rise by regular gradations till they ter- long ago observed, in the stunted growth of i minate in a point, but so that the width of the particular races, under the sufferings of a ! base always exceeds the perpendicular height, severe climate or great privations ; thus the j The pyramids commence immediately south of Esquimaux or Laplanders furnished the ancient i Cairo, but on the opposite bank of the Nile, and Northmen with their legendary Dwergar, or j extend in an uninterrupted range for many nations of malicious dwarfs. Some of the low- miles in a southerly direction, parallel with the caste races which inhabit the forests of interior banks of the river. Hindustan are feeble and puny enough to have The three largest are situated in the vicinity given origin to the account of Ctesias ; while of Ghizeh, not far from Cairo ; and of these the the pygmies of the Malay Archipelago and the loftiest is called the pyramid of Cheops, from interior of Africa were probably apes. j the prince by whom it is supposed to have been Pyin. [Pus.] i erected. The sides of its base, which are in a Pylagoras (Gr. irv\ay6pas, so called from ! line with the four cardinal points, measure at the assembly of the Amphietyons at Pylse or j the foundation 763*4 feet; so that it occupies a Thermopylae). The title of one of the two de- ' space of more than 13 acres. Its perpendicular puties from each confederate at the Amphi- 1 height is 480 feet, being, consequently, 43 feet ctyonic Council. His functions comprised the higher than St. Peter's at Rome, and 136 feet diplomatic and deliberative duties of the mis- i higher than St. Paul's. Supposing this pyramid sion : while the care of the sacred rites fell on J to be entirely solid, its contents would exceed his colleague, the Hieromnemon (lepop.vfip.(cv), ; three millions of cubic yards, and the mass of Pylorideans (a word coined from Gr. I stone contained in it would be six times as great irv\up6s, a gatekeeper, and elSos, likeness). The ! as that contained in the Plymouth breakwater ! name of a tribe of Lamellibranchiate Bivalves, j This huge fabric consists of successive tiers comprehending those which have a shell open j of vast blocks of calcareous stone, rising at both extremities. above each other in the form of steps. The Pylorus (Gr. Trv\up6s). The aperture of thickness of the stones, which is identical the stomach into the duodenum; it guards, as with the height of the steps, decreases as the it were, the entrance into the intestinal canal, altitude of the pyramid increases, the greatest Vol. III. 145 ' L PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT height being- 4-628 ft, and the least 1-686 ft, The mean breadth of the steps is about 1 ft. 9 in. The best authorities agree in estimating the number of steps or tiers of stone at 203. According to the information communicated to Herodotus by the priests, 100,000 men were employed for twenty years in the construction of this prodigious edifice ; and ten years were employed in constructing a causeway by which to convey the stones to the place, and in their conveyance. (Lib. ii. § 124.) The other pyramids, although of inferior dimensions, are mostly all of vast magnitude : they are not all of stone, some of them being of brick. Many learned dissertations have been written to account for the original use and object of these imperishable structures. But the diffi- culty of the subject is such, that hitherto no satisfactory conclusion has been arrived at. Even in the remotest antiquity their origin was matter of doubt, and nothing certain was known with respect to them or their founders. (Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvi. § 12; Diodorus, i. 64.) Some have supposed that they were intimately connected with the religion of the ancient Egyptians ; others have thought that they were at once a species of tombs and temples ; while others again have maintained that they were designed to serve as gnomons, an opinion countenanced by the fact of their being placed in the direction of the four cardinal points. (Shaw's Travels, p. 170 &c. 4to. edit. ; Greaves's ' Pyramidographia,' Works, vol. i. ; Bunsen, Egypt s Place in Universal History ; Piazzi Smyth, Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.) The question of the date of the great Egyptian buildings has been examined by Sir G. C. Lewis in his treatise on the Astronomy of the Ancients, p. 440, &c, and his conclusion is that there is not sufficient historical ground for placing any of them at a date anterior to that of the building of the temple of Solomon, 1012 b.c. (Edin. Rev. Jan. 1857, p. 125; July 1862, p. 100.) This assertion has been received by some with ' profound astonishment.' It is, however, obvious that Sir G. C. Lewis does not fix their date, all that he asserts being that we have no historical warrant for ascribing them to an earlier age. According to Herodotus, the py- ramid kings reigned from about 913 to 813 b. c. Astronomers, who tell us that 3,970 years ago the star y Draconis fulfilled the office of a pole star, accept that date for the pyramids (b. c. 2123 for the great pyramid), because they have openings on the north side ' leading to straight passages, which descend at an in- clination varying from 26° to 27°, the direction of these passages being in all cases parallel to the meridian : now if we suppose a person to be stationed at the bottom of any one of these passages, and to look up it as he would through the tube of a telescope, his eye will be directed to a point in the meridian 26° or 70° above the plane of the horizon ; and this is precisely the altitude at which the star y Draconis must 146 P YRARG ILLITE have passed the lower meridian at the place in question 3,970 years before the present time.' (Chambers, Handbook of Astronomy, p. 270.) It might have been thought that the astrono- mical argument would have been welcomed by Baron Bunsen ; but it did not fit in with his scheme, and hence apparently he has thrown the pyramids still further back by more than a thousand years. The etymology of the word pyramid is involved in as great obscurity as the object of the structures themselves. Almost all the derivations that have been assigned to the term proceeded on the supposition that it is of Greek origin, than which nothing can be more erroneous. De Sacy regards the is in irvpafits as a Greek termination ; the first syllable iru he holds to be the Greek version of the Egyptian article pi (and so written by the Greeks from their wish to derive the word from ■irvp, fire) ; and he refers the syllable pap. to the root ram, which, in the Egyptian language, signified separating or setting apart from common use : consequently, the word pyramid will denote a sacred place or edifice set apart for some religious purpose. (De Sacy, Obser- vations sur V Origine die Nom donne par lis Grccs ct les Arabes aux Pyramides cVJEgypte ; M'Culloch's Geoff. Diet. art. 'Egypt.') Pyramids of IVIexico. Some of the Mexican pyramids have a larger base than even the pyramids of Egypt. The pyramid of Cholula has a truncated form, and faces with its four sides the cardinal points, being divided into the same number of terraces. It is possible that the interior of this pyramid may be a na- tural hill, but more probably it is an artificial composition of stone and earth, deeply encrusted in every part with alternate strata of brick and clay. The perpendicular height of this pyramid is 127 feet, the base being 1,423 feet, or twice as long as that of the pyramid of Cheops. On the summit stood the temple of Quetzalcoatl, the god of the air. The larger of the two great pyramids of Teotihuacan, dedicated, the one to Tonatiuh, the sun, the other to Meztli, the moon, is 682 feet in length at the base. Around these are many smaller pyramids, rarely ex- ceeding 30 feet in height, and said to have been dedicated to the stars. They served also as sepulchres for the chiefs of the nation. (Prescott, Conquest of Mexico, book iii. ch. i. and book v. ch. iv.) Pyramidal XJumbers. In Arithmetic, the successive sums of polygonal numbers, the latter being obtained by the successive sum- mation of numbers in arithmetical progression. Pyramidal numbers are Figurate Numbers of the third order. Pyrantimonite. Red Antimony - ore. [Kermesite.] Pyrargillite (Gr. irup, fire, and apyiXAos, clay). A hydrated silicate of alumina, prot- oxide of iron, magnesia, soda and potash, found in granite at Helsingfors in Finland. It oc- curs massive and in prismatic forms with an indistinct cleavage, and in colour is partly black PYKA1.NJ YUVVK PYROLIGNEOUS AGID and shining or partly bluish and lustreless; also liver-brown or dull red. According to Biscnof, it is an altered form of lolite. Pyrargyrite (Or. -nop, and &pyvpos, silver). Dark-rod ruby Silver-ore. A sulphantimoniate of sulphide of silver (Ag S + Sb S 3 ), containing about 60 per cent, of silver. It crystallises in complex modifications of the hexagonal system, and is also found massive. Colour deep blood red when seen by transmitted, and dark grey or black with an adamantine lustre by reflected light. It is one of the most important of silver ores, and occurs in quantity in the Harz, Saxony, Bohemia, Hungary, and Mexico, also in Washoe Nevada, and the western states of South America. The light red ruby ore is similar in form, and differs in composition only in the substitution of arsenic for antimony in the second term. [Proustite.] Pyrenees. This mountain -chain, rising like a wall separating Spain from France, is chiefly interesting in physical geography as connected with the table-land of Spain which extends between the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada, interrupted at intervals by several ranges of hills rising only to a moderate elevation. The Pyrenean chain is quite . separated from the Alps, and has little resemblance to it either in its style of mountain scenery or in the forms of the valleys. The average height is con- siderable, the chain remarkably uniform, the general effect being that of a serrated ridge. The breadth of the range is comparatively small, nowhere exceeding sixty miles, and generally much less. The length is a little less than 600 miles from the gulf of Lyons to the Atlantic. The culminating point of the chain is rather more than 11,000 feet above the sea, and the sides are much steeper towards France than Spain. There are few passes, none of them being either good or practicable at all seasons, except two, one near Perpignan on the east, and one near Bayonne on the west. Pyreneifce. A black or greyish-black variety of Iron -lime Garnet, occurring in small but very perfect rhombic dodecahedrons, in the limestone of the Pic d'Ereslids, in the Pyrenees. Pyretlsrum (Gr. irdpeOpov, feverfew). One of the genera of Composites which have a me- dicinal reputation. The popular species is P. Parthenium, otherwise called Feverfew, from its being a domestic remedy in slight fevers. It possesses bitter tonic properties. Some forms of the plant in which the flower-heads consist wholly of ligulate florets, and others in which the quilled yellow disc florets of the wild plant are exchanged for large white quilled florets, both being of an ornamental character, are met with in flower gardens, notwithstanding their strong and not very agreeable odour. Pyretology (Gr. irvperds, fever, andAcfyos). The doctrine of fevers. Pyrexias (Gr. irvpe]-is,feverishness). Febrile diseases. The first class in Cullen's nosology. Pyrgora (Gr. Trvpyoo/xa, a fortress). A dingy green variety of Sahlite, found in the Fassa valley, in the Tyrol. M7 Pyridine. An oily organic base found amongst the products of the distillation of bone. Pyrites (Gr. irvpir-qs, sc. Ai'6'oy). This terni was originally applied to the harder varieties of bisulphide of iron which strike fire, with steel. The German equivalent Kies probably expresses the same idea as Kiesel, flint, for in the earliest forms of fire-arms the charge w;is ignited by a piece of pyrites striking against the steel cover- ing the pan, the use of flints for the same pur- pose being a later improvement. At the pre- J sent time, when used alone, pyrites is usually understood as expressing Iron Pyrites. The various terms compounded of Pyrites, expressing sulphides and arsenides of different compositions, are translations of the corre- sponding compounds of Kies. Such are Copper Pyrites, Arsenical Pyrites, Nickel Pyrites, Cobalt Pyrites, and Magnetic Pyrites. Taken as the name of a group in this way, the term Pyrites forms one of the three divisions of minerals, used by the old German miners, namely, Kies or Pyrites (hard ores ?), glance or glassy ores, and blende or brilliant ores. Ac- cording to Koch, marcasites, another old term for Pyrites, is of Arabic origin, and also signi- fies fire-stone. The common term for Pyrites' used in Cornwall is mundic. Py?o°i£.ci&£. The prefix pyro is usually applied to the products which are obtained by subjecting certain organic acids to heat. The acids are thus altered in composition, and give rise to distinct classes of salts. Thus we have the pyrogallic, pyrocitric, pyrotartaric acids, &c. Pyroaeefic Spirit. A liquid formed du- ring the destructive distillation of acetate of lead. [Acetone.] Pyrochlore (Gr. itvp,fire, and x^^po?, pale green). A compound of columbic and titanic acid with lanthanum, lime, potash, soda, zir- conia, yttria, &c. ; found in Norway, and near Miask in Siberia. The name refers to the change in colour, before the blowpipe, of the glass which the mineral forms with micro- cosmic salt. Pyrodmalite (Gr. irvp, fire ; ocfyi^, odour and \'i9os, stone). A name given to Pyrosmalite, from the odour which it gives off when heated. Pyrolaceee (Pyrola, one of the genera). A small natural order of the Erical alliance of hy- pogynous Exogens, distinguished by its semi- monopetalous flowers, its free perfect stamens, its loose-skinned seeds, and its baseless em- bryo. CMmaphila umbellata, a North American species of the order, is powerfully diuretic. Some Pyrolas are found wild in England. Pyr ©ligneous ikcid (Gr. irvp, and Lat. lignum, wood). This term is generally applied to the acid liquor which passes over along with other products when wood is subjected to de- structive distillation. This acid liquor is an impure vinegar, from which acetic acid is ob- tained as follows : The pyroligneous acid, freed from tar, is saturated with chalk or powdered slaked lime, filtered, and evaporated, by which an impure acetate of lime is obtained ; tins L 2 PYROLIGNEOUS SPIRIT is gently heated, so as to destroy part of its empyreumatic matter without decomposing the acetic acid ; it is then mixed with sulphate of goda, which yields, by double decomposition, sulphate of lime and acetate of soda ; the acetate of soda is filtered off the sulphate of lime, evaporated, heated cautiously in a reverberatory furnace, and redissolved and crystallised. In this way a pure crystallised acetate of soda is by proper management obtained, which is mixed in a retort or still with an equivalent proportion of sulphuric acid, a gentle heat being applied. The strong acetic acid then distils over, and sulphate of soda remains behind. This acetic acid is in a high state of concentration ; it is -lowered by the addi- tion of water, and if intended for the table or for domestic use, as a substitute for other forms of vinegar, it is usually coloured with a little burnt sugar. The charcoal which is the residue of this distillation of wood is of an excellent quality. The charcoal employed in the manufacture of gunpowder is thus prepared. This manufacture of vinegar is now carried on upon a very large scale, and the greater part of the vinegar used for domestic purposes and in the arts, in many of which it is largely consumed, is derived from this source. The hard woods, such as beech, oak, birch, and ash, are most productive of acetic acid, some of them yielding as much as four per cent. [Vinegar.] Pyroligneous Spirit. [Pyroxyijc Spirit.] Pyrolusite (Gr. irvp, fire, and \vcris, a loosening). A mineralogical term applied to the common black ore of manganese, in conse- JT quence of the ease with which it is resolved by heat into oxygen and a suboxide. It is a binoxide of manganese, composed of 63-64 per cent, of manganese and 36'36 oxygen. It sometimes occurs crystallised, but generally in botryoidal and reniform masses, with a radiat- ing structure, or in granular masses. The colour is often bluish, but more frequently steel-grey, inclining to iron-black, with a metallic lustre. It is so soft as to soil the fingers when handled ; a test which serves to distinguish this mineral from Psilomelane, with which it is frequently associated. It is found in Cornwall and "Warwickshire, in Saxony, Bohemia, France, Brazil, &c. Pyrolusite is the most valuable of the ores of manganese, from the large amount of oxygen which is contained in it, and renders it of great value in the preparation of chloride of lime, and in bleaching. It is also employed in the manufacture of glass for discharging the brown and green tints, and other colouring matters ; in enamel and glass painting, and in colouring pottery. (Bristow's Mineralogy.) Pyromancy (Gr. itvpoixavnia). Among the classical ancients, a species of divination by means of the fire of the sacrifice ; in which, if the flames immediately took hold of and consumed the victims, or if they were bright and pure, or if the sparks rose upward in a pyramidal form, success was said to be indi- cated. If the contrary took place, misfortunes 148 PYROMETER were said to be presaged. (Soph. Antig. 1005, &c.) Pyromelite (Gr. irvp, and /xr]\ivos, quince- yellow, from its becoming of that colour when first heated before the blowpipe). A hydrated sulphate of nickel, occurring in interlacing capillary crystals, but chiefly as a greenish efflorescence, at Wallace Mine, Lake Huron. Pyrometer (Gr. irdp, fire, and fx4rpov, mea- sure). An instrument for measuring higher temperatures than can be determined by an ordinary thermometer. Various contrivances have been employed for this purpose. Mus- chenbrock, who gave the name pyrometer to this instrument in 1730, adopted the following method : A prismatic rod, about six inches long, of the. metal under trial, is attached at one extremity to an immovable obstacle, and heated by lamps, the other end being neces- sarily pushed forward ; this being fastened to a rack playing into a pinion, communicates a revolving motion to an axle to which a train of wheel-Avork is attached ; and thus the minutest expansion of the heated bar is rendered sen- sible, and measured by an index on a dial. This method is liable to several objections, and the absolute temperature communicated to the bar by the lamps is entirely unknown. Des- aguiliers, and afterwards Ellicott, made several improvements in the construction of the instru- ment, tending to give it a more equable motion and to increase its delicacy. Graham substi- tuted a micrometer screw for the wheels and levers that had formerly been employed ; and on this principle Smeaton contrived a far more accurate instrument with which the 5 fj 5 th of an inch of expansion was determinable. With this pyrometer Smeaton ascertained the expan- sion of various solids between the freezing and boiling points of water, and his results agree remarkably well with recent observations. An ingenious mode of indicating the expan- sion of a metal bar by heat was invented by Ferguson, originally for lecture illustration, for which purpose it is well suited. By means of two levers of the second order the powerful motion of the expanding bar was converted into a considerable deviation of a long but light index, moving over a graduated arc. Though thus simple in its construction, this instrument is said to be delicate enough to show variations of its index merely from the heating of its metal bars by slight friction. Sub- sequently, Ferguson rendered his instrument so sensitive, that it readily showed the expan- sion of a bar to the of an inch. A more accurate method of measuring the dilatation of a bar by heat was devised by Ramsden, for the purpose of determining with the greatest pre- cision the expansibility of the rods employed by General Roy in his trigonometrical survey. The expansion of the tested bar, which was caused to pass through changes of temperature, was compared with a standard bar kept at a constant temperature. This was done by direct observation through two microscopes provided with cross wires ; the amount of this expansion PYROMETER was ascertained by the movement which it was necessary to give to a micrometer screw in order to bring the expanded bar back to its initial position. The instruments thus far described, though called pyrometers, have little claim to this term, for practically they are incapable of measuring very elevated temperatures, and even if they could do so their indications are unconnected with the ordinary thermometric scale. Wedgwood, by means of the pyrometer which bears his name, was the first to accom- plish this object with any degree of success. He had found by repeated trials that fine por- celain clay contracted uniformly with the degree of heat applied to it, and on cooling remained thus contracted. Accordingly, by measuring the dimensions of a cylindrical piece of this substance, which was done with great accuracy by observing the depth to which it sank between two scales of metal inclined to each other under a small angle, and subjecting it to the heat of a furnace, then applying the scale again to it when cold, an indication of the degree of heat to which it has been subjected was given by, the amount of its contraction. Wedgwood divided his scale into 240 3 ; and, in order to compare it with that of Fahrenheit's thermo- meter, made use of a piece of silver fitted to the same mould as the pyrometric pieces of clay. Having determined the expansion of the silver between 50° and 212° of Fahrenheit's scale, he subjected the silver and clay to the same heat; and, by a comparison of the ex- pansion of the one with the contraction of the other, he estimated that each degree of his scale was equal to 130° of Fahrenheit's. He also estimated that the zero of his scale cor- responded with 1077'5° of Fahrenheit's; and from these data comparative tables of the two scales were formed. Clay, however, is a hete- rogeneous mixture, varying in its composition, and even different portions of the same clay might possess different contractile powers ; the cylinders could not therefore be always alike, and thus their indications were not always the same. This uncertainty, and the erroneous conclusions to which Wedgwood was led by his pyrometer, caused it to be abandoned soon after its invention in 1782, and it has long since become obsolete. But Wedgwood's greatest error lay in the conversion of the scale of his pyrometer into degrees of Fahrenheit's thermo- meter. It was subsequently shown by Guyton de Morveau, and since confirmed, that Wedg- wood assigned far too high a temperature for the degrees of his scale. The cause of this error was in the comparison of the contrac- tion of clay with the expansion of silver, the connecting link between the Wedgwood and Fahrenheit degrees. Guyton, by means of his pyrometer, next to be described, estimated that each degree of Wedgwood, instead of being 130° Fahr., ought not to have been more than 62 - 5° Fahr., while the commence- ment of his scale should have been 517° Fahr. instead of 1077°. 149 Guyton de Morveau, in 1804, invented a platinum pyrometer, which, though a great im- provement on Wedgwood's, yet, as subsequently pointed out by Daniell, was rendered liable to error by the softening and consequent flexibility of the platinum at high temperatures. This instrument is very similar to one constructed by Brongniart for determining the temperature of the porcelain furnaces at Sevres ; Brongniart using, however, a bar of silver instead of plati- num. Guyton de Morveau' s pyrometer con- sisted of a solid plate of highly baked porcelain, in which a groove was cut containing a flat bar of platinum, an inch and three-quarters in length, two-tenths of an inch broad, and one- tenth of an inch thick. One end of the bar abuts against the bottom of the groove, the other presses against the short arm of a bent lever, of which the long arm, moving on a pivot, becomes the index of the instrument and marks the degrees on a scale fixed to the por- celain. Guyton connected these degrees with those of the ordinary mercurial thermometer, and accordingly was able to give in Fahrenheit degrees the fusing points of various metals. As we have already noticed, he corrected Wedgwood's scale, which, thus altered, fur- nished a table of high temperatures, far nearer the truth than it was originally. Daniell, unaware of Guyton' s pyrometer, in- vented one on somewhat the same principle, but certainly more trustworthy in its indica- tions. In this pyrometer a mixture of black lead and clay was substituted for the por- celain in the former ; the part by which the heat was to be determined being in Daniell's original instrument a rod of platinum, ten inches in length and a seventh of an inch in diameter, placed within a tube of black- lead ware, and having one end fixed at the bottom of the tube ; to the other end was attached a fine wire of platinum, which, after passing two or three times round the axis of a wheel, was fastened to a spring by which it was always preserved at the same degree of tension. The teeth of the wheel played into a pinion, the axis of which carried an index, whose revolution showed, on a greatly magnified scale, the expansion and contraction of the platinum rod. In 1830 Daniell improved his pyrometer by dividing it into two parts, one of which he termed the register, the other the scale. The register was the part exposed to the tempera- ture to be determined, and consisted of a red of metal, generally wrought iron, dropped with- in a tube of black lead. The heat expanded the metal more than the plumbago, and the scale, by a rule and vernier, measured this relative expansibility of the platinum. Ee- ducing his scale by experiment to that of Fahrenheit, Daniell determined the fusing point of several metals ; the results of some of his experiments are given in the article Temperature. In a paper read before the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1836, Pouillet proposed three PYROMETER PYROPIIORUS methods of measuring high temperatures. The first method, which was originally used by Prinsep in 1827, consisted in employing the di- latation of a gas by heat, instead of the expan- sion of a solid. Pouillet' s air pyrometer is a cylindrical vessel of platinum, containing air ; connected with the vessel is an exit tube, also of platinum, which leads into a manometer, by the depression of the mercury in which the amount of the expansion of the air in the vessel, when exposed to a high temperature, can be determined. Knowing how much air enlarges in bulk for every degree of tempera- ture, in other words, knowing the coefficient of expansion of air, and having found how much air has been expelled by the source of heat, we are enabled by a simple calculation to find the temperature to which the pyrometer has been exposed. The second method sug- gested and used by Pouillet was the production of a thermo-electric current by the union of platinum and iron, the junction being exposed to the source of heat. Equal increments of heat were found up to a high limit to produce equal additions to the strength of the current. By means of a tangent galvanometer the strength of the thermo-electric current could be accu- rately measured, and in this way Pouillet succeeded in finding the fusing points of a Dumber of metals ; the results obtained by his two pyrometers agreeing fairly. With the same instruments as those here described, Pouillet subsequently determined very low temperatures, with great accordance in the dif- ferent means of measurement. The third means of measuring high degrees of heat, suggested by j Pouillet, differs in its principle from other py- rometers. The difference between the specific heat of platinum and water is employed to determine the temperature to which the former has been raised. The specific heat of water being 1, that of platinum at high temperatures is -0373 ; in order, therefore, to raise an ounce of water one degree, about 28 times more heat is needed than to raise an equal weight of platinum to the same temperature. If 200 ounces of platinum heated in a furnace raise 1,000 ounces of water 12^°, it can readily be found that the temperature of the platinum before immersion was 175G°. In this way Pouillet lias determined some high tempera- tures, and the principle has been suggested for use in certain arts, employing a copper ball instead of platinum ; it requires, however, skill and repetition to avoid several sources of error. Owing to the investigations of Eegnault, our knowledge of the rate of expansion of gases has of late become far more accurate. This circumstance, and the improvements in the apparatus made by Eegnault, greatly increased the value of measurements made by the air pyrometer. But, quite recently, doubts of the accuracy of the indications of this instrument have arisen from an unex- pected cause. In the course of his researches. M. H. St. CI. Devilie discovered that platinum and iron, to a certain extent, become porous 150 when at a white heat. A platinum vessel, therefore, containing air, or still mure hydro- gen, would at a high temperature permit the ! passage of a portion of the enclosed gas through | its substance ; hence, as experimentally estab- lished by Devilie and Troost, this becomes a ! serious source of erx*or, to which air pyrome- ters made of these metals have all been ex- ' posed. Devilie and Troost, in a series of measurements of high temperatures, have ; advantageously replaced air by the vapour ! of iodine, or of that of some of the metals ; ' using, moreover, instead of platinum a vessel t of porcelain. j M. Ed. Becquerel has recently made some ( researches on the measurement of high tem- peratures, which are published in the Cumptex Rendus of the Paris Academy for December 1 1862 and November 1863. M. Becquerel's pyrometer is a thermo-electric couple formed by the union of a wire of platinum with another of palladium ; the current generated regularly increasing with the temperature up to the | fusion of palladium at about 1500° C. =2730° Fahr. Observations with this pyrometer caused M. Becquerel to suggest an optical pyrometer ; a means of determining any temperature, how- | ever elevated, by measuring the intensity of the light emitted from the glowing source. The point of fusion of platinum he thus esti- mates at 1600° C. or 2910° Fahr., and the tem- perature of the positive carbon in the voltaic arc at 2070° C. or 3760° Fahr. M. Becquerel has, by means of the thermo-electric and air pyrometer, determined the boiling points of some of the metals. The correctness of the numbers which he obtained has, however, been disputed. Under the article Temperature the measure- ments of various high temperatures obtained by different experiments are given at length. PyroiuorpSiite (Gr. irvp, and fiopcpi), form). Native chloro-phosphate of lead, found at Huel Penrose, and other Cornish mines, and. in Devonshire, Derbyshire, Cumberland, and Leadhills in Lanarkshire. When heated before the blowpipe, it fuses into a globule, and the name has reference to the polyhedral crystalline form which such a globule assumes in cooling. Pyrope (Gr. irup, and 6\pis, appearance). Precious Garnet. A dark red variety of Garnet seldom found crystallised, but generally in rounded or angular grains. This stone, which is of a full crimson-red colour, approaching to that of a ripe mulberry, is much used in jewellery. Sometimes it is called fire garnet, from the resemblance of its hue, when held between the eye and the light, to that of a burning coal. It is procured chiefly from Bohemia, Saxony, and Ceylon. Pyropliaiae (Gr. irvp, and (paivoixai, to ap- pear). A variety of semi-opal which becomes transparent on being heated. Pyroplicrus (Gr. irvp, and /j.a, a body). The generic name of "certain pelagic floating compound Ascidians, remarkable for the bril- liant phosphoric luminosity which they emit. Pyroteelmy (Gr. trvp, and rexvv, art). This term denotes, in its widest sense, the art or science which teaches the management and application of fire to certain operations ; but it is most usually restricted to those articles and instruments manufactured for amusement, or for exhibition on grand public occasions. The origin of artificial fireworks is lost in obscurity. They were in general use in China long before ! their introduction to Europe, which is compa- ratively of recent date. The finest inventions of this kind are due to the celebrated Euggieri, father and son, who executed in Home and Paris, and the principal capitals of Europe, the most brilliant fireworks ever seen. Fireworks are divided into three classes : — 1. Those to be set off upon the ground; 2. Those which are shot up into the air ; and 3. Those which act upon or under water. The three prime materials of their composi- tion are, nitre, sulphur, and charcoal, along with filings of iron, steel, copper, zinc, and resin, camphor, lycopodium, &c. Gunpowder is used either in grain, half crushed, or finely ground, for different purposes. The longer the iron filings, the brighter red and white sparks they give ; those being preferred which are made with a very coarse file and quite free from rust. Steel filings and cast-iron borings contain carbon, and afford a more brilliant fire with wavy radiations. Copper filings give a greenish tint to flame, those of zinc a fine blue colour ; the sulphuret of antimony gives a less greenish blue than zinc, but with much smoke ; amber affords a yellow fire, as well as colophony and common salt ; but the last must be very dry. Lampblack produces a very red colour with gunpowder, and a pink with nitre in excess. It serves for making golden showers. The yellow sand or glistening mica communicates to fireworks golden radiations. Verdigris im- parts a pale green ; sulphate of copper and sal-ammoniac, a palm-tree green. Camphor yields a very white flame and aromatic fumes, which mask the bad smell of other substances. Benzoin and storax are used also on account of their agreeable odour. Lycopodium burns with a rose colour and a magnificent flame ; it is principally employed in theatres to repre- sent lightning, or to charge the torch of a fury. "(See, for full information as to the PYliOTECHNY various processes adopted in the construction of fireworks, Ure's Dictionary of Arts, ftc. art. ' Fireworks.') Chin se or Japanese Fire. — -This composition, which may be either rammed into cases \ of an inch in diameter, or folded up in quantities of about 1 or 1| grain in slips of tissue paper, consists of— Nitrate of potash * . . . 3£ parts Sulphur H part Lampblack . . . . 1 >> These ingredients should be well incorporated, after being first passed through a fine sieve. If put into a case, the mixture burns slowly, throwing out splendid coruscating sparks which, from some fancied resemblance to the rowel of a spur, caused this mixture to be formerly called spur fire. These magnificent sparks are perhaps seen to best advantage when the com- position is enclosed in tissue paper, as above described. These charged papers have re- cently become known under the name of Japanese matches. Pyrotechny. In Military Art, the science of the manufacture of artificial fireworks, and all combustible materials, including the com- positions for rockets, fuses, carcasses, &c. &c, together with their use and application. Pyroxantilin (Gr. irv\ and ^av66s, yellow). A crystalline yellow derivative of the action of alkalies upon wood-tar. Pyroxene (Gr. nvp, and £eVos, a guest). A mineral isomorphous with Hornblende, but differing from it in containing a smaller quan- tity of silica, in being less fusible, and in having a higher specific gravi'y. The name indicates that it is a guest in the domain of fire, or that it is supposed to have pre-existed in the lava in which it is contained, and is not therefore a result of crystallisation consequent on the cooling of the mass. [Augite.] Pyroxylic Spirit, Wood Spirit, or 2*Ee- thylie illcoaol. When wood is subjected to destructive distillation there is formed, besides tar, acetic acid, and other products, a variable portion, but not amounting on an average to more than about 1 per cent., of an inflammable and volatile liquid. This may be separated, to a certain extent, from the water and acetic acid, by distillation and separation of the first products. These, re- distilled and rectified over quicklime, afford the pyroxylic spirit or met hylic alcohol of commerce. If it contain ammonia, it should be neutralised, by sulphuric acid, previous to its last rectification. To obtain perfectly pure pyroxylic spirit, an excess of chloride of cal- cium is added, and the mixture is distilled in a water-bath so long as any volatile matter goes over. A compound of wood-spirit with chlo- ride of calcium remains in the retort, to which a quantity of water, equal to that of the original spirit, is added, and the distillation then continued. The product which is now obtained, and which is pure pyroxylic spirit diluted by a little water, may be dehydrated by 152 1 PYROXYLINS 1 a final distillation off quicklime. Pyroxylic spirit is the alcohol of the methylic series. It is a limpid liquid, of a penetrating odour, ] partaking of that of alcohol and acetic ether, with an aromatic taint which has been com- j pared to peppermint. Its taste is hot and ! pungent. Its specific gravity at 60° is 07398. It is very inflammable, and burns with a pale flame resembling that of alcohol. It boils at about 150° ; the density of its vapour is 1*125. When pure it is not altered by exposure to air or light, but when subjected to the slow action j of platinum-black, it yields, together with other products, formic acid ; not acetic acid, as is j the case with alcohol. If pure, it is neutral, and mixes in all proportions with water, al- cohol, and ether, without becoming turbid. Its solvent powers, in regard to salts, closely . resemble those of alcohol ; it dissolves the j resins, and may be used as a substitute for 1 alcohol in almost all varnishes, but its odour is ' objectionable. It is a powerful antiseptic, and preservative of animal matter. Pyroxylic spirit has the formula of C 2 H 4 0.,, or as hydrated oxide of methyl of C 2 H a 0,H0 1 or MeO.HO. | Methylated Spirit. — A mixture of 90 per cent, of alcohol and 10 per cent, of methylic j alcohol is much used in the arts and manu- ; facturcs, as well as in medicine and chemistry, j as a substitute for rectified spirit. Pyroxyline. The manufacture of this l substance for military purposes, and its composition when so prepared, are noticed under the article Gun Cotton. In the che- mical laboratory the following process may be : resorted to for its production. Dry and clean | carded cotton-wool is steeped in a mixture of j three volumes of nitric acid (sp. gr. 1*5) with five i of sulphuric acid ; the mixture is allowed to cool, and small portions of cotton should be used at a time, so as to avoid elevation of temperature. In ten or twenty minutes the cotton may be withdrawn (the excess of acid pressed out), j and thoroughly washed in water containing a little ammonia ; it is then cautiously dried, at a temperature not exceeding 200°. 100 parts of cotton thus treated yield about 170 of dry gun cotton. Clean paper, the purer varieties ! of sawdust, and other forms of ligneous matter, ! produce similar compounds. Pyroxylic paper ! is remarkable for the intensity of its electricity when slightly rubbed. Well-prepared pyroxy- i line resembles the original cotton in appearance, but is more harsh and brittle, and highly ! electric. Its extreme combustibility is very re- I markable. Inflamed in the open air it flashes i off without smoke or residue ; it takes fire at a much lower temperature than that required for the ignition of gunpowder, and its combus- tion is more rapid. The temperature at which gun cotton is inflamed is about 277° Fahr., but the different varieties of it no doubt require different temperatures for their ignition. When substituted for gunpowder in firearms, the ex- treme suddenness of its explosion would be apt to burst the barrel, unless precautions were BYBftHA taken to prevent the simultaneous ignition of the whole charge. When this is done, however, it has now been shown that pyroxyline can be safely and with great advantages substituted for gunpowder in fowling-pieces. It is not deteriorated in damp air, or even (when subsequently dried) by immersion in water; and, weight for weight, its explosive force is between three and four times greater than that of gunpowder. The extreme rapidity of its combustion is well shown by placing a flock of it upon a small heap of gunpowder, where it may be exploded by a hot wire with- out kindling the powder. Aqueous vapour, carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, and nitrogen, are the only products of its combustion in a closed space, but in the open air it forms also traces of nitrous acid. Under the name of collodion, a solution of | pyroxyline in a mixture of alcohol and ether j is largely used by photographers. For such 1 purposes Mr. Nicol recommends the follow- ing formula. Ten ounces, by measure, of sulphuric acid (1*840), and five ounces, by j measure, of nitric acid (1-370), are to be well i mixed, and two fluid drachms of water added, j When the mixture has cooled to about 130°, j place in it, tuft by tuft, well pulled out, five : drachms of clean cotton. Each tuft should be j penetrated by the acid as it is immersed, and | kept in for ten minutes, then removed, well washed, and dried. This compound is soluble in a mixture of alcohol and ether, and the solution leaves, on evaporation, a smooth trans- parent film. The composition of pyroxyline varies with the mode of preparation. It is generally regarded as a substitution compound in which peroxide of nitrogen (N0 4 ) replaces one or more atoms of the hydrogen of the cotton-fibre. According to Hadow, the most explosive variety (insoluble in a mixture of alcohol and ether) may be re- presented by the formula C 36 0 30 H 21 , + 9 N0 4 , and the less explosive variety used in making collodion, and therefore soluble in a mixture of alcohol and ether, as C 36 0 30 H 22 , + 8 N0 4 , so that in the former nine, and in the latter eight, atoms of the hydrogen of the cotton are replaced by peroxide of nitrogen, assuming cot- ton fibre as C 3G H 30 0 30 . Pyrrha. In Mythology. [Deucalion.] Pyrrhic Dance. A species of warlike dance called by the Romans Pyrrhica Saltatio, said to have been invented by Pyrrhus to grace the funeral of his father Achilles. This dance consisted chiefly in such an adroit and nimble turning of the body as represented an attempt to avoid the strokes of an enemy in battle, and the motions necessary to perform it were looked upon as a kind of training for the field of battle. This dance is supposed to be described by Homer as engraved on the shield of Achilles. Lord "Byron describes the Suliotes as still performing this dance (Childe Harold). Pyrrljite (Gr. irvppds, yellow). A mineral occurring in minute octahedrons of an orange- yellow colour, at Alabaschka in Siberia, and 153 PYTHAGOREANS the Azores. It is probably columbate of Zir- conia coloured by the oxides of iron, uranium, and manganese. * Pyrrhonists. The followers of Pyrrho, a philosopher of Elis, and disciple of Anaxarchus, who flourished about 300 B. c. Their tenets, which have come to us only through the re- ports of unfriendly writers, are said to have been so absurdly sceptical, that they would not put even as much confidence in the senses as was necessary for the preservation of their existence ; but this seems partly refuted by the age at which Pyrrho himself died, which was ninety years. There is a summary of the doctrines of Pyrrhonism in the 2nd vol. of the historical part of the Encyc. Metropolitana ; see also Hallam, Literary History, part ii. ch. iii. § 17, and ch. iv. § 8, and part iii. ch. iii. § 87. [Scepticism.] Pyrrhotine (Gr. irvfipSriTi, redness). Mag- netic Iron Pyrites. A sulphide of iron com- posed of 60 - 5per cent, of iron and 39'5 sulphur. It generally occurs massive and amorphous, but sometimes crystallised, in irregular and variously modified six-sided prisms. The colour, which is bronze-yellow, reddish, or brownish, is liable to become speedily tar- nished on exposure to the air. It is found in Cornwall, Devonshire, and Cumberland, in North Wales, and Scotland. In Ireland it is met with of a bronze colour near Leahtown, Donegal. [Magnetic Pyrites.] Pyrrol. An empyreumatic oil formed dur- ing the destructive distillation of bone. Pyrus (Lat. pirus, a pear-tree). The genus of Pomaccce or Rosacea, to which belong the Apple and Pear. In these fruits the ovaries become united, and form with the calyx-tube a fleshy mass enclosing about five leathery or cartilaginous cells, within which are one or two pips. This consistence of the cells is the chief distinction between Pyrus and Cratcegus, the cells of the latter being hard and bony. Besides the Apple, P. Mains, and Pear, P. communis, the genus includes the Service-tree, P. Sorbus, the White Beam-tree, P. Aria, and the Mountain Ash or Rowau, P. Aucuparia. From the fruit of the latter a jelly is made which is highly esteemed as an adjunct to venison. [Apple ; Pear.] Pyruvic Acid. An acid discovered by Berzelius amongst the products of the de- structive distillation of racemic and of tartaric acid. Pythagorean Theorem. In Geometry, the theorem which forms the forty-seventh pro- position of Euclid's first book, and according to which the sum of the squares on the sides of a right-angled triangle is equal to the square on the hypothenuse. Pythagoreans. The followers of Pytha- goras, a native of Samos, said to have been the first Greek who assumed the title of a philosopher. The date of his birth and the extent of his scientific travels are matters of great uncertainty (Sir G. C. Lewis, On the Credibility of Early Roman History, vol. i. PYTHAGOREANS p. 451 ; Astronomy of the Ancients, 123-269); but lie is said finally to have fixed his abode at Crotona, one of the Dorian- colonies in the south of Italy. He here attached to himself a large number cf youths of noble descent, whom he formed into a secret fraternity for religious and political as well as philosophical purposes ; and by their assistance produced many bene- ficial changes in the institutions of Croton and the other Graeco-Italian cities. Of the strictly philosophical tenets of the Pythagoreans very imperfect records are preserved. Many of the doctrines ordinarily imputed to them are evi- dently the fabrication of the later Pythago- reans, a class of visionaries who lived during the decline of the Roman empire. One point is sufficiently evident, that the Pythagoreans were the greatest mathematicians of their time, and that they sought in the study of mathematical relations that solution of the principal philosophical problems for which their contemporaries, the Ionic and Eleatic philosophers, sought, the first in physical, the others in ontological hypotheses. The relations of space and quantity, as they are the most obvious, are also the most definite forms, in which the laws of the outward world can present themselves to this faculty. Hence, as the atomic philosophers have endeavoured to explain all things by a diversity in the figure of their ultimate parts, the Pytha- goreans seem to have found, in the number and proportions of those parts, the true essence of the things themselves. Having proceeded thus far, they went a step farther. They per- ceived that the universe and its parts are obedient to certain laws, and that these laws can be expressed by numbers. By a mistake prevalent during every period of speculation, they mistook the necessary conditions of a thing's subsistence for the essence of that thing itself ; and at once pronounced that numerical relations were not merely all that could be understood in outward phenomena, but were, in fact, all that was real in them. Units of number grew gradually into points in space, and these into material atoms. To every order of existence, even to many abstract concep- tions, a distinct number was assigned. God is represented as the original unity ; the human soul, the earth, the planets, the animal crea- tion have each their own peculiar arithmetical essence ; as have also the abstractions justice, opportunity, opinion, &c. The outlines of a duallistic scheme are dis- cernible in a singular table of opposites (cru- .trTotx'a), preserved to us by Aristotle, in which the two principles of the universe are suc- cessively represented under the form of limit and the unlimited, odd and even, one and many, 151 PYXIS NAUTICA right and left, male and female, still and moved, straight and curved, light and dark- ness, good and evil, square and oblong. For the character and working of the Pytha- I gorean brotherhoods, see Grote's History of j Greece, part ii. ch. xxxvii. An account of the J astronomical theories of Pythagoras and his followers is given by Sir G. C. Lewis, Astro- nomy of the Ancients, p. 13, &c. See also Thirlwall's History of Greece, vol. ii. c. xii. ; | Ritter's History of Philosophy, b. iv. ; Boeckh's j Philolaus, &c. The doctrine of Metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls through different orders of animal existence, is the main feature by which the Pythagorean philosophy is popularly known. It is, however, by no means certain that the genuine Pythagoreans held this doctrine in a : literal sense. It may have been only a mythi- J cal way of communicating their belief in the j individuality of the soul and its existence after death. Py thia (Gr.). The name of the priestess of the Delphian oracle of Apollo. [Oracle.] Pythian Games. One of the four great national festivals of Greece, celebrated every fifth year in honour of Apollo, near Delphi. Their institution is variously referred to Am- phictyon, son of Deucalion, founder of the council of Amphictyons, and Diomedes, son of Tycleus ; but the most common legend is that they were founded by Apollo himself, after he had overcome the dragon Python. The con- , tests were the same as those at Olympia, and I the victors were rewarded with apples and j garlands of laurel. [Delphi.] j Python (Uvdoov). In Greek Mythology, the name of the dragon slain by Apollo. [Phcebus ; Perseus.] The name was interpreted by the word TrvQct), to rot, because its dead body was left to rot at Delphi ; but this explanation is of ! no more value than that which professes to account for the name Lycaon. [Rishis.] In Teutonic myths, Python reappears as Fafnir. [Mythology, Comparative ; OEdipus ; Per- ; SEPHONE ; SlGURDR.'] Python. In Zoology, the name of a genus ! of large Ophidian reptiles, having anal hooks, ! and a double series of sub-caudal scuta?. Pyx (Gr. Trv^is, a box of box-wood). The ! name given to the box in which the host is kept by the Roman Catholic priesthood. Pyx, Trial of. [Coinage.] Pyxidinm (Gr. ttvI'iSiov, dim. of 7ri>£i's). In Botany, a fruit which divides circularly into a lower and upper half, of which the latter acts as a kind of lid, as in the Pimpernel. Pyxis ZJautica. The Mariner's Compass. A constellation of the southern hemisphere formed by Lacaille. Q QUADRANT OF ALTITUDE Q Q. In all the languages in which it is used this letter is invariably followed by u, the com- bination being represented in English pronun- ciation by the tel lers kw, as in quale. Q is used as an abbreviation for question; Qy. for query; Q. E. J), for quod erat demonstrandum, which was to be demonstrated, &c. Qiiader Sandstone. The cretaceous rocks of the north of Germany chiefly consist of san J stones, called Quader sandstones. There are two divisions — the Upper Quader, corre- sponding nearly in geological age to the main body of the chalk in England and Europe, and the Lower Quader, which represents our upper greensand and firestone. These Grerman beds are not without calcareous matter, but it is chiefly present as a cementing medium. They are fossiliferous towards the base. Parts of them are much used as building material, and are well adapted for this purpose. Quadragesima (Lat. fortieth). In the Calendar, a term applied to the time of Lent, because it consists of aboiit forty days. Quad- ragesima Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent, and about the fortieth day before Easter. Quadrangle (Lat. quadrangulus, four- cornered'). A figure with four angles and four sides ; in short, a quadrilateral. This is the ordinary acceptation of the term. In modern geometry, however, a quadrangle or tetragon denotes a system of four points (angles or corners), whilst a quadrilateral or tetragram is regarded as a system of four lines. [Quadri- lateral.] A quadrangle is regarded as having six sides or lines through two angles. Thus the broken lines in the figure are the sides of /S the quadrangle a, b, c, d, and a, |8, y, are the three intersections of opposite sides, which latter are sometimes called the diagonal points of the complete quadrangle. One of the most important properties of the quadrangle is that the rays joining any one of these three dia- gonal points with the other two are harmonic conjugates with respect to the sides which pass through the first point. Thus a(ab /3 7), 13 (a b 7 a), 7 (a d a/3) are harmonic pencils. ^uaarans (Lat.). A division of the Soman as, consisting of one-fourth of it, or three ounces when the as was of its full weight. [As ; Farthing : Penny ; Teruncius.] Quadrant. A mathematical instrument, formerly much used in astronomy and naviga- 155 tion. The instrument is variously contrived and fitted up, according to the purpose for which it is intended ; but it consists essentially of a limb or arc of a circle equal to the fourth of the circumference, and divided into, 90°, with subdivisions. The mural quadrant is of considerable size (six or eight feet radius, for example), the axis of which moves in a wall or solid piece of masonry. [Mural Circle.] Ptolemy, in the Almagest, describes a quadrant with which he determined the obliquity of the ecliptic. Tycho Brahe had a large mural quad- rant for observing altitudes, and others which revolved on a vertical axis for measuring azi- muths. Picart, in his measurement of the earth, used a quadrant for his terrestrial angles. In 1725 a mural quadrant, by Graham, was erected in the Koyal Observatory at Greenwich, which, in 1750, was replaced by Bird's quadrant, with which Bradley made his celebrated observa- tions. The quadrant has, however, of late years been entirely superseded by the mured circle ; it having been found that the circle, on account of the symmetry of its form, and the advantage which it possesses of allowing the readings to be made at different parts of the limb, is an instrument much more to be relied on. [Mural Circle.] Hadley's quadrant, in its principle and application, is the same as the sextant, by which it has been superseded. [Sextant.] For further information respect- ing the quadrant, see Lalande, Astronomic, s. 2,311 ; Vince's Practical Astronomy; Pearson's Practical Astronomy ; and the Penny Cyclopedia. Quadrant. In Geometry, the fourth part of a circle ; an arc of ninety degrees. Quadrant. In Gunnery, an instrument occasionally used for regulating the elevation of pieces of ordnance. It consists of two bars of wood or brass, at right angles to each other, with an arc between them divided into degrees. A plumb line hangs from the angle at which the bars meet. One of the bars being placed in the bore of the piece, the degree on the arc intersected by the plumb line shows the elevation. Quadrant of Altitude. An appendix to an artificial globe, consisting of a thin pliable slip of brass, Which is applied to the globe, and used as a scale for measuring the distances between points in degrees. It is graduated into 90°, the degrees being of the same length as those on one of the great circles of the globe. At the end where the division terminates a nut is riveted on, and furnished with a screw, by which it is attached to the brass meridian of the globe at any point. This point being placed in the zenith, and the quadrant applied to the J globe, its zero coincides with the horizon, and- j consequently the altitude of any point along its .graduated edge is indicated by the corre- sponding division. QUADRANT AL TRIANGLE Quadrantal Triangle. In Trigonometry, a spherical triangle which has one side equal to a quarter of a circle, or 90°. Quadratic Equation. In Algebra, an equation which involves the second, but no higher power of the unknown quantity. The most general form of a quadratic equation is ax 2 + 2 bx + c = 0, whei e a, b, c, denote any positive or negative numbers. This is sometimes called an adfected quadratic, in order to distinguish it from the pure quadratic, whose form is a'x 2 + d — 0. The solution of a pure quadratic is obvious ; its two roots are \ / — — and — / — - > V a' V « both of which are real or imaginary according as a' and d have unlike or like signs. To solve an adfected quadratic it is first reduced to the pure form. This may be done by first dividing the equation by the coefficient of .r 2 , and then aiding and subtracting the square of half the coefficient of x. The above equation thus becomes v 2 + 2 - x + - — — + - 0, (•♦S b\ 2 b 2 -ac a 1 ' whose roots are obviously h + ^b 2 a and b - y/fr-ac a 2b, T he sum of these roots is seen to be a and their product -. This property is a gene- ral one [Theory of Equations], and from it is deduced the following simple rule for forming the quadratic whose roots are two given numbers. For the absolute term of the equation, take the product of the given roots, for the coefficient of x take* the negative sum of these roots, and let x 2 have the coefficient unity. Thus the equation whose roots are 2 and — 3 is x 2 + x - 6 = 0. The expression b 2 — ac, under the radical sign, is called the discriminant of the equation. When it has a positive value, the roots are real and unequal ; when it vanishes, the two roots are real and equal ; and when it has a negative value, these roots are impossible or imaginary. [Discriminant.] Quadratic Form. [Quadric] Quadratrix. In Geometry, a transcenden- tal curve, by means of which the quadrature of curvilinear spaces can be determined mechani- cally. The best known of these curves is the Quadratrix of Dinostratus, so called from- its 156 QUADRATS reputed inventor, a brother of Menechmus and disciple of Plato. This curve is generated as follows : — In the circular quadrant CAE, suppose the radius C A to revolve uniformly about C, pass- ing through the different positions C K, C 7c, &c, till it arrives at the position C B ; and that during the same time a line AL, at right angles to C A, moves parallel to itself with a uniform mo- tion from the position AL, through the dif- ferent positions M N, m n, &c, so as to arrive at C B at the same instant that C K coincides with C B ; then the continual intersection of the revolving radius and the parallel line will trace the quadratrix A P Q. From this mode of describing the curve, it is easy to see how it may be applied to divide an angle into any number of equal parts. Let it be required, for example, to trisect the angle AC 7c. Having applied the quadratrix to C A, take A M equal to a third of A m, and through M draw M N perpendicular to AC, meeting the curve in P; join CP, and the angle A C P is equal to one-third of A C 7c ; for by the nature of the quadratrix AM : Am : : A K : A7c. The application of this curve to the quad- rature of the circle depends on the property that the line C Q, is a third proportional to the quadrantal arc A B, and the radius. Hence C B" the arc A B = — — , and consequently the area CJB 8 2 C Q" If the quadratrix be continued beyond A, without the circle, it will consist of a series of infinite hyperbolic branches, cutting the axis C A produced, in points which are separated from each other by a space equal to 2 AC. Other curves may be formed in a similar manner, by which the quadrature of the circle would be obtained. Thus, instead of suppos- ing the lines M N, m n to be intersected by the radiants C K, C 7c, we may suppose straight lines drawn from K 7c parallel to A C, inter- secting M N, m n in r and s ; these intersec- tions form a different curve, which is called the Quadratrix of Tsc7iirn7iausen. Let A M = x, M P = y, and A C - a ; then since x : a : : AK : AB, or £ t, we have Hence the equation of the quad- C Q' of the quadrant CAB AK = 2 a ratrix of Dinostratus is y = (a — x) tan 2 a and that of the quadratrix of Tschirnhausen is y — a sin (Montucla, Histoire des Matke- matiques ; Peacock's Collection of Examples ; Leslie's Geometry of Curve Lines.) Quadrats (Lat. quadratus, squared). In Printing, pieces of metal of the depth of the body of the respective sizes of typvs, and lower QUADRATURE than the typos themselves, so that they leave a blank space on the paper when printed. An en quadrat is in thickness half the depth, an em oqual in thickness and depth, a two-em quadrat twice the depth, &c. They are used to fill out short lines, form white lines. &c. Quadrature (Lat. quadratum, a quarter- ing). In Astronomy, this term denotes the position of the moon when she is 90° from the sun, or at one of the two points of her orbit equally distant from the conjunction and opposition. Quadrature. In Geometry, this word signifies the determination of the area of a curve, or find- ing an equal square. The differential element of the area of a curve referred to rectangular co- ordinates is ydx; and since y is given in terms of x by the equation of the curve of which the area is proposed to be found, the problem of quadratures in general reduces itself to the integration of the differential X d x, in which X is an algebraic function of x and known quantities. In the applications of the higher geometry, a problem is conceived to be resolved when it is reduced to quadratures ; i. e. when the variable quantities have been separated, and its solution been made to depend on finding the values of one or more integrals of the form j* Xdx. The quadrature of the circle is a problem of great celebrity in the history of mathematical science. The whole circular area being equal to the rectangle under the radius, and a straight line equal to half the circumference, the quad- rature would be obtained if the length of the circumference were assigned ; and hence the particular object aimed at in attempting to square the circle is the determination of the ratio of the circumference to the diameter. This ratio can be expressed only by infinite series, of which many have been given that converge with great rapidity. [Circle.] Pretenders to the discovery of the quadra- ture of the circle occasionally present them- selves even at the present day. They are to be found only among those who have an imper- fect knowledge of the principles of geometry ; and when their reasoning happens to be in- telligible,, their paralogisms are in general easily detected. With a view to discourage the futile attempts so frequently made on this and similar subjects, the Academy of Sciences of Paris, in 1775, and the Royal Society shortly after, publicly announced that they would not examine in future any paper pre- tending to the quadrature of the circle, the tri- section of an angle, the duplication of the cube, or the discovery of the perpetual motion. For the history of this famous problem, see the third supplement to the fourth volume of Montucla. Quadri-nydrocarbon. A liquid hydro- carbon of the same chemical constitution as defiant gas, and containing eight atoms of carbon united with, eight atoms of hydrogen. Formerly it was supposed to contain only half 157 QUADRIC J this number of atoms of each element. Hence the name. Quadric. In Algebra, a homogeneous ex- pression of the second degree in the variables or ifacients. [Quantic] Ternary and quaternary J quadrics, equated to zero, represent respectively curves and surfaces which have the property of ( cutting every line in the plane or in space in two points, and to which the name quadric is also ap- | plied. Plane quadrics, therefore, are identical I with the conic sections, and admit of three prin- cipal forms, the ellipse, hyperbola, and parabol a ; t subforms of which are the circle, a pair of inter- secting, and a pair of coincident lines. [Conic ( Sections.] The ellipse is characterised as I being a closed curve, the hyperbola as having j two distinct points at infinity, and consequently j two real asymptotes, and the parabola as having two coincident points at infinity, and therefore an infinitely distant tangent. A plane quadric | may also be regarded as the locus of the in- tersections of corresponding rays of two ho- mographic pencils [Pencil], or as the envelope ' of the line joining corresponding points of two nomographic divisions. [Homographic] The envelope in the last case can easily be shown to be of the second class. For if a and a x be two corresponding points on the homographi- cally divided lines A and A x , and o any other point in the plane, o a and o a x will clearly be corresponding rays of two concentric pencils, which latter will, of course, have two common rays ; so that of the tangents a a^ to the en- velope two will in general pass through an arbitrary point o. To prove that such an en- velope of the second class is also a quadric or curve of the second order, it is necessary to show that two pairs of consecutive tangents intersect at two points of a given arbitrary line L. To do so, conceive any point m on L, and let the two tangents through m cut A in a and a; then as m changes, a and a will clearly determine an involution of the second order on A [Involution], which will of course possess two double points, to which will correspond on L two distinct intersections of consecutive tangents, in other words two points on the envelope. Since a plane can always be drawn through three points of a non-plane curve, it is manifest that there are no non -plane quadric curves. Quadric surfaces are classified in various ways. The central quadrics, or those which have centres, are the ellipsoid and the hyper- boloids of one and two sheets, respectively, to which may be added the cone. The non-central quadrics are the elliptic and hyperbolic para- boloids, to which may be adclei the several cylinders, distinguished as elliptic, hyperbolic, or parabolic, according to the nature of their sections. All plane sections of the ellipsoid are ellipses, and those of the hyperboloids are either ellipses or hyperbolas. The paraboloids, besides having plane parabolic sections, have either elliptic or hyperbolic ones, and are named accordingly. Besides the cone and cylinders there are two quadric ruled surfaces, QUADRIC CONE the hyperboloid of one continuous sheet, and the hyperbolic paraboloid, each of which may be generated by a line which moves so as to rest on three rectilinear directrices which do not intersect one another. [Ruled Surface.] If the three directrices are parallel to one and the same plane, then the generator will always remain parallel to another plane, and the generated quadric will be a hyperbolic para- boloid ; in other cases it will be a hyperboloid. If the two planes, to which the directrices and generator are respectively parallel, be at right angles to each other, the paraboloid is said to be equilateral; it is in fact a conoid surface, since it may be generated by the motion of a line resting on two directrices to one of which it is always perpendicular. [Conoid.] Every plane through a generator of a quadric ruled surface meets the latter in a second line, and touches it at the point where the lines intersect each other ; so that at every point of a ruled quadric a straight edge can be applied to the surface in two distinct directions, and the whole surface is filled, as it were, by two systems of lines or generators such that each generator meets no generator of its own system, but cuts every generator of the other system. The distinctive character of the paraboloid is that one generator in each system is infinitely distant. In the hyperboloid the generators are all parallel to those of a quadric cone, the asymptotic cone ; in the paraboloid they are parallel to a system of two planes, the asym- ptotic pleines. Ruled quadrics may also be regarded as the locus of the line which joins corresponding points of two homographically divided lines not in the same plane. If the lines are divided proportionally the quadric will be a paraboloid ; or lastly a ruled quadric may be regarded as generated by the inter- sections of corresponding planes of two homo- graphic pencils whose axes are not in the same plane. From these modes of generation it is at once evident that every plane cuts the generated surface in a quadric curve, and that the tangent planes through any point in space envelope a quadric cone ; in other words, that the surface is of the second order and second class. Quadric Cone. A cone of the second order. [Cone.] Quadricorns (Lat. quatuor, four; cornu, a horn). A family of Apterous insects, com- prehending those which have four antennae. A species of Antelope with four horns is called Antilope {Tetracerus) quadricornis. Quadrifores (Lat. quatuor, and foro, / pierce). A name given by Latreille to a family of sessile Cirripeds, comprehending those in which the opercular covering of the tube is composed of four valves or calcareous pieces. Quadriga (Lat. contracted from quadrijuga, a team of four animals). In Roman Antiquities, a car or chariot drawn by four horses, which were harnessed all abreast, and not in pairs. The quadriga is often met with on the reverse of medals, which are thence termed nummi 158 QUADRILLE quadrigatiov victoriati, as exhibiting a represen- tation of a figure of Victory holding the reins. Quadrilateral (Lat, qua Irilaterus, of four sides). In Elementary Geometry, a plane figure contained by four straight lines. Such a figure has four angles or corners, and is consequently also a quadrangle. The lines joining its oppo- oc site corners constitute its two diagonals. In modern geometry, however, a quadrilateral or tetragon denotes a system of four lines (sides) ; whilst by quadrangle is usually meant a sys- tem of four points (angles). The former has six angles or points in two sides, and the latter has six sides or lines through two points. If the full lines in the figure represent any complete quadrilateral, the broken lines a a L , b b. x , c c 1 , joining the three pairs of opposite angles, constitute its three diagonals. One of the most important properties of a complete quadrilateral is that each diagonal is cut by the other two in harmonic conjugates with re- spect to the two angles which it contains. Thus a, a x , 13, y ; b, b\, y, a ; c, c x , a, /3, are four sets of harmonical points. Four lines in space, two of which, though not in the same plane, are intersected by each of the others, form a sJcew quadrilateral. Quadrilateral. This name has been used, in the recent struggles between the Italians and the Austrians, to denote the territory, which forms a sort of square, between the fortresses of Peschiera, Verona, Legnano, and Mantua. Quadrilaterals. The name of a tribe of crabs (Brachyurous Crustaceans), compre- hending those in which the carapace or - shell is more or less square-shaped. Quadrille (Fr.). A game at cards for four persons, having some resemblance to whist. It was very popular and fashionable in England some two generations back, but is now almost forgotten. It ought to be revived, for it has ^reat merits. It demands less science, thought, and memory than whist ; but still it gives ample scope for skilful play, and it is much more varied, amusing, and suitable for younger players. It is a highly original game, having some peculiar features, and therefore requires a little attention from beginners ; but the pecu- liarities are soon mastered, and are easily remembered. Quadrille is played with a pack of forty cards, the eight, nine, and ten of each suit being re- jected. The dealing and order of playing are similar to whist; except (1.) that they go the contrary way round, the person at the right of QUADTULU; the dei must 1 four t< that i) being visabL deals, The being also trum follows ef being' elder hand ; (2) that the cards dealt in parcels of twos, I hives, and a each person, and not singly ; and (3) trump is turned up, the trump suit etermined in another way. It is ad- not to shuffle the cards between the , but merely to cut them, e order of value of the cards is peculiar, ; different in the two colours, and being }uite exceptional in regard to the suit of ps. For suits not trumps the order is as play Red Suits Black Suits King (highest) King (highest) Queen Queen Knave Knave Ace — Two Seven Three Six Four Five Five Four Six • Three Seven (lowest) Two (lowest) For the trump suit the order of value is as follows : — First comes the ace of spades, which, whatever be the trump suit, is always ranked as the best trump card, and is called spadille. Second in rank comes what would be the lowest card if the suit were not trumps, i. e. the seven if red, and the two if black ; this is called manitte. Third comes the ace of clubs, which, what- ever be the trump suit, is always ranked as the third best trump card, and is called basto. Fourth, if the trump suit be red, comes the ace of the trump suit, called ponto ; if black, there is no ponto. After these come the other cards of the trump suit in their nsual order, so that the complete suit of trumps is as follows : — If Red If Black Ace of spades Ace of spades (spadille) {spadille) Seven (manitte) Two (manitte) Ace of clubs Ace of clubs (basto) (basto) Ace (ponto) King King Queen Queen Knave Knave Seven Two Six Three Five Four Four Five Three (lowest) Six (lowest) It will be seen that there are twelve trumps when the suit is red, but only eleven when black. The three best trump cards, with the special names, are called matadores, or shortly mats. They have the privilege that the holder is not bound to follow suit with them when trumps are led, except when the card led is a higher mat, which forces a lower one, if there is no other trump in the hand. 159 cards being dealt round, and the having examined their hands, a, de- cision is come to about trumps and partners in the following manner. The elder hand has the first option of nomi- nating trumps and playing for the game; and he has also the power of deciding whether he will play alone against the other three, or will take a partner. His choice will be regulated by the nature of his hand. First, let us suppose he has a very strong hand in one particular suit, say diamonds, and has also other good cards, so as to be able by himself to make six tricks, which is the object of the game ; he says, ' I play alone with diamonds for trumps,' or, ' I play alone in diamonds.' From this there is no appeal, and the game proceeds on his proposition. But secondly, suppose he has a moderately strong hand in one suit, so that he can pro- bably make four tricks, he decides to take a partner to help him by getting two, and he then says, ' I ask leave ' (to take a partner). Now, if the second hand, or after him the third or fourth hand, choose to stand alone in any suit, they take precedence over the first • hand's 'ask leave;' giving him, however, the previous option of standing alone if he pleases. If no one makes this proposition, the elder hand, having thus obtained the leave he asked, names his trump suit, and calls, for his partner, the player who may hold the king of any suit, not trumps, which he chooses to name > he says, for example, ' I make diamonds trumps, and call the king of spades.' The player who holds this card then knows that he is the partner chosen, although he must not reveal this fact except by his play ; the other two, of course, know they are opponents, and regulate their play accordingly. If the caller happens to hold all four kings in his hand, he may call a queen. The third alternative for the elder hand is that in which he may have but poor cards, not sufficient to warrant him in playing for the game either alone or with a partner; in which case he says, ' I pass,' and waives his privilege, which passes on to the second player, and from him to the third and fourth in turn. The one who ultimately undertakes the game, and nominates trumps, is called the ombre. If the cards are pretty equally divided, all the players may pass ; and then the one who holds spadille is forced to be ombre, and to nominate trumps, calling a king in the usual way. This is called forced spadille. Some authorities, however, object to forced spadille, and prefer a fresh deal. The trumps and partners being decided, play begins for tricks in the same manner as in whist, and subject to the same rules, except as before stated. The elder hand (to the right of the dealer) leads first, and the winner of each trick leads for the- following one. The object is to win six tricks, called game, which ombre, either alone or with a partner, undertakes to do ; if he makes less, he is said to be basted, and has to pay a forfeit, as hereafter explained. QUADRILLE When six tricks hare been won by either party, the play is discontinued, unless the winner's should choose to undertake to make all the ten tricks, which is called vole. A player alone would, of course, decide this himself ; but if there are partners, the winner of the sixth trick tells his partner how many more tricks he thinks he can make, and the latter then decides whether they will venture it or not. If it is undertaken and not obtained, the parties are punished by forfeits. Each deal of cards constitutes a complete game. The game is played with a pool. Each player is furnished with a little tray, and the large tray, or pool, is managed by any one of the four who will undertake it ; this being, however, merely a matter of convenience, in- two counters from each of his three adversaries. If he fail to win it, he petys two to each. If player alone hold all the three matadores, and win the game, he receives one counter additional from each opponent ; but if he fail to win, he pays one to each. If ombre and partner hold between them all the three matadores, and win the game, they each receive one counter from one adversary ; if they fail to win, they each pay one counter in like manner. The vole is entirely a separate speculation from the game, the rewards and forfeits for it being arranged as follows : If the vole is played for, and won, by two partners, each receives two counters from the pool, and two from one of his adversaries ; if lost, the undertakers forfeit to the pool and the adversaries a like sum. If the volving no speculation or risk. The players j vole is won by a player alone, he is paid four subscribe equally, on commencing, to form a common fund, which is put into the pool ; and, as it is not always convenient to be handing ! about small coins, it is customary to exchange a portion of the fund for counters, which have : a certain definite value, and are convertible back again into money at any time throughout the play. "When the pool is thus made up, a number of counters are distributed to the ! queen, knave, seven, four; sjxides : king, three players equally, say six to each, to enable them ( diamonds : ace, queen, three, to meet certain payments they may perhaps have to make. We shall take one counter as counters from the pool and two by each adver- sary ; if lost, he pays like sums. We will now give an example of a game for practice and illustration. An ask leave in a red suit. — Eldest hand has — Clubs: queen, knave, six, five; hearts: ace ; spades: six, two; diamonds : five,four,two. Second hand has — Clubs : ace ; hearts : the constant unit of value. The transactions are of three kinds — pay- ments from the pool, forfeits to the pool, and payments between the players. . 1. The payments from the pool ore ordinarily seven counters each game, viz. One counter to the holder of each of the red aces. One counter to the holder of each matadore. Two counters for winning the game ; divided, if won by partners. 2. The forfeits to the pool are founded on a principle universally applicable in quadrille, that whoever fails to win what he undertakes must forfeit the sum which he would have ob- tained if he hael won ; the undertaking being considered in the light of a wager. Thus : — If player alone be basted, i.e.' make less than six tricks, he forfeits to the pool two counters. If he make only four, the adversaries win ; and as each of the three is supposed to be equally instrumental in winning, each is accordingly paid one counter from the pool. If ombre and partner be basted, i.e. make together less than six tricks, two counters are forfeited in like manner to the pool, which must be paid by ombre alone, he being assumed to be the party at fault. If they make only four tricks, the opponents, winning tlie game, receive from the pool the payment forfeited by ombre. The mats and red aces are always paid for to the holders, no matter how the game goes. 3. The payments between the partis, which are quite distinct and separate from the pool transactions, are as follows : — If player alone win the game, he receives 160 Third hand has — Clubs: king, four, three, two; hearts: six, five, two; spades: queen, knave; diamonds: knave. Fourth hand (the dealer) has — Clubs: seven; hearts : king, three ; spades : ace, seven, five, four ; diamonds : king, seven, six. First hand passes; his longest suit is clubs, but in that he has the three mats and king against him. In spades he has manille; but that alone, or with one other only, cannot be calculated upon for a trick. Second hand asks leave in hearts, having manille, basto, queen, knave, and four. He allows for manille falling to spadille, and will make basto, that is one trick. With queen, knave, and four, he must make one, probably two more tricks. The king of spades is a third, and the queen of diamonds is a fourth trick. In order to establish his queen' of diamonds, he will ccdl the king. Neither third nor fourth hand can play alone, as it will easily be seen that in no suit could either of them make six tricks ; they therefore pass. The second hand now says, 'I play in hearts, and call the king of diamonds.' Consequently, his partner is the fourth hand. The lead being with No. 1, he leads a club, say the five ; as he has four, he hopes that if ombre (that is, No 2) has the king, his (No. l's) partner (No. 3) may trump it. At all events, No. 1 will establish his queen and knave of clubs. Ombre sees at once that No. 1 is an adversary; had he been his partner, he would have shown himself either by leading trump, or the called king (diamonds). Ombre, therefore, trumps with the four. No. 3 throws the two, No. 4 the seven. QUADRILLE QUyESTOR Ombre now leads the three of diamonds to j of purchasing a king. It may often happen discover his partner. No. 3 throws the knave; that a player finds that the possession of a No. 4 the king, discovering himself; No. 1 throws the five, being tho worst diamond in his hand. certain king, which he has not, would enable him to play alone. In this case he may pur- chase it from the party holding it, giving one No. 4 now leads the throe of trumps. This counter in payment (subject to increase for pre- play shows ombre that he has a mat, and ombre ference), and any card which he can best spare knows it to be spadille as he himself holds from his hand manille and basto. No. 1 is forced to follow suit with ponto ; ombre plays basto ; No. 3 throws the six Ombre leads manille; No. 3 throws the five No. 4 the king ; No. 1 small spade. Ombre, queen of trumps ; No. 3, the two ; No. 4, seven of diamonds (spadille, in common with other mats, possessing the power of hold- ing up) ; No. 1, the four of diamonds. Ombre, knave of trumps ; No. 3, three of clubs ; No. 4, six of diamonds ; No. 1, six of clubs. The game is now won. The question re- mains whether ombre and his partner can play the vole. Now ombre knows his partner has spadille, that is, one trick ; he himself has three more certain tricks in his hand ; - he therefore declares to play vole, as follows : — Ombre, queen of diamonds ; No. 3, anything; No. 4, anything ; No. 1 follows suit. Ombre, ace of diamonds ; Nos. 3, 4, and 1, anything ; ombre, king of spades ; Nos. 3, 4, and 1, anything ; and spadille must make re- maining trick. As to the payment : — No. 1 receives from the pool one counter for his ace of hearts ; he has to pay to one of his adversaries one counter for their possessing all the mats, and two counters for their playing the vole. No. 2 (ombre) receives from No. 1 or 3 one counter for mats, and two for vole. From the pool one counter for red ace, one for manille, one for basto, one for game, and two for vole. No. 3 pays as No. 1. No. 4 receives from 1 or 3 as No. 2 ; from pool, one counter for spadille, one for game, two for vole. What we have above described is the sim- ple game, but it is very customary to play it with a slight modification, called 'preference. In this, one suit, namely hearts, has a pre- ference in the nomination of trumps ; thus, if the elder hand has asked leave, the second hand (or after him the third or fourth) may ask him ' if it is in hearts,' and if he says no, the other may ask leave by preference in hearts, which takes precedence accordingly. But it must be borne in mind that standing alone in any common suit always take precedence of an ask leave in the preferred one. In playing preference, all payments, rewards, and forfeits, are doubled when hearts are made trumps. Sometimes there is a doable preference, clubs (then called mogul) being preferred over hearts, and when these are trumps all payments are quadrupled. It is also very common to have the option Vol. III. 161 ora nis nana. But if he then win the game he only receives from his adversaries one counter each, instead of two. We advise the adoption of single preference, and the purchased king, as giving additional interest and variety to the game, without adding to its difficulty. The celebrated game described in Pope's Rape of the Lock was a modification of Quadrille. Q^ua drin variant. LI NVARIANT -] Quadripennates (Lat. quatuor ; penna, a wing). The name of a section of Anelytrous insects, including those which have four wings. Quadripianar Coordinates. [Coordi- nates.] Quadrireme (Lat. quadriremis, from qua- tuor, and remus, an oar). A ship of war in use among the ancient Greeks and Romans ; so called because it had four banks of oars. [Gr ALLEY.] Quadrisulcates (Lat. quatuor, and sulcus, a furrow). A name applied to those Ungulate quadrupeds in which the hoof is divided into four parts, corresponding to the four digits of the Artiodactyle foot. Quadrivium (Lat.). In the language of the schools, the four lesser arts — arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy. (Hallam, Literary History, pt. i. ch. i. § 3.) [Trivtum.] Quadrumana (Lat. quatuor, four, and manus, hand). The name of an order of Mam- mals, comprehending those in which the four extremities are terminated by a hand ; as the ape, baboon, &c. The hinder extremities are always terminated by more perfect hands than the fore extremities, in which the thumb is sometimes wanting, or, as in the South American monkeys, incapable of being opposed to the other digits. Quadrupeds (Lat. quadrupes, from qua- tuor four, and pes, afoot). All Vertebrate ani- mals with four extremities fitted for terrestrial progression were formerly so called, the scaly reptiles being distinguished, as oviparous qua- drupeds, from the hairy warm-blooded vivipa- rous four-footed mammals. But as there are both reptiles and mammalia which have only two legs, and as those of both classes which agree in having four legs differ essentially in the important characters on which classifi- catory distinctions are now founded, the term quadruped is no longer used in a strict zoo- logical sense as indicative of a particular group of animals. Quadruple (Lat. quadruplus). In Arithme- tic, fourfold ; the product of any magnitude or quantity multiplied by 4. Quaestor (Lat.). In Roman Antiquities, the name of two distinct classes of public officers. M QUAG G A According to Varro, they were so called ' a quaerendo, qui conquirerent publicas pecunias et maleficia.' The former, who collected the public revenues, were called qucestores classici ; the latter, as public accusers or prosecutors in criminal cases, were known as qiuestores parri- cidii. At first, like other offices, the quaestor- ship was confined to the patricians, and only after a severe struggle laid open to the plebeians ; but beyond this broad fact, nothing can be deter- mined with certainty from the traditions em- bodied in the writings of non- contemporary his- torians. According to some writers, two quaes- tors were for the first time appointed during the consulship of Valerius and Lucretius, soon after the expulsion of the kings, while others speak of the office as having existed under the kings. But all these writers agree in describing the office as one open only to patricians, and as continuing so until L. Papirius, b. c. 420, brought about a compromise on the arrangement that consular tribunes should be elected instead of consuls, and that four quaestors should be chosen promiscuously from patricians and ple- beians, the singular result being that all the officers elected were patricians, and that no ple- beian was elected quaestor for eleven years after this time. An altogether different account is given by Tacitus, who says that they were chosen first by the kings, then by the consuls, the election being afterwards transferred to the people, by whom the first military quaestors were appointed, the civil quaestorship being afterwards instituted for the business at Eome when the military quaestors were found unable to deal with it. ' It is impossible to reconcile any part of this account with the representa- tion in Livy. Neither the transfer of the ap- pointment from the consuls to the people, nor the time when the first quaestors were elected, nor the priority of the military to the urban praetors, agrees with Livy's statements. In this as in other cases, the accounts of the origin of an ancient institution, given by different writers, are wholly irreconcilable.' (Sir G. C. Lewis, Credibility of Early Roman Hist. ii. 286.) Quag-gra. The name of a Solipedous quad- ruped, or species of Equus, allied to the zebra. Quagrnire. Boggy ground saturated with water to such a degree as to be more like mud than firm soil. Quail (Ital. quaglia, Fr. caille). A genus of Gallinaceous birds {Coturnix, Cuv.), allied to the partridge, but of smaller size, with a more slender beak and shorter tail, and with- out red eyebrows or spurs. Quakers or Friends. A religious sect, which arose in England about the middle of the seventeenth century, and spread, by the emigration of its members, who were exposed to many restrictions and to persecution in this country, over various parts of Europe and North America. Its founder was George Fox, who, being equally dissatisfied with the tenets of the established church and those of the Puri- tans, attached to himself various persons who agreed with his view of the internal operation 162 1 QUANTIC of religion on men's hearts, conceiving it to supersede all ritual observances, and to be in no degree evidenced by them. The Quakers, therefore, reject all sacraments; nor do they ap- point an order of ministers, but consider that the instruction of their congregations may be from time to time undertaken by any person of either sex who feels impelled thereto by a suggestion of the Spirit. Upon doctrinal points, however, they profess to maintain the opinions generally received by Christian churches and sects. This society is distinguished in its intercourse with the world by great seriousness of deport- ment, uniform soberness in dress, and generally by a scrupulous avoidance of everything which can encourage vanity and frivolity. They are averse from all matters of ceremony, which they conceive to have their origin in flattery and deception. Their refusal to take judicial oaths used formerly to subject them to severe penalties. Up to the accession of James II. their history is a series of persecutions, either endured in common with other dissenters, or peculiar to themselves in consequence of their refusal to pay tithes and to take oaths. Under James, the severity of the penal laws was relaxed ; William Penn, one of the earliest Quakers, the founder of Pennsylvania, having been one of that monarch's confidential advisers, or, as some say, tools, in that matter. But William III. was the first prince who enacted laws for their special relief. Under his reign their affirmation was received in lieu of oath in judicial proceedings ; a privilege since extended by various Acts to Moravians, Separatists, and persons who have left those societies but retain conscientious scruples to taking an oath. (Fox's Journal; Barclay's Apology ; and SewelVs His- tory of the Rise, $c. of the Quakers, 1722.) The Quakers of the present day are thought to be a decreasing sect. In 1800 they possessed 413 meeting houses, while the number returned in 1851 was only 371. They are most numerous in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham, Cumberland, and Essex. Small communities are found in parts of France, Germany, Norway, the United States, and Australia. {Religious Census 1851.) Quaking: Bog:. Peat bog in a growing state, and so saturated with water that a con- siderable extent of surface will quake or shake, when pressed on by the foot or any other body. Such bogs are unfit for any useful purpose till they are drained. Quality (Lat. qualitas, from qualis, of what sort). In the philosophy of Kant, the second category (there being four in all), com- prising the notions of existence or reality, non- existence or negation, and limitation. Quality. In Logic, a division of proposi- tions, founded on their affirmative or negative character. Quality. In Physics, some property or af- fection of bodies. Sensible qualities are those which immediately affect the senses ; as figure, taste, &c. Quantic (Lat. quantus, how great). In its widest sense this term denotes a rational and QUANTITY integral algebraical function. As, however, all such functions may be supposed to have re- sulted from the substitution of unity in place of one of the variables of a homogeneous function, a quantic is usually understood to denote any rational integral homogeneous function. The term, which is both convenient and expressive, was introduced by Cayley, and is now in gene- ral use amongst English mathematicians. The especial terms quadric, cubic, quartic, quintic, &c. . . n ic are used to denote qualities of the second, third, fourth, &c. . . n th degrees in the variables, and as a further distinction, quantics are said to be binary, ternary, quaternary, &c. . . M-ary according as they contain two, three, four &c. . . or n variables. Thus a ternary quadric denotes a rational integral and homogeneous function of the fourth degree in three variables or facients. According to the ordinary notation of algebra, the most general form of such a function would be denoted by ax* + by 1 + cz 2 + dyz + ezx +fxy, and according to the notation of quantics by (a,b,c,d,e,f,%x,y, zf, or more simply by {*Jx,y,zy when it is wished to indicate rather than to ex- press the coefficients. The arrow-head in the above symbol denotes the absence of expressed numerical coefficients in the ordinary expres- sion of the quantic. In operating upon quan- tics, however, it is usually more convenient to assume a different general form, and {a, b, c, d, e, f£x, y, zf denotes that the several terms of the quadric are affected with the same numerical coefficients as are the like terms in the developement of (x + y + z) 2 . [Muetinomical Theobem.] The trilinear equation of a curve, or the quadri- planar one of a surface being a quantic, the terms quadric, cubic, &c. . . . are also ap- plied to curves and surfaces of the second, third &c. . . orders respectively. Prof. Cayley' s original memoirs on Quantics will be found in the Philosophical Transactions for 1.854 and subsequent years. Quantity (Lat. quantitas). A property of anything capable of being increased or di- minished. Quantity is distinguished into con- tinued and discrete. It is continued when the parts are connected together, and is then called magnitude, which is the object of geometry. It is discrete when the parts have an un- connected and independent existence, forming multitude or number, which is the object of arithmetic. The quantity of matter in a body is termed its Mass ; the quantity of motion it possesses its Momentum. Quantity. In Logic, the extent to which the predicate in a proposition is asserted of the subject. If it be asserted of the whole (all, none), the proposition is universal. If it be asserted of part only (some), the proposition is particular. A singular proposition is regarded as universal. 163 QUARE 1MPEDIT Quantity. In Prosody, the amount oi time in a syllable. Syllables are either short or long ; the former being the unit or smallest measure of time, the latter consisting of two times. This distinction is clearly marked in the ancient languages ; in which some syllables are necessarily long or short by position, others by the nature of the vowels which they contain, and some common, or susceptible of being sounded as long or short, according to certain rules of elegance or convenience. The whole metrical system of the ancient languages is founded on quantity. In most modern lan- guages there is, strictly speaking, no quantity, as distinct from emphasis, or accent ; the long syllables being those which receive the arsis, the short those which receive the thesis. In the German language, however, critics have endea- voured to establish a conventional system of quantity, and thus to adapt that language to regular versification in the ancient Greek and Latin metres. [Rhythm ; Metre.] Quaquaversal Hip (Lat. quaqua, where- soever, and versus, turned). When deposits have been lifted up by elevatory force acting at a single point, they assume a dome-like form, and the beds dip in every direction from this central elevated point. Such dip is called qua- quaversal. [Dip and Strike.] Quarantine. A period of time of variable length, during which a vessel from certain coasts or ports, said or supposed to be infected with certain diseases, is not allowed to communicate with the shore, except under particular restric- tions. A ship in quarantine carries a yellow flag at the main ; and when released from this con- dition, she is said to obtain pratique. The term is derived from the Ital. quaranto^/brfy, it being generally supposed that if no infectious disease break out within forty days or six weeks, no further danger is to be apprehended. It is believed that the Venetians were the first to adopt regulations for guarding against the introduction of infected persons into their ports ; but there is now no civilised -country in which it is not more or less practised. Of late years the rapidity of steam communication, the great improvement in the sanitary condition of the people, the progress of chemical science, which has led to the discovery of powerful dis- infectants, and perhaps the scepticism with which many received opinions on the subject of infection have been encountered by some physiologists, have led to the gradual relaxa- tion of quarantine laws ; and now, although the power to impose it rests with the crown, quaran- tine is rarely demanded in British ports. (For full particulars on the history and policy of quarantine, see the Com. Diet.) Quarantine. In Law, the forty days during which a widow is, by Magna Charta, entitled to reside in her husband's capital messuage after his death. During this time her dower shall be assigned. [Dower.] Quare Xmpedit (Lat. ). In Law, the ordi- nary action to establish the right of a patron to present to an ecclesiastical benefice when m 2 QUARREL his title to do so is disputed. The action is brought in the Court of Common Pleas. The procedure relating to it has recently been sim- plified by stat. 23 & 24 Vict. c. 126. Quarrel (Mod. Lat. quadrellus, Fr. carreau). The arrow or bolt for the crossbow in mediaeval warfare. The word is derived from the four- sided pyramidal form of the head. Quarrying- (Fr. cai*riere). The process of removing valuable mineral produce from the earth when it can be got at without sinking pits or driving tunnels into the interior. It is generally the mode adopted for obtaining marble, building stone, road metal, slate, chalk, &c, but is occasionally adopted for metalliferous minerals and coal. Large quarries of iron- stone are worked in the isle of Elba, near Malaga in Spain, and in many other places. Coal has often been quarried in England, and is generally so obtained from some of the thick beds in the centre of France. On the other hand, many valuable stones are obtained by tunnels. This is the case on a very large scale with the Bath and Caen stones. The first operation in quarrying is to remove the head of rubbish and vegetable soil, and it is evident that for this, and for the placing of such waste material as may be produced in quarrying, either a large space is needed or these matters must be got rid of in some other vray. Many quarries are opened on hill- sides and on cliffs near the sea, there being in either case conveniences for removal of waste. In working a quarry extensively it is usual to work in several stages one above another. In this way many hundred men can be em- ployed at once. For removing the stone, blast- ing is generally resorted to. This involves some danger, and shelter for the men during a blast is very desirable. Slate affords the largest and most valuable quarries in the world. Quart (Lat. quartns,- fourth). A measure of capacity, being the fourth part of a gallon. The word was also used during the middle ages to denote -the fourth part of the tun, i. e. 63 gallons. [Measures.] Quartan (Lat. quartana, sc. febris). A species of intermittent fever or ague. The interval between the attacks is only two whole days, nosologists having chosen to reckon the day of attack and the day of recurrence, so counting four days, and giving the name ac- cordingly. [Ague.] Quartation. This term was formerly applied to the separation of silver from gold by means of nitric acid. To extract the whole of the silver from gold by the action of nitric acid, it is necessary that there should be at least three parts of silver to one of gold, otherwise the gold protects the silver from the action of the acid ; so that, in thus separating these metals, it was customary where gold greatly predominated, to add silver till it constituted at least three-fourths of the alloy. This separation of gold from silver is now effected by sulphuric acid. Quarter (Lat. quartus). The fourth part 164 QUARTERS of anything. As a term of weight, this word denotes the fourth of a hundredweight, or twenty-eight pounds. Quarter. As a dry measure, quarter is a term apparently of foreign origin, and pro- bably Norman. It is uncertain whether it is the fourth part of some measure which has been long disused, or whether the word is connected with a division of land also known by the name. (Ducange.) Quarter. The after part of the ship's side, comprising about one-fifth of her total length. On the quarter, implies the bearing or position of an object seen between aft and abeam. Quarter Bays. The day's usually regarded in England and most Continental countries (but not in Scotland) as beginning the four quarters of the year. They are: 1. Lady Day (March 25); 2. Midsummer Day (June 24); 3. Michaelmas Day (September 29) ; and 4. Christmas Day (December 25). Quarter Deck. The portion of the upper- most deck of a ship between the main and mizen masts when there is a poop, but when there is no poop extending from the mainmast to the stern. ' This is the 'parade in men-of-war. Quarter Round. In Architecture. [Echi- nus; Ovolo.] Quarter Sessions of the Peace. Iu Law, a court held by two justices at least, one of whom must be of the quorum, quarterly, in every county. Its jurisdiction, originally con- fined to matters touching the breach of the peace only, has been extended by various statutes too numerous to be cited here. The criminal ju- risdiction is principally defined by stat. 5 & 6 Vict. c. 38, and may be said to extend gene- rally to the smaller misdemeanours and fe- lonies, but with numerous exceptions. There is also an extensive jurisdiction in matters relating to the settlement and relief of the poor, highways, bastardy, &c, in most of which cases an appeal lies to the Court of Queen's Bench. [Justices of the Peace.] The administration of the county rates also belongs to the quarter sessions. Quarter sessions in boroughs, since the Municipal Corporation Act, are held by the recorders. Quarter Sights. In Gunnery, sights on the sides of a smooth-bored gun, consisting of notches on the base ring, the lowest of which forms, with a notch on the side of the swell of the muzzle, a line parallel to the axis, the others forming lines inclined to the first at angles from fifteen minutes to three degrees. Quarters. The stations of a ship's crew in time of action, to which they are summoned by beat of drum, or by the boatswain's pipe. Quarters. In Military language, the room or rooms in barracks, or house, being govern- ment property, allotted to an officer for his accommodation. Quarters and Quartering 1 (Fr. quartiers). In Architecture, the upright posts in partitions to which the laths are nailed. Quarters are either single or double, the former being of sawn stuff four inches broad, and two and a QUARTER-MASTER half or two inches in thickness; the latter being usually sa wn to a scantling of four inches square. No quarters should ever be more than fourteen inches apart from out to out, even when the spaces between them are filled in with what is called brick nagging. Quarter- ing is a term properly applied only to an assemblage of quarters, though it is not un- frequently used to denote the quarters them- selves. Quarter-master. In the Army, an officer whose business it is to look after the quarters of the soldiers, and attend to their clothing, rations, ammunition, &c. There is a quarter- master attached to every regiment of cavalry, battalion of infantry, or brigade of artillery. Quarter-master. In the Navy, a petty officer, who, besides other duties of super- intendence over the stowage of ballast, pro- visions, &c, attends to the steering of the ship. Quarter-master-General. One of the chief staff officers of the army. His depart- ment is charged with all orders relating to the marching, embarking, disembarking, quar- tering, billeting, and cantoning of troops ; encampments, and camp equipage. There are assistant and deputy-assistant quarter-master- generals of divisions and districts. Quarter-staff. A weapon of defence ; so called from the manner of using it, one hand being placed in the middle, and the other equally between the middle and end. Quartering-. In Heraldry, the division of a shield by two lines, fess-wise and pale-wise, meeting in the centre of the shield. In mar- shalling, whenever a husband can place his wife's arms on an escutcheon of pretence [Es- cutcheon], the children may bear them quar- terly with their own : whence arises the great variety of quarterings in the shields of some families. Quartette or Quartet (Ital. quartetto). A piece of music arranged for four solo voices or instruments. Of the latter the most cele- brated are arranged for two violins, a viola or tenor violin, and a violoncello ; and many of the most distinguished composers, among whom we may mention Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Komberg, Spohr, Hies, Onslow, &c, have devoted their talents to this species of com- position. Quartic. In Algebra, a homogeneous func- tion of the fourth degree in the variables or, as the latter are sometimes termed, facients. [Quantic] Binary, ternary, and quaternary quartics have been most studied, in conse- quence of their connection, respectively, with the theories of equations, of curves, and of surfaces. A binary quartic (a, b, c, d, e~y[x, y) 4 , put equal to zero, gives rise to a biquadratic equation in ^ . Its canonical form is x* + 6mx 2 y 2 +y*, and since the equation corresponding to the 165 QUARTIC latter may be solved as a quadratic, the solu- tion of a biquadratic equation obviously resolves itself into the reduction of the general quartic to its canonical form. This requires, as will be seen, the solution of a cubic. [Biquadratic Equation.] The two fundamental invariants of the quartic are S = ae~4bd + 3c 2 , and T = acc + 2bcd - ad- - cb 2 - c 3 , which latter is also the Catalecticant. These invariants, for the canonical form, reduce themselves to 1 + Sm 2 and m—m 3 respectively. The coefficient m, therefore, is a root of the cubic 4m 3 -mS + T = 0. Prof. Sylvester has shown (Phil. Mag. 1853) that every other invariant of a quartic can be expressed in terms of S and T ; its discriminant, for instance, is S 3 — 27 T 2 . Having determined m from the foregoing cubic equation, the facients x and y of the canonical form are determined by considering the principal covariant of the quartic, which is its Hessian, II — another quartic easily obtained from the original. [Hessian.] For the canonical form the Hessian becomes «i(^ 4 + y 4 ) + (l-3w 2 )x 2 ^ Hence the relation between the facients x, y, of the canonical form, and those of the original quartic U, may be deduced from the equations x* + y* + 6 mx 2 y 2 = U, m O 4 + y') + (1 - 3 m 2 ) x 2 y 2 = H, which latter gives readily iy(l-9m 2 ) = H-»iU, and shows that H-WiU, H - mJJ, H-w 3 U, are each perfect squares, m x , m 2 , m 3 , being the roots of the above cubic. But it may be shown further, that (m 2 — m 3 ) a/H — WjU + (ni 3 — m x ) a'H — m^U + (m, — m 2 ) a / H— w 3 U is also a perfect square ; and since it is mani- festly reduced*to zero by the hypothesis U = 0, its square root must be one of the four linear factors of U. This elegant solution of a biquadratic was first given by Prof. Cayley. The remaining important covariant of a quartic is the cubico- variant J of the first emanant ; it is a sextic, which for the canonical form reduces to (1 — 9 m 2 ) xy (x* — y*). Further details on this subject will be found in Prof. Cayley's memoirs on Quantics in the Phil. Trans. 1855, and in Dr. Salmon' s Higher Algebra. Ternary Quartics equated to zero, represent quartic curves whose general properties have been but little investigated. Such curves might be classified according to the number of their double points or cusps, which can at most amount to three. [Double Point.] The gene- ral curve, which has no such singularities, is of the 12th class, and the curve which has the QUARTIC maximum number of cusps (three) is only of the 3rd class. Between these extremes may j occur quartic curves of every other class. One interesting case is where the curve has a triple : point, equivalent to three double points [Mul- i tiple Point] ; its class is reduced to 6, 5, I or 4, according as none, two, or all three of the tangents at the triple point coincide. The gene- ral quartic, of the 12th class, has 24 points of inflexion ; the Hessian, which passes through them, being a curve of the 6th order. The 24 stationary tangents at these points of inflexion always touch a curve of the 4th class. The general quartic, too, has 28 double tangents, as was first shown, indirectly, by Plucker, and directly by Cayley. (Crelle's Journal, vol.xxxiv.) The equation of the curve of the 14th order which cuts the quartic in the 56 points of con- tact of its double tangents was given by Hesse (Crelle's Journal, vol.xli.) and Salmon {Higher Plane Curves). Through the four points of contact of any pair of double tangents, five conies can be drawn, each of which will pass through the four points of contact of another pair. In this manner 315 conies can be found, each of which will pass through the 8 points of contact of two pairs of double tangents. Sal- mon, in his Higher Plane Curves, has formed a scheme of them, and Steiner has also examined their relative positions and properties. (Crelle's Journal, vol. xlix.) The subject is, however, exceedingly complicated, and for further in- formation the reader must be referred to the papers of Cayley, Hesse, Salmon, Jacobi, Steiner, &c, in the pages of Crelle's Journal, Phil. Trans., and Cambridge and Dublin Ma- thematical Journal. The best known quartic curves are the Car- tesian and Cassinian ovals, the Limacon of Pascal, the Cardioid, the Conchoid of Nicomecles, and the central pedals of Conies, which latter include the Lemniscata of Bernoulli. Short descriptions of these quartics will be found under their respective names. With respect to non-plane quartic curves, or those which are cut by every plane in four, real or imaginary, points, the researches of Cayley, Salmon, Chasles, Steiner, and otherS, have made us familiar with many interesting pro- perties. We can here merely notice their division into two families : quadro-quadro quartics and ex-cubo quartics, referring the reader for further information to the pages of Crelle's Journal, of the Comptes Rend us, and of Salmon's Analytical Geometry of Three Di- mensions. A quadro-quadro quartic constitutes the com- plete intersection of two quadric surfaces. Through such a curve, therefore, innumerable quadric surfaces can be drawn, amongst which will be four cones, and an infinity of hyper- boloids of one sheet. No right line can meet such a curve in more than two points, so that the plane projection of the quartic can at most have double points (it will in general have two), and may possibly be a conic (doubled) : in general, any plane cubic may be considered 166 QTIAHTODECIMANS as the projection of a quadro-quadro quartic from a point on the curve. Further, such a quartic may always be regarded as the partial intersection of a cubic and a quadric surface which have in common a plane conic, and con- versely two such surfaces always intersect in a quadro-quadro quartic curve. There is, however, one interesting family of quartic curves, through which only one quadric surface, and that a ruled surface, can be drawn. These are called ex-cubo quartics. A quadric and a cubic surface which have in common two non-intersecting right lines, always intersect in such a curve. For every generator of the quadric which does not intersect the two com- mon lines must necessarily meet the cubic, and therefore the quartic curve under consideration in three (real or imaginary) points. No second quadric, therefore, could be drawn through such a quartic curve ; for not only it, but every other quartic which its existence implies, would have to cut all such generators in three points. An ex-cubo quartic meets one set of generators of the quadric surface on which it lies in three points, and those of the other set in one. Its projection on any plane, therefore, from a point on the curve, is always a cubic with a double point ; its plane projection from any point in space is a quartic with three double points. Next to the non-plane cubic the ex-cubo quartic is the simplest of all curves of double curvature, and its points may be con- structed linearly, as has been shown by Cre- mona {Anncdi di Matematici, t. iv. 1861). Quartic surfaces have been but little in- vestigated. Quartile Aspect. In Astrology, this term denoted the aspect or appearance of two planets, whose positions are at a distance of 90° on the zodiac. Quartine. The fourth envelope of the vegetable ovule, beginning to count from the outside. Quartinvariarat. [Invariant.] Quarto. In Printing, a book printed in four leaves, or eight pages. It is abbreviated 4to. Quartodecimans (Lat. quartus, and deci- mus, tenth). In Ecclesiastical History, a name applied to those who celebrated Easter on the fourteenth day of the paschal moon, instead of on the Sunday next following. This prac- tice was maintained by the Eastern Chris- tians, who appealed to the personal authority of St. John as a sanction for their observing the anniversary of the Jewish passover in the evening between the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month Nisan. But the Western with some of the Eastern Christians, on the ground that Christ was Himself the passover, broke their fast for the first time on the great festival of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. These appealed to the fourth gospel, which bears the name of St. John. In his great quarrel with the Roman bishop Victor, Poly- crates, bishop of Ephesus (a. d. 190), grounded his retention of the Eastern usage on the un- QUARTZ varying practice of Polycarp, Mclito Philip, and St. John, while no direct reference is made to the fourth gospel, even by Apollinaris bishop of Hierapolis, a zealous opponent of the Eastern observance. Quartz. A German term, now universally adopted in scientific language, and commonly applied to the purer varieties of silica, espe- cially to Eock Crystal. Quart zite or Quartz Rock. An aggre- gated rock consisting of quartz not absolutely crystalline. It sometimes appears in strata, and differs from sandstone in being more closely compacted and having a finer grain. It passes into sandstone on one hand and crystalline quartz on the other. Quas. A fermented liquor used in Bussia, and prepared from a mixture of meal and malt. Quasi (Lat. as it were). In the language of Jurisprudence, this word, as a prefix, implies that the subject is something nearly related to, but not quite amounting to, that with which it is compared : thus, in Eoman law, a quasi- delict and a quasi-contract are often spoken of; but it is essential to remember that as a quasi- delict is not a criminal offence, so a quasi-con- tract is no contract, express or implied, but only resembles one. ' The commonest sample is the relation subsisting between two persons, one of whom has paid money to the other through mistake.' Here, though morality raises a bond of duty in the receiver to return the money, there is no contract on his part to do so. (Maine's Ancient Law. ch. ix.) Quasimodo. In the Eoman Catholic Calendar, the first Sunday after Easter ; so called because the lntroit for that day begins with the words 4 Quasi modo geniti irtf antes.' (1 Pet. ii. 1.) It is also called Dominica in albis, as being the day on which those who had been baptized on Easter Sunday deposited their white robes in the sacristy. Quassia. The wood of the Quassia amara, a native of South America, and of Picrcena excelsa, a tree found in some of the West Indian islands. It yields an intensely bitter infusion, which is used medicinally and is a good vehicle for metallic salts, many of which are decomposed by other bitter vegetable infu- sions. A strong infusion of quassia, sweetened with brown sugar, is an effective poison for flies. Quassin. Quassite. The bitter colourless crystalline principle of quassia wood. Quaternion (Lat. quaternio, the number four). Adopting, for conciseness, an expres- sive term employed by Sir William Rowan Hamilton, the inventor of the new science of Symbolical Geometry known as the Calculus of Quaternions, a quaternion may be defined as the metrography relation which exists between any two right lines having definite 'lengths and directions in space. In what follows we pur- pose, solely, to convey a somewhat more accu- rate conception of a quaternion, and to explain briefly in what manner it depends, as its name implies, upon four irreducible geometrical elements. 167 QUATERNION The reader desirous of further information must be referred to Sir W. E. Hamilton's Lec- tures on Quaternions, Dublin 1853; to Dr. Salmon's An. Geom. of Three Dimensions ; or to the recently published Elements of Quater- nions by Sir W. E. Hamilton. The operation of passing from any point O in space to any other point A is termed a vector, and denoted either by OA or a single symbol a, which must be regarded as involving the conceptions of length and direction, but not of position in space ; so that two vectors OA | and OA' will be equal if by simply moving the ! line OA parallel to itself, until 0 coincides with 0', its other extremity A falls upon A'. The addition of vectors is defined by the ordi- nary equations OA + AO = OC, which maybe J interpreted as indicating that the successive j performance of the operations OA, OC is equi- valent to the single operation 0 C. Thus the diagonal is the geometrical sum of the coinitial sides of a parallelogram or of a parallelopiped. The reverse operation to AB is denoted by — AB, and is clearly equivalent to BA, since by the above relation AB + BA=AA = 0. It is now clear that if i, j, k denote three fixed and mutually rectangular unit-vectors, any other vector p will be expressed by ix+jy + kz, where x, y, z are positive or negative numbers (scalars), expressing the ratios to unity of the ordinary coordinates of the extremity of a vector, equal to p, drawn from the coordinate origin. This being premised, we proceed next to the consideration of a quaternion or geo- Q metrical quotient — , where j8 and a are any vec- a tors. It is clear that OB and OA being any coinitial vectors equal to )8 and a, this quaternion may be represented by the biradial or unclosed triangle BOA; it may be also written thus and regarded as the operation necessary for changing 0 A into 0 B, so that a- OB. Now this operation may be resolved into, and perfectly defined by, two other commutative operations of tension and version ; viz. first a stretching of 0 A until it attains the length of 0 B, and secondly a turning of the thus stretched line, from left to right, around a certain axis perpendicular to the plane of A OB, through the angle a 0 = AOB ( IiABBET OF THE KEEL Quoin. On Shipboard, a wedge used in stowing casks, to prevent motion. Quorum. A term derived from the words used in the Latin form of the commission issued to justices of the peace ; in which the expression occurred, ' quorum unum A B esse volumus' — ' of whom we will that A B be one ; ' thus ren- dering it necessary that certain individuals (said to be of the quorum) should be present at the transaction of business. Hence, when in an assembly, committees, &c. it is necessary that a certain number should be present to give validity to its acts, that number is gene- rally said to constitute a quorum. Quota (Lat. quotus, of what member). That part which each member of a society has to contribute or receive in making up or dividing a certain sum. Quotation XVEarks. In Printing, two in- verted commas placed at the beginning, and two commas in their direct position (or two apostrophes), at the end of a sentence quoted or transcribed from an author in his own words. They are called guillemets, from their inventor Guillemet, and by the Germans gdnse-augen, or geese-eyes. Quotidian (Lat. quotidianus). That form of ague which returns daily. [Ague.] Quotient (Lat. quotiens, how often). In Arithmetic, the result of the operation of division ; it may be either a concrete or an abstract number. When a magnitude of any kind is proposed to be divided into any number of parts, and the divisor is conse- quently an abstract number, the quotient is of the same kind with the dividend or quan- tity proposed to be divided ; but when the dividend and divisor are both things of the same denomination, or both magnitudes of any kind, the quotient is an abstract number, and. is the ratio of the one magnitude to the other. R B. One of the letters belonging to the series called liquids or semivowels. At the beginning of English words derived from the Greek through the medium of the Latin, r is usually followed by h, to represent the force of />, as in rhetoric, rhapsody, as also when it occurs in the middle of an English word de- rived from a Greek compound, as in diarrhoea, from Sia and pe'eo. This letter is susceptible of numerous interchanges, more especially in Latin. As an abbreviation, P. among ourselves stands for rex or rcgina ; R. P. for respublica, &c. In medical prescriptions, E. stands for recipe or take. Rabbet of the Keel (Fr. raboter, to plane). In Wooden Shipbuilding, an angular groove running on each side of the keel from end to 174 end, and serving to receive the inner edge of the garboard strakes or lowest planks of the ship's bottom. In merchant vessels the rabbet is usually formed along the top edge of the keel. In the British Navy, on the other hand, its position is nearly half-way down the keel, the keel itself being mortised into the floors down to the top of the rabbet. This latter formation is considered to impart much greater strength, as it admits of thicker strakes, and from the less depth of keel left exposed below the rabbet diminishes the disruptive force brought to bear on the vessel's bot- tom in the event of her taking the ground. Similar rabbets on the stem and sternpost receive the ends of the several planks of the sides. RABBI KACT1IS Rabbi. A Hebrew term for doctor or teacher-, the termination being properly the first pronoun possessive. This word, which is frequently found in the New Testament, is in use at the present day, the rabbis being the expounders of the law, and more particularly of tin- Talmud or commentaries of later doctors. Rabbinism. A term under which is com- monly designated the body of doctrine of the rabbis or Jewish teachers subsequent to the Mosaic law, and which had its commencement about the time of the dispersion. It is con- sidered to have derived its origin from the teaching of the Pharisees, mingled with Greek and other foreign elements. The followers of Hillel and Schammai, who flourished respective- ly about the commencement of the Christian era, formed the two leading schools of Rabbin- ism. [Talmud ; Targum.] The most brilliant period of Rabbinism was in the twelfth century under the teaching of Aben Ezra and Mai- monides, in Spain. The latter is the compiler of the thirteen articles which may be termed the modern creed of Judaism ; establishing the unity and spiritual nature of God ; the in- spiration of Moses and the Prophets ; the im- mutability of the Mosaic law ; future rewards and punishments ; and the expectation of the Messiah. Since that period, Rabbinism has either degenerated into mere formalism and puerilities, or expanded into a kind of philo- sophical Deism. Rabbit. The Lejpus cuniculus of Linnaeus, a well-known domesticated rodent, which in its wild state is distributed over the whole of the northern hemisphere. Eabdomancy. [Rhabdomancy.] Kaca. An ancient Syriac word, signifying vanity or folly, and pronounced by the Jews with certain gestures of indignation. (Matt, v. 22.) Race (Fr.). In Anthropology. [Man ; Teutonic] Race. In Language. By philologists, na- tions or tribes which are found speaking the same language, or closely allied dialects, are said to be- long to the same race. The expression conveys a certain amount of truth, but it must be used with great caution and within strictly defined limits. When it is said that the English sol- dier struggling with the Hindu sepoy during the mutiny of 1857 did not know that his enemy was his kinsman, this must be taken to mean that he was ignorant of the affinity of their several dialects, and of all that is implied in this affinity. This agreement, whatever be its measure, certainly proves that the ances- tors of the Englishman and of the Hindu either belong to the same stock, or have at some time or other been thrown together.; it shows further that from the same source they derive to some extent not only their civilisa- tion, but their modes of thought. It is almost certain that they must in some measure share a common blood ; but to what extent they may be anthropologically connected, it may be either difficult or impossible to ascertain. In 175 Great Britain, English, Gaelic, and Welsh are spoken in different parts of the country. This fact proves that Teutonic and Celtic tribes have been brought together; and if, as in England, the Teutonic dialects predominate, this shows that at some time or other some tribes belonging to the Teutonic race were dominant in this country ; but it does not hence follow that the great body of the English people are. Teutonic, although a certain propor- tion of them must be. In other words, the population of this country is a mixed race; and although there is no such thing as a mixed language [Language], an ethnological race is rarely, if ever, found altogether un- mixed. Invasion, conquest, emigration, colo- nisation have constantly interfered with their purity. Hence the attempt to classify ethno- logical races or tribes by their languages can lead only to error. The fair Tahitian would thus be proved to be closely akin to the black natives of the Fiji islands. In Professor Max Muller's words, ' The science of language and the science of ethnology have suffered most seriously from being mixed up together. The classification of races and languages should be quite independent of each other. Races may change their languages, and history supplies us with several instances where one race adopted the language of another. Different languages may be, therefore, spoken by one race, or the same language may be spoken by different races; so that any attempt at squaring the classification of races and tongues must neces- sarily fail.' {Lectures on Language, first series.) Raceme (Lat. racemus, a bunch of grapes). In Botany, a form of inflorescence, in which the flowers are stalked along a common un- branched axis, as in the hyacinth. Racemic Acid (Lat. racemus, a bunch of grapes). An acid found, together with the tar- taric acid, in the tartar obtained from certain vineyards on the Rhine. It is the paratartaric acid of Berzelius. It is less soluble in water than tartaric acid, and differs in the form of its crystals and in its salts. It is isomeric, and has the same equivalent with tartaric acid. [Tartaric Acid.] Races. A name denoting particular spots in the sea where the water is disturbed by the meeting of two rapid currents, and not, as is supposed by sailors, by rocks projecting from the bottom of the sea. By the inhabitants of the Orkney islands these races are called roosts. Racbilla (Gr. p&x is i a spine). A branch of inflorescence ; the zigzag centre upon which the florets are arranged in the spikelets of grasses. Rachis (Gr. Hx LS )- A branch which pro- ceeds in nearly a straight line from the base to the apex of the inflorescence of a plant. The term is also applied to the main axes of the leaves of ferns. Rachis. A term applied by Illiger and other zoologists to the vertebral column of mammals and birds. RACHITIS Rachitis (Gr. fiaxins, from pdxis, the spine, the part principally affected). The rickets. A disease generally confined to childhood, known by a large head, protruded breast-bone, flattened ribs, tumid belly, emaciated limbs, and great general debility ; the bones in general, and especially the spine, are variously distorted and deficient in bony matter. The system occasionally rallies from this state as growth advances, but more or less deformity remains. Tonics, cold bathing, regular and proper exercise, very careful nursing, and occasionally rhubarb and tonic aperients, are the principal remedies ; and where particular bones are in- clined to bend, attempts must be made to throw the weight off them. This disease is frequently symptomatic of a scrofulous state of the glands and viscera ; the stomach and bowels are always greatly deranged ; and as there ap- pears to be a deficiency of the hardening matter of the bones, various salts of lime, and even phosphate of lime, have been prescribed ; the only apparent use of these last-named remedies is to render the gastric juice less acrid and acid. Rack (A.-Sax. racan). An instrument of torture formerly used in England. According to Coke (who, however, merely reports the story on traditional authority), the rack was first introduced into the Tower by the duke of Exeter, constable of the Tower in 1447 ; and thence called the duke of Exeter s daughter. (3 Inst. p. 34.) Stowe, in his Chronicle, says that the duke's daughter herself invented it. The earliest mention of the use of the 'rack or brake' is by Holinshed, under the year 1467. But it first became common in the reign of Henry VIII. Under that prince, the remaining Tudors, James I. and Charles I., down to 1640, the rack was a common implement of torture for prisoners confined in the Tower, and inflicted by a warrant of the council or under the sign manual. The rack consisted of an oblong frame of wood, composed of four beams a little raised above the ground ; the sufferer was fastened by the hands and feet to the corners, where two cross beams joined the longer ones, sometimes by small cords attached to each finger and toe ; and the cords were twisted by means of rollers, so as to raise him from the ground, and stretch his body with extreme violence, dislocating the limbs, and, according to the Jesuit writers, who have left the most vivid representations of the sufferings of their companions under the state persecution of Elizabeth, sometimes extending the sufferer i more than a palm beyond his usual stature ! ' (Jenner, Societas Europcsa, p. 12; Jardine's Reading on the Use of Torture in England, 1837.) The Roman equideus is often trans- lated rack by English writers ; but whether the equuleus was something similar to the English engine, or a wooden horse (as the derivation of the word implies), or, in short, what was its form and description, antiquaries have not been able to discover. (See, among other authorities, the learned treatise of Magius Be Eauuleo.) [Question ; Torture.] 176 RADIANT HEAT ] Rack. In Machinery, a rectilinear sliding I piece, having teeth cut on its edge so that they : may work with those of a wheel or pinion which drives or follows the rack. The rack may be regarded as a toothed wheel whose radius is ' infinite. Rack Rent. [Rent.] Racovians. In Ecclesiastical History, the Unitarians of Poland are sometimes so called ; from Racow, a small city of that country, where Jacobus a Sienna, its head, erected a public seminary for their church in 1600. Here the Racovian Catechism, originally composed i>y Socinus, and revised by his most eminent followers, was published. (Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. cent. 16, sec. 3.) Radiant Heat. When a hot body is freely suspended in air, it cools down to the temperature of surrounding objects ; when sus- pended in a space void of air, it still cools down. The chilling, in part in the former case, entirely in the latter, is caused by a process termed ra- diation : the investigation of the phenomena which attend the emission, transference, and stoppage of these rays forms the science of radiant heat. For a long time it was thought that this cooling took place by the hot body darting out from its substance particles of what was termed the matter of heat or caloric, the presence of which constituted warmth. These particles impinging on our sensory nerves caused the sensation of warmth, in the same way as the matter of light emitted from a luminous source falling on the retina was supposed to produce the impression of light. [Light.] This theory, so long held as regards the pro- pagation both of heat and of light, has now given way to another which completely satisfies ex- perimental and mathematical enquiry. This is the undulatory theory, already explained under the article Light. Precisely the same reasoning there employed can be applied to the passage of heat through space. The warmth of a hot body is supposed to be due to a state of rapid vibration amongst the particles of the substance, just as the sound of a bell is caused by the motion of its mass. When a bell suspended by strings is set in motion within an exhausted receiver, its ringing cannot be heard until the air is admitted. By means of the intervening air the vibrations of the sounding bell are taken up and commu- nicated in pulses to the ear. By a similar but hypothetical medium called the ether, the vi- brations of a hot body are transmitted in a series of waves to the sensory nerves. Radiant heat thus defined consists of this undulatory motion of the ether, a motion which travels through space with the velocity of light ; and, as it does not in the slightest degree raise the temperature of the medium by which it is pro- pagated, it passes through space without loss. Since the early edition of this work appeared, the science of radiant heat has grown to such an extent that the few lines which were sufficient to describe its phenomena in 1840 could now RADIANT HEAT bo replaced by a voluminous work. _ Owing to this, it will be necessary, in order to give ;i clear and succinct view of its varied phenomena, to class them under different heads. Apparatus. — The apparatus now employed for investigations on radiant heat was first introduced by an Italian philosopher named Melloni, and is of the most perfect character. It consists of an instrument called a thermo- electric pile, by which small changes in tempe- rature are rendered sensible by the production of an electric current, the strength of which is measured by its power of deflecting the needle of a sensitive galvanometer. [Thermo-elec- tricity.] It has been found by experiment that rock salt has the property of transmitting radiant heat with scarcely any diminution of the rays ; hence this substance, as well as the thermo-pile, are indispensable in researches on radiation. Fundamental Laws of Badiant Heat. — 1. Radiation takes place and is transmitted through a vacuum as well as in air. This was proved by Count Rumford and Sir H. Davy at the beginning of this century. 2. Heat is emitted in a right line from every point on the surface of a hot body, spreading therefore in all directions round such a body. 3. Its intensity in a vacuum varies inversely as the square of the distance from the radiating point. 4. The amount of radiation, or the rate at which a body parts with its heat, is proportional to the excess of the temperature of the body above that of the medium in which it is placed. This law, though assumed by Newton, is found by experiment to hold good only within a certain range of temperature, not exceeding 50° of Fahrenheit. At higher temperatures Dulong and Petit found the rate of cooling to be more rapid than in the ratio stated. 5. All bodies placed in an enclosed space assume in time the temperature of the enclosure. 6. The intensity of the heating ray is as the sine of the angle which it makes with the surface. This law, however, is not general. 7. The nature of the source, as will subsequently be seen, greatly modifies both the intensity and quality of the radiation. The only satisfactory hypothesis of the ra- diation of heat was that enunciated by Prevost of Geneva, about the year 1790, and known under the name of the theory of exchanges. Its leading principle is that all bodies are per- petually exchanging their heat with one an- other. It follows, therefore, that radiation takes place with greater or less intensity at all temperatures ; that it is reciprocal between distant bodies ; and that it subsists when the temperatures are equal, though in this case no alteration of temperature takes place, for each body then receives as much as it emits : this state is called the mobile equilibrium of tem- perature. This theory readily explains the apparent radiation of cold, such as is ex- perienced when a block of ice is held near the face. In this case, although an interchange of heat still takes place, the human face, being the Vol. III. 177 warmer body, emits more rays than it receives from the ice ; hence its temperature sinks, and we feel chilled. Phenomena analogous to Light. — We have already seen that the intensify of radiant heal , like that of light, diminishes as the square of the distance from the source. The reflection of radiant heat must have been a matter of common experience from the earliest times. The first systematic experiments which esta- blished this property were made by De Saussure and Pictet, by means of coreave metallic mirrors. While engaged in these experiments, they found that radiant heat passed through a space of 69 feet in an inappreciable time. With more delicate ap- paratus Melloni subsequently established the strict analogy between the reflection of light and radiant heat, showing that the incident and reflected rays form the same angle with a perpendicular to the reflecting surface, and that reflection takes place in the plane of in- cidence. Leslie, and more perfectly Melloni and De la Provostaye and Desains, made a num- ber of experiments on the reflecting power of bodies. The metals, though the best reflectors, differ among themselves, silver being the best, and iron the worst reflector. All polished metallic surfaces are good reflectors of heat, the reflecting power diminishing as the surface becomes tarnished or blackened. This fact has many familiar illustrations. Burning mirrors are constructed on the principle of the reflection of heat, the heat rays reflected from a concave mirror being brought to a focus just as is the case with the light. In roasting meat a polished metal screen is placed around the joint ; the radiant heat from the fire, which otherwise would escape the joint, being re- flected on to it by this means. The polished fire irons before a fire are never warmed by the heat radiated by the fire, because all the heat that falls on them is reflected from their sur- face. Besides being thus regularly reflected, a part of the heat which falls upon a surface is scattered in all directions, or, as it is termed, diffused. With rude apparatus Sir William Herschel examined the power of scattering heat possessed by various surfaces, and found that white paper scattered most heat and light, and black velvet least. The heat not thus re- gularly or irregularly reflected from a body is either absorbed by the substance being lodged within it, or transmitted through the body as light is transmitted through transparent substances. The absorbing power of a body is inversely proportional to its reflecting power, a good absorber being a bad reflector. On the other hand, the properties of absorption and radiation are reciprocal : the good ab- sorber is a good radiator, or vice versa. It follows from this that culinary vessels intended to receive heat should not be bright, but black- ened ; at the same time, vessels, such as urns and teapots, intended to retain heat, should not be of earthenware or painted, but of polished metal. We shall subsequently examine more N RADIANT HEAT in detail the absorption of heat by various solid, liquid, and gaseous substances. Like light, radiant heat can be refracted by- means of suitable lenses. In the year 1800, Sir William Herschel first established the fact of the refraction of heat by a series of careful experiments. He converged the solar rays and the radiation from a heated stove by means of a glass lens, and found that there was a focus of heat a little beyond the focus of light formed by the lens. The double re- fraction of heat by a prism of Iceland spar was discovered by M. Berard, who also was the first to announce the 'polarisation of heat. Employing more delicate apparatus, Principal Forbes subsequently verified this fact, using thin plates of mica for the purpose of polarisa- tion. These facts were successively examined and firmly established by the experiments of Melloni. This philosopher has, however, gone further, and opened up an entirely new field of investigation, in the discovery that the in- visible rays of heat possess different qualities like the differently coloured rays of the visible spectrum. Light which has passed through a glass of a certain colour, passes through an- other glass of the same colour far more freely than through any other coloured glass. The same phenomenon is exhibited by radiant heat ; for, after passing through one plate, it will traverse with freedom a number of other plates of the same material, though it may not be able to pass through a plate of another substance. It follows, therefore, that the invisible rays of heat must differ in a manner analogous to the coloured rays of the spectrum. This heat- colouration Melloni named thermocrosis. All the foregoing phenomena show the close relationship existing between radiant heat and light. No fact in the one is without its parallel in the other ; and this wonderful co- incidence has led philosophers to the belief that one is but a modification of the other: light consisting of undulations in the ether of a certain length which increases from violet to red, and radiant heat of similar undulations of a length greater than the red. This will be shown more clearly in the next section. Heat of the Spectrum. — Sir William Herschel in the year 1800 examined the temperature of the different colours of the solar spectrum by means of delicate thermometers. He found the temperature to increase as he approached the red end: going into the obscure region beyond this point, he still found the tempera- ture to rise ; the thermometer indicating 7° Fahr. in the full red, whilst in the dark rays beyond the red it rose to 9° Fahr. By means of a linear thermo-electric pile, and a rock-salt lens and prism, Melloni made a series of ac- curate experiments on the heating powers of the solar spectrum, which corroborated Sir William Herschel's observations, and esta- blished the fact that the maximum temperature of the spectrum lay in the dark space beyond the red. Since Melloni's time, Prof. Muller has re-examined the solar spectrum, and re- 178 ' presented the heating effect by the following I curve, fig. 1. The luminous part of the spectrum is included within the space ABC, r B D whilst the non-luminous heat-rays are included in the dark space BCD. These dark rays are known as the extra or ultra red rays, or some- times as the Herschelic rays. Very recently Prof. Tyndall has investigated with great care the spectrum of the electric light, using similar apparatus to that employed by Melloni. As in the solar spectrum, Tyndall found the heat- ing effect to rise from the violet, where it was nil, to the red, and increase to a maximum in the dark space beyond the red. A graphical representation of the electric spectrum (fig. 2) was constructed as in the case of the solar spectrum. The distribution of heat in the two spectra are dissimilar, the extra-red rays BCD being largest in amount in the radiation from the electric light, and towering over the portion occupied by the visible spectrum ABC. It has, however, been proved by Tyndall that when a thin layer of water is interposed in the path of the rays of the electric light, the shape of the curve becomes similar to that obtained from the solar rays at the earth's surface. It is therefore probable that the diminution of the extra-red rays in the solar spectrum is Fig. 2. owing to the-ir partial absorption by the aqueous vapour in our atmosphere, an hypothesis sup- ported by recent observations. The luminous spectrum is only the visible central part of the rays of the sun or the electric light decomposed by a prism, for in- numerable dark rays fall beyond both ends of the spectrum. The invisible rays beyond the violet were first rendered visible by Prof. Stokes. [Fluorescence.] Sir Wm. Herschel endeavoured to render visible the invisible rays beyond the red, by cutting off the luminous spectrum and condensing the extra-red rays by means of a lens. His attempt was unsuccessful, and it is only recently that this has been ac- complished by Prof. Tyndall in the following manner. A concave mirror about five inches in diameter was placed behind the ..electric light, and its intense radiation thus converged to a focus about six inches distant. Between the luminous focus and the electric light was interposed a solution of iodine in bisulphide of RADIANT HEAT carbon contained in a glass cell two inches deep. This solution has the power of stopping all the light, i.e. of absorbing the rays ABC, fig. 2, whilst it transmits the obscure rays represented by BCD, fig. 2. An intensely hot but invisible focus was thus obtained, at which black paper could be inflamed, a cigar lighted, and the more fusible metals melted or burnt. When a piece of thin blackened platinum was held in the dark focus, it was immediately raised to a white heat; and thus the non- luminous rays beyond the red were rendered luminous, and the identity of the agent which produces light and radiant heat was established. To this phenomenon Prof. Tyndall has given the name color •escence. Emission of Heat. — In the preceding section prismatic analysis reveals the fact that the larger portion of the radiation from luminous bodies consists of invisible rays of heat. To determine the actual ratio which exists between the light and heat radiated from a luminous source, it is only necessary to measure the total radiation, and then suppress either the luminous or obscure portion, by interposing suitable ab- sorbents in the path of the rays. Melloni did this by cutting off the obscure heat by means of a layer of water, a liquid which he found impervious to the radiation from bodies heated under incandescence. More recently Tyndall has checked these determinations by with- drawing the luminous radiation by an opaque solution of iodine in bisulphide of carbon, and measuring the amount of obscure rays, which were wholly transmitted by this ray filter. Various sources examined in this manner gave the following proportion of luminous and ob- scure rays in every 100 emitted ; the sum of both is, of course, the total radiation. Luminous Obscure Dark spiral . . . .0 100 Red-hot spiral . . .0 100 Hydrogen flame . . .0 100 Oil flame .... 3 97 Gas flame .... 4 96 White-hot spiral . . .4-6 95"4 Electric light ... 10 90 Every luminous ray is converted into its equivalent of heat when it falls upon and is absorbed by the blackened face of the thermo- electric pile. Hence it appears that the calo- rific equivalent, or amount of force, corre- sponding to the luminous rays emitted from a hydrogen flame, or even a red-hot spiral, is absolutely insensible when compared with their obscure radiation ; and that in the intensest artificial light only 10 per cent, of the whole emission consists of luminous rays. These remarkable facts must increase our admiration of the wonderful structure of the eye, as they show the extraordinary sensitiveness of the retina to the impression of light. When various substances are raised to the same temperature, they do not all emit the same amount of heat. Leslie examined these differences in the radiating power of a great 179 [ number of bodies. Coating the sides of a cubical canister (now known as a Leslie* cube) with various substances, he found that lampblack, white lead, and all organic bodies wen; the best radiators, whilst the metals were the worst. The radiating like the absorbing power of a body is exactly the reverse of its reflecting power : a good radiator is a bad reflector. With more delicate thermometric apparatus Tyndall has recently determined the emissive power of various powders, which were attached to the sides of a Leslie's cube heated to 212° Fahr. The radiation from the metal surface of the cube being equal to 15 units, that from other substances coating this surface is given in corresponding units in the following table : — Substance Radiation Rock salt . . . . 353 Biniodide of mercury . 39-7 Sulphur .... . 40-6 Vermilion . 46-6 Fluor spar . 68-4 Carbonate of lime . . 70-2 Red oxide of lead . . 74-2 Oxide of cobalt . 767 Sulphate of lime . 777 Red oxide of iron . . 78-4 Hydrated oxide of zinc . . 80-4 Lampblack . . 84-0 As these substances are of different colours, the experiments are a test of the influence of colour on radiation. At this temperature colour is seen to be without any effect on the radiative power ; for the feeblest radiator, rock salt, and one of the most powerful, oxide of zinc, are both white ; biniodide of mercury and oxide of lead are both red, but their radiating powers are very different. Absorption of Heat. — Melloni laid the founda- tion of this branch of radiant heat by a careful and elaborate investigation of the transmission of heat through solids and liquids. The solid substances examined by him were cut into plates 0 - l of an inch thick. After noting the effect produced by the radiation from this source when nothing intervened, the little plate was in- terposed, the diminution which it effected being then observed. Melloni successively tried four different sources of heat, determining in each case the transmission through the same bodies. +3 » s 13 ^ 13 ^ I u a t-i c3 ft^ £ Is £° o O ft fl i-i o£ OS Rock salt . 8 8 8 ~~ 8~ Sulphur 26 23 40 46 Fluor spar. 28 31 58 67 Rock crystal 62 72 94 97 Glass 61 76 94 100 Black glass 74 75 88 100 Common gum . 82 97 100 100 Alum . • . 91 98 100 100 Ice .... 94 100 100 100 N 2 RADIANT HEAT If the total radiation from each source be re- presented by 100, the numbers in the foregoing table express the proportional quantities of heat intercepted by some of the principal substances examined ; showing that different bodies, though they may be of equal transparency to light, possess very different powers of trans- mitting heat, and that with one exception the heat of the different sources is transmitted in different degrees by the same body. To ex- press the power of transmitting heat, Mellom gave the name diathermancy ; whilst the power of intercepting heat he called athcrmancy. Mellom made rock salt perfectly diathermic for all sources of heat ; the 8 per cent, which it failed to transmit he attributed to loss by ; reflection from its surfaces ; but a stricter examination by Tyndall has discovered, that . even rock salt absorbs a small proportion of obscure rays. The table shows that a trans- ' parent plate of glass one-tenth of an inch thick ' intercepts all the heat radiated from a cube of boiling water, that a plate of alum of equal thickness is opaque to all bodies heated under incandescence, and that a similar film of ice transmits only 6 per cent, of the radiation from an oil lamp. As ice is perfectly transparent to light, the reason for its opacity to the heat of the red-hot spiral, and its small transmission of the heat from the lamp, becomes explained by reference to the last section, where it is shown that in all luminous sources the light rays bear a very low ratio to the obscure. Melloni also examined the transmission, of heat through liquids. These he enclosed in a little cell with glass sides ; the thickness of the liquid layer was 0'36 of an inch, and the source of heat an oil lamp surrounded by a glass chimney. Out of every 100 rays Melloni found, Bisulphide of carbon absorbed . 37 Olive oil 70 Naphtha 72 Ether . . . . .69 Sulphuric acid . . . .83 Nitric acid . . . .85 Acetic acid . . • .88 White of egg . . . .89 Water 89 These numbers express the absorption by the liquid plus the absorption by the glass sides of the cell, which latter, from the quality of the heat employed, must have been large. As besides this the experiments of Melloni -are not entirely free from error, Professor Tyndall has recently determined with more perfect apparatus the transmission through liquids. The source of heat here employed was a spiral of platinum wire, which was raised to a bright red heat by the passage of an electric current. The liquids were enclosed in a cell with movable rock-salt sides, so that liquid layers of varying thickness were obtainable. In the following table are given the absorp- tions per cent, of different liquids at the thick- nesses mentioned. 180 Thickness of liquid in parts of an inch 0-02 0-07 0-27 Bisulphide of carbon . 55 12-5 17-3 Chloroform . . 16-6 35-0 44-8 Benzol 43-4 62 5 73-6 Ether 63-3 76-1 852 Alcohol 67-3 83-6 89-1 Water 80-7 88-8 91-0 As in the case of solids, large differences are seen to exist between the absorbent power of various liquids. Though all the substances in the foregoing table are transparent to light, yet between the first and last in the list a difference of more than 75 per cent, exists in the power of transmitting heat. The elegance of Tyndall' s arrangement was further shown in his perfect control over the temperature of his source. This he could ele- vate by merely increasing the strength of the electric current which passed through the spiral. The temperature being thus gradually raised from below incandescence to vivid whiteness, the proportion of heat transmitted was found steadily to increase. This Melloni had pre- viously discovered, deducing from his ob- servations a law that the penetrative power of radiant heat increases with an increase of temperature of the source. But, whilst the experiments just mentioned confirm this law, Knoblauch and more lately Tyndall have shown that it is not in all cases true. For example, the latter found that of the radiation from a hydrogen flume 99 per cent, was absorbed by a layer of water 0 - 07 inch in thickness, and the whole radiation was entirely intercepted by a layer of water 0"27 of an inch thick. With a red-hot spiral, though the temperature of this source is far lower, layers of water at the same thicknesses absorbed 89 and 91 per cent, respectively. But besides solids and liquids, gases and vapours are found to absorb very marked and different amounts of radiant heat. Tyndall has entirely created this branch of investigation. To him we owe the discovery and laborious examination of the absorption of heat by gaseous bodies. The limits of this work forbid a de- scription of the apparatus employed in these experiments; we shall therefore merely give a summary of the results obtained. It was found that oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, or a mixture of these gases, absorb an inappreciable amount of heat, whilst many of their gaseous combinations were powerful absorbents. The : following table gives the absorptions by va- . rious gases relatively to the amount of heat . intercepted by air, which was taken as unity. , The gases were successively allowed to fill a • glass tube nearly three feet long, the source • of heat being a plate of copper heated by a gas flame. RADIANT HEAT RADIATION Relative absorption Air 1 Oxygen . 1 Nitrogen 1 Hydrogen Chlorine 1 39 Carbonic acid 90 Sulphurous acid . 710 defiant gas . . 970 Ammonia . 1195 Subsequently Professor Tyndall examined some of these gases contained in a brass tube fifty inches long, using the same source of heat as before. The results given in the next table are absolute absorptions, the total radia- tion through the exhausted tube being taken as 100. per cent. Carbonic oxide absorbed . .13 Carbonic acid . . . .14 Nitrous oxide . . . .33 defiant gas . . . .77 Preserving the experimental tube of the same length, Professor Tyndall has first exa- mined the effect of diminishing the pressure of the gas within it; and then, keeping the pressure of the gas constant, he has investi- gated the effect of diminishing the length of the gaseous column. In the first case, up to a certain point the absorption was found to be directly proportional to the density of the gas ; but in the second case, even with the thinnest layers, the absorption generally increased less rapidly than the thickness. Four gases were submitted to experiment, the length of their columns being gradually increased from 0 - 01 of an inch up to 50 inches. A layer of olefiant gas 0 - 01 of an inch thick absorbed nearly 2 per cent, of the radia- tion from a heated plate of copper, a column of the same gas 2 inches thick intercepted about 33 per cent., and a column 2 feet thick absorbed nearly 70 per cent. The absorption by vapours has also been examined, and as great differences found to exist among these bodies as among gases. The liquids from which they were derived were contained in a little flask, and each vapour was admitted into the tube until a pressure of half an inch was indicated by an attached baro- meter gauge. Here are the results with the same length of tube and the same source of heat as employed in the measurements given in the last table : — per cent. Bisulphide of carbon vapour absorbed 8 Chloroform . . . . .17 Benzol 20 Alcohol . . . . . .47 Ether 53 Acetic ether . . . . .64 Hence the vapour of chloroform, one of the feeblest, at a pressure of ^~ of the atmosphere absorbed more heat than a whole atmosphere of carbonic acid gas. The vapour of water coidd not be examined directly as the other vapours, 181 but numerous experiments conducted in other ways showed that this of all vapours was pro- bably the most powerful absorbent of heat. The importance of this fact as explaining many perplexing phenomena in meteorological science will be at once evident. Perfumes have been subjected to examina- tion by Tyndall, and the absorption by various kinds have been measured. The odour of patchouli absorbed the least heat, and of spikenard and aniseed the most. The almost inappreciable quantity of matter contained in these odours, and yet their strongly marked action on radiant heat, is a striking and sug- gestive fact. A strict comparison of the absorption of heat by certain liquids and by proportional quantities of the vapours derived from them, showed that the order of absorption was in both cases the same. The position of a liquid as an absorbent is the same as that of its vapour, and hence it is probable that from these experiments the general law can be deduced that the relative power of absorption possessed by any body is independent of its state of aggregation. The radiating powers of gases and vapours have been investigated by Tyndall. The method chiefly employed was very novel, and consisted in making the gas, whose radiative power was to be determined, heat itself by rushing into the vacuous experimental tube. The particles of the gas were warmed by their impact against the tube, and radiated their heat to the pile. In these experiments both sources of heat were removed, and the end of the tube remote from the pile was closed by a plate of metal, the rock-salt plate remaining at the other end. In this way Tyndall has demonstrated that the radiative power of every gas or vapour is directly proportional to its absorptive power : an important extension of that law which was first proved, in the case of solids, by the ex- periments of Leslie. SSadiaat Point of Shooting Stars. [Meteors, Luminous.] Radiants. In Geometry, straight lines of unlimited length proceeding from a point. The term pencil of rays is more frequently employed to denote the same thing. [Pencil.] Radiaries. [Radiata.] Radiata (Lat. radius, a ray). The name given by Cuvier to the lowest organised of the primary divisions of the animal kingdom ; because certain of the animals therein included have a radiated form of a part or the whole of their body. [Acrita ; Nematoneura ; Pro- tozoa ; Zoophyta.] Radiating Point. Any point from which rays of light or heat proceed. Radiation (Lat. radiatio, from radius, a ray). The emission of light or heat from a luminous or heated body. The principal laws of radiation have already been given under the article Radiant Heat ; but the subjects included under the present head are more particularly the phenomena of solar and terres- trial radiation. RADIATION The force of solar radiation is measured by the excess of the temperature which a body assumes when exposed to the direct action of the sun's rays above that which it has when turned towards space away from the sun. This excess may be roughly determined by two common thermometers, one placed in the shade, and the other exposed to the sun and having its bulb blackened to prevent reflection. A more accurate means was, however, devised by Sir John Herschel, who, with an instrument called by him an actinometer, has measured the heat received from the sun at the Cape of Good Hope. M. Pouillet has also executed a series of measurements on solar radiation, employing for this purpose an instrument which he named a pyrhcliometer. By these experiments the amount of solar heat falling in a given time on a surface of known area was ascertained, from which the value of the heat which the earth annually receives from the sun was deduced. This amount is equal to that which would melt a stratum of ice 102 feet thick encrusting the whole earth. Having found the quantity of solar heat intercepted by the earth, the entire amount emitted by the sun can be cal- culated. This is 2,300,000,000 times more than we receive, it would boil 700,000,000,000 of cubic miles of ice-cold water per hour, and in one year it is equal to the heat produced by the combustion of a layer of coal seventeen j miles thick entirely surrounding the sun. The amount of heat received from the sun i diminishes as the thickness of the air traversed by the sunbeams increases. When the sun is at ' the horizon the absorption by our atmosphere is therefore greatest, when at the zenith it | is least. In this latter position M. Pouillet estimated our atmosphere absorbed 25 per cent, of the solar radiation ; but a far higher i proportion of terrestrial radiation is inter- cepted. This has been established by Profes- sor Tyndall, who has discovered that the main absorbent in our atmosphere is not the large body of oxygen and nitrogen of which it is composed, but the small amount of aqueous vapour it always contains. The presence of aqueous vapour in the air is thus shown to be of essential importance in climate. While the earth is receiving heat from the sun, it is continually radiating its own warmth into space. This loss is more than compensated during the day, but at night the terrestrial radiation causes the condensation, and some- times the congelation of the moisture in the air. Dew in summer and hoar frost in winter are thus produced on the surfaces of those bodies which are the best radiators, such, for example, as are all animal and vegetable structures. From the theory of terrestrial radiation, a curious deduction was made by Fourier, with regard to the temperature of the region of space through which the earth moves in its orbital revolution : this he estimated to be — 58° Fahr., but Pouillet has more recently made the temperature of space to be— 175° Fahr. 182 RADICAL SIGN Radical. [Organic Radicals.] Radical Axis of Two Circles. Two conies intersect one another in general in four points, and have, consequently, six common chords. In the special case of two circles four of these chords are always imaginary, and one at infinity [Circular Points at Infinity] ; the fifth, and only remaining common chord, however, is always real, whether the circles intersect or not, and is called their radical axis, a name proposed by Gaultier of Tours. (Jour- nal de TEcole Polytechnique 1813.) One of the characteristic properties of the radical axis, which leads at once to its construction in the case of two non-intersecting circles, is that the tan- gents to the two circles drawn from any point of it are equal. Circles having the same radical axis are said to be co-axal ; they possess many remarkable properties. The circles of a co-axal system will either intersect each other in the same two points, or not intersect at all. In the latter case there will be two point circles in the system; these are called the limiting 2>oints. Every circle whose centre is in the radical axis, and which cuts one of the co-axal circles perpendicularly, cuts all in the same manner: all circles thus drawn constitute a second conjugate system of co-axal circles whose common radical axis is the line of centres of the first system. Of two such con- jugate systems of co-axal circles one has always limiting points and the other not. The in- verse circles to those forming a co-axal system are also co-axal, and their reciprocals form a system of confocal conies. In the works of Poncelet, Chasles, and Steiner, as well as in the more recent English text-books and journals, the properties of co-axal circles are frequently discussed. Radical Bass. In Music, the same as Fundamental Bass. Radical Centre of Three Circles. The point of intersection of the three radical axes of the circles, taken in pairs. It is the centre of the only circle which can be drawn to cut each of the three circles orthogonally. Radical Reformers. In Politics, a name applied to that political party in England which desires to have the abuses which, from lapse of time or any other cause, may have crept into the government, completely rooted out (as the term implies), and a larger por- tion of the democratic spirit infused into the constitution. Radical Sign. In Algebra, the symbol %/, denoting the extraction of a root. It is a modification of the letter r, the initial letter of radix or root. To distinguish the particular root which is to be extracted, a number is pre- fixed to the symbol ; thus, 2/, y, &c. denote respectively the square root, cube root, fourth root, &c. ; but as the square root or second root was the first considered, the number is usually omitted, and merely the symbol V written. Fractional exponents are frequently used in- stead of the radical sign. A radical quantity is a quantity to which the radical sign is prefixed. RADICLE RAIL Radicle (Lat. radicula, dim. of radix, a root). In Botany, that portion of an embryo which eventually becomes the descending ;ixis or root. It is the lowest of the two opposite cones of which an embryo plant consists. Radiolite. A variety of Natrolite from Brevig, in Norway. Radiolites. A genus of fossil shells, the inferior valve of which is in the shape of a re- versed cone, the superior valve being convex. Radius (Lat.). In Fortification, the oblique radius is a line drawn from the centre of the polygon to the extremity of the exterior side ; the right radius is a line drawn from the same centre perpendicular to the exterior side. Kadius. In Geometry, the line drawn from the centre of a circle to any point in its cir- cumference. Radius. In Osteology, a bone of the fore- arm ; so called from its supposed resemblance to the spoke of a wheel. Its upper end, which is the smallest, is formed into a round hollowed head, and is articulated with the small head at the side of the pulley of the humerus, whilst the rounded border of it next the ulna is arti- culated with the lesser sigmoid cavity of that bone ; its lower extremity is articulated with the bones of the wrist. Radius of Curvature. The radius of the circle of curvature. [Curvature.] The length of the radius of curvature at any point of a plane curve, whose equation to rectangu- lar coordinates is / (x, y) = 0, is {dx 2 + dy 2 )2 (d 2 x dy — d z y dx) which expression becomes simplified when x is taken as the independent variable and re- garded as equicrescent, as then d 2 x = 0. If the curve be referred to polar coordinates r and 6, the radius of curvature is given by the formula (dr 2 + r 2 de 2 )* rW + rdr d 2 6 + 2dr 2 dO - rd dd 2 r Radius of Explosion. In Military Min- ing, the line drawn from the charge to the edge of the crater. Radius of Rupture. In Military Mining, the distance from the charge to the point at which the internal commotion caused by the explosion ceases. Radius of Torsion of a Non-Plane Curve. [Torsion.] Radius Vector (Lat. radius, and vector, one who carries). In Geometry, the line join- ing a fixed point or pole to any other point in space. The length of the radius vector is one of the polar coordinates of the point. [Co- ordinates.] Radix. In Mathematics. [Root.] Raft (Dan. ; A.-Sax. reafian). A species of float formed of various logs or planks, fastened together side by side, so as to be conveyed from one point to another. This means of conveying timber to the sea-coast is practised in many places. The following is the plan adopted on 183 the Rhine. A little below Andernach the vil- lage of Namcdy appears on the left bank under a wooded mountain. The Rhine, here forms a bay, where the pilots are accustomed to unite together the small rafts of timber floated down the tributary streams into the Rhine, and to con- struct enormous floats, which are navigated to Dordrecht, and sold. These machines have the appearance of a floating village, composed of 12 or 15 little wooden huts, on a platform of oak and deal timber. They are frequently 800 or 900 feet in length, and GO or 70 in breadth. The rowers and workmen sometimes amount to 700 or 800, superintended by pilots, and a proprietor. The raft is composed of several layers of trees, placed one on the other, and bound together : a large raft draws not less than 6 or 7 feet of water. Several smaller rafts are attached to it, by way of protection, besides a string of boats loaded with anchors and cables, and used for the purpose of sounding the river and going on shore. The domestic economy of an English man-of-war is hardly more complete. Their navigation is a matter of considerable skill, owing to the abrupt windings, the rocks, and shallows of the rivers. Rafts improvised of spars, barrels, planks, &c. often afford valuable aid in saving life and property in cases of shipwreck. For such purposes carefully bunged casks offer greater powers of flotation than almost any article on board ship. Raft. In Military Engineering, a floating movable bridge, consisting either of strong pieces of wood secured together, and covered with planks or boards, in which case it will not bear much weight ; or of the same arrange- ment with casks secured underneath, when artillery can be passed over it. Rafter (Sax. raefter). In Architecture, an inclined piece of timber in the side of a roof ; sometimes called a spar. [Roof.] Rag- Stone. A dark grey silicious Sand- stone breaking with a rough or ragged fracture. Rag-man's Roll. A name of which no authentic derivation is extant ( Jamieson's Ety- mological Dictionary), but which belongs to the collection of instruments by which the nobility and gentry of Scotland subscribed allegiance to Edward I. in 1296. They were preserved in the tower of London ; and have been printed by the Bannatyne Club (1834). Rag-uly (apparently from the Er. rague, used of a rope fretted by rubbing). In Heraldry, a line jagged or notched in an irregular manner. The old cognisance of the Nevilles, the ragged staff, is a baton raguly. Rail (Ger. riegel). In Architecture, the horizontal part in any piece of framing or panelling. Thus in a door the horizontal pieces between which the panels lie are called rails, whilst the vertical pieces between which the panels are inserted are called styles. Rail or Water-Rail (Balhis aquations, Linn.). A native species of a genus of Macro- dactyle or long-toed waders, destitute of alar spines or a frontal shield. RAILING Railing*. A fence or barrier made of posts and rails, whether of wood or iron. The most ordinary fence of this description in the country is formed of wooden posts let into the soil, so as to stand upright. RAILROAD English hedges, and from the remotest times has formed an ingredient almost necessary in cookery. Before the discovery of the Cape passage, pepper was carried by a tedious land passage across the plains of Central Asia, to the to which are nailed or mortised horizontal coast of Syria, or through the highlands of wooden rails, one above another, at such a Armenia to Trebizond, or by a sea passage distance as to prevent domestic animals from | (scarcely less expensive) from Ceylon to Aden, penetrating through them. In some cases one j thence across the desert of the Nile, and horizontal rail is fixed to the posts near the down this river to Alexandria ; hence it ground, and another near the top of the post, the interval between them being rendered impenetrable to cattle by upright rails nailed to the top and bottom horizontal rails. Iron railings are generally formed in this manner, i.e. the. bars are riveted to the bottom hori- cost, when sold in England, about Is. Gel. the pound troy, i. e. fully 10s. or 12s. in present values : or, to take a nearer case, there is no reason to believe that the price of tea is materially changed in China since the time, now about 180 years ago, when it first became an zontal rail, and fixed to the upper rail by lead j article of general consumption in this country or any other contrivance. | If any effect has been produced by the long Railroad or Railway. In Political Economy. The charge of carriage is one of the most important items in the cost of pro- duction and the distribution of commodities to consumers. So considerable is it in some cases, that bulky articles, however cheaply made in some countries or districts, cannot be trans- ported even to regions where materials are scanty and labour dear, but must be manu- factured on the spot. Every country, for instance, has common pottery works, and manufactures at least the cheaper kinds of wooden furniture. Under no circumstances would it be advantageous to add the cost of conveyance to the production of these articles, even though they could be supplied under the most favourable conditions. Similarly, some articles possess so much value in smallbulk — as, for instance, precious metals, precious stones, and spices — that the cost of carriage becomes a comparatively small element in the aggregate price of the utility offered to the consumer. It is possible that, with due appliances of arti- ficial heat and horticultural skill, every one of the spices produced in tropical countries could be grown under glass in England. But the increased cost of production would be so con- siderable, that no one would attempt the cul- tivation, unless for scientific purposes. Between these two classes of commodities, those which could not be carried because the cost of transit forms so large an element in the price, and those which would be carried under even the most imperfect means of transit, there is a very large class of objects, which if the cost of carriage be considerably reduced might be got from countries or regions in which they can be produced most cheaply, and thus their manu- facture in countries where they are produced at greater cost might be superseded. Again, in the case of those commodities which are pro- duced abundantly in one country, and not pro- duced at all in another, but are nevertheless in demand, a reduction of the cost of carriage will bring their use within the power of those who have hitherto by reason of their clearness been debarred from the enjoyment or convenience. Thus, for instance, pepper is produced in certain tropical cour. tries as profusely as haws are on 181 continued traffic, it naturally should be that of an increased charge. But so considerably has the comparative cheapness of carriage re- duced the price of this article, that the sa?ne tea which in the days of the East India Company's monopoly and the slow voyaging of her slug- gish merchantmen, cost 12s. the pound in England, may now be had for 2s. Lastly, since duties are and have been levied on the most important articles of foreign produce, especially those which are in a state imme- diately available for consumption, and since, in order to make the tax as light as possible to the consumer, the duty is paid at a time as near as possible to that in which the article is consumed, the existence of an easy system of transit and carriage will bring about that the least possible amount of duty-paid goods will remain in the hands of the retail trader, and thus that he will be enabled to offer his com- modities at the lowest possible rate to the consumer. [Supply ; Warehouse, Bonded.] Now, overland, the charge of transit must, from the friction to be overcome, be vastly greater than that imposed on sea-borne goods. Even when a canal has been made, and great outlay incurred in making levels, brlding locks, and securing the sides of a canal from leakage, the reduction of cost is very great, in consequence of the vast diminution of friction by the use of water carriage. It will be ob- vious, too, that if a road could be constructed in which friction could be completely elimi- nated, and the only remaining difficulty to be overcome would be the resistance of the air, very little mechanical or manual force would be needed in order to move heavy weights over the plane surface, while by implication the reduction of such an amount of frjetion to the least amount would progressively approxi- mate to the condition of an absolute removal of friction from the act of artificial motion, and the economical end, often adverted to, of attaining the greatest possible result with the least possible expenditure of force, would thus be reached. The advantage of using a plane surface was, of course, felt as soon as manual or other labour was employed in moving heavy bodies, and the act by which a RAILROAD labourer drives a wheelbarrow np or along a plank lias fundamentally the same purpose as the use of a tram or railway. These trams or railways have existed in mining and quarry- ing districts for a long time, and it. is said that the duke of Bridgewater, of canal reputation, was aware that the only practical competition which could hereafter militate against his fa- vourite method of canal traffic was the railway. The course of scientific discovery and adapta- tion, which has developed the stationary into the locomotive engine, has produced a complete revolution in the means of land transit, both as to cheapness, efficiency, and speed. The con- veyance of goods, which under the old system of heavy waggons, or the improved but im- perfect method of canal navigation, was very long, necessarily very incomplete, and generally very expensive, has now been rendered easy and rapid, the time of transit having been diminished by one-fifth at least, and the service of the railway being much more general than that of canals. The cost, too, though not lessened in the same proportion, is considerably reduced. It is true that in the conveyance of heavy goods, the demand for which is pretty constant and the supply generally uniform, the slowness of canal traffic is no hindrance to business, and the barge can still compete successfully with the locomotive. But in the conveyance of all commodities for which speed is necessary, and occasionally even for the con- veyance of the most bulky goods, the railway is superior to any other method of transit. For example, under the old canal system, a continual frost often produced a sort of coal famine in large towns, as well as other re- sults now obviated by the services of railroads. The first advantage, then, which a railroad gives to trade, and by implication to the producer and consumer, is that it diminishes the cost of transit. This result, which is manifest enough in those objects which are immediately familiar to us, is of the highest national importance when we take into account its effects on home and foreign trade. The fertility, for instance, of any district, will be of very little value to its pos- sessors, unless an easy method be supplied by which its produce can be brought to market. A good road is as great an object of interest to the agriculturist, as good cattle and good land. The real value of any estate, as far as the market price of its produce goes, is greatly relative to the ease and cheapness with which that pro- duce can be offered for sale. In this particular, railroads have conferred prodigious benefits on landowners. They have at once equalised and raised prices. The market value of costly but perishable commodities has been almost doubled in certain districts by their operation. The stimulant given to production in the crea- tion of a market for produce is very great. Meat, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetables, milk, butter, eggs, and a variety of other products, the consumption of which was once almost entirely local, and the price of which was con- sequently low, are now rated even in remote 185 ] country places at town prices. Twenty or twenty-five years ago, legs of pork, the least valuable part of the pig with agricul- turists in home consumption, could have been frequently purchased in the eastern part of Hampshire at from 3£e?. to Ad. the pound, while fresh butter in summer rarely rose above 8d. the pound. These and similar low prices of poultry and fruit have been raised by the easy method of transit supplied by rail- roads. In all probability (for the elements of the calculation are wanting, owing to the absence of any compulsory registration of the titles to landed property), land in the neigh- bourhood of railways, i. e. the greater part of the land in England, has increased seventy-five per cent, in value, by this cause alone, during the last thirty years. The effects of railways on foreign trade are still more noteworthy. Many conveniences and luxuries of life have been rendered accessible to the community by the beneficent agency of these iron roads. For instance, a great trade in foreign eggs and fruit is being carried on between this country and France. Such a trade would be impossible without easy and rapid communication. At the present moment a traffic is springing up in ripe grapes, brought from the South of France, the purpose of the importation being the use of these articles for the home manufacture of wine. No better illustration could be given of some of the advantage which may and does ensue upon the distribution of commodities and the division of human labour, than the introduction of such a traffic by the agency of a railroad. Still more important, however, is the effect of railway communication on the supply of food. It is a continual subject of alarm among economists, that population in thickly settled countries is fast outgrowing the means of subsistence. This view is based partly upon the economical theory of Bent, partly on that of Population. But the contingency, on the hypothesis of sustained intercourse taking- place between communities, and the strength- ening of international interests, is so remote as hardly to deserve serious attention, still less to be a subject of alarm. Improvements in the conveyance of supplies by ships, in the shortening of voyages, the cheapening of materials, the abolition of duties on timber, are doing and will do much towards lessening the cost of food produced in countries where fertile land is boundless, and the cost of agri- culture, as proved by the price of corn on the spot, is very low. But railroads have done even more than ships towards bringing about this result, and dispelling the alarms of those who have hitherto reasoned from imperfect data. If the reader will cast his eyes upon any map of the United States, and consider the network of railroads converging to Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo, and observe that they form a sort of trade drainage for the produce of the vast prairie lands in the western states ; that rail- roads are laid as rapidly as their areas are RAILROAD being brought into cultivation ; that it pays the western farmer well to produce wheat for the English market at prices far below the average of those at which it was cultivated prior to the liberation of food from the trammels of the corn laws ; and that the emigration into the United States, and the occupation of land, are progressing at a rate unparalleled in the history of any community which has ever grown before, the alarm of a deficient supply and a redundant population will be seen to be as baseless as any panic which has ever occupied men's minds. And it must be remembered that this area is only a portion of that which is being cultivated for food. The best districts of Canada are being rapidly occupied, andwheatof the best quality grown. The supply from these regions promises to be exceedingly abundant; for it is a fact in the culture of wheat, that its quality is always the better the nearer it approaches the isothermal line beyond which its cultivation is, by climatal reasons, impossible. The economical history of railway enterprise in this country is by no means creditable to the national character or the public conscience. It could not, perhaps, have been expected that these undertakings should have been the act of government, not so much because they are not (like the post office) a branch of business which might have been very fairly carried out by government, but because administrations are inveterately prodigal, slovenly, and inefficient. The management, too, of railways in the hands of government would have been fruitful in all kinds of parliamentary and party jobs, and public opinion would probably have done little towards correcting abuses. Nor was it possi- ble, according to the theory of property in land, and the permission given to landowners by the legislature to tie up and control its distri- bution by all sorts of complex conveyances, to construct these roads on the basis of mutual consent, or the consent of the majority of those through whose lands the railroad was to pass. Hence the purchase was compulsory, and effected by pai'liamentary sanction. But as the legis- lator was generally the landowner, it was necessary that terms should be made with him before his assent was given, and thus the land- owners on various pleas contrived to exact enormous sums, under the name of compensa- tion, for permission to use a part of their land, and, as events showed, to improve materially the remainder. It would be a curious enquiry to contrast the real value of the land taken for railways, and the price paid during the early years of these enterprises for the permission to take it. Now, as a consider- able portion of the capital created by the com- panies was expended in these compensations and bribes, and no actual value was received for the concession — in other words, as much of the stock was virtually fictitious, it became the immediate interest of the companies to oppose any scheme which seemed likely to diminish the existing profit by competition. It was the inte- rest of landowners to encourage such rivalrv, 186 and it was very plausibly alleged that as the parliamentary sanction had been obtained at the company's cost and represented a large sum in the company's liabilities, it should be defended and protected against the aggression of rival schemes. It has thus come to pass, that the principle of protection has been to a large extent recognised in railway under- takings, and every session large sums have been expended by the companies in defence of privileges which seem to be just, because they have been largely and fully paid for. Had the market value been given for land at the outset, and compensations been accorded for real injury only, subject, in case of provable benefit here- after, to a corresponding reduction, the whole system of parliamentary attack and defence would have been exploded as irrational, unjust, and contrary in the fullest sense to public policy. Nor is this all that railways have been liable to. After the great lines had been con- structed, the system of branches was begun, and a different set of tactics was employed. It was found out that a railway was a benefit, but the shareholders of the old companies knew that the construction of these small lines would be an inevitable loss. They were constrained to make them, or imagined that they were con- strained to make them, or purchased them when constructed on very advantageous terms to their temporary and sagacious owners. The writer was informed some time since, when enquiring of a leading director in one of the greatest English railways, that in no case had the com- pany failed to suffer a serious loss by these transactions, and that had they seen a way of escape, they would never have entered into these negotiations. The whole of this loss is the fruit of the parliamentary system of rail- way enterprise, and of the waste of capital con- sequent on the incidents of that system. When railways were constructed, parliament sanctioned a vast number. The old map in Bradshaw's Guide contained for some time projected railways as well as those which were constructed or in course of construction. It is hardly necessary to say that such a sanction, on the understanding that government was compe- tent to decide upon the powers possessed by the company, was the ridiculous misconception of the amount of capital available for these works. The annual savings of the country are reckoned at seventy millions — a sanction was given for an outlay of six times this amount in a single year. The Acts under which railways are governed generally provide that when the profit exceeds ten per cent, the excess should be accumulated, or fares should be reduced, or some public use should be made directly or indirectly of the surplus. Government has also reserved to itself the right of purchasing railways ; and as means of public transit, assumes, properly enough, a right of action with them in public emergencies. But the causes noticed above have put out of sight the possibility of the government maxi- RAILROADS mum rate of profit. The interest on the aggre- gate of railway stock is, and probably always will he, rather lower than the dividends on consols, the fares andrates being notwithstand- ing higher than in any country, though they should have been under a sounder system much lower. For information on the early history of English railways, see Mr. Francis On Railways. The estimate of the average cost of conveying a train a mile is as follows : — s. d. Maintenance of way and works . 0 5| Locomotive power 0 9 Repairs and renewals of carriages and waggons 0 2| General traffic charges .... 0 9 Rates and taxes 0 l] Government duty 0 1 Compensation for personal injury, and damage and loss of goods . 0 0j Legal and parliamentary ex- penses 0 0^ Miscellaneous working expendi- ture not included in the above . 0 2_ 2 7 On the hypothesis that a train conveys 25 carriages, all of which are full, it follows that each passenger can be conveyed 100 miles at an average cost of something less than three- pence farthing. The lowering of fares, re- duced sometimes under circumstances of rivalry and competition to one-eighth of the ordinary charges, has not been found to cause a loss of more than half per cent, in the dividends. These remarks apply with equal force to the carriage of goods. It has been shown that coals can be bought at the pit's mouth in some districts and conveyed to London at a total cost of seven or eight shillings a ton ; but under the existing system the price paid for each ton on reaching its destination is quadrupled. A bill was recently sought for by the Great Eastern Company, who proved that the easiness of the gradients on the proposed line would so lessen the cost of construction and the expenses of working as to enable them to bring coals to London in any quantity at a shilling a ton. The bill was rejected on the very ground of this anticipated ability of carrying coals in trains of 400 tons load, profitably, at the rate of one farthing per ton per mile, the chairman remark- ing that it was not fair to other companies that they should be able to work at so low a rate. On the other hand, the raising of fares is generally followed by a diminution in the re- turns. The receipts per train at a penny fare from Shrewsbury to Upton Magna were, in December 1858, 111. 15s. 8d. ; but on the re- turn to a fare of threepence halfpenny in November 1859, the receipts per train fell to U. 4s. lid. For further details on this subject, and for the arguments in favour of converting the rail- ways into government or national property, the reader is referred to an article on ' Railway Re- form' in the Westminster Beview, April 1866. 187 I Railroads or Railways. Roads con- stricted of tracks of iron called rails, on which roll the wheels of carriages drawn either by horses or by steam engines, and to which they • are confined by ledges or flanges raised on the tires of the wheels. j Theory of Railways. — The object to be at- j tained by the construction of roads of every kind is to effect the transport of loads by the least possible expenditure of tractive force; and one road is better or worse than another, caeteris paribus, according as the same moving power is capable of drawing upon it a greater or less amount of load, or a given load at a greater or less speed. Since the moving power, whatever it may be, is expended in overcoming the resistance which the carriages on which the load is borne offer, this object can be at- tainable only by the adoption of such expedients as will permanently diminish the amount of that resistance ; and common roads, canals, and railways, which are all expedients for diminish- ing the resistance of traction, have each their appropriate sphere. Common roads are suited for moderate amounts of traffic, and for the miscellaneous purposes of domestic communi- cation. Canals are best for carrying cheap and heavy articles at a low speed ; and rail- ways are proper where there is a large traffic, and where a high rate of speed is required. History of Railways. — About the middle of the seventeenth century, the transport of coals from the pits to the harbour was effected in the coal districts of Northumberland and Durham by laying down parallel tracks of timber with a horse path between them, the wheels being confined upon the beams or rails of timber by ledges or flanges projecting from the inside of the tire^ of the wheels. These timber rails were constructed in pieces of about 6 feet long with a section of about 4 inches square ; they were supported on pieces of timber called sleepers laid at right angles to them trans- versely on the road. These sleepers were laid at about two feet apart, so that each pair of parallel rails was supported by three sleepers. Besides giving support to the rails, these sleepers had also the effect of maintaining the rails in gauge, or in keeping them at a fixed distance asunder. The rails were fastened to the sleepers by pins driven quite through the rails, and half-way through the sleepers. To preserve the uniformity of the upper surface of the rail, these wooden pins were planed off at the top. The necessity of giving room for the flanges of the wheels, running as they did below the surface of the rail, and the small depth between the surface of the rail and the sleeper, rendered it impossible to protect the sleepers effectually from the action of the horses' feet by any covering of gravel or other material. The sleepers were consequently subject to great wear and tear. The rails also, being worn by the action of the wheels still more rapidly than the sleepers, required to be frequently re- placed ; and as each new rail was pinned down RAILROADS to the same sleeper, the ends of the sleepers were gradually perforated by so many holes that the sleepers were weakened and required to be soon replaced. These defects were re- medied by the adoption of the double-timber railway, which consisted in laying upon the surface of the timber rails, above described, additional rails of timber of equal scantling, attached to the lower rails by wooden pins, passing quite through the upper and half through the lower rails, in the same manner as the lower rails themselves were attached to the transverse sleepers. This change was attended with many advantages. Besides the increased strength given to the rails by the double timbers, the depth of the sleepers below the upper surface of the superior rail allowed the sleepers to be protected from the action of the horses' feet by covering them with broken stones, gravel, or other road materials. The structure of rails and sleepers also being stronger and more weighty, and held down by the road material with which the sleepers were covered, allowed a packing or ballasting to be driven under the rails, so as to give greater stability and firmness to the road. Another advantage obtained by this arrangement was, that when the superior rails were worn by the action of the wheels, they could be replaced by new ones without disturbing the inferior rails ; and as the places of the joints, and those at which they were attached by pins to the in- ferior rails, could be varied at pleasure, the pin-holes made in the inferior rails would not come in the same place, or near each other, so as injuriously to weaken the latter. The next improvement consisted in the ad- dition of a plate or bar of iron, about two inches broad and half an inch thick, laid along the upper surface of the superior rail, and at- tached to it by nails or iron pins countersunk in it. The wheels of the carriages ran upon this iron rail, which formed a more durable surface than that of the wood. In the United States of America, railways of this construction are still in occasional use. They are recom- mended in that country by the abundance and cheapness of timber and the comparative high cost of iron. Such a road is tolerably efficient where the traffic is light and slow, and can therefore be resorted to in localities and cir- cumstances in which an adequate return could not be obtained for the capital necessary for the construction of the more perfect modern railway. In the construction of these timber railways in America many other improvements have been introduced, more especially in the substructure of the road. In laying out the roadway for the reception of the rails, two parallel trenches are cut along the line of way corresponding to the distance between the rails, and transverse trenches at right angles to these are cut to receive the sleepers : these trenches are respectively bottomed with a ballasting of broken stone, on which the rails and cross sleepers rest. This basis answers the double purpose of a firm and durable support for the road and an effectual means of drainage. The scantling of the timbers used for the rails is usually six inches in width by ten inches in depth : they are attached to the sleepers, so as to be at once kept from springing from them and from altering their gauge, by the following means : A notch is cut in the sleeper corre- sponding to the size and form of the rail , and the rail, at the place where it is let into the sleeper, is formed with a vertical surface on the outside, and a levelled surface on the in- side, increasing in width downwards. When let into the notch of the sleeper, the levelled part of the rail is forced into the corresponding cavity of the notch by a wedge driven between the outside edge of the rail and the outer sur- face of the notch. The Plate Railway or Tramway. — In the progress of improvement, the timber railway above described was succeeded by the iron- plate railway, or tramway, in which the wheels — which were without flanges — ran on cast- iron plates formed with a ledge on the outer edge of each track to prevent the wheels from running off ; and this species of road was for a long period almost exclusively used in the coal districts, and in public works generally, and is still employed to a considerable extent, espe- cially in the railways which are carried through the workings of mines, and on which the pro- duce of the mine is conducted in waggons, being pushed by men or drawn by horses to the foot of tho shaft. These tramways were for a long period con- structed exclusively of cast iron ; but, when improved methods of rolling malleable iron were contrived, they were formed by rolling. Edge Railways. — Within twenty years after the first introduction of tramways of iron, the form of rail called the edge rail was brought into use. This rail is constructed in the form of a bar of iron, the width of which is consider- ably less than its depth, placed, as the name im- plies, with its narrow edge presented upwards. Owing to its depth being much greater than its width, its power, in proportion to its weight, to resist vertical pressure is very considerable. The wheels are retained on rails of this de- scription by flanges projecting from the inside of their tires. These flanges, at the point where the wheels rest on the rails, descend below the rails ; and the wheel cannot pass off the rail towards the outer side, unless the flange rolls over the rail. For a long period after their first adoption, edge railways were confined to the mining dis- tricts, and more particularly to the collieries, where they were used for the transport of the products of the mines to the places of shipment ; but this species of road acquired vastly in- creased importance when passengers and goods came to be transported on it by locomotive en- gines, which took place first on the Stockton and Darlington Kailway in 1825, but more pro- minently between Liverpool and Manchester in the year 1830. Since that time, the con- struction of railways adapted for general traffic, RAILROADS at a speed which would have been formerly thought impossible, has been carried to a great extent in all parts of the world. Statistics of Railways. — It is now almost useless to collect the statistics of railroads, because in most countries the figures which are correct this day may be totally unfit to give the relative number of lines, and their lengths opened, a few months hence. Thus the Indian railways opened in May 1805 extended to a length of 3,186 miles, but it was calculated that they would extend at the end of that year to 4,917 miles. The following table, extracted fromPerdonnet's Traiti Elcmcntaire des Chcmivs de Fer, ed. 1866, will enable the reader to form some idea of the degreo in which the various nations of Europe have availed themselves of the new means of locomotion. Country Length in Kilometres opened Length in Kilometres granted Length per Myriametre square opened Length per Myriameti'e square granted Length per Million of Inhabitants opened Length per Million of Inhabitants granted Prance, to 1861 . 9,441 15,025 1-9 2-8 268-0 419-0 Germany 13,728 1-15 j> 180-5 Switzerland . 1,051 1,500 35 5-1 457 9 625-0 Spain . 2,090 4,245 0-5 0-9 154-4 300-8 England 11,012 14,250 7-7 10-8 640-0 907-5 Scotland 2,203 3,075 2-9 3-9 150-0 1080-7 Ireland 1,947 3,319 2-4 4-4 299-5 510-0 Belgium 1,714 » 5-8 >> 375-0 » Within the limits of the present article, it would not be possible to trace, in the order of time, the succession of improvements by which the present methods of laying out and con- structing railways for the swift transport of pas- sengers by steam power have been established. When the Liverpool and Manchester line was first brought into operation, little, compara- tively, was understood of the capabilities of such means of intercommunication ; and that line may be regarded as an experimental rail- way, the results of which have supplied the data on which others have since been con- structed and worked. The form, strength, and weight of the rails ; the mode of fixing them on the road ; the weight, power, and proportions of the engines ; the form, strength, and weight of the carriages and waggons ; the magnitudes of the trains, and the speed of transport, have all been subject to change from year to year, and almost from month to month, since the opening of that line in 1830 to the present time. We shall not, therefore, attempt to trace these improvements ; but shall briefly explain the formation and construction of railways, according to the methods and principles at present generally received. Gauge of Railways. — The gauge, or the distance between the rails, on which depends the distance between the wheels of the car- riages and engines, and to a certain extent their structure, has frequently been a subject of much discussion. It is now generally admitted that all railways constructed in the same country ought to have the same gauge ; and though it is not contended that the gauge now in use is the best that could possibly have been adopted, yet that, extensive lines of road having been constructed with that gauge, the dis- advantages attending a departure from it will be greater than any counterbalancing advan- 189 tages that could attend any other magnitude of gauge. In the colliery railways in the north of England, the rails had been laid at 4 feet 8^ inches asunder; and on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first line intended for general traffic was laid down by Mr. Stephenson with the same gauge. The lines of railway subsequently projected, extending from Liver- pool and Manchester to Birmingham (and thence to London), to Preston, Wigan, Bolton, Leeds, and other places, were laid down with the same gauge, since the carriages and engines would necessarily have to pass from one to the other. But when railways began to be constructed in Belgium and other parts of the Continent, where the same reason for uniformity of gauge did not prevail, the same gauge never- theless was adopted. The first conspicuous departure from this uniformity took place on the Great Western Railway, extending from London to Bristol, which was laid down with a gauge of 7 feet ; and the Eastern Counties Railway next adopted a gauge of 5 feet. The latter line (now known as the Great Eastern) has since been reduced to the 4 feet 8^ gauge, and the same gauge has been laid down (in addition to the 7 feet gauge) on a considerable part of the Great Western system. The gauge of a railway can be regarded as nothing more than its linear modulus, or the index to its general scale. There is nothing per se to give one gauge a preference over another; but, as the magnitude of the gauge determines the general magnitude and scale of the railway, and of everything connected with the railway, including waggons, carriages, and engines, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, cut- tings, &c, and, in short, all the works, whether of a movable and perishable or fixed and per- manent nature, it is a matter of the greatest RAILROADS importance that it should be determined with a just regard to the traffic of the line. The battle of the gauges may be explained on this ground, for there can be no doubt that the 1 4 ft. 8^ in. gauge was adopted by accident ; but when once adopted, it was found to be more | convenient to execute the rest of the railway j system of the same dimensions. The facility afforded for intercommunication upon the uni- form gauge, the economy resulting from the small gauge (which is a great element in the commercial results attending a railway), the greater ease of working, all give the narrow gauge advantages not compensated for by any perceptible amount of speed or convenience in travelling upon the broad gauge. The reader is referred, for an account of the struggle that took place on the subject of the gauges, to the pamphlet by Wyndham Harding on the question ; to the Report of the Gauge Commis- sioners ; to the Life of Robert Stephenson, vol. ii. ch. i., by Professor Pole, in which the argu- ments for and against the broad and narrow gauges are carefully stated. The result of the argument has shown that it is not worth while, particularly in a poor district, or in districts which do not contain the elements of an active circulation, to incur the expense of the broad gauge ; and as the traffic of the lines of every country is destined, sooner or later, to inter- communicate in every direction, any break of gauge must always be attended with a con- siderable amount of inconvenience. Practi- cally, the broad gauge has been abandoned, or at least the mixed gauge has been laid down on almost every line on which the broad gauge had been established. Of the Formation and Construction of Rail- ways. — Whatever be the moving power to be used for the transport of loads upon a railway, its force should be proportioned to the maxi- mum resistance of such loads, and it should be capable of varying its energy to the same extent as that resistance is subject to variation. _ The great perfection which has been attained in the construction of the rails, and in the methods of fixing them in their position upon the road, is such, that the resistance offered to the tractive power by loads moved on a straight and level railway may be regarded as practically uni- form, so that the moving power by which a load is transported at a given speed on a straight and level line of railway is subject to a resistance as unvaried and as uniform as any to which moving powers are usually submitted in any of the processes of art. But as the amount of resistance to the tractive power upon a straight and level railway is diminished by the perfection thus attained in the construc- tion of the road, so, in the same degree, any resistance produced by a departure from a perfect level is more sensibly felt. Thus, if the resistance to the moving power on a straight and level railway, by a load moved at a given speed, be equal to the 250th part of the load, an acclivity which would rise at the rate of one foot in 250, or nearly at the rate of 20 190 perpendicular feet in a mile, would produce a resistance to the moving power, by reason of the ascent alone, equal to a 250th part of the load, and therefore equal to the resistance which the moving power would sustain on a level line. It follows, therefore, that, under such circumstances, in drawing a load up such an acclivity, the moving power would have to overcome twice the resistance opposed to it on a level ; for the same causes which produce on a level a resistance amounting to the 250th part of the load also produce the same resistance in ascending the acclivity, in addition to which there would be an equal amount of resistance due to the ascent. If, therefore, under such circumstances, the moving power were required to draw the load up the acclivity at the same speed as that at which it drew it on the level, the machine exerting that power must be endowed with properties in virtue of which it becomes capable of varying its energy, without injury to its structure, in the proportion of two to one. The power now employed almost universally to draw carriages upon railways is the loco- motive engine, some of the wheels of which are rotated by being put into communication with the steam cylinders, and the friction of these wheels on the rails propels the train. The tires of the locomotive wheels, and of the wheels of all the carriages, have usually a conical form given to them, becoming gra- dually smaller from the flange outwards ; and, when a carriage rests straight upon the rails, the distance between the flanges of the wheels being less than the distance between the rails, a small space is left between the flanges and the rails, to allow some play to the flanges without letting them strike the rails. When the carriage comes to a curve, the flange of the outer wheel comes into con- tact with the outer rail, and the whole play of the flanges is given to the space between the flange of the inner wheel and the inner rail. In consequence of the conical form of the tires of the wheels, the outer wheels, in this case, rest upon a thicker part of the cone tha)i the inner, and the actual diameter on which they revolve is consequently greater than that on which the inner wheels revolve. This effect has been generally regarded as an expedient sufficient to enable railway carriages to run round curves of a certain limited radius ; but in some of the large continental locomotives other expedients are sometimes employed. The pressure of the flange on the rail being the principal means of turning a railway car- riage round a curve, and such pressure being attended by friction, and therefore by increased resistance to the moving power, curves as well as acclivities are a cause of resistance, and this resistance will be great in proportion to the rapidity of the curve or the shortness of its radius. But independently of this effect of curves, a more serious objection to curves of which the radius is under a certain limit of magnitude arises from the liability of the carriages to run off, by the flange encountering RAILROADS any obstacle or inequality which would cause it. to pass over the rails. This tendency is increased if there be a declivity as well as a curve, and if at the same time the train is travelling at a high rate of speed. Curves on Railways. — With a view to insure the public safety, the legislature has generally required that no curve shall be allowed upon a main line with a less radius than one mile : the exceptions to this are where one railway passes into another, and at the termini, or the entrance of depots or stations. In such situations the trains must slacken their speed, and therefore a sharp curve is attended with less danger. It has appeared, however, that these restrictions upon the radii of curves have been more stringent than safety requires. In a course of experiments made by Dr. Lardner, it was established that curves of a mile radius produce no sensible increase of resistance at the usual speed of railway trains, and therefore curves of considerably less radius may be traversed at that speed without danger. We may here state, that on the Newcastle and Carlisle Kailway there are many curves in the main line with radii under half a mile, which are traversed at the usual speed with perfect safety. The section of a railway is limited by those circumstances which govern its acclivities, already explained, and which are equally related to the amount of resistance on level rails, and to the practical limits of the varia- tion of the moving power. The plan, on the other hand, is limited by the necessity of effecting every change of direction of the line by curves of which the radius shall have such a magnitude as to exclude all danger of the carriages running off the line. In the laying out of a railway, therefore, limitations of its sec- tion and plan must be kept constantly in view. Since the natural surface of a country is rarely adapted to the conditions which have been thus shown to be necessary to the forma- tion of a railway, an artificial surface must generally be formed by raising some and lowering other parts of the country through which the railway is to pass. The expedients by which this is accomplished are attended with more or less difficulty and expense, and the skill of the engineer is eminently required in the selection of such a course for a proposed line of railway as will be attended with the least expensive construction, due regard being had to the permanent expense of working and maintaining it. When a railway is proposed to be constructed between two points, which are called its ter- mini, the engineer makes himself generally ac- quainted with the country between these termini, and selects that course for the line which, with least deviation from a straight line join- ing the proposed termini, will afford the great- est facilities for the formation of the artificial surface of the railway, limited as it must be in respect to its acclivities, and to the curves by which its various changes of direction are 191 effected. This is first accomplished by an eye survey or general reconnaissance of the country. An instrumental survey is afterwards made along the direction which has been selected for the line, and a nearly accurate profile of the country from terminus to terminus, in the proposed direction, is obtained. This being accomplished and reduced to a drawing, as re- presented in fig. 1, a line ABCDEFOIIIK is drawn, regulated by the degrees of inclination which have been decided to be the best practi- cal limits of the acclivities. This line will, as Fig. 1. represented in the figure, in some places, as A B, C D, E F, G H, I K, pass above, and in others, B C, D E, F Gr, H I, below, the natural surface of the ground. It is therefore to be considered that, in the one case, the artificial surface of the line must be elevated above the natural surface; and that, in the other case, some expedient must be provided by which the artificial surface may pass at the requisite depth below the natural surface. The surface of a railway is raised above the natural surface of the ground by either of two expedients : 1st, by forming a mound of earth with sloping sides, having the railway on its summit — this is called an embankment (fig. 2); 2ndly, by constructing a bridge by which the railway can be conducted, at the requisite ele- vation, above the natural surface of the ground in the same manner as a road is constructed over a river — such a bridge is called a viaduct. [Viaduct.] Such structures are formed either Fig. 2. of masonry or of iron ; but in countries such as the United States and Russia, where timber is abundant, cheap viaducts of carpentry are frequently used. The surface of a railway is conducted below the natural surface of the ground by either of two expedients: 1st, by forming an excavation, Fig. 3. V; - ' , . ... or artificial valley, with sloping sides, along the bottom of which the railway is constructed RAILROADS — such an excavation Is called a cutting (fig. 3) ; 2ndly, by undermining the ground and con- structing a subterranean archway or vault of sufficient magnitude, the roof of which is usually lined with masonry, and along the bottom of which the railway is conducted — such an arch- way is called a tunnel. [Tunnel.] In laying out a railway, the disposition of its cuttings and embankments must be kept in view. In general, the material by which the embankments are formed is obtained from the cuttings ; and, with a view to the saving of expense, the engineer so arranges his section that the quantity of stuff required for the for- mation of embankments shall be as nearly as possible equal to that supplied by the cuttings. If there be an excess of stuff from the cuttings, ground must be obtained in some position near the cuttings whereon it can be thrown. This is technically called putting it to spoil. If, on the other hand, there be an excess of embankment, then the stuff necessary for the formation of such embankment must be ob- tained from some excavation made near the embankment expressly to supply the stuff for the embankment. This is called side cutting. The distance along which the stuff obtained from a cutting is carried before it is laid down to form the embankment is called the lead ; and the quantity of labour necessary to form an embankment out of an adjacent cutting is de- termined by the number of cubic yards of stuff necessary to form the embankment multiplied by the average lead, or the mean distance to which such stuff has to be carried. Where a very low and long embankment occurs, it may happen that the lead is so long that the expense of forming the embankment from the nearest cutting would be greater than the expense of putting the cutting to spoil, and of forming the embankment from side cutting. These are questions which are determined in each individual case with reference to the price of land and labour. When the elevation above the natural surface of the ground at which the railway must be carried is so great as to render an embank- ment impracticable, or attended with a dis- proportionate expense, a viaduct is resorted to ; and, on the other hand, when the excavation necessary to give an open cutting would be productive of objectionable expense, then the railway is conducted under the ground through a tunnel. The slopes A B, A! B', figs. 2, 3, forming the sides of embankments and cuttings, depend on the nature of the soil or strata through which the cuttings are made, and of which the embankments* are formed. In general, every material has a certain angle at which it will rest, all more steep angles causing it to slip or fall ; this angle is called, in mechanics, the angle of repose. In the strata through which railway cuttings are made, and from which em- bankments are usually formed, the slopes of the sides are rarely less than 1^ foot horizontal to 1 foot vertical, and they vary between that 192 J and 2 feet horizontal to one foot vertical* J When the material is gravel, sand, loose chalk, i or gravelly clay, a slope of 1^ to 1 is generally ; found sufficient ; but with certain descriptions | of clay, such as that called the London clay, a more gradual slope must be allowed. With | such material, the slopes are constructed at 1^- or 2 horizontal to 1 vertical ; but in general it is better, even at increased expense of earth- work, to allow a sufficient slope in the com- i mencement, and thereby avoid the continual | expense attending slips, as the gradual de- cadence of the sides of cuttings and embank- j ments is called. The face of slopes, both of cuttings and em- bankments, should be covered with soil and ( sown with grass seeds, so as to produce a turf, which gives a further security against slips. i They may be also, especially the slopes of era- | bankments, planted with shrubs ; care being taken, however, not to obstruct the ventilation of the road. When the stratum through which a cutting is required to be made is rock or hard stratified chalk, it will stand with perpendicular sides ; and, in such cases, cuttings of great depths may be made at a trifling sacrifice of land. The Olive Mount cutting on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway is, at the deepest parts, above 100 perpendicular feet from the natural level of the surface to the level of the rails ; and cuttings of still greater depth and much greater extent, through stratified chalk, are executed on the Brighton Railway, of which the sides are perpendicular. In most cases, however, where cuttings attain to these extraordinary depths, tunnels would be less expensive. It sometimes happens that the material of the cutting is required for an adjacent embankment ; and, under such circumstances, if the sides of the cutting can be perpendicular, and the sacrifice of land small, it may be preferable to tunnelling. The mate- rials from the Olive Mount cutting above men- tioned were required for the formation of the Broad Green embankment adjacent to it. The physical peculiarities of the ground over which many of our railways have been carried, have caused formidable difficulties in their construction. Chat Moss, on the Liverpool and Manchester line, was 4^ miles across when the railway was carried over it, and from 20 to 40 feet deep. Cattle could not stand upon it, and a piece of iron would sink into it by its mere weight. To form an em- bankment of 277,000 yards, 670,000 yards of material had to be thrown into the bog. In the Haslington cutting, on the East Lan- cashire line, half a million yards of peat, sand, and gravel, had to be excavated from a bog hole, and two trains carrying earth for three months were unable to obtain a foundation. Large stones were finally thrown in, which pressed the peat aside, and enabled the line to be carried across. The Ogden viaduct, which is carried over a quicksand 50 feet deep, required 1,500 cubic yards of earthwork to RAILROADS bo thrown in daily for many weeks to obtain a foundation. At Ashton, where a fifty-feet em- bankment had to be raised, the ground sank with the weight of the earth, which disap- peared as fast as it was deposited, and at length the surface of the surrounding fields burst upward . with the pressure. On the Leeds and Bradford, Durham and Sunder- land, Midland and many other railways, the line has been carried over bogs and swamps, by which large quantities of material were swallowed up before any visible progress could be made. At the Ambergate cutting the occurrence of a seam of shale, rising at an acclivity of 6 to 1, caused the whole side of a hill to slip down, and involved the ne- cessity of removing 500,000 yards of earth. Then in carrying tunnels through some hills the quantity of water to be pumped out presents a serious impediment. In forming the Box tunnel on the Great Western line, 32,000 hogsheads of water had to be raised daily for many months. In the Kilsby tunnel, on the North- Western line, 2,000 gallons of water had to be raised per minute for eight months. In forming the Woodhead tunnel of the Sheffield and Manchester line, eight million tons of water were raised in five years. On the Dundalk and Enniskillen line, an embankment twenty feet high sank in a con- cealed bog and stopped a river, the country being flooded in consequence. Sometimes embank- 1 ments have been made of fuller's earth, which melts down with the rain. The introduction of iron pyrites has sometimes caused embankments to give forth smoke and flame, and to burn the sleepers ; and if pyrites come into contact with chalk, crystals of selenite are formed, which disintegrate the clay, alter its bulk, and render it treacherous. These facts illus- trate the importance of a minute examination ! of the ground over which any line of railway has to be carried, in order that such sources of expense and failure may as far as possible be avoided. The quantity of earthwork per mile of railway varies, of course, very much upon dif- ferent lines ; but taking upwards of 8,000 miles of English railway, Mr. Robert Stephenson estimated that the average earthwork per mile was 68,300 cubic yards. On the London and Birmingham, London and South- Western, London and Brighton, and North Midland, it is more than twice this amount. The London and Birmingham line had 12,081,116 yards of excavation, and 10,698,315 yards of embankment in the original estimate, or together 202,934 cubic yards per mile. The heaviest cutting on the line is at Tring, which is 2^ miles long, and averages 40 feet deep. The New Cross cutting of the South-Eastern line is two miles long, and for some distance is from 75 to 80 feet deep. The Box cutting of the Great Western Railway is 2£ miles long, and averages 30 feet deep. The Brent- wood cutting of the Great Eastern Railway is upwards of a mile long, and 60 feet deep; Vol. III. 193 and the Olive Mount cutting on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway is two miles long, and 100 feet deep. Nearly all the English lines are formed with a double track, and ! with a gauge of 4 feet 8£ inches between the inner edges of the rails, the Great Western | alone and its branches being formed with ( a gauge of 7 feet, but on a large part of this line a third rail has now been laid down | to enable narrow-gauge engines and carriages to travel over it. In English railways the standard width of the formation level, as it is termed, or -the width of the ground between the ditches, is 32 feet, and the ditches are each 3 feet wide at top, 1 foot wide at bottom, and 1 foot deep. The width of the ballast at the top is 23 feet 5 inches, and at the bottom 27 feet 5 inches, and it is 2 feet thick. The wooden cross sleepers embedded in it are 9 feet long. On the outside of each ditch there is a breadth or terrace of 18 inches wide ; and if the railway is in a cutting, the bottom of the slope springs from the outer edge of the terrace, rising at a slope of 2 to 1, so that the total width of the bottom of the cutting is 41 feet. In the French railways the di- mensions are nearly but not quite the same. The width of the formation level is 30 feet 10 inches, and the ditches are each 4 feet 11 inches wide at the top, 19f inches wide at the bottom, and 19f inches deep. The breadth of the shelf or terrace at the outer side of each ditch is 19f inches or 50 centi- metres, and the total width of the bottom of the cutting is 43 feet 11^- inches. The width of the track, measuring from the centre of each rail, is 150 centimetres or 59 inches, and the width of the ballast at bottom is 27 feet 6f inches ; at top, 22 feet 11| inches ; and the thickness of the ballast 19f inches. The sleepers are a little shorter than on the English lines. The side drains on all lines are made much broader and deeper than the fore- going in certain cases, where large volumes of water have to be carried off. Drainage. — One of the conditions most power- fully affecting the security, durability, and efficiency of a railway is the efficiency of its drainage. The history of all failures in earth- works shows that in almost all cases they arise from unskilful or inadequate drainage; and the expense of maintenance on every line will, other things being the same, vary very nearly in the proportion in which its drainage is good, or otherwise. Drainage may be divided into two main parts ; drainage of the roadway and drainage of the slopes. Water lying or running on the surface soaks and softens the roadway, washes away the earth, and chokes the ditches. The roadway, when thus saturated with water, loses its firmness, and the ballast sinks and dis- arranges the track, adding seriously to the jolting of the train, to the power necessary to propel it, and to the wear and. tear both of the train and track. Clay is converted by water into mud, and swells in bulk ; and when it is afterwards O RAILROADS dried by the sun it forms cracks which give ready entrance to subsequent rain, and increase the disintegration caused by frost. The sub- sidence of the ballast from the ends of the sleepers so induced leaves the rails without uniform and regular support, and the rails are thus strained, the fastenings and chairs broken, and the deflection of the rails, causing the loco- motive to be constantly going uphill, sensibly increases the consumption of fuel. The expense incident to the constant rectification of these evils is much greater than that which would be necessary to drain the line thoroughly at once ; and it is a primary condition in the execution of all railways upon which rain ever falls, that they shall be thoroughly drained. The surface drainage must provide for the immediate re- moval of water falling upon the earthwork and slopes at a depth of at least three feet from the surface of the rails, and the drains on slopes must be formed with such a gradual declivity as to prevent the velocity of the running water from tearing up the soil. The side drains in some places are widened from three to thirteen feet and deepened to six feet, and the ditches should be cut as straight as possible, and equally distant from the roadway in all parts. Care should also be taken that the ditches shall empty themselves, and not become receptacles for stagnant water. Culverts are circular or barrel drains built of brick or stone across the railway at a sufficient depth to afford com- munication between the ditches. They are built with cement, which is allowed to be well consolidated before they are covered in. On the London and North-Western Railway, cross underground drains, of circular perforated tiles, are used. In cuttings the track generally slopes to each end, both to diminish the quantity of cutting and to give free outlet for the water, and if the slope is steep, the side ditches are usually lined with brick or stone. In some of the deep chalk cuttings, the side drains are formed of large bricks, and run the whole length of the cutting underground, with cesspools at convenient distances. These underground drains are often made, of semicircular tiles, perforated and resting on flat tiles twelve inches square. In wet cuttings and in tunnels, covered longitudinal drains are made along the middle of the line. Some of these drains are oval, of three feet vertical diameter and two feet hori- zontal, and the bottom of the drain is set from four to five feet below the surface of the ballast. In the Blisworth cutting the covered drain is an arch thirty inches deep and twenty-one inches wide at the springing, and the bottom is thirty- nine inches below the surface of the ballast. In railway works as well as in agriculture, ex- perience shows that sub-drainage is both cheaper and more efficient than the system of open ditches, as a covered drain sunk three feet below the surface will carry off more water than an open ditch of ten times the capacity. The im- portance of thorough drainage is shown by the fact, known to every engineer, that the wear and disarrangement of track is found to be from 194 one-fourth to one-half less on moderately high embankments than it is in cuttings; this differ- ence being wholly caused by the more effectual drainage realised in one case than in the other. The drainage of the slopes is as important as the drainage of the roadway, since, unless such drainage is effectual, formidable slips will cer- tainly occur in many kinds of soil, and the cutting may be choked up in consequence. Fig. 4 represents a slip which took place some years ago on the London and Brighton Railway. The original slope was two to one, and the depth of the cutting was from seventy-five to eighty feet. The xipper clay abounded with soapy earths and mineral salts, which rendered it very pervious to water; and becoming completely saturated by the rain which fell in a wet season, Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Slip on Brighton Railway. it slipped forward on a more compact clay below and buried the rails to a depth of twelve feet. The line was stopped in consequence for three months, for not only had the fallen earth to be removed, but the sides of the cutting had to be cut back into benches, two on the one side and three on the other, these benches being in some places sixty-five feet wide, and the inter- vening slope was made two to one. In all, 250,000 cubic yards of earth had to be removed. The method most generally adopted for pre- venting slips in treacherous ground consists in the excavation of vertical trenches at regular distances along the face of the slope and filling the excavation up with counterforts of gravel, for which footings are cut in the solid earth below. These counter- forts, by their weight, friction, and porosity, are found to be effectual in preventing slips from takingplace. Another method consists in sinking wells in the upper ground, so as to intercept the water before it reaches the face of the slope ; while a third method, first recommended in the Artizan in 1843, and since carried out on some of the French lines, consists in cutting a vertical trench or drain from the top of the slope to the level of the rails beneath, and filling it with stones to constitute a drain from which the water may be led off to any convenient outlet. Perforated This mode is expensive. But an- Drain Pipe, other mode, also propounded in the Artizan, would be equally effectual and would cost less. It consists in cutting horizontal trenches of moderate depth along the face of the slope, the bottom of each of which would come at least as low as the top of the trench next RAILE JO ADS beneath. These different trenches are to be tilled with stone, and arc to communicate at intervals with one another, so as in effect to constitute a drain extending through the whole- depth of the embankment. Large slips are promoted by frost, which seals up tho face of the cutting and causes the water to accumulate behind until its hydrostatic pressure forces out the face of the cutting. Probably a combination of the horizontal drains in steps, with vertical counterforts of gravel at some distance apart to connect the drains together, is the cheapest and most eligible expedient for draining the slopes of heavy cuttings. In cases where the amount of drainage to be accomplished is not great, the introduction of perforated tile pipes of the form shown in fig. 5 will probably suffice. Ballast. — The ballast of a railway consists of porous materials laid on the surface of the ground in which the sleepers are embedded. These materials are either broken stone, gravel, burnt clay, cinders, sand, broken bricks, or small coal ; but of these gravel with a natural mixture of clean sand is the best. The ballast, besides securing the sleepers and rails in their place, promotes by its porosity the thorough drainage of the line, resists the sinking of the sleepers, and enables them to be readily packed up, while it gives a proper amount of elas- ticity to the road, which is more conducive to durability than the plasticity of earth or the rigidity of rock. Very hard materials do not act well as ballast. Broken trap-rock becomes consolidated, by packing, into so inelastic a mass that the rails are soon battered out. When broken stone is employed as ballast, the pieces should go through a 2^-inch ring. Limestone binds too much for ballast, but gneiss rock and even sandstone answer very well. Slate is rapidly disintegrated in wet weather. Gravel, if too fine, will not drain well, and if too coarse, will not pack well. Burnt clay is used in alluvial districts where gravel is not to be had, and has been widely employed in the Indian railways. A ton of small coal will burn from 20 to 25 cubic yards of clay ; and where coal or wood is cheap, this kind of ballast is as cheap as gravel if the latter has to be brought 6 or 8 miles. Of the 2 feet of thickness of ballast used on English lines, 1 foot is below the sleeper and 1 foot around and above it. Although on the French lines the standard depth of the ballast is 50 centi- metres, the thickness is made 10 centimetres more, or 23^ inches in situations where the soil is bad. In America the railways are in general very imperfectly ballasted, and the cost of maintaining them is consequently very great. The expense of maintenance per mile run of the great English railways is found to be only about one-fourth of that of the great Ameri- can lines ; and if the latter could be made to work with equal economy, the saving, it is com- puted, would add 1*8 per cent, to the dividend. It is mainly in the difference in the earthworks, drainage, and ballasting, that the great difference in the cost of maintenance is to be found. 195 Sleepers. — In most of tho English and foreign lines the rails rest in cast-iron chairs, which are spiked to cross sleepers of wood ; but in the Great Western and a few other lines the rails rest upon longitudinal beams of wood, and in the American lines the bottom flange of the rail is for the most part spiked directly down upon the cross sleepers without the intervention of chairs. Stone blocks, which were generally used in the early railways for supporting the chairs, have now been discarded. But sleepers of cast iron have latterly been in many cases employed. These consist either of plates, or inverted pots like dish-covers, with holes on the upper side to permit packing, and connected by tie rods across the railway. In some cases the chair is cast on the top of the sleeper, and in other cases it is bolted on. In some instances rails have been employed formed with a wide and deeply immersed base, with the view of dispensing with sleepers altogether. But this species of railway has not yet attained any great success. The sleepers commonly used on the English lines are larch trees of about ten inches diameter split through the middle ; the flat side is laid upon the ballast, and the chair is fixed upon a flat seat notched out upon the convex side. Oak makes better sleepers than softer woods, but is too expensive for general purposes. It may, however, be put down in sharp curves and in other exceptional situations. The sleepers should be straight and of uniform size. They are usually laid at a distance of 3 feet from centre to centre, which gives about 2^ square feet of bearing surface for each running foot of track. In lines with a heavy traffic the sleepers are pitched at 2^- feet distance, thus giving 3 square feet of bearing for each run- ning foot of track. In the American lines the sleepers are pitched at about the same distance as on the English lines or a little closer. It is found, by experiment, impracticable to use alternate wood sleepers and stone blocks, from the unequal nature of the support. But wooden blocks alternating with wooden sleepers have been tried in France, and have been found to answer well. The beams used on the longi- tudinal system for the support of the rails are ten inches square, and these beams are connected at every 6 feet by cross pieces of 6 by 4 inches. The ordinary duration of sleepers laid down in their natural state is seven years. By crea- soting their cost is increased about one-fourth, but their durability is more than doubled. Creasoting is accomplished by forcing coal oil into the timber by hydrostatic pressure, the timber being placed in a great cylindrical vessel of wrought or cast iron like a boiler, to enable it to be soaked and penetrated by the preservative liquid. The timber is laid on a truck, and run into this cylinder, from which the air is then exhausted after the movable end of the cylinder has been screwed on. This exhaustion is accomplished by an air pump worked by an engine of six or eight horse power. The preservative liquid is then allowed o 2 RAILROADS to enter, and a vacuum of 27 or 28 inches of mercury is maintained within the cylinder for half an hoxir, at the end of which time the liquid is forced in with a pressure of 130 lbs. per square inch. The pressure is maintained for six or seven hours, at the end of which time — le process is complete. Coal tar contains ammonia, which rots wood, but is expelled by boiling, and the boiled tar is called coal oil. This usually contains from 10 to 15 per cent, of creasote. The quantity of creasote present in such oil may be determined by shaking up with it in a bottle about 10 per cent, of a strong caustic alkaline solution ; the liquid will settle into three layers, of which the lowest is caus- tic alkali, the middle creasote, and the upper (which is by much the largest) bituminous oil. The forms of cast-iron sleeper which have been introduced on different lines are very Fig. 6. various. Fig. 6 represents Samuel's cast-iron and tim- il'llfes ber-cushioned sleeper, which is 42 inches long, 16 inches wide, weighs 132 lbs., and gives a bearing of 672 Samuel's cast-iron square inches. De Bergue's Sleeper. cast-iron sleeper consists of a rectangular plate 20 inches by 14 rounded at the corners and strengthened by feathers. It Fig. 7. weighs from 46 to 56 lbs. and gives nearly two square feet of bearing. Greaves' spheroi- dal .or pot sleeper is shown in fig. 7. This sleeper has Greaves' Pot Sleeper. been ^ uged on "the Indian lines and also on other lines abroad. The packing is accomplished through holes left near the crown for that purpose. In all these sleepers there are tie rods for connecting them together across the line so as to keep the rails in gauge. Bails. — In the early railways much attention was paid to the quality of the iron of which the rails were composed ; but subsequently this condition was relaxed, and a very inferior quality of iron was for many years admitted. More recently, however, the quality of the iron used in the manufacture of rails has been improved, and steel rails have also been tested, and are likely to obtain a wide intro- duc f ion. In 1856 rails of 85 to 100 lbs. per yard were considered by English engineers to be the best. But in the succeeding decen- nium lighter rails, more thoroughly shingled and better worked in the rolling, were found to be preferable. On the Great Eastern line, the 95 lb. rails were found to wear more and make a worse road than the 75 lb. rails, and on the London and North- Western line the 82 lb. rails were found to be worse than the 56 lb. The Grand Junction line, laid with 62 lb. rails in 1837, remained in good order with- out the necessity of removing any of the rails till 1849, when a few 80 lb. rails were put 196 down, and these showed more wear in twelve months than the old rails exhibited after en- during the traffic of twelve years. The double-headed form of rail is usually now employed in England and most other countries, one object of this form being to allow the rail, when worn on the top, to be turned upside down. But sometimes the bottom is so much indented by the chair as to prevent this. In this form of rail a chair is re- quired for every sleeper, and the rail is usually fixed in the cast-iron chair by a wooden key driven in at the side, the wood (before being cut into lengths) being compressed by hydro- static pressure or otherwise to prevent subse- quent shrinking. The common depth of rail is five inches. It is found that a 50 lb. rail 3f inches deep and with a 3 feet bearing deflects sufficiently under a fixed load of five tons to be equivalent to a gradient of 25 feet in the mile ; and it has further been found that, while gravity has to be overcome by ascending the hills, no return of it is got back in descending Fig. 8. Standard English. Rail and Chair. the hollows. With a moving load the deflection would be doubled. The deflection of the rails is as the cube of the distance between the sup- ports ; and if some of .the sleepers sink, the deflection and consequently the resistance of the line will increase at a very rapid rate. This accounts for the great additional tractive power required on rough lines which have fallen into disrepair. The width of the head of modern rails is about 2^ inches. If the elasticity of the metal Kg. 9. Pig. 10. Fig. 11. be supposed to be such that a sheet of paper could be got only within half an inch of the bearing point of a five-foot driving wheel, the wheel would from this amount of yielding be constantly ascending a gradient of 45 feet per mile. Fig. 8 is a section of a standard English rail and chair, and figs. 9 to 18 are cross sec- tions of the most prevalent forms of rails, both English and foreign. RAILROADS Fig. 19 exhibits Barlow's form of rail, which has been laid down to some extent, and which is employed without chairs, the bottom part Fig. 12. Fig. 13. Fig. 14. American. Great Western. Great Western, being immersed in the ballast. But it has been found to be unstable, difficult to pack and Fig. 15. to drain from a pro- pensity to suck up water beneath the head, and the head has been found liable to split. Lengths of this rail of five or six miles have been riveted together without any inconvenience hav- ing been experienced from expansion. The length of rails is usually from 18 to 21 feet. Their durability depends chiefly on the quality of the iron employed ; and heavy rails are less durable than light. Bails are tested by allowing a weight to fall upon one rail in (say) every hundred. In the rails of the Royal Swedish Railway a ram weighing two tons was Fig. 16. Fig. 17. Fig. 18. Seaton's Rail, Great Western. London and South-Western, 80 lbs. Leicester and Hitchin, 92 lbs. London and North-Western, 85 lbs. allowed to fall from a height of twelve feet on a rail laid on supports four feet apart, but this test was unusually severe. In some cases the heads of the rails have been made of a superior iron, or of steel, by welding on iron of a superior quality or steel. But there is always the risk that the weld may not be sound and secure. Sometimes the tops of the rails are case- hardened. But the cheapening of steel by the Bessemer process is extending the production of rails made of steel throughout. Joints of Rails. — The ends of the rails are cut off square, and (to allow of their expansion) Fig. 19. a minute distance is left between them at common teaaper- atures. At a tem- perature of 100° the ends are placed in contact ; at a temperature of 0 they are laid at a distance of "163 from one another. On the English lines the rails of each 197 Barlow's Eail. track break joint with one another ; but on the American lines both joints are usually on the same sleeper. For many years the only fastening which united the ends of the rails was obtained by placing the ends in a long chair and keying them up together. But it is now usual not to place the con- tiguous ends in a chair at all, but to attach them together by means of plates bolted through the sides, the bolt holes being made slightly oval to permit expansion. It is reckoned that a variation in the temperature of iron of 10° or 12° produces a force of expansion equal to one ton per square inch of section ; and in America, where the alternation of temperature is great, it has been found in some cases that unless space for expansion has been allowed, and the rails have been laid in cold weather with close joints, the track has in some places been raised vertically a foot, and has been bent out sideways two or three feet by the expansion of the rails. Sometimes on steep gradients the rails are found to have a tendency to creep to the lower end. The joint chair usual on English lines weighs from 26 to 40 lbs. and the intermediate chair weighs from 18 to 26 lbs. Ramsbottom's chair is made of wrought iron, and is formed by rolling out a channel of iron with flanges on each side, and this is afterwards cast off in short lengths, each of which forms a chair. The sides of the chair are somewhat inclined, and pieces of iron or fishes are fitted on each side of the rail, making the total thickness equal to the width of the head ; the rail with these fishes is then set in the chair, the bottom of which, how- ever, it does not touch, and it jams itself tight by the weight rollir.g over it. In some cases the side wedges used to secure the rails in the chairs are of iron instead of wood, and some- times, when of iron, they are made hollow to give a certain elasticity. Fig. 20 represents Parsons' wedge chair, which is formed with recesses, into which are introduced short pieces of wood with their grain directed against the rail, an iron wedge being driven in between the rail and the chair. One side of the wedge presses on the wood under this arrangement, and that side is barbed up with a few projections like those of a file, to prevent the key from working back. Fig. 21 is a side view and cross section of a fish joint. The weight of the fishes is 22 lbs., and of the bolts, nuts, and washers 1\ lbs. The bolts of fish joints are usually | of an inch dia- meter. Many plans have been proposed to pre- vent the bolts and nuts from turning round and becoming loose ; but the best appears to be to nick slightly the thread of the bolt with a chisel after it has been screwed up, as this will prevent it from unscrewing of its own accord Parsons' Chair. RAILROADS from vibration, and yet will not prevent it from being screwed up or unscrewed by a corn- Fig. 21. Adams' and Richardson's Fish Joint, wrench Fig. 22. which will shear off the slight burr in the screw. Fig. 22 is a representation of Wild's grooved fish, of which the sides are grooved to hold the head [ frost this platform is carried sideways until it comes opposite the other line. This plan, however, does not answer for transferring locomotives which have to be also turned round when set upon the other line. Water Cranes. — To supply the locomotives with water, elevated tanks are erected along the line at suitable intervals, and a pipe with a swivelling arm like a crane is swung over the line, when the engine stops, to conduct the water from the tank into the tender. The construc- tion of these swivelling pipes or water cranes is very various, and in some cases provision is made for heating them by a fire in the event of Sometimes a roller pressed by a weight of the bolt, and to catch the i s made to act on an inclined plane on the side nut when it turns square with 0 f the pipe, so as to swing back the pipe like a Wild's Grooved Fish. the groove. The weight of this pair of fishes is 22 lbs., and the weight of the four bolts and nuts is 4| lbs. Switches. — In order to deflect a train from one line of rails on to another, movable rails called switches are employed, which at one end are fixed to a centre, while the other end, which is tapered to a point, is moved against the side of the rail by a horizontal rod and handle, to which a heavy weight is attached to bring back the switch to its normal position as soon as the handle is released. Switches are either single or double, the first being made with one movable rail, and the second with two. Double switches are usually employed for sid- ings, on the main line as they throw the rails less out of gauge and less disturb the con- tinuity of the line. They are usually made out of the rails in common use upon the line. The subordinate features of their construction are very various, one main object sought to be attained being to gain sufficient strength in the point to prevent it from being crushed before the full breadth of the line is reached. In Wild's switch this end is attained by so tapering the point or tongue that its end is housed beneath the top of the fixed rail when shut against it. Turntables. — These are expedients, chiefly employed at termini, for transferring the engines and carriages from one line to another. A platform or table supported round the edge by rollers is made to turn upon a central pivot. The carriage or locomotive being pushed on to this platform, the platform is turned round until the wheels are brought opposite to the other set of rails upon which the carriage has to be delivered. A catch, then allowed to drop, fixes the table, and the vehicle is then delivered upon the other set of rails. The indications to be fulfilled in the construction of turntables are strength, steadiness under a passing load, small friction in turning, and as far as possible in- dependence of foundations. Traversers . — Instead of turntables traversers are sometimes used to transfer carriages from one line to another. A platform with rails laid upon it is made to move sideways on wheels beneath, and the carriage being run upon 198 swing gate as soon as it is released, thus ob- viating the risk of leaving the crane standing across the line. Supplying Water while running. — On the Chester and Hobyhead Railway near Conway a long trough has been laid down between the rails, into which a scoop is dipped when the locomotive comes to that part, the water being thus lifted into the tender without stopping the engine. The form of this contrivance is shown by fig. 23, where A A is the trough, B the movable part or scoop of the pipe C, F is a Feeding Tender while running. handle by which the scoop is depressed, and E is a counterweight which brings the movable part of the pipe — and which swivels round a horizontal pin — back when the handle is released. The trough contains five inches of water, and the scoop dips two inches into it and scoops up that depth of water at speeds exceed- ing twenty miles an hour. But at lower speeds the water will not be delivered over into the tender. This contrivance effects a sensible saving of time in express trains, and it is found that the thin ice which can alone be formed in frosts during the intervals of passing trains does not interfere with its efficient action. Resistance of Railway Trains. — In the early history of railways the resistance was considered to be directly as the speed. But it was subse- quently shown by Dr. Lardner and others that it increased in a much more rapid ratio, and was in point of fact more nearly as the square RAILWAYS, ATMOSPHERIC of tho speed. More recently, however, it has been found that this rapid increase of the re- sistance takes place only on rough lines ; and that on very smooth lines, when there is no side wind blowing, tho resistance varies nearly as the simple speed. Speed of Railway Trains. — The average speed of express trains on the London and North-Western Kailway is, including stoppages, about 40 miles an hour ; on the Great Northern, 39-| miles ; on the South-Eastern, 37^ ; and on the South-Western, 35 miles an hour. Speeds of 60, 72, 78 and even 93 miles an hour have- been attained for short distances. The London and North-Western runs a train over 82| miles in 1 hour 54 minutes, and the Great Western one from Paddington to Bristol, 117 miles, in two hours. Consumption of Fuel per Mile. — The express trains on the London and South- Western Kailway burn 17 lbs. of coal per mile, but on occasions have burnt as little as 14 lbs. The American express trains burn a cord of wood in from 20 to 30 miles. A cord of wood weighs 3,000 lbs., and If cord of wood is equal in heating power to a ton of bituminous coal. Mountain Railways. — Railways have been carried over the Styrian Alps, and up the Ghauts in India, by employing powerful engines with many coupled wheels, and by constructing the line on a tolerably easy incline. They have been carried over parts of the Andes by employing stationary engines to pull up the trains by ropes ; and more recently a line has been carried over Mont Cenis by forming the track with a deep central rail, on the opposite sides of which rollers are made to press by suitable mechanism, so as to grip the rail. By rotating these rollers by vertical spindles con- nected with an engine, the train is propelled up a very steep gradient at a low rate of speed. This appears to be the most suitable method yet introduced for surmounting steep inclines. Railway, Atmospheric or Pneumatic. A species of railway in which the propelling power is the pressure of the atmosphere on one side of a piston or diaphragm and a partial vacuum on the other side. In one of the forms in which this principle was applied by Mr. Clegg, and which was tested some years ago on the West London Eailway at Wormwood Scrubbs, and subsequently introduced on the Dalkey, Croydon, and South Devon lines, a large pipe was carried along the centre of each track, this pipe being partially exhausted by steam engines stationed at intervals along the line. A piston attached to the train travelled in this pipe, and being propelled forward by the air, which was allowed to press behind it, while a partial vacuum was maintained in front, the piston was carried forward, drawing the train with it. To enable the connection between the piston and the train to he maintained, a bent arm passed through a long slit on the top of the pipe. This slit was covered by a leather flap or valve extending the whole length of the line, the valve being made tight by tallow, which was 199 RAILWAYS, LAW OF soldered tight by a hot iron carried in the part of the train in the rear of the piston. Mr. Robert Stephenson, who reported upon this system in 1844, showed that it was both troublesome and wasteful, and was not likely to come into general use in competition with the locomotive, and it has since been removed from all the lines on which it had been introduced. The atmospheric system, however, or some modification of it, though not adapted for indiscriminate use as an economical system, seems likely to find special applications of importance, such as in ascending steep in- clines, in working underground railways, and in conveying mails and merchandise through tubes. This last application has been carried out in London by the Pneumatic Despatch Company with success. But the power con- sumed relatively with the work done is very great. In August 1861 the experimental tube, which was subsequently put down between Eversholt Street and Euston Station for the transmission of the mails, was tested at Bat- tersea, and it was found that, taking into ac- count the pressure produced by the air and the distance traversed by the piston or carriage, and comparing the result with the indicated power of the engine employed to pump the air, only twenty per cent, of the engine power was utilised, while eighty per cent, was lost. On the line of tube between Euston and Holborn, similar results have been obtained. This tube is flat on the bottom and arched on the top, and is_ 4 feet broad and 4£ feet high. It is fitted with rails, on which a truck runs. The truck is made tight against the tube by an Indian rubber ring, so that it acts like a piston ; and with a load on the truck of 10 tons, including the weight of the truck itself, a pressure of air of 4 ounces per square inch propelled the truck from Euston to Holborn, a distance of If miles, in 7 minutes. The pressure of air is obtained by a fan 22 feet in diameter, making 170 turns per minute, and the fan can be made' either to suck or blow, or both; but the leakage is found to be greatest when the fan is made to blow, or to compress the_ air, and thus push the carriage on. The indicated power required to work the fan its found to be about 200 horses, and the efficacy is only 18 per cent., the loss being 82. This great loss may probably be reduced hereafter by the use of more suitable apparatus; and even with a large amount of loss the system appears to be suitable for especial purposes, where by any other known arrangement still greater evils would have to be encountered. (Perdonnet, Traite Elhnentaire des Chemins de Fer; Goschler, Traite pratique de I'Entre- tien et de C Exploitation de Chemins de Fer ; Les Annates des Ponts et Chaussees, des Mines, $c. passim ; Trans, of the Institution of Civil Engineers ; Descriptive Catalogue of the Exhi- bition of 1851 and of 1862 ; Les Comptes-Rendus de la Societe des Ingenieurs Civiles, passim.) Railways, law of. Companies for the construction of railways are now provisionally registered under the Companies Act 1862 until RAILWAYS, LAW OF their Act of incorporation is obtained. Each particular railway Act is called the special Act, and incorporates in its provisions those of the Clauses Consolidation Acts (Companies, Lands, and Kailways, 1845 and 1863), which respec- tively govern, as to all essentials, the consti- tution of railway companies and their powers ; the rights of shareholders and others who in- vest in the capital needed to enable the direc- tors to carry on the business of the company ; and the powers of the company to take and purchase land for the purpose of constructing the railway and works connected therewith. The special Act declares the amount of capital, the limited liability of each mem- ber, who is not chargeable on account of any debt or demand due from the company be- yond the extent of his share in the capital of the company not then paid up ; the number of directors, the line of the intended railway, tolls, and so forth. The company being now con- stituted, two meetings of shareholders, called ordinary meetings, must be holden every year, as provided by the Companies Clauses Conso- lidation Act 1845; extraordinary meetings can be convened by the directors as they may think proper. The special Act always names the first directors ; afterwards they are elected by the shareholders. The powers of directors are fixed by the general Acts above referred to (the most important power, in a legal point of view, is that of making contracts on behalf of the company) ; and the directors are personally indemnified for all losses &c. which they may incur in the execution of such powers. The company obtains permission and compulsory power to take, or injuriously affect land for the purpose of their railway. Compensation under 501. may be assessed by two justices : in higher cases by arbitration ; by the verdict of a jury, to be summoned by the sheriff on a warrant issued by the company ; by a surveyor named by justices in certain cases, where the party fails to appear before the jury. The legal powers which enable the company to construct the railway and necessary works are defined in the Eailway Clauses Consolidation Acts, and are very extensive, but subject to many legal restrictions as to the mode of construction. The Board of Trade has the authority of sanctioning, within certain limits, deviations from the works originally undertaken ; and it has also certain special authorities to superin- tend the line and works of a railway after it is opened ; to regulate other matters ; and, finally, to authorise the abandonment of railways. Railway companies have always hitherto been formed under special Acts of Parliament (in- corporating since \ 845 and 1 863 respectively the general consolidation Acts of those years, above referred to), as the powers required for such an undertaking are too extensive to be obtained by agreement or otherwise without parliamentary sanction. It has, however, recently been pro- yid >d by the Railways Construction Facilities Act 1862, that where all landowners over whose land a railway is proposed to be made are con- 200 RAIN ! senting parties, the promoters of the line may obtain the necessary powers without a special Act, by a certificate from the Board of Trade, , the draft of which is to be previously submitted for the sanction of parliament ; and in certain cases existing railway companies may obtain j further powers (under the Railway Companies Powers Act 1864) by a similar certificate from the Board of Trade. But any such application to the Board of Trade may be rejected by the Board; and if it should be opposed by any railway or canal company which would be affected by the proposed certificate, further proceedings must be in parliament. It appears to have been originally thought that railways, like highways, would be, to some extent at least, open to the use of the general public ; and the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 contains provisions for the use of the railway, with engines and carriages, by com- panies and persons other than the company to whom the railway belongs, on payment of cer- tain tolls ; but it is found in practice that the difficulties of so doing are so great that the company owning the railway possesses a virtual monopoly of it, except where, as is the case on many lines, other companies have by special agreement or Act of Parliament obtained the power of running their trains over it and using the stations, &c. Railway companies are as common carriers subject ordinarily to the general law of the land. The Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854 contains various important provisions binding companies to afford all reasonable facilities for the receiving, and forwarding, and delivering of traffic without unreasonable delay, and without giving any person, or company, or description of traffic any preference or advantage, or sub- jecting the same to any prejudice or disadvan- tages, and otherwise regulating their rights and liabilities as carriers. Rain (Ger. regen, akin to Lat. rigo, Gr. /Spe'xw, to moisten). In Meteorology, water falling from the atmosphere in drops. The following generally received theory of rain was proposed by Dr. James Hutton in the Phil. Trans, of Edinburgh for 1787. The capacity of air for moisture, or the quantity of moisture which a given volume of air will hold, increases with the temperature, but in a much faster ratio than the temperature ; and hence it follows that if two equal portions of air at different temperatures completely satu- rated with moisture are mingled together, a pre- cipitation must take place from the inability of the mixture (which will have the mean tem- perature of the two portions) to sustain the mean quantity of vapour. For example, sup- pose that while the temperature increases in an arithmetical ratio, the capacity for retaining moisture increases in a geometrical ratio, and that at the temperature of 1 5 centesimal degrees air can hold 200 parts of moisture ; then at 30 degrees it will hold 400 parts, and at 45 degrees 800 parts. Now, suppose two equal bulks of damp air, at the respective temperatures of 15 RAIN and 45 degrees, to be mixed together, the com- pound must contain ] ,000 parts of vapour, or either half of it 500 parts ; and the temperature of the compound will be 30 degrees. But at this temperature the air is saturated with 400 parts, and consequently there will be a preci- pitation of 100 parts from each of the given bulks. It is obviously not necessary that the com- mingled portions of air should be fully satu- rated with moisture, as assumed in the above example : rain will be precipitated if the two masses approach the point of saturation, but the quantity will be proportionally less. It is also a consequence of the theory that for a given difference of heat the precipitation will be greatly increased at the higher temperatures ; and this is conformable to experience, for showers are most copious during hot weather, and in tropical countries. The circumstances, therefore, on which, according to this theory, the quantity of rain precipitated in a given time depends, are the following : The previous dampness of the commixed portions of air ; the difference of their respective temperatures; the elevation of their mean temperature ; and the extent to which the mixture takes place. The principal objection to this theory is, that the quantity of rain which actually falls in a given portion of time is often very much greater than can be supposed to be produced by any probable extent of cooling that can take place in the free atmosphere in that time, unless, perhaps, we have recourse to the sup- position of a cold and a warm current driving swiftly in opposite directions, and continually mixing their conterminous surfaces. Sir J. Leslie {Ency. Brit. ' Meteorology ') computes that if two currents of moist air were driving along in opposite directions, with velocities whose sum is 30 miles an hour, the one having a temperature of 70° of Fahrenheit, and the other of 50°, the deposition of moisture in the space of an hour would be equal to the height of an inch. If the sum of the opposite veloci- ties amounted to 60 miles an hour, and the in- termingling influence extended to but a quarter of an inch at the grazing surfaces, there would still be produced in the same time a fall of rain reaching to half an inch in altitude. These quantities agree sufficiently with observation in certain cases ; but the objection still recurs that rain frequently falls from clouds which appear to move very slowly, and when consequently the supposition of such velocities is inadmissible. This difficulty has, however, been recently solved by Prof. Tyndall, who has proved that aqueous vapour possesses a high radiating power, and that consequently a stratum of moist atmospheric air can have its temperature rapidly reduced by the escape of its heat into space through the superincumbent dry air. In con- nection with atmospheric condensation it must also be borne in mind that the ascent of warm air, necessarily involving expansion, i.e. a motion of its particles away from each other, is always attended by considerable reduction 201 of temperature, and hence, if the warm air be* saturated or nearly saturated with moisture, condensation must occur from this cause inde- pendently of that which may arise from inter- mixture with colder air or from radiation. Some extraordinary falls of rain have been recorded, the accounts of which, if not given on apparently unexceptionable testimony, would scarcely fail to be regarded as fabulous. On the 25th of October, 1825, a fall of 30 French inches»(32 English), within 24 hours, occurred at Genoa ; and on the 9th of October, 1827, there fell at Joyeuse, in the South of France, a quan- tity equal to 31 English inches within the space of 22 hours. (Prof. Forbes's Report on Meteor- ology, in the Reports of the British Association for 1840.) Kain drops vary in size from perhaps the 25th to the 3rd part of an inch in diameter ; and, like other falling bodies, descend with a continually accelerating velocity until the re- sistance of the air becomes equal to their weight, after which the descent is uniform. The ter- minal velocity is proportional to the square root of the diameter of the drop ; but it is perhaps not possible to determine with certainty the actual terminal velocity corresponding to a drop of any given diameter. The average quantity of rain which falls in a year at any given place depends upon a great variety of circumstances, as latitude, proxi- mity to the sea, elevation of the region, con- figuration of the country and of the mountain ranges, exposure to the prevailing wind ; and in general on the different local causes which influence climate. Humboldt estimates that the average depth of rain which annually falls at the latitudes of 0°, 19°, 45°, and 60°, may be taken respectively at 98, 80, 29, and 17 inches; but this estimate must be regarded rather as a rough approximation to the ratio in which the quantity decreases on going from the equator, than as indicating the actual averages at any particular place ; and it is observed that though the annual depth be greatest towards the equa- tor, the number of rainy days in the majority of places increases with the latitude. The greatest depth of rain which has been registered at any place in a year is at Maran- ham, lat. 2|° S., and is stated by Hum- boldt to be 277 English inches. But this is greatly above the average, and indeed more than double the annual quantity which has been observed at any other locality. At St. Domingo the annual fall is estimated at 120 inches ; at Cayenne, 116 inches; in the island of Granada, 112; at the Havannah, 91; at Calcutta, from 76 to 118; at Bombay, from 83 to 96; the island of Martinique, 87 inches ; and at Sierra Leone, 86. Of European countries, Portugal appears to be the most humid, 123 inches having been observed at Coimbra in a year. The average depth at Paris is 19*1 inches (Arago, Journal de Physique, 1816); Berlin, 20-9; Brussels, 19; Florence, 41-3; Lyons, 39-5 ; Maestricht, 36'1 ; Marseilles, 18-4 ; Padua, 36-6 ;Petersburg, 18"2 ; Rome, 31*2 ; Eotterdam, RAIN-GAUGE 22-4 ; Stockholm, 187 ; Vienna, 17. For places in Great Britain the following averages were deduced by Dr. Dalton from observations of a number of years : Manchester, 36-140 inches ; Liverpool, 3-1-118 ; Lancaster, 39714; Kendal, 53'944; Dumfries, 36-918; Glasgow, 21-331; London, 20-686. Mr. Howard gives the annual average at London as equal to 24 - 9 inches; Pro- fessor Phillips that of York as 25 - 7; and Mr. Adie that of Edinburgh as 25 inches. On the theory of rain, see Kamptz, Lehrbuch der Meteor- ologie; Muncke, in Gehler's Physicalischcs Wor- terbuch ; Daniell's Meteorological Essays, &c. Rain-gaug-e, also called Ombrometer, Udometer, and Pluviameter. An instru- ment for measuring or gauging the quantity of rain which falls at a given place. 'The rain-gauge may be of very simple con- struction. A cubical box of strong tin or zinc, exactly ten inches by the side, open above, receives at an inch below its edge a funnel, sloping to a small hole in the centre. On one of the lateral edges of the box, close to the top of the cavity, is soldered a short pipe, in which a cork is fitted. The whole should be well painted. The water which enters this gauge is poured through the short tube into a cylin- drical glass vessel, graduated to cubic inches and fifths of cubic inches. Hence, one inch depth of rain in the gauge will be measured by 100 inches of the graduated vessel, and l-1000th inch of rain may be very easily read off. ' It is very much to be desired that, being of such easy construction, more than one of these gauges should be erected ; or at least one placed, with its edge nearly level with the ground, and another upon the top of the highest building, rock, or tree in the immediate vicinity of the place of observation, the height of which must be carefully determined, it having been satisfactorily ascertained that the height of the gauge above the ground is a very material element of the quantity of rain which enters it. The quantity of water should be daily measured and registered at 9 a.m.' (Report of the President and Council of the Royal Society on the Instructions to be prepared for the Scientific Expedition to the Antarctic Regions, 1840.) A convenient form of the instrument is re- presented in the annexed figure, where the rain which enters the funnel is collected in a cylindrical vessel of copper, connected with which at the lower part is a glass tube with an attached scale. The water stands at the ■same height in the cylinder and glass tube, and being visible in the latter, the height is read immediately on the scale ; and the cylinder and tube being constructed so that the sum fz=^ of the areas of their sections shall be a given part, for instance a tenth, of the area of the funnel at its orifice, each inch of water in the tube is equivalent to the tenth of an inch of water entering the mouth of the fun- i jy, nel. A stop-cock is added, by which < ^~=— ^ the water is drawn off when the ob- servation is made. 202 EAINBOW Rainbow (Ger. regenbogen). The bril- liant-coloured arch which makes its appear- ance when rain is falling in the region of the sky opposite to the sun, and the sun is shining upon the rain-drops at the same time. This well-known meteor presents, when per- fect, the appearance of two concentric arches ; the inner being called the primary, and the outer the secondary rainbow. Each is formed of the colours of the solar spectrum ; but the colours are arranged in the reversed order, the red forming the exterior ring of the primary bow and the interior of the secondary. The innermost bow is a segment of a circle whose radius subtends an angle of about 42° ; the radius of the outer subtends an angle of about 51° ; and the common centre is situated in the prolongation of the straight line which passes through the centre of the sun and the eye of the spectator. Erom the conditions invariably accompanying its appearance, the colours of the rainbow were known at an early period to be produced by the sun's rays passing through the drops of falling rain ; but the phenomenon is a complicated one, and was not fully and satis- factorily explained until Newton had discovered the compound nature of solar light, and the different refrangibility of the component rays. In order to explain the phenomenon of the rainbow, let us suppose a beam of light ad- mitted through a small hole in the shutter of a darkened room to fall on a spherical globule of Fig. 1. water at I (fig. 1) in the direction S I, and trace the path of the light in the interior of the globule. On entering the globule at I it is refracted, and conse- quently decomposed, the rays of each colour being deflected under a different angle from its original direction. For the sake of perspicuity we shall confine our at- tention to the red ray. Let I K be the direction of the ray after the first refraction. On meeting the surface of the drop at K a portion of the light will effect its escape, and be again refracted in the direction K P, while the remaining por- tion will be reflected by the surface in the direc- tion K L, the lines IK,KL making equal angles with a tangent at K. But on arriving again at the surface at L, this portion of the ray which was reflected from K will be again divided into two parts ; one part will escape at L, and be re- fracted in the direction L Q, while the other part will be reflected by the surface, and proceed in the direction L M. At M the phenomenon will be repeated; part of the remaining light will escape and be refracted in the direction M R, and the other be reflected in the direction M N. This process will be repeated indefinitely ; but the intensity of the light is diminished at each successive impact, and after a few reflec- tions the quantity which emerges becomes in- sufficient to make an impression on the eye. All this may be shown experimentally by causing a beam of light to fall upon a glass RAINBOW cylinder filled with water, and placed in a i darkened room ; the red light emerging at the points K L M will be seen when the eye is placed in the straight lines K P, or L Q, or M K. j Applying these considerations to the primary or inner bow, where there are only two refrac- tions and one reflection, let AB C (fig. 2) be a Fio . 2 section of a drop of rain * T made by the plane pass- ■r._^= y x ^B7 r ing through the centre of ==^=z^^ ^ /y the sun, the centre of the drop, and the eye of the spectator ; and suppose jS the rays from the sun's S f centre to fall on it in the direction S A. Let E be the position of the eye of the spectator, whose back is turned towards the sun, and draw E F parallel to S A. Now suppose the line E T to be drawn so as to make with E F an angle of 42° 1' 40", and to meet the drop at C ; then, since the whole of the anterior surface of the drop is illuminated by the rays S A, some one of those rays must fall on it under an angle of incidence, such that after being refracted at A, reflected at B, and again refracted at C, it will emerge parallel to C E, and consequently make with EF the maximum angle of deviation. The spectator will therefore see the red colour of the spectrum in the direction E C. But it is obvious that all these conditions will be ful- filled in respect of every drop of rain which the line E C will meet, on supposing it to revolve about EF as an axis at the same angle of inclination. Hence the red rays thus refracted form the surface of a cone, the axis of which is the prolongation of the straight line drawn from the centre of the sun to the eye ; and as the eye of the spectator is at the apex of the cone, a circular segment of red light will be visible, the other part of the circle being cut off by the horizon. "What has now been said has reference only to rays coming from the sun's centre ; but the same thing must happen with respect to rays coming from every point of the sun's disc ; and as the sun's diameter subtends an angle of about 30', the spectator will consequently see a band of red light of the breadth of about 30'. The explanation which has now been given of the appearance of the red light applies to all the other colours of the spectrum, the only difference being in the value of the index of refraction. For the violet ray, in passing from air to water, the index is 109 -i- 81; we have therefore n = T3468 ; and on computing from this the values of i, r, and D by means of the preceding formulae, there results, approximately, * = 58°40' 3",r--39°24 / 20", D = 40° 17'. In this case, therefore, the angle of maximum deviation is less than for the red ray, and hence the violet is within the red. The breadth of the violet band will obviously be the same as that of the red, as both depend on the same cause ; namely, the magnitude of the sun's ap- parent d'imeter. 909 As the red and violet are the rays whose indices of refraction are the least and greatest respectively, all the other prismatic colours will lie between these two, and occupy bands of the same breadth, but with considerable blending into each other ; but the distance between the centre of the red and the centre of the vio- let, being equal to the difference between their respective angles of maximum deviation, amounts only to 42° 2' - 40° 17' - 1° 45'. The whole breadth of the interior or primary bow is this quantity plus the sun's apparent diameter, or about 2° 15'. The size of the bow depends upon the height of the sun above the horizon. When the sun is in the horizon, the bow will be a semicircle to a spectator on a plane ; but on the summit of a mountain, he may see a segment greater than a semicircle. The secondary bow is formed as shown in In this case, the light suffers two reflections in the interior of the globule, and the path of a ray, as represented in fig. 1, is SIKLME, and the deviation becomes least in respect of the red ray, and greatest in respect of the violet ; the order of the colours is therefore reversed, the red occupying the innermost band and the violet the outermost, as represented in fig. 3, where EE. j,. 3 is the red and E V the violet ray, the eye of the spectator being at E. The breadth from the middle of the red to the middle of th e violet is 3° 10', or nearly double that of the interior bow. The interval between the red of the interior bow and the red of the exterior is 50° 59' -42° 2', or 8° 57'. All these values, deduced from the theory of refraction, are found to agree exactly with those found by actual measurement. Dr. Bailey, in the Phil. Trans, for 1700, has computed the diameters of the rainbows formed by three, four, and five reflections ; but these bows are rarely if ever seen, the light being too faint to make an impression on the eye. Supernumerary or spurious rainbows are some- times seen within the primary and without the secondary bow, and having the same order of colours as the bows to which they respectively belong. They are explained by Dr. Young on the theory of the interference of light. (Phil. Trans. 1804 ; Led. vol. i. p. 470.) An inverted or distorted iris is sometimes observed lying on the ground, formed by the drops of dew suspended from the tops of the blades of grass, or from spiders' webs. In favourable circumstances lunar rainbows are sometimes seen ; but their colours are faint and scarcely perceptible. The first explanation of the true theory of the rainbow is usually ascribed (Newton's RAISED BEACH Optics) to Antonio de Dominis, archbishop of Spalatro, and afterwards dean of Windsor, whose work, De Radiis Visus et Lucis, was published at Venice in 1611, but stated to have been written twenty years previously. , It would appear, however, from the account of this work given by Boscovich, Montucla, | Priestley, and Biot, that the merit of De Dominis was confined to a vague statement or surmise, unsupported by experiment, that the interior I bow is formed by two refractions and an inter- . mediate reflection. He gave no reason for the ^ precise angle which its diameter subtends ; and with respect to the exterior bow, his attempt to explain its formation is wholly erroneous. The true theory of the exterior bow, and the determination of the particular angles of de- viation under which alone the rays transmitted to the eye are sufficiently dense to be visible, belong to Descartes. The explanation given by Descartes, in his Dioptrics, is complete in every respect, excepting as to the cause of the colours, the theory of which was supplied by Newton's great discovery of the unequal re- frangibility of the different rays. (Montucla, Histoire des Mathematiques, vol. i. p. 700 ; Priestley On Vision, p. 107 ; Biot, Traite de Physique, torn. iii. p. 460.) Raised Beach. In Geography, a beach is a shelving tract of sand or shingle washed by the sea or a fresh-water lake, and interposed between the water and the land on which vegetation grows. The beach of the ocean is, generally speaking, little more than the space between low and high water mark ; the beach of a lake, that between the water marks of the highest and lowest ordinary level of the lake. An inland sea with little tide, such as the Medi- terranean, has generally not much beach, except in embayed portions, where the waters rise or fall according to the prevailing winds. Eaised beaches are tracts of shingle and gravel, indu- rated for the most part into the consistency of pudding stone or breccia, found on the sides of shelving ground at a level above that of some neighbouring lake or sea, in such a position as to leave no doubt that they had in ancient times been washed by its waters. They are found extending along our own coast, espe- cially in Cornwall and Wales ; they have been observed also very distinctly on the shores of the Mediterranean and the Baltic, and they abound in the vicinity of the great American lakes. They are valuable geological evidence of a recent change in the level, over distinct areas of former sea-bottom, now converted into dry land high enough to be beyond the tidal influence. Raising Plate or Upper Plate. In Architecture, the plate or longitudinal timber on which the roof stands when in its place or pitched. Raisin? a Siege. In Military language, abandoning a siege. Raisins (Fr. ; Ger. rosine). The dried berries of the Grape Vine, of which large quantities are annually imported, upwards of 201 RAM 300,000 cwt. having been received in thu country in 1864, chiefly from Turkey and Spain. Some are wholly sun-dried, and these, which are the best, are called raisins of the sun- Others are first dipped in a ley, and then sun- dried ; others which are dried in ovens, are of inferior quality. The raisins of Malaga are the finest, the muscatels from that district being the most esteemed of all. Rajah (akin to the Sanscrit root raj, to shine : the word reappears in the Latin rex, regis, a king). A title given to the hereditary princes of the Hindus, who belong to the Cshatriya or warrior caste. [Caste.] Rake (A.-Sax. racian). The Nautical term for slope, applied in several senses on board ship. The rake of the stem and stern is the distance by which the top projects beyond its base where it joins the keel. The rake of a mast is its slope towards the stern, causing its angle with the keel to be less than a right angle. The object of this rake is to diminish the plunging action of the ship's bows. It is a common form of masting in small sharp-bowed vessels. The rake of the rudder is its foremost edge, agree- ing with the sternpost, and of course having the same rake. To rake a ship, is to fire into her head or stern in the direction of her length, or along her decks. It is similar to what engineers term enfilading. Ram (a Teutonic word). An instrument of modern warfare, reproducing on a vastly more powerful scale the beaked vessels of the ancients. The ram is a ship of extraordinary solidity and strength, propelled by engines of great power, and armed at the prow, below the water line, with a sharp heavy beak nearly pointed and diminishing to a sloping edge on the upper side. This beak is nearly solid, or at least of the strongest possible formation ; and it is usually built as an independent adjunct to the ship, so that in the event of any very serious collision it may be buried in its victim, or carried away, leaving the vessel itself intact. Irrespective of this beak, the ram is constructed like any other iron-clad vessel. It may be of iron altogether, of wood with iron armour through- out, or of wood with its battery only protected by armour. Some rams have their batteries in broadside, others in revolving turrets, naval authorities being divided as to the re- lative advantages of the systems. The shape of the beak, flat beneath, and above inclining upwards towards the ship, presents the exact opposite of the ordinary cutwater in its action on the water ; but the French naval architects maintain that the change is an improvement, the throwing off of water from the sharp edge preventing the formation of that mound of water which collects against the bow of the usual build and greatly impedes progress. The first practical use of the modern iron-clad ram was in 1862 in the Hampton Boads, where the Confederate ram ' Merrimac ' destroyed several Federal wooden vessels with the greatest ease. RAM RANA Ram. In Hydraulics. [Hydraulic Ram.] Ram. In Zoology, the perfect male of the species of sheep, e. g. Ovis Ammon, 0. musi- mon, 0. Vignei, from one or more of which wild species the domesticated breeds have been derived. The castrate mal eis termed wether. Ram, Battering. [Battering Ram.] Ram-til (Hin. ram-tilla). One of the names of Guizotia oleifera, an oil-plant of India. The oil is commonly used as a lamp oil, and as a condiment. Ramadan or Rhamadan. The name given to the great fast or Lent of the Moham- medans. It commences with the new moon of the ninth month of the Mohammedan year; and while it continues, the day is spent unin- terruptedly in prayers and other devotional exercises. Even the night is passed by the more rigid of the faithful in the mosques, which are splendidly illuminated on this occasion ; but, generally speaking, the arrival of sunset is the signal for a more than usual indulgence ; and, on the third evening of the fast, the grand vizier commences a series of official banquets. The Ramadan ends on the day preceding the only other great festival of the Mohammedans, the Bairam, equivalent to our Easter. Ramayana (Sanscr. the career or travels of Bama). The oldest of the two great Sanscrit epic poems, describing the life and actions of the hero Rama and his wife Sita, and especially Rama's expedition to Ceylon, to rescue Sita from the tyrant Rawana. Eor the age of the poem, see Max Muller, History of Sanscrit Literature, p. 41, &c. A translation of it was commenced by Messrs. Carey and Marshman (printed at Serampore) ; and another by A. W. von Schlegel (Bonn 1829). {Historical Sketch of Sanscrit Literature, from the German of Adelung, p. 117, &c.) Eamentum (Lat. a shaving). In Botany, a thin brown foliaceous scale, such as appear sometimes in great abundance upon young shoots, and are especially numerous and highly developed upon the petioles and the backs of the leaves of ferns. Ramists. In Philosophy, the partisans of Pierre Rame, better known by his Latin name of Ramus, royal professor of rhetoric and philo- sophy at Paris in the reign of Henry II. He perished in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. His system of logic was opposed to that of the Aristotelian party ; and during the latter half of the sixteenth century a vehement contest was maintained between their respective ad- herents in France, Germany, and other parts of Europe. (Hallam, Literature of Europe, vol. ii. ch. iii.) 1 He conferred,' says the same writer, 'material obligations on science by denying the barbarous method of the schoolmen. What are the merits of his own method, is a different question.' (Ib. vol. i. ch. vii.) Ramline. In Mast-making or laying a deck, a long line of cord so fastened as to designate the exact central line. Rammelsbergite. An arsenide of nickel isomorphous with rhombic Iron Pyrites. It 205 is named after Rammelsberg, the German chemist and mineralogist. Ramnenses or Ramnes. [Equites; Luceres.] Ramp (Fr. rampe). In Architecture, a concave band, or slope, in the cup or upper member of any piece of ascending or de- scending workmanship. Thus, the ramp of a staircase railing is the inclined rail along which the hand of a person going up or down the staircase is led. The word ram]) is, how- ever, understood in this case to apply to the straight part exclusively. Ramp. In Fortification, a road cut obliquely in the interior slope of the rampart, leading from the interior of the work to the terreplein. Rampant (Fr.). In Heraldry, a term used to describe lions, tigers, bears, &c, when re- presented as standing erect on their hind legs. Rampart (Fr. rempart). In Fortification, the mass of earth thrown up from the ditch inwards in order to give the defenders a com- manding position over the ground in front. The term rampart, though strictly meaning the mound on which the parapet stands, gene- rally includes the parapet itself. If it be of less height than thirty feet, it is liable to be taken by escalade. [Fortification.] Ramphorhynchus (Gr. pdfxcpos, a beak, and pvyxos, a snout). A genus of Pterosaurian reptiles, in which the fore part of the jaw is without teeth, and may have been encased in a horny beak, but behind the edentulous pro- duction there are four or five large and long teeth, followed by several smaller ones. The tail is long, stiff, and slender. The Ram- phorhynchus longicaudus, R. Gemmingi, and R. Miinsteri belong to this genus. All are from the lithographic (middle oolitic)slates of Bavaria. Rampion (Fr. raiponce, from Lat. rapum, rape). The garden name for Campanula Rapunculus, the fleshy roots of which were formerly cultivated and eaten in this country, as they still are in France and Italy. Ramus (Lat. a branch). In Botany, a term applied to a branch or subdivision of a stem, ramulus being a little branch or ultimate subdivision. Hence the word ramose, which is applied to plants which produce branches (in contradistinction to such as are unbranched), or to those which are very much branched. Ran. In Rope-making, a reel of twenty yarns. Rana (Lat. a frog). The generic name of the tailless Batrachian reptiles, which have the hind legs longer than the fore, and webbed toes fitted for swimming, and not expanded at the extremity. Their head is flat, muzzle rounded, and the opening of their jaws large ; the tongue in most of them is soft, and not attached to the bottom of the gullet, but to the edges of the jaw, with the free end turned backwards. There are but four toes to the anterior feet ; the hind ones frequently exhibit the rudiment of a sixth. There are no movable ribs to their skeleton : a prominent cartilaginous plate supplies the place of a tympanum, and renders the ear visible RANCIERITE externally. The eye is furnished with two fleshy lids, and a third, which is transparent and horizontal, concealed under the lower one. Inspiration is effected by the muscles of the throat, which, by dilating, draw in air by the nostrils, and by contracting while the nostrils are closed by the tongue compel the air to enter the lungs ; expiration, on the contrary, is produced by the muscles of the lower part of the abdomen. The young frog, which is called a tadpole, is at first furnished with a long fleshy tail, and a small horny beak, having no other apparent limbs than little fringes on the sides of the neck. These disappear in a few days, and the hind feet of the tadpole are very gradually and visibly developed ; the fore feet are also developed, but under the skin, through which they subsequently penetrate. The tail is gradually absorbed. The beak falls and dis- closes the true jaws, which at first were soft and concealed beneath the skin ; and the bran- chiae are absorbed, leaving to the lungs alone the function of respiration in which they partici- pated. The eyes, which at first could only be discerned through a transparent spot in the skin of the tadpole, are now visible with their three lids. Tadpoles reproduce their limbs almost like salamanders. The period at which each of these changes takes place varies with the species. In cold and temperate climates, the perfect animal passes the winter under ground, or in the mud under water, without eating or breathing ; though if it be prevented from respiring during the summer for a few minutes by keeping its mouth open, it dies. Rancierite. A variety of Hausmannite, resembling Pyrolusite. Randanite. A kind of soluble silica, chiefly composed of infusorial remains, and found in France near Randon, in the Puy -de- Dome. Range. In Gunnery, the distance from the muzzle of a gun to the second intersection of the trajectory with the line of sight. The range is not accurately the distance to the point at which the shot impinges on the plane, un- less that is also the point aimed at, but the difference is practically of importance only at short distances. In practice the range is usually measured from the muzzle of the gun to the point of impact on the object, or to the first graze of the projectile. The range depends on the initial velocity, the form and density of the projectile, the angle of elevation of the gun, and the difference of level between the planes upon which the gun and object respectively stand. Range. On Shipboard, a length of cable equal to or slightly in excess of the supposed depth of water into which the anchor is about to be cast. It is lightly coiled on the deck, that it may run freely through the hawse-hole as the anchor falls. The term range is also used to denote a large cleat in a ship's waist for belaying the sheets and tacks of the courses. Ranger. Formerly, a sworn officer of the king's forests, whose principal duty it was to 206 RAPE see and enquire respecting trespassers in his bailiwicks, and present them at the next court holden for the forest ; but now merely an officer of state. [Forest.] Ranidoe. The family of Batrachian reptiles, having as the type the frog (Sana tempo- raria, Linn.). [Rana.] Rank and File. In the Army, all soldiers and non-commissioned officers bearing arms in the ranks are so called. Ranters. A sect which originated in a secession from the Wesleyan connection, on the ground that the "Wcsleyans paid too much attention to the externals of public worship, and were deficient in zeal in open preaching in the streets and fields. They admit of female preaching ; a thing unknown to every other body of Methodists. They are most prevalent in America. Ranula (Lat. rana, a frog, to which it has been supposed to bear some resemblance). A tumour under the tongue, generally supposed to arise from some obstruction of the ducts of the salivary glands ; some recent observations, however, render it probable that the disease often consists in the developement of a cyst in or about the salivary ducts under the tongue. Ranunculaceae (Ranunculus, one of the genera). An order of Exogenous polypetalous plants, in almost all cases herbaceous, in- habiting the colder parts of the world, and un- known in hot countries, except at considerable elevations. They are of great importance, from their usually poisonous qualities, as evinced by Aconite and. Hellebore in particular, which are the roots of several species. Some of them are objects of beaut}'', as the Larkspurs, Ranunculus, Anemone, and Peony. [Pjeonia.] A few are simply astringent, as the Coptis or Gold-thread of North America. The plants of this order are readily known by having an indefinite number of hypogynous stamens, separate carpels, exsti- pulate undotted leaves, and a herbaceous stem. Ranz des Vaches (Fr. ; Ger. kuhreihen, the call to the cows). The name of the melody which the Swiss herdsmen are in the habit of playing on the Alpine horn, and sometimes of singing, when they drive out their herds to the mountains. It consists of a few simple in- tervals, and has a beautiful effect in the echoes of the Swiss mountains. The natives are said to be seized with irrepressible longings to return to their native country when they hear it played in a foreign land. Rape (Lat. rapum, Gr. pdirvs). In Botany, the Brassica Bapus, a plant belonging to the cabbage family, cultivated in fields for its seeds, which are crushed for oil ; and some- times for its leaves, which are fed off by sheep. In Belgium another variety, called Colza, is cultivated for these purposes, the Brassica Bapus olcifera. Rape (Lat. raptus). In Criminal Juris- prudence, a well-known and detestable offence committed against women. Capital punishment for this offence was abolished in 1841. The substitute is penal servitude or imprisonment. RAPE Rape. An Anglo-Saxon territorial division, of -which tho etymology is uncertain. Sussex is the only county divided into rapes ; each containing three or four hundreds. These sub- sisted as military divisions at the time when Domesday Book was compiled. They were formerly under the superintendence of rape- reeves, subordinate to the sheriff of the county. Raphania (Lat. raphanus, Gr. patyayts, the radish). A disease supposed to be produced by eating the seeds of a species of Baphanus. It is attended by convulsive motions of the limbs, vomiting, and diarrhoea, and is classed by Cullen among the neuroses. Raphanosmite, A name given to va- rieties of Clausthalite having part of the lead replaced by copper. RapSiamis (Gr. pdepavos, a radish). A genus of Crucifera, of which the most import- ant species is the Common Radish, B. sativus. The Radish was extensively cultivated in ancient Egypt, but does not appear to have reached this country until a.d. 1548. The root, which is the part mostly used, is fleshy and variable in form, in some varieties fusi- form, in others round like a small turnip, or semi-globular, and either of a reddish-purple, white, yellowish, or deep brown. The seed- pods are smooth, ending in a short pointed beak, and while young, green, and plump, are used for pickling, alone or with other vegetables ; they are also considered a tolerable substitute for capers. It is, however, as a salad-root that radishes have from time immemorial been used. They are in perfection when of a moderate size and quite young. The flesh then abounds in a peculiar nitrous juice, which is much relished by vegetarians, and is considered to be a powerful antiscorbutic. Radishes are usually eaten raw with salt, or cut into slices and mixed in salads. When too large for a salad, they make an excellent dish if dressed and served like asparagus. The Rat-tail Radish, B. caudatus, produces pods which sometimes are as much as three feet long. These, when properly grown, are quite tender and agreeably flavoured, and are eaten instead of the roots, which do not ac- quire a suaBulent condition in this species. Rapne (Grr. paf the smooth Outer portion, nboo Palm, which grows on are made of strips B. vinifera, the Bt the west coast of tropical Africa, is employed for similar purposes by the Africans, who also make very pliable cloth and neat baskets of the undeveloped leaves. Palm-wine is obtained from it, whence its Latin specific name. The fruit spikes sometimes weigh as. much as from 200 lbs. to 300 lbs. Raphides (Gr. pa2 Oil of beech nut. 1 -^00 1 -Rfifi Castor oil . 1*490 ofl'oMiirpentine 1 -485 1*779 1-475 I Oil of olives 1-470 Alum . 1-457 2 "028 Kluor spar 1454 1-794 Sulphuric acid . 1-454 1-761 Nitric acid . 1-410 1-709 Muriatic acid 1-410 Alcohol 1-572 1-678 Cr3'olite . . 1-549 1-641 Water . 1-536 1-628 Ice 1-509 1-619 Liquids is mine- 1-601 rals, 1-894 to . 1131 1-548 Tabasheer . 1-ltl 1-557 Ether expanded to 1-554 thrice its volume 1-057 1-549 Table of the Refractive Powers of Gases. Index of Index of Refraction Refraction Vapour of sulphu- Carbonic acid 1-000449 ret of carbon . 1 00 1530 Carburetted hy- Phosgene . 1-001159 drogen 1 -000443 Cyanogen 1-000834 Ammonia . 1-000585 Chlorine 1-000772 Carbonic oxide . 1-000340 Olefiant gas 1 '000678 Nitrous gas . 1-000505 Sulphurous acid . I 000665 Azote . 1 -000500 Sulphuretted hy- Atmospheric air . 1 -000294 drogen 1 -000644 Oxygen . . 1-000272 Nitrous oxide . 1 -000503 Hydrogen . 1-000158 Hydrocyanic acid 1-000451 Vacuum . . 1-000000 Muriatic acid 1-000419 In the preceding remarks light has been regarded as a homogeneous substance, all the parts of which have the same index of re- fraction. This, however, is not the case ; re- fraction never takes place without a separation of the different coloured rays, so that for every transparent body the index of refraction changes with the colour of the light. The numerical values of the indices, given in the above table, correspond to the yellow or green rays which occupy the middle of the dispersed pencil. Tor the different refrangibilities of the primary rays, see Chromatics; Dispersion; Spectrum. Double Refraction. — The phenomena and laws of refraction, which have yet been con- sidered, belong to those cases in which a single refraction takes place on the entrance of light into a different medium, or in which a pencil of light on entering a refracting medium continues to form a single pencil, and to afford a single image of the object from which it proceeds. There are, however, a multitude of substances which, either in their natural state or under accidental circumstances, exercise a peculiar influence on light, causing it, in its passage through them, to follow two distinct paths, forming with each other an angle of greater or less amount. Such sub- stances are called doubly refracting substances, and the phenomenon itself is called double refraction. 230 T The substances or media which produce only single refraction belong to one or other of the four following classes: 1. Gases and vapours. 2. Fluids. 3. Substances which have passed from the liquid to the solid state so rapidly as to prevent the molecules from taking a regular crystalline arrangement : for example, glass, glue, &c. ; gums, resins, &c. 4. Crystals which belong to the regular system. All other substances, as the salts, precious stones, crystals not belonging to the above-named forms ; all bodies belonging both to the animal and vegetable kingdoms, in which there exists any disposition to a regular arrangement of the molecules, as horn, mother of pearl, &c. ; and in general all bodies unequally compressed, or which have not the same structure in all directions, separate the light which they refract into two distinct pencils, which pursue separate courses and are governed by totally different laws. In order to give an idea of this remarkable phenomenon, let ABCDX (fig. 2) be a crys- tal of Iceland spar (carbonate Fig. 2. of lime), having its faces made s smooth either by cleavage or by A / „ grinding, and let it be laid on one of its faces on a sheet of white paper over a black spot 0 ; then, on looking through the crystal, two spots will be seen, one at 0, and the other at E. On turning the crystal round on its axis, but always keeping the same face on the paper, one of the images, 0, will remain invariable, while the other, E, will appear to describe a circle about 0. If instead of a round spot the object viewed be a straight line, then, on looking through the crystal, a double image of the line will be seen, one passing through O, and the other through E. On turning the crys- tal as before, it will be seen that the distance between the two 'Tines varies, but that they always remain parallel to each other ; and also that in the course of a complete revolution of the crystal about its axis there are two positions in which the images will coincide, and two other positions, midway between the former, in which they will attain a maximum distance. These phenomena show that a ray of light, S I, on entering the face of the crystal at I, is sepa- rated by refraction into two pencils, I O and I E; and it is found that on emerging from the crystals the two pencils make the same angle with the surface, and continue their course in a direction parallel to each other and to the incident ray S I. If we cause a beam of solar light to fall on the crystal, and examine the paths of the two pencils, it will be found that I 0 follows the laws of ordinary refraction, the sine of inci- dence being to the sine of refraction in a con- stant ratio, and the pencil continuing in the same plane with the incident ray and the normal to the surface at the point of incidence ; hence I 0 is called the ordinary pencil. But I E is found to follow an entirely different law, and is therefore called the extraordinary pencil. REFRACTION If, for example, the incident ray SI is perpen- dicular to the face of the crystal, the ordinary refraction docs not take place, the anglo of incidence being zero ; but in this case the angle of refraction of the extraordinary pencil, I E, is 6° 12', and it is not in the same plane with the normal and the incident ray. From a careful examination of the phe- nomena it is also found that although a ray of light falling on the face of the crystal is re- fracted generally into two pencils, there is one particular direction in which the incident ray undergoes only the ordinary refraction. This direction is parallel to A X, the shorter axis of the crystal, and is called the axis of double re- fraction. It is, therefore, to be observed that the axis of double refraction of a crystal is not a fixed line, but a determinate direction with reference to the faces of the crystal, every line parallel to A X forming an axis of double re- fraction. In some crystals the extraordinary ray is refracted towards the axis A X, in others it is refracted from it. In the first case the axis is called a positive axis of refraction ; in the second it is called a negative axis. In the crystal which we have now been con- sidering (Iceland spar), there is only one di- rection in which the double refraction does not take place, but in many other crystals there are two directions which have this property. In examining the phenomena of double refraction in a great number of crystallised substances, Sir David Brewster found that all those crystals whose primitive and simplest form has only one axis of figure, or one pre-eminent line about which the figure is symmetrical, have only one axis of double refraction. The pri- mitive forms which have only one symmetrical axis of figure are the following : — 1. The rhomb with an obtuse summit ; as Iceland spar, tourmaline, qiiartz, &c. 2. The rhomb with an acute summit ; of which form are corundum, sapphire, ruby, cinnabar, and arseniate of copper. 3. The regular hexahedral prism ; as emerald, beryl, arseniate of lead, &c. 4. Octahedron with square base ; as zircon, oxide of tin, prussiate of potash, &c. 5. Eight prism .with square base ; as arse- niate of po-tash, phosphate of magnesia, &c. In all these forms, and in the primitive forms to which they belong, the line A X is the axis of figure and of double refraction ; and it is the only direction in which there is no double refraction. (Brewster's Optics, p. 149.) The property of possessing two axes of double refraction was discovered in 1815 by Sir David Brewster, who found that it belonged to all crystals, whether chemical bodies or mineral substances, which are included in the prismatic system of Mohs, or whose primitive forms are — 1. A right prism, base a rectangle. 2. A right prism, base a rhomb. 3. A right prism, base an oblique parallelo- gram. 231 4. Oblique prism, base a rectangle. 5. Oblique prism, base a rhomb. 6. Oblique prism, base an oblique parallelo- gram. 7. Octahedron, base a rectangle. 8. Octahedi'on, base a rhomb. In all these forms there is no axis about which the crystal is symmetrical. In all cases of crystals with two axes of double refraction, both the pencils are re- fracted according to the laws of extraordinary refraction. In a substance called analcime, Sir D. Brewster found that there were several planes along which if the incident ray passes it will not suffer double refraction, whatever be the angle of incidence. Each of these planes, therefore, may be considered as containing an infinite number of axes of double refraction, or lines in which there is no double refraction. No other substance has yet been found possess- ing the same property. {Optics, p. 155.) Another very remarkable property is, that in crystals which have only one axis of double refraction the axis has always the same posi- tion, being, in fact, in all cases, the axis of symmetry ; but in crystals which have two axes of double refraction, the axes change their position according to the colour of the incident light. Sir John Herschel, to whom this dis- covery is due, found that in crystals of Rochelle salt the inclination of the two axes for violet light is 56°, while for red light it is about 76°. In other crystals, as nitre, the inclination of the two axes is greater for the violet than for the red rays ; but in all cases the line which joins the extremities of the axes for all the rays is a straight line. The property of double refraction was dis- covered by Bartholin, in 1669, and was first explained by Huygens on the hypothesis of the propagation of light by means of an elastic medium. The phenomena have been studied with great assiduity in modern times, and, in fact, the investigation of their laws forms one of the principal parts of physical optics, and has mainly contributed towards the establish- ment, of the now generally received theory of undulation. For the complete explanation of all the phenomena, the undulatory theory requires two postulates, or assumptions: 1. That the vibrations of the ether take place transversely, or in the direction perpendicular to the visual ray; and, 2. That the elasticity of the medium is unequally .developed in j the interior of the refracting crystal. The first of these assumptions is analogous to the effect of a blow given to a cord tightly stretched ; the motion is communicated rapid- ly in the direction of its length, while the vibrations are at right angles to that direc- tion. With respect to the second assumption, the facts which are known respecting the constitution of crystals render it exceedingly probable, a, priori. All diaphanous bodies which refract light only in a single direction, and according to the Cartesian law, are found to have the same tenacity and the same elas- REFRACTION ticity in all directions, and their linear dila- tations by heat are also the same ; but it has been established that with respect to all crys- tallised substances, which possess the property of double refraction, the elastic force with which they resist compression is greater in certain directions than in others, and also that the linear dilatation corresponding to the same increase of temperature varies with the direction in which it is measured. These facts prove that the matter of the crystal possesses an elasticity varying with the direction ; and it seems natural to suppose that the ether within it must have the same property. On these two assumptions, namely, transverse vibrations, and unequally developed elasticity of the medium, Fresnel has constructed a mathematical theory of double refraction from which all the phe- nomena which have yet been observed are de- duced as simple corollaries. (Sir J. Herschel's ' Treatise on Light,' Ency. Metropol. ; ,Airy's Mathematical Tracts, 2nded. ; Pouillet, EUmens de Physique.) Refraction, Terrestrial. Atmospherical refraction [Refraction, Astronomical] is the effect produced by the whole atmosphere on a body placed entirely beyond it ; but as the density of the atmosphere varies with the height, it is evident that the apparent place of any object placed on a different level from that of the observer must be affected in a greater or less degree by refraction. Whether the rays of light come from a more elevated object and consequently pass from a rarer into a denser medium, or from an object depressed be'ow the horizon of the observer and con- sequently pass from a denser into a rarer me- dium, they are equally bent downwards, and thus the apparent place of the object is raised. This refraction between terrestrial objects is called terrestrial refraction ; and as the density of the air near the surface of the earth is liable to great irregularities from being irregularly heated, its effects give rise to many very remarkable phenomena. Among these are Looming or Mirage, the Fata Morgana, and the occasional appearance above the horizon of distant objects which in the ordinary state of the atmosphere are invisible. Sometimes, in consequence of the rarefaction of the air in the neighbourhood of a surface of water, or of a building, or of the earth itself, a distant object appears to be depressed instead of being elevated ; and occasionally it is at once both depressed and elevated, so as to appear double, in which case one of the images is generally seen in an inverted position, as if a reflexion had taken place. In very exact observations, as in geo- detical surveys, it is found that the refraction is not always confined to the same vertical plane, but sometimes produces a deviation amounting to a few seconds laterally. Refractive Power. In Optics, the degree to which a diaphanous body deflects a ray of j light which passes through it. For the mea- j sure of this influence modern writers generally 232 REFUGE, CITIES OF adopt the square of the index of refraction di- minished by unity, or 1, where n denotes the principal index of refraction. [Refraction.] Some modern authors employ the phrase absolute refractive power to denote the ratio of the refractive power of a substance (as above defined) to its density; that is to say, the ratio {ri 2 — 1) : D, where D stands for the density of the body. The French authors use the term puissance refractive to denote the refractive power, or the number n? — 1, while they express the absolute refractive power, or the ratio (n 2 — 1):D, by the term poicvoir refringent. It is convenient to have different names for the two things, which are totally different, at least in their numerical measures. Thus hydrogen gas has a smaller index of refraction, and consequently a smaller refractive power, than any other substance ; but its absolute refractive power, or pouvoir refringent, is greater than that of any other substance. (For a table of the values of the ratio (n* — 1):D for a considerable number of different substances, see Brewster's 'Optics,' Cabinet Cyclopaedia.) Refractor. The name generally given to the refracting telescope. [Telescope.] Refractory Minerals. Such minerals as can bear exposure to great heat without change or injury. The most important of these are Mica, Graphite or Plumbago, Steatite or Soapstone, Potstone, Pyrallolite, Fire-clay, some kinds of sandstone, &c. Refrain (Fr. refrein). The burden of a song, &c. [Bourdon.] Refrangibility (Lat. re, and frango, / break). In Optics, the disposition of the rays of light to be refracted or bent in passing obliquely from one transparent medium into another. The term is chiefly used to denote the degree of that disposition possessed by the differently coloured rays. [Refraction ; Spectrum.] Refresher. In Law, an additional fee paid to counsel when a cause is not heard in the term for which it was originally set down. Refreshment Houses. In Law, houses kept open at night for public refreshment or entertainment, but not licensed for the sale of beer, cider, wine or spirits. They are placed under special regulations by stat. 23 Vict, c. 27 and subsequent Acts. Refrigerator (Lat. refrigero, I make cool). A term sometimes applied to a system of pipes contained in tanks of cold water, and used for the cooling of large quantities of liquids, which are made to circulate through the pipes. More usually, however, the word is used as synony- mous with Condenser. Refugee, Cities of. Six cities mentioned in the Pentateuch as appointed for the recep- tion of those who had caused the accidental death of anyone. It is stated that if a de- liberate murderer should flee to one of these cities, the elders of the city are to deliver him 'into the hands of the avenger of blood.' (Deut. xix. ; Josh, xx.) HEFUGEE REUIOIDE Refugee. A name which lias been given indiscriminately to persons who flee from religious or political persecution in their own country, and take refuge in another. It was , originally applied to the French Protestants (refugies) who found an asylum in this country and in others after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. Regalia (Lat. royal things). In English Heraldry, the royal insignia, crowns, sceptres, globes, crosses, &c. used at the coronation : also the crown jewels. Kegalia. In Politics, the privileges, pre- rogative, and right of property, belonging in virtue of office to the sovereign of a state. The latter class of objects are most commonly termed regalia minora, as, in some countries, waifs, strays, and newly-formed land, &c. ; in England, forfeitures, &e. ; while the former are known by the epithet majora. Regalia of tne Cnurcn. The privileges which have been conceded to it by kings ; sometimes the patrimony of a church. Regardant (Fr.). In Heraldry, literally looking behind; applied to any animal whose face is turned towards the tail in an attitude of vigilance. Regardant. In Law, a villein regardant w r as probably so called because annexed to a manor regarding or relating to it. Regarder. The obsolete title of an of- ficer whose duty it was to overlook a forest. [Ranger.] Regatta (Ital.). A word used originally by the Venetians to signify a grand fete, in which the gondoliers contested for superiority in rowing their gondolas ; but the term has been adopted into all the languages of modern Europe, in which it signifies a brilliant species of boat race. Regel or Rigel. A star of the first mag- nitude, in the left heel of the constellation Orion. Regenerating Furnace. A furnace lately introduced, which acts by causing the products of combustion, on their way to the stack or chimney, to pass over an extended surface of brick, metal, or other suitable material, capable of retaining heat, which afterwards serves to heat the atmospheric air, or other materials of combustion, in such manner that the cold air is first brought into contact with the more intensely heated portions, until it finally passes the surfaces nearest the place of com- bustion, which are consequently heated to the highest point. Usually four chambers filled with firebrick are employed, one pair re- ceiving the waste heat while the other pair, previously heated, are giving up their acquired heat to the gaseous fuel and to the air required for burning it. The direction of the currents is changed by a simple system of reversing valves. The regenerative furnaces are largely applied in the operations of the glass blower and plate-glass maker, in the pottery and por- celain factories, also in puddling and welding iron, and cast-steel melting. Attempts have 233 been made to introduce lliem in gas-works, and they appear to be very successful in all cases where intense heat combined with a regularity of draught is at tainable. The best description of this lcind of furnace is to be found in Mr. Siemens' patent ; and the Practiced Mechanic's Journal for October 1, 1864, contains a good account of the application of the principle to the burning of bricks. Regeneration (Lat. regeneratio). In Theology, this term is used to denote the new birth of man unto righteousness, following on the abolition of the original corruption of his nature. Similar language was used respecting the admission of proselytes to the privilege of Judaism: so, also, in other religions. The Sanscrit name for a Brahman is said to sig- nify twice born ; and Tertullian says that the heathens used baptism in their mysteries, in regenerationcm. Regent (Lat. rego, I govern). The person who exercises the powers of a sovereign during the absence, incapacity, or minority of the* latter. In most hereditary governments the maxim is, that this office belongs to the nearest relative of the sovereign capable of undertaking it ; but this rule is subject to many limitations. The kings of Erance exercised at various pe- riods the power of fixing, by ordinance or will, the regency, in case of their decease leaving issue under age; and also the period of their son's majority. Nevertheless, these wills have been at various times disregarded in favour of what was esteemed the principle of the mon- archy. Thus, the testament of Louis XIII., by which he declared his wife future regent, but limited her power in the essential prerogative of the choice of" a council, was set aside as to this limitation, and she was appointed regent with full prerogatives. The testament of Louis XIV., as to a regency during the minority of Louis XV., was set aside by the parliament of Paris imme- diately after his death. In England, the right to appoint the regent is now fully recognised to belong to parliament; although, in 1788, on the occasion of the first illness of George III., much discussion took place as to the absolute right which some supposed to inhere in the heir apparent. Regent Blasters or Regents. In the English Universities, a term borrowed from the ancient usages of the university of Paris. In that institution graduates in the faculties, within a certain period after their degree, had the privilege, which they were bound to ex- ercise, of giving public lectures (docendi, le- gendi, regendi scholas). The same custom was adopted at Oxford and Cambridge; although the regent masters were at an early period succeeded in the performance of this office by the established professors. [Master of Arts.] Regicide (Lat. rex, king, and caedo, / Mil). The offence of slaying a king or other sovereign. The early Greek republics, unaccustomed to the legitimate rule of monarchs, saw, in the occasional subjugation which they underwent from successful partisans, a mere usurpation, REGICIDE REGISTRY OF BIRTHS or tyranny ; and tyrannicide was with them only the slaying of a public enemy. The an- cient Greeks made a wide distinction between hereditary sovereigns, whether constitutional or despotic, and those who had risen to abso- lute power by subverting an existing free con- stitution. With them the former was an object of respect, and was regarded as having a right to the obedience of his subjects ; the latter was in their eyes simply as a wild beast who had burst into the fold of civil society, and whom every citizen was bound by whatever means to destroy. (Arnold, History of Eome, i. 476.) The hatred which grew up in the minds of the Roman people to the royal name and authority made them regard the acts as- signed by tradition to the elder and younger Brutus, even to the latest days of the republic, and long after the establishment of the empire, as virtuous and honourable. Hence arose a perverted morality on this peculiar subject, which continues to prevail, more or less, even Ao the present day, as false in logic as con- trary to the plain rules of conscience ; for it is obvious that, to each individual, any wealthy or powerful oppressor, who commits injuries against him and his friends for which the law can give no redress, is just as fair a subject for illegal vengeance as a king to any member of the community. Yet no one ever sought seriously to set up the right of assassination in such cases ; as Buchanan, Lan- guet, Mariana, and others have done in that of kings. English history has three notorious instances of kings (Edward II., Richard II., and Edward V.) murdered by powerful and rebellious subjects. In France, Henry III. and IV. both fell by the hands of Roman Catholic zealots. But the savage execution of Ravaillac did not deter Damien, in the reign of Louis XV., from attempting the same offence from the same motives. The murder of the due de Berri , and the repeated attempts on the life of Louis Philippe, from political enthusiasm, together with well- known recent instances, show but too plainly that the morbid passions which actuated these celebrated assassins have but taken in modern times another direction. The murder of Gus- tavus, king of Sweden, by Ankarstrom, is, perhaps, the most deliberate instance of this crime on record ; for the criminal, though ran- corous and determined, was no zealot. It must be added, that the application of the term regicide to the members of the commission which sat in judgment on Charles I., and to the majority of the convention which condemned Louis XVI., is a violation of that moral sense which judges unerringly of actions ; whatever the character of their conduct might be, it was altogether different from assassination ; and to confound Vane or Carnot with Ravaillac and Fieschi, under a similar designation, can serve no ends but those of temporary party malice. By the law of some continental countries, regicide is punished as Parricide. (Hallam, Literary History, part ii. ch. iv. §§ 29-40, and part iii. ch. iv. § 2.) 234 Hegifug-ium (Lat. the king's flight). A festival celebrated by the Romans to comme- morate the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud. It is, however, doubtful whether the institution of this feast has anything to do with the flight of Tarquin ; and the symbolical flight of the rex sacrorum from the Comitium after performing his sacrifice has been alleged as accounting for the origin of the tradition. Regiment (Lat. rego, I rule : the Latin regimen turn, like regimen, denoted rule or au- thority, and the word was used in this sense by Knox when he denounced the 'monstrous regiment of women'). A body of troops con- sisting (if infantry) of one or more battalions or (if cavalry) of several squadrons, under the command of a colonel. The royal regiment of artillery consists of thirty-one brigades, six of which are horse brigades. The British army consists at present (1866) of three regiments of life and horse guards ; twenty-eight regiments of cavalry, of which ten are dragoons, thirteen hussars, and five lancers ; threeregiments of foot guards, divided into the Grenadier guards, the Scots fusiliers, and the Coldstream guards ; and one hundred and nine regiments of infantry exclusive of the rifle brigade, besides ten colo- nial regiments and corps, the native troops in India, artillery, engineers, military train, marines, &c. Many of the regiments in the British army are distinguished by the name of the counties or districts where the men were originally enlisted. Thus the 3rd regiment is called the East Kent regiment ; the 6th the Royal Warwickshire, &c. &c. No rule is established with regard to the number of men of which a regiment should consist : both in England and on the Continent this point is settled either by the exigencies of service in time of war, or the principles of economy in time of peace. [Army ; Artillery ; Cavalry ; Infantry.] Regin. In Mythology. [Sigurdr.] Register, Lord, or Xiord Clerk Regis- ter. A Scottish officer of state, who has the custody of the archives ; hence also termed custos rotulorum. He was formerly the prin- cipal clerk of the kingdom, from whom other clerks derived their authority. The office since 1777 has been held for life. It is now merely honorary, the salary having been abolished in 1861, and the duties being per- formed by the registrar-general and depute clerk register. Registrar (Low Lat. registrarius) The keeper of a registry. Many officers with this title exercise different functions in the Courts of Bankruptcy, Chancery, &c. Registration of Title to Iiand. [Title.] Registry of Births, Marriages, and Deaths. Down to the year 1836, in conse- quence of the defects of the system of regis- tration, no complete or accurate information could be obtained as to the number of births, marriages, and deaths throughout England ; but at that period the need of a better system was admitted, and the change was finally ac- REGISTRY OF BIRTHS complished by the Act 6 & 7 Wm. IV. c. 86. [Mortality, Bills of.] This Act, passed in pursuance of the recom- mendation of a committee of the House of Commons on parochial registers (1833), em- bodies a plan for the effectual registration of births, deaths, and marriages in England and Wales. To give uniformity to the system, it is conducted under the superintendence of an officer resident in London ; and there also a central place of deposit is provided for certified copies of all parochial registers, with ready means of finding any entry in them. It is provided that in every case of birth the fol- lowing circumstances shall be recorded: viz. the time and place of birth ; the name (if any) and sex of child ; name and surname of father ; name and maiden surname of mother ; rank or profession of father ; the signature, de- scription, and residence of the informant ; and also the baptismal name of child, if added after registration of birth. In every case of death the register is to record the time and place of death ; the name and surname, sex, age, and rank or profession of the deceased ; the cause of death ; and the signature, description, and residence of the informant. In all cases the entries must be signed by the informant, and also by the registrar, who discharges this duty without any immediate expense to the parties requiring registration, his remuneration being derived from moderate fees paid out of the poor's rates. The insertion of the cause of death, along with the period of death, and the residence, sex, age, and occupation of the deceased, will, in time, afford data of the utmost importance to medical science, and to the improvement of vital statistics. The central office in London for the deposit of certified copies of registers, and the general supervision and conduct of the business of registration, is called the General Register Office. It is presided over by a registrar- general appointed under the great seal, having under him an assistant registrar, chief clerk, and a numerous body of subordinate clerks. From this office communications emanate to all superintending registrars, registrars of births and deaths, and registrars of marriages, who all act within their respective districts under the directions of the registrar-general, in whom is vested the power of dismissal. There are upwards of 600 superintendent registrars, who may each appoint a deputy, with the approval of the registrar-general. Each superintendent registrar serves within the district to which he is appointed, which comprises one or more registrar's districts. There are upwards of 2,000 registrars of births and deaths, who may each appoint a deputy, with the approval of the guardians, or of the poor law commissioners. Each registrar is appointed to some one of the registrars' dis- tricts, into which the whole of England and | Wales has been divided ; and he must reside ; in that district and register all births and j deaths that occur in it. 235 1 REGISTRY OF DEEDS Marriages are registered, 1st, By clergymen of the established church, of whom about 12,000 have been furnished with books for this purpose. 2ndly, By registrars of marriag* S, of whom there were, on the 1st of January, 1850, about 1.000: these last are, appointed by the superintendent registrars, and register marriages solemnised in their presence in re- gistered places of worship, or in the super- intendent registrar's office. 3rdly, By the registering officers of Quakers. And 4thly, By the secretaries of synagogues. The clergymen and the various officers, amounting in all to about 15,000, to whom the business of registration is committed, are bound to make quarterly deliveries of certified copies of all entries in their respective registers during the previous quarter, to the superintendent re- gistrars of the district to which they respec- tively belong; and these certified copies are transmitted by the superintendent registrars to the registrar-general. The certified copies are made on separate leaves of paper of a uni- form size and peculiar texture, having a distin- guishing water-mark. On being received at the general register office in London (whither they are sent by post), they are carefully examined; and any defects, which may be noted, are made the subject of communication with the person from whom the defective copy came, and who is required either to furnish another copy or a satisfactory explanation. They are then arranged, paged, and inserted in books for reference. Alphabetical indexes of births, deaths, and marriages are prepared and kept in the general register office ; and any person, on payment of Is., may search these indexes for any entry, and on finding it, may, if he wish, obtain, for 25. 6d., a stamped copy of such entry, which will be ' received as evidence of the birth, death, or marriage to which the same relates, without any further or other proof of such entry.' There are separate alphabetical indexes for the births, the deaths, and the marriages in each quarter. The registrar-general is bound to furnish, once a year, to one of the principal secretaries of state a general abstract account of the births, deaths, and marriages registered during the foregoing year, to be laid before parliament. The first of these was prepared in 1838. They have since been continued with various improvements; and in a statistical point of view, the sound, accurate, and judicious in- formation which they embody, cannot be too highly appreciated. (Stat, of the Brit. Empire, vol. i. pp. 410-430.) The Act 6 & 7 Wm. IV. c. 86 does not extend to Scotland or Ireland, but similar provisions have been recently enacted for both these por- , tions of the empire (7 & 8 Vict. c. 81, 26 & 27 ! Vict. c. 11, c. 90, for Ireland; 17 & 18 Vict, c. 80 &c. for Scotland). Registry of Deeds. In Law. In England conveyances (including wills) of land situate in the three ridings of Yorkshire, or in Middlesex, must be registered according to the provisions REGISTRY OF SHIPS REGULATOR of certain special Acts of Parliament. This does not extend to copyhold estates, or to leases not exceeding twenty-one years in possession. The intention of the registry was to give notice, to purchasers, of incumbrances existing on estates ; but its value, in this respect, is materially lessened by the prevalence of the equitable doctrine of notice ; namely, that where a party is, either actually or constructively, aware of incumbrances not registered, he is bound by such knowledge. In Ireland and Scotland, and in most of the colonies, if not in all, there is a general system of registry, and many unsuc- cessful attempts have been made to induce parliament to establish a similar system for the whole of England. Registry of Ships. [Ships, Registry of.] Registry of Title. [Title.] Regium Donum (Lat. royal gift). An annual grant of public money for the main- tenance of the Presbyterian clergy in Ireland. It was instituted by William III. in 1690, and remodelled in 1790. The stipends are paid to ministers both of the Synod of Ulster and the Seceding Synod. Regius Professor. The name given to those professors in the English universities whose chairs were founded by Henry VIII. In the Scotch universities, in which the pa- tronage of by far the greater number of chairs is vested in the civil bodies, those professors are called regius professors who have been appointed by the crown. Reglet (Fr.). In Architecture. [Fillet.] Reglet. In Printing, a sort of furniture of an equal thickness throughout its length, and of quadrat height. The ]ength is three feet, and the thickness that of the various sizes of types. Regma (Gr. priyixa, a fracture). One of the terms applied to a tricoccous fruit, like that of the Castor-oil plant and the Euphorbias. Regrating. [Forestalling.] Regression (Lat. regressio, a going back- wards). In Astronomy, the regression of the moons nodes is the motion of the line of inter- section of the orbit of the moon with the ecliptic, which is retrograde, or contrary to the order of the signs. This motion of the nodes of the lunar orbit takes place with considerable ra- pidity, the whole revolution being accomplished in about eighteen and a half years. The nodes of the planetary orbits also regress on the ecliptic ; but, in the case of the planets, the re- gression is extremely slow, that of the nodes of Mercury, which is the most rapid, amounting only to about 42 seconds of a degree in a solar year. [Node ; Planet.] Regression, Edge of. [Cuspidal Edge ; Edge of Eegression.] Regular (Lat. regularis, according to ride). In Botany, a term applied to flowers which have all the parts of each series of a similar form and size. Thus the Buttercup is regular, while the allied Larkspur is irregular. Regular Clergy. [Kegulars.] Regular Polygon. In Geometry, a plane 230 rectilineal figure with equal angles and sides. [Polygon.] It is always possible to de- scribe a circle whose circumference shall pass through all its corners or touch all its sides. [Inscribed and Circumscribed Figures.] If a be the side of a regular polygon of n sides, then the radii of its circumscribed and inscribed circles are, respectively, 2 sin v - 2 tan - n n a? n and its area is ; " 4 . 7T tan — n Regular Polyhedron. In Geometry, a polyhedron whose faces are all equal and similar regular polygons. There are only five such solids, and these, from their discoverer Plato, are sometimes called also the Platonic Bodies. [Polyhedron.] If n be the number of sides, each equal to a, which form each face, and m the number of plane angles which meet at each corner of the regular polyhedron, then the inclination 6 of any two adjacent faces is given by the formula — . e cos ™ sm-j = > the radius of the inscribed sphere is equal to 6 tan - a 2 2 tan * n and the radius of th.e circumscribed sphere is equal to a . 6 . ir _ tan _ tan 2 2 m The area of the surface is, of course, easily found from that of one face [Kegular Poly- gon], and the volume of the solid from that of the pyramid having one of the faces for its base, and the radius of the inscribed sphere for its altitude. Besides the five regular polyhedrons of Plato, there are the semi-regular ones of Ar- chimedes, for an account of which see Poly- hedron. Regulars. In the Roman Catholic Church, those who profess and follow a certain rule of life, and observe the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Hence monks in holy orders constituted the body of the regular clergy, as distinguished from the seculars, or clergy who were not under vows. Regulator. In Machinery, a general name for any contrivance of which the object is to produce the uniform movement of machines. The regulators most commonly applied are the Fly and the Governor, for which see the respective terms. REGULUS REINDEER The regulator of a watch is tho spiral spring attached to the balance, This ingenious con- trivance, the invention of Hooke, has contri- buted as much to the improvement of watches as the pendulum to the improvement of clocks. In a paper published in the Memoirs of the Boyal Astronomical Society, vol. xi., the pre- sent Astronomer Koyal has investigated the mathematical problem of the motion of the regulator applied to the clock-work by which motion is given to large equatorial telescopes. For this purpose absolute uniformity of motion is of very great importance. The construction usually adopted, in this country at least, depends on the same principle as that of the governor of the steam engine. Two balls suspended from the upper part of a vertical axis by rods of a certain length, are made to expand by the rotatory velocity of the axis ; and when the expansion reaches a certain limit, a lever is pressed against some revolving part, a friction being thus produced which immedi- ately checks the velocity. Now the uniformity of the rotatory motion of the spindle depends "upon the assumption, that if upon the whole the retarding forces are equal to the accele- rating forces, the balls will move in a circle, and in no other curve. But this assumption is incorrect ; for the balls may move in a curve differing insensibly from a circle ; and, in some instances, Mr. Airy observed the balls to revolve in an ellipse of considerable eccen- tricity. When this takes place, the rotatory motion of the spindle becomes exceedingly variable. This injurious effect may be partly counteracted by constructing the apparatus so that the revolutions shall be either very slow or very quick : the former method has the effect of giving greater smoothness of motion, but the second insures more completely that the object observed shall remain steady in the field of the telescope. Regulus (Lat.). In Chemistry. The old chemists designated by this term several of the brittle or inferior metals when freed from impurities and obtained in their metallic state. Thus they speak of regulus of antimony, of bismuth, &c. The term is now often used by metallurgists to denote the metallic button which is found at the bottom of an assay crucible. There is still, however, considerable confusion in the use of this term ; thus German assayers use it in the sense just given, whereas in England it usually signifies a mass of sul- phides, and especially of copper, such as is got in the concentration of poor copper ores by fusion. Regur. The name given to the cotton soil of India, which extends over at least one third part of Southern India, and ranges northwards to some distance. It chiefly characterises the high plateaux of the Deccan, covering the nearly level plains of that district. Its colour is bluish-black, greenish, or dark grey. It forms a paste with water, and has a clayey odour when Jbreathd on. It absorbs 237 moisture rapidly, and dries into a powder in hot weather. Its thickness varies from three to twenty feet, and it may be cultivate I year after year without, manure, almost without husbandry, and with very rare fallows. It con- sists of about 50 per cent, silica, 20 per cent, alumina, and 25 per cent, of the carbonates of lime and magnesia. The quantity of organic matter is small. Rehabilitation (a word coined from Lat. re, and habilis, active, in the sense of resto- ration to vigour). In Foreign Criminal Law, the reinstatement of a criminal in his personal rights, which he has lost by a judicial sentence. Thus, in Scotland, a pardon from the king is said to rehabilitate a witness labouring under infamia juris. In France, persons condemned to imprisonment or compulsory labour may demand their rehabilitation five years after the expiration of their penalty. Rehearsal. The recital in private of any dramatic work, previously to public exhibition. Reichsrath (Ger. council of the empire'). Under the old constitutions of the German empire, the reiehshofrath was a council of state, charged with important judicial functions. [Aulic Council.] In the Austrian empire, the reichsrath answered to the senate in France, and aided the sovereign in the administration of the empire. But by imperial patent of March 1860, the emperor reconstituted this body by adding to the original or narrow reichsrath (consisting of eighty members) other representative members to be elected by the provincial assemblies : to take into consideration, (I) the annual budget; (2) the more important bills for enactment into general laws ; (3) the proposals of the provincial constitutions. The species of constitution thus established has been very recently subjected to innovations, intended to take from the power of the reichsrath and add to that of the several legislatures of the provinces comprising the empire. Reichstadt (Ger. city of the empire). The designation given to the several free cities which under the old German constitution held immediately of the empire. Of these Hamburg, Frankfort, Bremen, and Lubeck now alone re- tain their independence. [Hansa.] Reichstag-. [Diet.] Reindeer (Ger. rennthier). Cervus taran- dus, Linn. A large species of Cervus with branched, recurved, sub-compressed antlers, the summits of which are palmated. These antlers are remarkable for the size of the branch which comes off near the base, and is directed forwards, called the brow-antler, and which is said to be used by the animal to clear away the snow from the hidden lichens which -constitute its food during the long and severe winter of Greenland, its native clime. As the female also possesses antlers of similar form, but smaller upon the whole than those of the male, their function as instruments to obtain food is ren- dered more probable, since in the deer which do not exist in arctic climes the females are destitute of antlers. These appendages of the REINECKE THE FOX RELBUN reindeer are annually shed and renewed in both sexes. The length of a full-grown male is about nine feet, that of the head is fifteen inches. They are well clothed with hair, which becomes thicker, longer, and of a whiter colour in the winter season ; at which time the male has a white beard like the goat. Tbe rutting season is at the beginning of winter, and the hind brings forth one, rarely two, calves in May or June. The reindeer is swift of foot, sharp-sighted, and has an acute smell and hearing. It is more cautious and timid in herds than when solitary. It can swim well, and often crosses lakes and rivers. The flesh of the reindeer, which is held in great esteem by the Greenlanders, is usually eaten raw, or dried with the smoke of the lichen nivalis. The blood is boiled with berries mixed with the fat, which is also preserved separately and used as lard. The half-digested contents of the panneh of the reindeer form the Greenlander's prime luxury ; nor is the tail rejected. The hide of the reindeer supplies the Greenlander with a beautiful material for his tent, his clothing, and his bedding. The bones and antlers are worked into implements for do- mestic use, for fishing and hunting. The tendons are split into threads. The Greenlanders like- wise use the spare hides of the reindeer as an article of barter. Reinecke the Fox. The name of a cele- brated popular German epic poem, which, during the latter part of the middle ages and the early centuries of modern times, enjoyed an almost European reputation, having first become known through the medium of a Low German version in the fifteenth century. It contains a humorous and satirical account of the adventures of Eeinecke (the fox) at the court of King Nodel (the lion) ; exhibits the cunning of the former, and the means which he adopted to rebut the charges preferred against him, and the hypo- crisy and lies by which he contrived to gain the favour of his sovereign, who loaded him with honours. The king, the officers of his court, and all his subjects are represented, as in JEsop's Fables, under the names of the animals best suited to their respective, characters ; and the poem is an admirable satire on the intrigues practised at a weak court. The most successful versions of this poem are those of Goethe, in hexameters ; of Soltau, in the measure of the original ; and the more recent attempt of Ortlepp. This poem appears, in some form or other, to have been known throughout Europe. For full information respecting it, the reader may consult Meon, Roman die JRenard, Paris 1826; and the Eeinhart Fucks, by Jacob Grimm, Berlin 1834. Reinforce. In Artillery. This word was used originally to signify an additional thick- ness of metal, given to reinforce or strengthen the gun about the breech. Though still em- ployed in the same sense in America, it has now in England almost lost this meaning, 238 and is generally understood to signify the part of the gun thus reinforced. A smooth-boreel cast-iron or bronze gun is divided for purposes of nomenclature into parts. That portion of the gun between the base ring and the ring nearest to the trunnions is divided into two parts, called respectively first and second reinforce. [Gun.] Rings round the gun where these parts end are called re- inforce rings. Reis, Rais, or Ras (Arab, head, prince or chief). A title popularly used for various persons in authority in different parts of the wide regions over which the Arabic language more or less prevails : e. g. the captain of a ship. In Bengal, managers or occupants of religious endowments are sometimes so termed. Reis Effendi. The name given to one of the chief Turkish officers of state. He is chan- cellor of the empire and minister of foreign affairs, in which capacity he negotiates with the ambassadors and interpreters of foreign nations. Reiters. The German cavalry of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were so called ; especially in France during the religious wars, in which they served on the Protestant side. At that period they were light-armed, and carried a long sword and carbine. Rejoinder. In Law, the fourth stage in the pleadings in an action, being the de- fendant's answer to the plaintiff's replication. [Pleading.] Relapsed (Lat. relapsus, part, of relabor, 1 fall back). A term applied, in Ecclesiastical Law, to a heretic who falls back into an error which he has abjured. Relation, Inharmonic or False. In Music, a term denoting that a sound is intro- duced which has a dissonaut or false relation with some sound in tbe preceding chord. Relative Magnitude. [Katio.] Relative Motion. [Motion.] Relative Pronoun. In Grammar, a part of speech which, while it may represent any noun or prepositive pronoun, possesses also a connective force which makes the clause intro- duced by it practically an adjective. Thus the words, 'A man who speaks much is not likely to be wise,' may be resolved into the expression ' A man of many words is not likely to be wise.' Relative Terms. In Logic, words which imply a relation, as father and son, master and servant. Relator (Lat.). When a suit in chancery is instituted in a public matter not directly touching the rights of the crown, e. g. for the regulation of a charity, the course is for the attorney-general to file an information on the relative of some person. This person is called the relator, and is responsible for the costs of the suit, in which he is in fact usually the real plaintiff. A similar name is given to the per- son at whose instance an information in the nature of a quo warranto is filed. Relbun. The roots of Calceolaria arack- noidea, which are used in Chili for dyeing woollen cloths crimson. # RELEASE RELIEVING TACKLES Release (Lat. relaxate, to loosen). In Law, this word signifies, properly speaking, a discharge of a right; e.g. 1. A release of land is a discharge or conveyance of a man's right in lands and tenements to another that has some former estate in possession, on which principle the mode of conveyance by lease and release in use formerly (before land could be legally conveyed by a simple deed of grant) was founded ; i. e. releasing all the right of the releasor to a party already in possession under a lease for a year. 2. A release of a right of action or suit, or of some right, claim, demand, &c. It is usual to express .these re- leases in very general terms, but the Court of Chancery will nevertheless interfere to prevent their being used as a defence against any claims or demands but those of which the parties were aware, and from which in fact they designed to be released. Relics (Lat. reliquse). In the Roman and the Eastern communions, the remains of saints, or of their garments, &c, which are enjoined to be held in veneration and are considered in many instances to be endued with miraculous powers. They are preserved in the churches, to which they are often the means of attracting pilgrims. Relief (Ital. rilievo). In Architecture, the projection of a figure or ornament from the ground or plane on which it is sculptured. Relief. In Feudal Law, this term is derived from the Latin relevare, to take up; because the tenant, by payment of the relief, was said to take up the fief which had fallen to the lord by the death, &c. of his predecessor. ' The heir,' says Blackstone, ' when admitted to the feud which his ancestor possessed, used generally to pay a fine or acknowledgement to the lord in horses, arms, money, or the like, for such re- newal of the feud ; which was called a relief, because it raised up and re-established the inheritance, or, in the words of the feudal writers, " incertam et caducam hrereditatem relevabat." ' Reliefs, together with the other incidents of feudal tenure, were abolished in England by stat. 12 Ch. II. [Feudal System.] Relief. In Fortification, the relief of any point in a work is its vertical distance from a horizontal plane coincident with the base of its scarp. The relief of a work implies the relief of the crest of the parapet, i. e. its height above the base of its scarp. Relief. In Military language, the party detached from a guard to relieve the old sen- tries at the expiration of their term on duty. Relief. In Sculpture, when the whole of the figure stands out, the work is denominated alto-rilicvo ; when only half out, mezzo or demi- rilievo; and when its projection is very small, it is called hasso-rilievo. Relief Synod. A body of Presbyterian dissenters in Scotland, whose ground of separa- tion from the established church was the violent exercise of lay-patronage which obtained in the latter. Though patronage, or the appoint- ment of clergymen to church benefices by 239 presentations, had been established by Act of Parliament in 1712, yet a minority of the clergy were opposed to the intrusion of a minister into a parochial charge contrary to the sentimenl s of the people. The majority of the. church, how- ever, rigorously enforced the provisions of the Act of 17 12. With this state of things the peo- ple generally, but particularly in rural districts, were dissatisfied; and hence the origin of the Secession church, and the Relief. [BuitGHEits.] The origin of the Relief may be dated in 1752. Six of the ministers of the Presbytery of Dunfermline having refused to assist at the admission of Mr. Richardson to the parish of Inverkeithing (the people being unwilling to receive him as their pastor), were summoned before this court for contumacy; and, as an example to the church, one of the six recusants was peremptorily deposed from the office of the ministry, while the remaining five were sus- pended. Mr. G-illespie, minister of Carnock, the person deposed, still claimed his pastoral re- lation to his flock ; and though deprived of the use of the parish church, preached in the fields, attended not merely by his former hearers, but hj many others attracted by the circum- stances of the case. Gillespie for a few years stood alone ; but in consequence of the violent settlement of a clergyman in the town of Jed- burgh, the great body of the people of that place, forsaking the established church, gave a call (1759) to Thomas Boston, minister of a neighbouring parish, who accepted the invita- tion, and withdrew from the church of Scotland. The people of the parish of Kilconquhar, in Fifeshire, followed the example set them in Jedburgh, and chose Mr. Collier to be their minister. On the 22nd of November, 1759, Gillespie and Boston, with a lay elder from each of their congregations, met in a presby- terian capacity at Colinsburgh, in the last- mentioned parish, to induct Collier to his charge. On the evening of the same day these, three ministers met, and agreed to form them- selves into an ecclesiastical body, to be called the ' Presbytery of Relief, for the relief of Christians oppressed in their Christian pri- vileges.' This sect gradually formed itself into a synod, which, in 1851, embraced ele- ven presbyteries, including 116 congregations; being, in point of numbers and influence, the third ecclesiastical body in Scotland. (Smith's Historical Sketches of the Relief Church; Hut- chison's Compendious View of the Synod of Belief; Adam's Religious World Displayed, vol. iii. pp. 223-32; M'Kerrow's History of Seces- sion, vol. i. pp. 319-24, 326-28.) Relieving Tackles. Temporary tackles attached to the end of the tiller in bad weather to assist the helmsman, and in case of accident happening to the tiller ropes or wheel. The term is also applied to strong tackles from the wharf or other object, to which the ship is hove down or careened, passed under her bottom and attached to the opposite side, to assist in right- ing her afterwards, as well as to prevent her from oversetting entirely. RELIQUARY REMEMBRANCERS Reliquary. A receptacle for relics. The ' difference between a reliquary and a case (Ft. ! chasse) used for the same purpose is, that the former is smaller in dimensions, and con- tains only small fragments ; the latter in many instances entire bodies. Remainder. In Arithmetic and Algebra, the difference of two quantities, or that which is left after subtracting one from the other. Remaindhr. In Law, a remainder is de- fined by Lord Coke to be 'a remnant of an estate in lands or tenements expectant on a particular estate created together with the same at one time.' It is clear that if an owner of land in fee simple conveys it to some person for an estate less than his own (as for instance for an estate for life) there will be a remnant of the original estate in fee simple undisposed of. If the original owner retains this remnant himself, it is called his reversion ; but if he con- veys it to anyone else, it is termed a remainder ; thus if land is granted to A for his life, and after his death to B and his heirs, B is said to have a vested remainder in fee simple expectant on the death of A. The limitation of the re- mainder confers on B a present absolute right to the future enjoyment of the property, when- ever the life estate of A (called the particular estate) determines ; in other words, B has a vested estate in remainder. A vested remainder is a remainder which is conveyed or limited uncon- ditionally, and if a remainder is not vested it is contingent. But a remainder may be originally a contingent remainder, and afterwards become a vested remainder ; thus in the case of land being settled on A (a bachelor) for his life, and after his death on his eldest son in fee, the remainder to the son is contingent so long as A has no son ; but as soon as A marries and has a son, the remainder vests in the son, and will take effect in favour of him or his repre- sentative whenever A dies. But if a contingent remainder is so limited as not to vest during the continuance of the preceding (or particular) estate (which must be in such case an estate of freehold), or as soon as it determines, it will fail altogether ; thus if land is settled upon A for life, with remainder to such of his children as attain twenty-one, and he dies leaving only infant children, the remainder to the children will wholly fail, although in the case of personal property, or even in the case of land vested in trustees, such of the children as eventually attained twenty-one would take, although they might have bepn minors at the death of their father. The failure of the remainder in the case above suggested is a consequence of the rule that the seisin or feudal possession of land must never be without an owner, a doctrine which forms one of the first prin- ciples of English real property law, but which is now a mere technicality, fatal to many unskilful dispositions of property, but easily evaded by the expedient of vesting the land in trustees. The creation of contingent remainders is restrained within due bounds by another 210 rule ; viz. that an estate cannot be given to an unborn person for life, followed by any estate to the child of such unborn person ; for in such case the estate given to the child of the unborn person would be void ; as, for instance, in the case of a limitation to A (a bachelor) for life, with remainder to his eldest son for life, with remainder to the eldest son of such eldest son in fee, the latter limitation will be simply void. [Perpetuity.] {Fenny Cyclopcedia, art. ' Remainder ; ' Williams On Real Property.) Remand (Lat. re, andmandare, to commit). In Law, the recommittal by a justice of a person charged with a serious offence to prison for a limited time, when it is necessary to postpone the preliminary examination on ac- count of absence of witnesses or other serious cause : regulated, in England, by the Act 1 1 & 12 Vict. c. 43. Remanet (Lat. it remains). In Law, a cause the trial of which is postponed from one sitting to another. Remblai (Fr.). A term of Engineering, used by the French authors to express the earthwork that is carried to bank, in the case of a railway, or canal traversing a natural depression of the surface. Remblai. In Fortification, the earth or materials used to form the whole mass of rampart and parapet. It may contain more than the deblai from the ditch. [Deblai.] Remedy (Lat. remedium). A term used at the Mint in reference to a certain allowance in the weight and quality or fineness of the coin of the realm. It occurs in an indenture granted by Edward VI. (a.d. 1435) to Robert Mansfield (maitre et ouvrier des monnoys d'or et d! argent en la tour de Londres ct en la ville de Caleys). It occurs again in an indenture granted in 1465 to William Lord Hastings, and is explained as follows : ' And because the said monies of gold may not continually be made according to all things to the right standard, but peradventure in default of the master and worker it shall be found sometimes too strong or too feeble in weight or in alloy, or in both, our sovereign lord the king willeth that when the said money be found at the assay before the deliverance thereof too strong or too feeble all only in weight or all only in assay or in either by the 8th part of a carat in the pennyweight of gold, which 8th part shall be called remedy, the money shall be delivered for good when the said default shall happen casu- ally, otherwise not. If the remedy is exceeded, then the deliverance of the money is to be challenged, and new molten and reforged at the expense of the master.' At present the working remedy allowed upon the pound troy of standard gold, is 12 grains as to weight and 15 grains as to fineness. Twenty troy pounds of standard gold are coined into 1,869 sovereigns, or each troy pound into 46j§ sovereigns. Remembrancers. Officers of the Court of Exchequer, and of some corporations who REMIGES perform various functions, are so called. Tho office of queen's remembrancer lias been re- gulated by various modern statutes (5 & 6 Vict. c. 86, 22 & 23 Vict. c. 21, &c). Remiges (Lat. rowers). The quill feathers of the wings of a bird, which, like oars, propel it through the air. Remijia (after Remijo, aBrazilian physician, by whom the bark was first used). A genus of Cinchonacece, consisting of Brazilian shrubs, some species of which are called Quinas, their bark being used as a substitute for Cinchona. B. fcrruginea and It. Hilarii are called Quina de Remijo ; and B. fcrruginea and B. Vellozii, Quina de Serra. Remingtonite. A hydrated carbonate of cobalt, occurring as a thin opaque rose-coloured coating upon Serpentine, at the copper mine near Finksburg, in Maryland ; and named after the superintendent of the mines. Reminiscence (Lat. reminiscor, I remem- ber). In the theory of Plato, knowledge was only a reminiscence {avdjxvri, and then lets him the land (without deed) on a yearly tenancy, B on entering will be remitted to his prior and better title, though this result would not follow if he had accepted a formal lease by deed. Remolinite. Atacamite from Los Remo- linos in Chili. Remonstrance, The. In English History, the name given to a document presented by parliament to Charles I. in November 1641. It recapitulated all the grievances which had existed since his accession. (Hall am, Consti- tutional History of England, eh. ix.) Remonstrants. In Ecclesiastical History. [Arminians.] Remora. A genus of fishes (Echineis) in which the dorsal fin is so modified as to become a flattened disc covering the top of the head, composed of movable cartilaginous plates di- rected obliquely backwards. The fish attaches itself to a foreign body by this structure ; and from this well-ascertained fact many fables have been invented regarding the genus ; amongst others, one which asserts that the fish possesses the power of arresting the course of any ship to which it may have attached itself. Remoteness (Lat. remotus, moved back). In Law, dispositions of property which are in- valid by reason of their contravening the rule against perpetuities [Perpetuity], are often said to be void for remoteness. Remphan. This deity is said to have been worshipped by the Israelites while in the wilderness. The passage in Acts vii., which speaks of them taking up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of their god Remphan, is supposed to refer to the words of Amos, ' Ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun , your images.' Chiun and Remphan would on this hypothesis be the same, and both are thought to denote Sirius, the dog-star. Renaissance (Fr.). In Architecture, a term applied to the style which sought to re- produce the forms of Greek ornamentation. This style, of which the idea had never died out in Italy, marks especially the age of the revival of letters, which immediately preceded the Reformation. It has, however, no necessary connection with the tone of religious thought which characterises the various Protestant bodies in Europe. It had taken root in Italy before Martin Luther raised his standard against the papal power ; it has been retained there, although the people of Northern Europe have shown a disposition to abandon it. The term Bcnaissance has been very vaguely applied to denote a number of styles which have but little in common. There is no doubt that in the general principle of truthfulness the first phase of Renaissance in Italy agreed closely with the Gothic styles which it sought to 11 XiEXAISSANCE supplant. In both, the ornamentation either grew naturally out of the construction, or was such as was best suited to express the uses or objects to which the building was to be de- voted. We are thus supplied with a test which Mr. Fergusson, in his History of the Modern Styles of Architecture, has iised to distinguish the one true form of Renaissance from the many spurious styles which have succeeded it. Ornamental forms, though avowedly borrowed, may be rightly applied. The Greek shaft and capital, used as a support, is as much in its right place as a Gothic pier : attached to a wall, where it supports nothing, it is put to a use for which it is not adapted, and which is there- fore wrong. Hence, as soon as pieces of en- tablature were thrust in where they were not wanted, or columns became mere ornamental appendages, the style ceased to have a legitimate existence. This strict application of the term cuts down the true Renaissance to a very short life indeed ; for the era opened with the sojourn of Brunelleschi at Rome during the early part of the fifteenth century. He returned to Flo- rence in 1420, and died in 1444; in the in- terval he had erected buildings in which pieces of entablature were thrust in between the pier and arch, and so left to his successors ' the most fatal gift of classic art to modern times.' If these limits are accepted, the Renaissance, like the geometrical Gothic style, has little more than a philosophical existence. In truth, the Renaissance architects followed tho example of the older Roman builders, who disguised their genuine arched construction under forms borrowed from Greek art, or cast away that construction altogether. [Architec- ture, Roman.] The architecture so cast aside contained the germ of the Teutonic or Gothic styles; and its abandonment by the Romans only served to check for centuries all real pro- gress in art. But in the fifteenth century the Gothic architecture had worked itself out, and the most debased forms had been adopted long before John of Padua designed Longleat, or Inigo Jones drew out his plans for Whitehall. Hence there is nothing surprising in the fact that the countries in which the Reformation took root most firmly, were the last to take up the actual forms of Renaissance architecture. Yet the Reformation, although it cannot be regarded as the cause of the introduction of Renaissance forms into the architecture of Northern Europe, undoubtedly checked the passion for church building, which in Italy remained as strong as ever. But in Italy the Gothic forms had never been really congenial. The so-called Gothic churches of Assisi, Vercelli, and Milan had been built by northern architects. But the Renaissance architects, while casting off Gothic trammels, bestowed little thought on main- taining that truthfulness of ornamentation without which no style can have any real life. The Romanesque and Gothic styles had come into existence by casting aside the entablature from all disengaged. columns (Okely, Christian Architzcture in Italy, p. 3): t.he Italians of the 242 fifteenth century felt an irresistible temptation to return to it. The former acquired strength by reverting to the genuine forms of ancient Roman construction: the latter once more placed on their necks the yoke which had crushed the native powers of the older Italian architects in the days of Cicero and Maecenas. The result of this adoption of an unnecessary member as a prominent form in ornamentation was a spirit of slavish copying; and in the absence of a living style applicable to all buildings, the history of modern architecture resolves itself practically into a series of bio- graphies of modern architects. We are con- cerned not with the developement of principles, but with the designs of particular men ; and to form a judgment of these we can make use only of certain canons of taste, in which it seems impossible to insure anything like a general agreement. We cannot decide conclu- sively whether the temple of Theseus is more beautiful than the choir of Cologne ; but we can decide without fear of contradiction whether each of them is or is not inconsistent with the laws of construction and decoration which regulate their respective styles. Tho strictly imitative character of the Re- naissance is still more clearly brought out by the fact that many of the greatest buildings in this style are classical only in their details, their forms being borrowed from early Christian basi- licas or Gothic and Byzantine buildings. To these forms it applied a principle of decoration which could issue only in a wearisome sameness. The Greek column was a strictly constructive feature ; in Roman hands it became an appen- dage of a wall where it supported nothing. The Renaissance architects went a step further by employing pilasters instead of columns, and thus introduced ' one of the most useless as well as least constructive modes of ornamenta- tion that could be adopted.' Having employed these pilasters on useless porticoes, they went on to employ them on the walls of houses, where they give no support whatever. This, in Mr. Fergusson' s opinion, was a further step ' in the wrong direction ; it was employing or- nament for ornament's sake, without reference to construction or the actual purpose of the building ; and once it was admitted that any class of ornament could be employed other than ornamental construction, or which had any other aim than to express, while it beautified, the prosaic exigencies of the design, there was an end of all that was truthful or that can lead to perfection in architectural art.' The columns thus came at length simply to indicate internal arrangement, and were separated into distinct layers by large entablatures which preclude all real unity of design. Hence re- sulted that exaggeration of the orders, which, as Mr. Fergusson maintains, marks the worst stage of Renaissance architecture. There is no reason why in many of the Venetian or Florentine palaces the stages should not be more in num- ber or less ; they might be multiplied without affecting the general character of the design. RENAL GLANDS KENT Tho tendency to imitative forms is shown in the best specimens of the style— in the church j of Lodi as in the Grimani and Guadagni palaces. On the other hand, there are some buildings which with so-called classical forms exhibit j nothing of the spirit of classical art. In the church of the Annunciata at Genoa, no frag- ment of entablature is thrust between the Corinthian capital and the arch ; while verti- cal lines, running up from the capital, make the space between the string-course and the cornice practically a triforium. The general conclusion to be drawn from these facts seems to be that the Renaissance architecture is not, strictly speaking, a distinc- tive style, but simply a method of ornamenting forms which may be Greek, Roman, or Gothic in their character. The practical questions involved in the sub- ject are discussed at length by Mr. Fergusson in his History of Modern Architecture; while an examination of his opinions may be found in an article in the Edinburgh Bevieio (for July 1864, p. 71), in which the principles of Renaissance art, here briefly sketched, are illustrated in greater detail. Renal Glands (Lat. renes, Gr. f the valleys, it is of course desirable to do so ; but there is no necessity for so doing, if the water can be prevented from passing along the top of the masonry or under the foundations of the tunnels, or if precautions are taken to insure that the masonry of the tunnels shall not suffer from unequal settlements of the wall or bank in which it is executed. At the barrage of Alicante the water is drawn off by a well, which occupies the inner thickness of the masonry from top to bottom, and both the gallery that leads the water to the distributing channels, and the scouring sluice, are con- structed without reference to the natural surface of the ground. The height of this reservoir, at the point where the scouring sluice is placed, is 136 feet at least; so that it would appear that the position of the tunnels for the outlet of the waters depends entirely upon the manner in which they are executed, rather than upon the precise position which they may occupy. It may be added that the system adopted in the well pits and culverts of the Bradford reservoirs closely resembles that of the Spanish engineers. In this case the puddle wall was formed of less than the thickness which we have mentioned as advisable, probably because the materials of which the embankments them- selves were composed were such as to allow of their being more closely packed. At any rate, the inner slope of these banks was made 3 to 1, and the outer slop3 2^ to 1 ; the thickness of the bank at the top being 15 feet on the average, and the height of water retained in these reservoirs being as much as 72 feet above the bottom of the outlet. The thickness of the retaining wall or em- 1 s 2 RESERVOIft bankmcnt may be calculated upon the following j principles, if the communication of the water from the upper to the lower side of the reservoir by means of springs or subterranean water- courses be totally excluded. This condition is the ' be all and the end all ' of the establish- j ment of such collections of water, and too ! great precautions cannot be observed to insure the attainment of it. The ground must, of course, be carefully examined, and the effects of': the increased head of water must be carefully ' allowed for. The bottom must be such as will not absorb water, and it must have an in- clination which shall not allow the water to escape or to be lost by evaporation from the surface. In fact, everything depends upon the t strict impermeability of the soil employed as 1 the foundation of the banks of reservoirs ; and if this condition be not obtained, the accidents at the Torcy, the Elentes, and the Dale Dyke i reservoirs will inevitably be repeated. Indeed, the dangers to which the banks or walls are | exposed, can at times be so much increased 1 by the yielding nature of their foundations, that the importance of ascertaining the nature of the latter cannot be exaggerated. Thus the foundations of the reservoir of Grosbois are upon an elastic clay ; and though the thickness of the wall is calculated to resist a greater weight of water than is contained in the re- servoir, yet the movement of the soil under its weight and that of the wall gives rise to corre- sponding movements in the masonry, which do not take place with the reservoir of Setons, founded on the solid granite, or the reservoir of Alicante, which rests on a hard limestone. The resistance of the bank or wall of a reservoir may be considered under three dif- ferent conditions : (1) under the condition of the resistance which it may present to the forces tending to overthrow it, by causing it to turn upon the outer edge ; (2) under the condition of the weight supported by the soil of the founda- tions, and the materials of which it is composed, which would tend to crush them ; and (3) under the condition of its offering a sufficient re- sistance to a force that would tend to produce an effect of sliding or of friction upon the base or upon the lower courses of the masonry. In calculating the dimensions of the reservoirs, it is usual to leave out of account the weight of the parapets and of all incidental works and to consider the water as acting upon the total height of the resisting surface of the wall, without taking into account the resistance offered by the ground thrown out for the foundations. This is, perhaps, counting upon too great an effort, in many circumstances at least ; but the consequences of the overthrow of a dam are so fearful, that there are no reasons why the rule should be altered to suit the few exceptional cases. In the north of England, however, it would seem that of late years care has seldom been taken to calculate the resist- ance of the banks, and this fact may possibly account for the failures that have cast such discredit on our engineering. 260 In earthen dams, it is seldom necessary to ascertain the resistance either to the effort to turn the embankment over on the outer edge, or to the effort of crushing the founda- tions ; but the tendency of the weight to pro- duce the movement of the bank upon the bed, and the danger that may arise from the slip- ping of the materials of which it is composed, must be seriously considered. It is only with reference to the resistance of walls of masonry that the considerations first mentioned begin to be of importance, for the press\ire supported by a bank of earth is always less than the resistance which this bank would offer if proper care be taken in the composition of it. Thus, it has been shown by Navier {Resume des Lemons donnees a I'Ecole des Fonts et Chaussees) that the pressure supported by a vertical section (of infinitely small dimensions) of the height of the bank would be, on the supposition that the angle of the bank were 45°, Q: ~2 in which tt is made equal to the specific gravity of the water, while b represents the height of the water above the position considered, or, in other words, the pressure is equal to the area of the slope multiplied by the square of the height of the water divided by two. If we construct the rectangle representing the force, and apply it to the point where it would act upon the bank, i. e. at a point situated at one-third of the height from the bottom, and at the same time observing that the resultant of this pressure is normal to the line of the bank, we should see that the pressure would have a tendency to drive the bank into the earth. Decomposing this force into two other forces, of which one, n, is destroyed by the resistance of the ground to which it is perpendicular, while m represents the tendency of the bank to slip upon its base in a parallel direction to the horizon, we may thus estimate this force in a function of h. We have, in the first place, Q= ~ and 2m 2 = Q 2 for m = n % From this we may derive the formulae m?= x h, and m = A 4 = ir b 2 x A /i so 4 2 8 that the horizontal pressure supported by the bank is equal to the square of the height of the water multiplied by the weight of unity thereof, multiplied by the square root of §. If, now, we suppose that the earth of which the bank is composed has the same specific gravity as the water, and at the same time that this is the only resistance to be overcome by the pressure of the water, we shall find that the resistance R, opposed to the force Q, is greater than this is ; for, in fact, we have R =fb x±bxir, and replacing fb by its value b, R = 2 b x±bir=b 2 7r; from which it would appear, that even upon the most unfavourable supposition the power that tends to press the bank in such a manner as to cause it to slide upon its base, is only a little more than one-third of the resistance this RESET OF THEFT RESIN would offer to it. We must, then, seek elsewhere the causes of the recent failures of reservoir banks. These causes cannot be traced to a deficiency in the quantity of materials em- ployed ; and depending as they do on the conditions of the soil and the foundations, they can hardly be the subject of strict ma- thematical reasoning. It is all-important, however, that the passage of the water from the upper to the lower side be prevented, not only because by this means the gravity of the bank is decreased, but also because there is a danger of the lateral displacement of the earth by the increased tendency to slip upon the bed that would be produced by the water mingling with the materials. Under these circumstances, it cannot be too often repeated that the foundations of the bank must be carried down to such a depth as shall effectually exclude any kind of communication between the strata on the two sides of it; that the bank be composed of materials capable of resisting, as far as possible, the transmission of water, and of maintaining themselves at a reasonable slope even when filled with moisture, and that the height of the crown of the dam should be made sufficiently great above the waste weir to resist the action of the waves. The precautions to be observed with regard to the position of the by-washes, overfalls, and pipes for the supply of the water, must be regulated by the circumstances of the reservoir or by the purpose for which it is to be used. It would be dangerous to lay down any law with respect to the size, position, and details of these accessory works ; and we need only remark that they must be of such dimensions and so placed as to enable the men charged with the superintendence of the reservoir always to exercise an efficient control over the water flowing into it, and never to allow the waters to become their masters. In the case of the Dale Dyke reservoir, for instance, the dimensions of the pipes laid through the bank were not large enough to carry off the whole of the flood waters brought clown by the drainage of the upper lands, and the waters consequently accumulated to a height dan- gerous to the security of the reservoir. All this danger might have been avoided by draw- off pipes or overflows of larger dimensions, and by placing the overflows at a height which should leave the crown of the dam consider- ably above the flood-line. The laws which regulate the discharge of water in these cases are, of course, well known ; the essential condi- tions of the stability of reservoir banks are connected with the foundations, and the struc- ture of the dam itself. Reset of Theft. In Scottish Law, the crime of receiving and retaining stolen goods knowing them to have been stolen. [Receiving.] Residual Products of G-as Manu- facture. The chief of these are coke, which remains in the retort after the gas has escaped, ammoniacal liquor, and tar, which separate from the gas during the passage of the latter 2G1 through the condensers. Ammoniacal liquor consists chiefly of carbonate and sulphide of ammonium in aqueous solution ; it is the prin- cipal source of ammoniacal salts, such as sulphate of ammonium, chloride of ammonium, &e. The tar is found as a separate heavy layer of thick oily liquid beneath the ammoniacal liquor. Its composition and uses are described under Coal Tar. Residuary Zieg-atee. In Law, one to whom a Residue is bequeathed. Residue (Lat. residuus, that which re- mains). In Law, the remainder of a testator's estate after payment of debts and legacies : if this remainder be bequeathed to anyone, he is styled the residuary legatee. If a legatee dies before the testator, the legacy is a lost or lapsed legacy, and sinks into the residue ; and this provision of the law is extended to devises of real property by 7 Wm. IV. and 1 Vict. c. 26 (the Wills Act) s. 25. [Legacy; Wile.] Residue. In the Theory of Numbers, the term residue, as applied to any given numbers, and with reference to a certain modulus p, denotes any positive or negative number con- gruous with n for the modulus p. Thus either of the numbers 53 or — 7 may be said to be a residue of the other for the modulus 5, for 53=12x5-7 that is 53= -7. The num- bers 0, 1, 2, ... p — 1 are called the minimum positive residues for the modulus p, and any numbers respectively congruous to these are said to constitute a complete system. When p is a prime, any numbers are said to form a half system of residues for the modulus p ; if taken positively as well as negatively, they constitute a system of residues prime to p. The residues of powers of numbers, for a certain modulus, are termed respectively qua- dratic, cubic, biquadratic, tfc, residues. Thus with respect to the modulus 5 the residues 9,-3, 1 of 7 2 , 3\ 2 4 &c. would be termed, respectively, a quadratic, a cubic, and a biqua- dratic residue. The residues of powers play an important part in the theory of numbers : their properties were first investigated by Euler. (Comment. Arith. Coll. Petropoli, 1849.) Resin (Gr. pvriuri). A proximate principle common in the vegetable kingdom, the ultimate components of which are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. There are many varieties of resin. Their general characters are fusibility and in- flammability ; solubility in alcohol, insolubility in water. They are generally separable into two distinct portions by the action of cold and of hot alcohol. They are valuable as ingredients in varnishes, and several of them are used in medicine. They are often naturally blended with modifications of gum, in which case they constitute the series of gum resins. The spe- cific gravity of the resins varies between 1*0 and 1*4. They become negatively electric by friction. The commonest resin in use, usually called rosin, is obtained by distilling tur- pentine : the volatile oil passes over, and the resin remains in the still. KE8INITE Among the resins are included : Copal, the product of Bhus copallina ; Mastich, that of Pistacia Lent isms ; Coumia, that of Icica Tacamahaca ; Carana, that of Bursera acumi- nata ; and Elemi, that of Amyris Plumieri. Resinite. [Reunite.] Resistance (Lat. resist©, / withstand). In Mechanics, this term denotes generally a force acting in opposition to another force, so as to destroy it or diminish its effect. Resistance is sometimes considered as of two kinds, active and passive ; the active resistance being that which corresponds to the useful effect produced by a machine, and the passive that which belongs to the inertia of the machine. Thus, in raising water from a well, the active resistance to the force employed is measured by the quantity of water which is raised ; and the passive resistance by the force required to overcome the weight of the bucket and the rope, the friction of the pulley on its axle, &c. Resistance of Fluids. The force with which a solid body moving through a fluid is resisted or retarded. For many years the resistance experienced by a solid moving through a fluid, such as a ship sailing in the sea, was thought to be determinable only by certain recondite principles of hydrodynamics which theory could hardly reach.; but it has of late been conclusively shown, that nearly nine-tenths of the resistance of well-formed ships is made up of friction. This doctrine, first propounded by Mr. Bourne in his Treatise on the Screw Propeller, and subsequently in his Catechism of the Steam Engine, published in 1856, has been further illustrated by Mr. Phipps, in a paper read before the Insti- tution of Civil Engineers in 1865, and has been reduced to definite rules, of easy appli- cation, by Professor Rankine, in his Treatise on Shipbuilding, in course of publication in 1866. The subject was first pressed on Mr. Bourne's attention from having constructed ships on lines formed by allowing a pendulum, armed . with a pencil, to vibrate in front of an endless web of paper, moving with a defined speed; i since, as no power is lost by a pendulum beyond that which is lost by friction, Mr. Bourne concluded that a vessel formed on the principle, that each particle of water shall be moved aside like a pendulum, slowly at first, and then faster, and by a reverse process shall finally come to rest at the stern, would be exempt from that large source of loss from the displacement of the water, which was then imputed to the progress of vessels of the ordinary character. It was found, however, on subjecting this hypothesis to the test of experiment, that although in the new class of vessels there was no wave raised at the bow, and no appearance anywhere of much resistance, the speed at- tained was little if at all superior to that of ordinary well-formed ships ; and as in the new class of vessel the resistance was certainly, for the most part, produced by friction, the ' conclusion was reached that friction is the main cause of resistance in all vessels of 262 RESISTANCE OF FLUIDS moderately good form. Mr. Bourne accord- ingly proposed to estimate the resistance, not by the immersed midship section, as is the common method, but by the immersed peri- meter, which would be an approximate measure of the resistance of all vessels of the same fine- ness and length. Nevertheless, as there was still a certain residuum of resistance depending upon the degree of sharpness of the vessel, or the difference in level between the bow and stern, Professor Rankine translated this resist- ance into surface friction also, by assuming as the rubbing surface of the vessel not the actual surface of the bottom but an augmented surface, which should be in all cases larger than the real surface, but larger in the proportion of the bluntness of the vessel, a common propor- tion of the augmented surface being 1--4 times that of the actual surface. In estimating the resistance of this augmented surface, the ex- pression / = -0036, deduced by Professor Weisbach from experiments on the flow of water in iron pipes, was adopted as the co- efficient of friction proper for the painted bottoms of iron vessels. The experiments, however, of M. Darcy, recently made in France, show that the friction of bare iron is one-half greater than if it is covered with a coat of smooth bitumen ; and there can be no doubt that the condition of the surface of a ship's bottom will sensibly affect the speed attained. These topics are set forth at greater len»th than would be consistent with the limits of this article, in Mr. Bourne's Hand-book of the Steam Engine. Sir Isaac Newton was the first who gave a general theory of the motions and actions of fluids ; and it will be proper here to re- capitulate the main doctrines of that theory, although, so far as regards its applicability to ships, it has now been superseded. [Hydro- dynamics.] The Newtonian theory of the re- sistance of fluids, which is given in the second book of the Principia, is founded on the assumption of the perfect intermobility of the particles of the fluid, and the equal propaga- tion of pressure in all directions. These are, indeed, the characteristic properties of fluidity ; nevertheless, the results of the mathematical theory differ so widely in many cases from actual experiment, that some philosophers have called into question the accuracy of the principles from which they are derived. The theory, however, notwithstanding its defects, furnishes some propositions of practical use. We shall, there- fore, here give a general view of its leading principles. It is evident that a solid body, in moving through a fluid, must communicate a motion to the fluid particles with which it successively comes in contact. Now, the quantity of motion communicated to the fluid is necessarily equal to that which is lost by the solid, and may therefore be taken as the measure of the resist- ance. From this it follows that the resistance upon a plane surface moved perpendicularly through a non-elastic fluid at rest, is proportional RESISTANCE OF FLUIDS to the density of the fluid, to the area of the plane, and to the square of the velocity. On comparing this resistance with the force of gravity, we have the following theorem : The direct resistance of an unelasMc fluid on any plane surface is equal to the weight of a column of the fluid having the surface for its base, and for its altitude twice the height due to the velocity with which the surface moves through the fluid. The above measure of the force of resistance is deduced on the supposition that the direction of the motion is perpendicular to the plane. If the shock is received obliquely, the resist- ance will be greatly diminished, n e Let AB represent the profile of the plane, and MN the direction j \ of the motion of the plane in a / stagnant water, or of a vein of 5 * ! V ; / fluid DCBE striking against the c . r b plane, supposed to be fixed. Let F be the intersection of MN with AB, and draw BC perpendicular M to MN. On FN take FG-, to represent the resistance R, which A B would sustain if it were placed perpendicularly to M N, and were moving with the same velocity. This force FG may be resolved into two, FH perpendicular and HG parallel to AB, of which the latter produces no effect on the plane ; hence the resistance is diminished, by reason of the oblique impact, in the ratio of FH : F G, or of sin i : 1 (i denoting the angle of incidence A FN). But, again, the absolute resistance is also proportional to the number of filaments which strike the plane ; and it is obvious that the number which would strike it in the oblique position A B is less than the number which would strike it if directly opposed to the stream, in the ratio of B C : B A or of sin i : I . Compounding this with the former ratio, the total diminution of resistance is as sin H : 1 ; i. e. the absolute resistance or pressure in the direction FH per- pendicular to the plane . is R sin H. It still remains to find the effective impulse or resistance in the direction of the motion. Draw HI perpendicular to MM. The force in the direction FH may be resolved into FI and IH, of which the effective part is FI. Hence the effective impulse is to the absolute oblique impulse as FI to FH, or as sin i : 1 ; conse- quently the effective impulse on the plane in the direction MN is R sin 3 i. For other surfaces than planes, it is neces- sary to find an expression for the resistance on the differential element of the surface, which may be regarded as coinciding with its tangent plane ; and the sum of all these resistances, found by the usual process of integration, will give the whole resistance on the surface. Numerous experiments have been made for the purpose of ascertaining how far this theory of the resistance of fluids agrees with the actual facts, or for forming an empirical theory for the guidance of the engineer. Of the details of these experiments our limits will not permit 263 us to givo an account; but the principal ex- perimenters, and works in which the results may be found, are the following: Sir Isaac Newton (Principia, lib. ii.) ; Mariotte (TraiU des Mouvemens des Eaux); Gravesande (System of Natural Philosophy); D.Bernoulli and Kraflfc (Comment. Pctropol.); Borda (Man. de V Acad, des Sciences de Paris, 1763and 1767) ; Condorcet, DAlembert, and Bossut, by order of the French, government in 1775 ; Bossut (Hydrodynamique) ; Du Buat (Principes d'Hydraulique); Robins ( Gunnery) ; Don George d'Ulloa (Examen Mari- timo); Coulomb (Mem. de Vlnstitut, torn, iii.); Vince(PM. Trans.); Hutton (Tracts); Beaufoy (Nautical and Hydraulic Experiments). The quantity of fluid dragged along by a. body moving in it has generally be m consi- dered to be independent of the velocity, and was estimated by Du Buat, from experiments made on spheres vibrating in water, to increase the quantity of displaced fluid in the ratio, of 1 to l - 6. His experiments on prisms also showed that the quantity of dragged fluid was propor- tional to the bulk of the moving body. Mr. Baily (Phil. Trans. 1832) gives, as the mean results of his experiments on pendulums swinging in air, the ratio 1 to T846 as the in- crease of the displaced fluid from this cause ; and remarks that the quantity appeared to depend on the form as well as magnitude of the moving body, but not on its weight or specific gravity. This circumstance, which consider- ably modifies the resistance, though made known by Du Buat in 1786, was overlooked by other experimenters, until rediscovered by Bessel in 1826, when engaged on experiments to determine the length of the seconds pen- dulum. From the above considerations, it may be inferred that the resistance R opposed to any body moving through a fluid, considered as a pressure of so many pounds weight, will be ex- pressed by an equation of this form,, R = (m + tt) W Ah; where "W is the weight in pounds of the unit of volume of the fluid (one cubic foot) ; A the area of the greatest transverse section of the body, expressed in square feet ; h the height in feet due to the velocity, so that h = v- -=-64 ; and m and n numerical coefficients, constant for bodies of similar figure, but variable for bodies of different figures, and to be determined by experiment for each kind of body; m having reference to the impulse and pressure on the anterior surface, and n to the non-pressure on the posterior part. The following are a few of the cases for which values of on and n have been found. When a thin plate is directly opposed to the impulse of a stream, the value of m + n appears to increase with the area. If A is equal to a tenth of a square foot, w + w = l-4; and if A=l square foot, m + n = l'9. The value of \m + n for surfaces of larger dimensions has not been sufficiently determined. For a prismatic body terminated by two planes, the pressure RESISTANCE OF TRAINS against the anterior force remains constant ; j but the non -pressure, or value of n, diminishes as the length increases. For a cube held fast in a stream, Du Buat found m + n — 1*4.6 ; and for a prism whose length was from three to six times the square root of its face, m + w = l*34. But when the bodies moved in still water, he found, as for the thin plate, m + w = l'43; for I the cube, m + w=l*17; and for the prism, m + w = l*lQ. "By means of these vahies the actual resist- ances are readily computed for each body, when the velocity is given. Suppose the velocity to be 3 feet per second, and the opposing surface in each case to be 1 square foot. For v = 3, we have h = 9 -=-64 = -1406. With respect to W, the weight of an imperial gallon of water, at temperature 62° and under the mean pressure, is 10 lbs. avoirdupois ; but an imperial gallon contains 277*27 cubic inches, whence the weight of a cubic foot of water is 62*3 lbs. avoirdupois. Hence, if the bodies are impelled through stag- nant water with a velocity of 3 feet per second, the absolute resistances in each case are as under : — For the thin plate R = l*43 x 62*3 x -1406 = 12*5 lbs. For the cube R = l -17 x 62*3 x *1406 = 10*2 For the prism R = 1'10 x 62*3 x *1406= 9*6 The effect produced by the addition of a poop or prow was also determined by Du Buat. The addition of a poop to a prismatic body whose length is four or five times its breadth only diminishes the resistance by a tenth part. But when a prow consisting of two equal vertical planes, making with each other an angle of 60°, was added, the resistance was reduced to about a half. On giving the prow the form of a semi- cylinder, the resistance was also reduced about a half. The section of the prow being a triangle whose height was double the base or breadth of the prism, the resistance was reduced to two- fifths. In general, a prow haying a curved surface produces a greater diminution of the resistance than one of equal magnitude termi- nated by plane surfaces. For a sphere moving in water or in air with a moderate velocity, the experiments give m + n = 0*6 ; but this value increases when the velocity becomes great, as in the case of a pro- jectile. The experiments of Bossut on the model of a ship moved in the direction of its axis gave m + n = 0*16. This may be considered as the value corresponding to the solid of least resistance. For the effect with which solid bodies resist an effort tending to break or crush them, see Strength of Materials; and for the resistance of the atmosphere on a projectile, see Gunners' and Projectile. Resistance of Railway Trains. [Rail- roads.] Resistance, Solid of least. In Mecha- nics, the solid whose figure is such that in its motion through a fluid it sustains the least resistance of all others having the same length and base ; or, on the other hand, being sta- tionary in a current of fluid, offers the least interruption to the progress of that fluid. In 264 RESPIRATION the former case, it has been considered the best form for the stem of a ship ; in the latter, the proper form for the pier of a bridge. The law of resistance being known, the calculus enables us to determine the form of the solid of least resistance. Newton, in the thirty -fourth proposition of the second, book of his Principia, has solved this problem on the hypothesis that the resistance is proportional to the square of the velocity. Resistance of Steam Vessels. [Steam Navigation.] Resolution (Lat. resolutio, from resolvo, I unloose). In Mathematics, this term is usu- ally synonymous with solution. Thus the reso- lution of an equation is the procedure which leads ultimately to the discovery of its roots. [Equation.] The term is frequently used as the opposite of composition. Thus we speak of the resolution of a number into its prime factors, and of a force into its components. [Composition and Resolution of Forces.] Resolution. In Medicine and Surgery, this term implies the cessation or dispersion of inflammatory action without the formation of an abscess or mortification. Resolution. In Music, the writing out of a canon or fugue in partition from a single line. Resolution. In Parliamentary usage, ' every question, when agreed to, assumes the form either of an order or a resolution of the house. By its orders, the house directs its committees, its members, its officers, the order of its own proceedings, and the acts of all persons whom they may concern : by its resolutions, the house declares its own opinions and purposes.' (May, Parliamentary Practice.) [Parliament.] Resolution of a Discord. In Music, the descent by a tone or a semitone, according as the mode may require, of a discord which has been heard in the preceding harmony. Resolvent. In Algebra, an equation upon whose solution that of a given equation depends. [Differential Resolvent.] Resonance (Lat. resonantia, a resounding). In Music, a very indefinite term used in regard to the production or reverberation of sound. Respiration (Lat. respiratio, from respiro, / breathe). The function by which the nu- trient circulating fluid of an organised body is submitted to the influence of air, for the pur- pose of changing its properties. The great end which appears to be answered by respiration in animals is the removal of carbonic acid from venous blood. This gas is accordingly found in the air expired from the lungs ; and the blood, having lost its carbonic acid, at the same time loses its dingy hue, and acquires the florid red which characterises arterial blood. The carbonic acid is attracted, as it were, out of the venous blood, by the oxygen of the air in the cellular structure of the lungs ; while, at the same time, a portion of oxygen, about equal in bulk to that of the emitted carbonic acid, is absorbed by the blood, and contributes to its arterial character. The ch nge from the arterial to the venous state, appears to take RESPIRATION OF PLANTS place in the capillary junctions of the artery and vein ; but how it is there effected we know not. Prom the quantity of carbonic acid emitted from the lungs in a given time, it has been at- tempted to ascertain the quantity of carbon which is thrown off ; but the usual estimates upon this subject, which place it at about 12 ounces in the 24 hours, are probably overrated, inasmuch as that quantity of carbon is more than that which exists in the food daily taken into the stomach. If we average it at 6 to 7 ounces, it will probably be nearer the truth. Besides carbonic acid, there is also a quantity of aqueous vapour thrown out with the expired air ; this is pro- bably produced chiefly by the superficial ex- halants of the lungs, but it may also be partly derived from transpiration from the blood. It has not been satisfactorily ascertained whether the nitrogen of the air is affected by respiration. The most recent experiments would, however, seem to show that during fasting nitrogen is absorbed. Inspiration of Plants. [Botany.] Respirator. An instrument fitted to cover the mouth, over which it is retained by proper bandages ; it is constructed of a series of flat- tened silver or gilt wires, over and between which the air passes and repasses in the act of respiration and of speaking. It is presumed that the warm air emitted from the lungs im- parts its excess of temperature to the small metallic bars, and that these in their turn im- part heat to the cold air drawn through them at each inspiration ; so that in this way the low temperature of the external air in cold weather is mitigated before it reaches the lungs, and its supposed noxious influence is prevented. When a handkerchief is tied over the mouth, and we are obliged to breathe through the nose, the extreme low temperature of the external air is similarly mitigated before it reaches the lungs. Respite. In Law, a suspension, delay, or forbearance : as of the execution of a criminal sentence. Respond (Lat. respondeo, / answer). A half pillar, or pier, introduced in a wall to support an arch; it constitutes, in fact, a continuation of the line of the arch in the horizontal part of the wall, and appears to be introduced for the purpose of supporting it. Respondentia (Lat. respondeo, / promise in return). In Mercantile Law, a species of mortgage in the nature of bottomry, but differ- ing from it in that the loan is effected on the security of the freight, and not on that of the ship itself. [Bottomry.] Responsible Government. In Politics, this term, although rather indefinite in point of phraseology, has acquired by usage a special meaning. All executive authorities, except the sovereign himself in a pure monarchy, are in truth responsible to some power or other for abuse of their functions ; but under the British constitution, the ministry, together with its head, the prime minister, are in a peculiar Sense responsible to parliament, i.e. it is the 265 RESTORATION established usage that on a vote equivalent to want of confidence they should resign their offices, and make way for an administration more in harmony with the sentiments of the legis- lature. This system has been of late carried into practice in the larger British colonies, where the governor, appointed by the crown, is assisted by a ministry, appointed indeed by himself, but responsible, in the sense above in- dicated, to the colonial legislature. This system is, in common language, contrasted with that which prevails in other constitutional countries, and particularly the United States, where the president, elected for a term of four years, appoints a ministry dependent on himself, and not subject to change according to the votes of the legislature. Rest (A.-Sax. rsest, Gr. rast). In Music, a pause or interval of time, during which there is an intermission of the voice or sound. Best. [Reserve.] Restiacese (Restia, one of the genera). A natural order of Grlumal Enclogens, of little interest except to botanists. They occur chiefly in the woods and marshes of South America, New Holland, and Southern Africa, and are herbs or undershrubs, of a rush-like aspect. Restiform (Lat. restis, a rope, and forma). In Anatomy, this term is applied to certain rope-like columns or tracts, behind the lateral tracts of the medulla oblongata. The restiform tract is continuous below with the posterior columns of the myelon ; while above, its fibres may be traced transversely through the pons into the cerebellum. If the restiform tracts be irritated, the most acute suffering is produced. Restitution of Conjugal Rig-Bits. In Law, the denomination of a suit between husband and wife, brought in the Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, for the purpose of compel- ling cohabitation, if refused by either party. Restitution, Writ of. In Law, a writ of restitution lies where judgment has been re- versed, to restore to the defendant what he has lost by the effect of the erroneous judgment. Restitution of goods to a party robbed was unknown to the common law until the stat. 21 Hen. VIII. c. 11. By the statute 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, it is now in the power of the court to award a writ of restitution of goods and chattels, or to restore them in a sum- mary manner, where a thief or fraudulent taker has been indicted on the part of the owner and convicted. Such restitution cannot be granted of a valuable security, where the property has passed into other hands by a bona fide transaction. But a writ of restitution will reach goods stolen, although they have been sold in market overt. Restitution can be had only from the person in possession of the goods at the time of and after the felon's conviction. Restoration, The. In English History, this name is applied by way of eminence to the restoration of Charles II. to the throne after an interregnum of eleven years and four months, from Jan. 30, 1649, when Charles I. was beheaded, till May 29, 1660. RESTRICTION OF PAYMENTS Restriction of Cash Payments. Be- tween February 27,1797, andFebruary 1,1820, the Bank of England was permitted to issue notes for which the holder could not demand gold in exchange. This regulation is an im- portant epoch in the history of banking. For the facts of the restriction and the resumption, see Tooke's History of Prices, especially toI. iv. Resultant (Lat. resulto, / rebound). In Mechanics, the term resultant is applied to a force, motion, velocity or rotation which is mechanically equivalent to several other forces, motions, velocities or rotations. [Composition and Resolution of Forces and Rotations.] In the higher algebra, the resultant of a system of homogeneous equations, involving as many variables as there are equations, is an important function of the coefficients which, equated to zero, expresses the condition of the existence of a common set of roots, and consequently the result of the elimination of all the variables. The synonymous term eli- oninant, now rarely used, was suggested by the latter property. The resultant is frequently considered apart from the system of equations, and is then referred to as the resultant of a system of quant ics. In the case of two binary quantics of the w th and 7i th degrees, respectively written thus,

~ «o *i) KA - « 2 A) which is of the 2nd order in each of the co- efficients a and b, and whose weight is 4. In general the resultant of any number of quantics of different orders is a homogeneous function of the coefficients of each, of a degree equal to the product of the orders of all the remaining quantics, and if the coefficients in the several quantics be affected with suffixes respectively equal to the exponents of the powers of some one of the facients which those coefficients multiply, the sum of the suffixes in every term of the resultant will be equal to the product of the orders of the quantics. The well-known and important fact that a 266 RESUMPTION OF PAYMENTS system of n homogeneous equations of the orders m 1} m 2 . . . m a , respectively, in n + 1 variables can be satisfied, simultaneously, by m 1 m. 2 . . . m n systems of values of these va- riably is an immediate consequence of the above properties of the resultant. The resultant of a system of quantics can often be expressed as a determinant. [Elimination.] For instance, the resultant of a system of n linear and homogeneous equations in n variables is the determinant of the « th order whose constituents, in any column, are the several coefficients of one of the variables. Again, the resultant of the above two binary quadrics is the determinant a Q , a lf a 2 , 0 0 , a 0 , a x , # 2 b 0 , b lt b 2 , 0 0 , b 0 , b x , b 2 When the given quantics are the several first derived functions of one and the same quantic, the resultant is called the discriminant of that quantic. [Discriminant.] Resulting Trust. In Law, a species of trust arising by operation of law. If a pur- chaser of property takes a conveyance in the name of another person, then if there is no- thing to indicate an intention of conferring a beneficial interest on such person, the trust or benefit of the property conveyed is said to result to the purchaser who paid for it. Again, if a settlement of property is made, and no trusts of it are declared, or if the trusts de- clared are not such as to exhaust the beneficial interest in the property, there is said to be a resulting trust to the settlor of the beneficial interest undisposed of. Resulting- Use. In Law, a species of use arising by operation of law. Where on a conveyance of the legal estate or seisin in lands no uses of it are declared, or if the uses declared are not sufficient to exhaust the whole fee simple, the use remaining undisposed of is said to result to the original owner. [Resulting Trust; Use.] Resumption of Cash Payments. Du- ring the great continental war, and for four years after the battle of Waterloo, the Bank of England was empowered to issue inconvertible notes. For some portion of this time these notes were at a discount, the discount being greatest between 1810 and 1816. At the begin- ning of the year 1817, the directors of the Bank prepared to resume cash payments, but the negotiation of considerable loans on the part of France, Austria, and Russia, again affected the note circulation, and the natural process of resumption was checked for a time. It was resolved, however, that committees of both Houses of Parliament should report on the currency, and in consequence the Act of 1819, the first of Peel's Currency Acts, was passed. This Act provided that the Bank should ex- change its notes for gold, such gold to be in ingots, and in quantities of not less than 60 ounces, first, from February 1 to October 1, RESUriNATE RETAINING WALL 1820, at the rate of U. Is. the oz. ; next, from October 1, 1820, to May 1, 1821, at the rate of 3/. 195. 6d. ; lastly, between May 1, 1821, and May 1, 1823, at 31. Us. 10±d. After that date notes of all denominations and in all quantities were to be convertible on demand. Resupinate (Lat. resupinatus, lying on the back). In Botany, a term applied to parts which become inverted, usually by the twisting of their stalk. It occurs in the case of many orchidaceous flowers, and the leaves of Alstro- meria. Resurrection. In Theology, this term is especially applied to the rising again of Christ from the dead, as narrated in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Resuscitation (Lat. resuseitatio). This term is generally used to signify the restoring to animation of persons apparently dead. The first and principal object in these cases is to aerate the blood by the artificial introduction of fresh air into the lungs, and to restore the natural function of respiration. The lungs, therefore, must be inflated, and proper stimu- lants applied when necessary ; among these, in cases of drowning and of apparent death from exposure to cold, friction is eminently important: after hanging, the vessels of the brain often re- quire to be unloaded by venesection in the jugular vein. Galvanism is sometimes resorted to, but generally without effect. In all these cases no time should be lost, as everything depends upon prompt treatment, as well as upon proper means ; and many lives have been lost for want of immediate aid, and skill in applying it. The attempts to restore suspended anima- tion should not be given up till unequivocal proofs of death are manifest. The details of the management of different cases of apparent death are too extensive to come within our limits : upon this subject the reader may ad- vantageously consult Taylor's Medical Juris- prudence. [Drowning.] Retainer (Lat. retineo, / keep back). In old English Law, a servant not dwelling in the master's house or employed by him in any distinct occupation, but wearing his livery (i. e. hat, badge, or suit), and attending on particular occasions : an important relic of the times of private warfare. The giving liveries, or retaining this class of servants, was forbidden by many statutes with little effect. The statutes them- selves were repealed by 3 Ch. I. c. 1 ; but the usage had nearly ceased. Retainer or Retaining' Pee. In the language of the Bar, a fee given to a counsel to secure his services ; or rather, as it has been said, to prevent the opposite side from engaging them. A special retainer is for a particular case expected to come on. A general retainer is given by a party desirous of securing a priority of claim on the counsel's services for any case which he may have in any court which that counsel attends. The effect of it is merely this, that if a counsel having a general retainer receive a special retainer on the other side, he cannot accept it until twenty-four hours after 2^ notice shall have been given of its arrival to the party so generally retaining him ; when, if he does not receive a brief or a special retainer from the latter, he is bound to accept it. The same word in its strict legal acceptation signifies the engagement of an attorney by his client. Retaining Wall. A wall built for the purpose of resisting the thrust of the ground at the back, or for confining a body of water in a reservoir. The principles to be observed in proportioning the thickness of these structures to their height, involve the most difficult pro- blems with which the civil engineer has to deal. The foundations of >?taining walls must be such that they shall not be liable to dis- placement laterally under the influence of the pressure behind them, nor vertically under the perpendicular weight brought upon them. According to circumstances, then, the founda- tions of a retaining wall may be carried down to the solid ground, they may be executed on piles, or they may be entirely of concrete. Local considerations of economy will, generally speaking, regulate the manner in which this part of a work will be executed ; the only con- ditions which must be observed are that the sum of the forces tending to displace the wall shall be exceeded by the force tending to produce stability. The thickness to be given to the upper part of a retaining wall Avill very much depend on the nature of the material to be supported, and on the weight to be sustained ; the thickness of such walls will have to be varied also in proportion to the length in which they may have to resist the weight brought upon them without any intermediate support. As a general rule, the thickness of retaining walls is made one-third of the height of the bank which they are intended to support, being diminished by sets-off on the inside, so as to preserve the perpendicularity of the ex- ternal face ; but the thickness of retaining walls destined to support the banks of rivers, or quays, is generally made about equal to one- half their height above the footings, on the average, in order to resist the action of the water upon the materials of the earthwork be- hind them. Of course, there are modifications of form, and dispositions of material in retain- ing walls, that may allow the thickness above given to be much reduced ; as, for instance, the face of the walls may be made curvilinear in vertical section, or it may be made with counter forts, and circular parts like inverts, between: but the rules above given will generally apply, and the means adopted for saving masonry will demand superior execution or extraordinary care. For further details the reader is referred to Moseley's Engineering and Architecture; Murray, On Eetaining Walls; Poncelet, Surlcs Rev'etements ; Mayniel, Sur la Poussee des Tcrres ; De Prony, Nouvelle Architecture Hydr antique ; Navier, Resume des Legons donnees a VEcole des Fonts et Chaussees ; &c. But the indications given in all these cases must be received with a considerable amount of reserve, inasmuch as the earthwork at the back of the walls erected RET AM A. to support them may become, when exposed to the tidal waters, loaded with a semi-fluid denser than water, which would greatly modify its action upon the walls. Hence the great thickness of the retaining walls of canals, reservoirs, sea walls, docks, &c. Much of the necessary thickness will depend upon the nature of the soil. Eetama (Arab. Bsetem). A genus of Le- guminos® closely allied to our Broom (Saro- thamnus), and consisting of elegant shrubs, distributed over the Mediterranean region and the Canary Isles. Bsetem is the name given by the Arabs to a white-flowered species, JR. Bcetam, which grows in Arabia and Syria. According to Forskal, an infusion of its bitter roots is drunk by the Arabs for internal pains, and the shoots macerated in water are applied to wounds. The Arabic name Bsetem, altered slightly into Eetama, is the common appellation of the plants of this genus in Spain. One of the species is of great utility in staying the sand along the shores of Spain, converting the most barren spots into odoriferous gardens. The young shoots are eagerly eaten by goats, and the twigs are used for tying bundles. Retardation (Lat. retardatio, from tardus, slow). The act of hindering the free progress of a body, and ultimately, therefore, stopping it. It arises from the opposition of the me- dium in which the body moves, or from the friction of the surface upon which it moves. [Friction ; Eesistance.] Eetardation. In Gunnery, the loss of velocity of a projectile, in consequence of the air's resistance. [Gunnery.] Rete Mucosum (Lat.). The soft matter, or layer, situated between the cuticle and the cutis ; it is the seat of the colour of the skin. It is black in the negro, and the colouring matter is of such a nature as to admit of being bleached by the action of chlorine. Retia Blirabilia (Lat. wonderful nets). The vaso-ganglionic structures, or network of blood-vessels, at the base and in other parts of the brain in vertebrata. Retiaries (Lat. retiarius, from rete, a net). In Entomology, those spiders are so called which spin a web or net to entrap their prey. Retiarii (Lat. from rete). The name of a class of Eoman gladiators. The retiarius was furnished with a trident and net, with no more covering than a short tunic ; and with these implements he endeavoured to entangle and despatch his adversary, who was called sccutor (from sequi, to follow) and was armed with a helmet, a shield, and sword. [Gladiators.] Reticulate (Lat. reticulatus, from rete). In Botany, formed like network. The term is especially employed to describe the condition of the venation in Exogens, as compared with that of Endogens. Beticuxate. In Zoology, when a surface has a number of minute impressed lines which intersect each other in various directions, like the meshes of a net. Reticulated Work. In Architecture, a 268 RETORT method of executing masonry in which the stones are square and laid lozenge-wise, re- sembling the meshes of a net. This species of masonry is scarcely ever practised in the pre- sent day ; but it was very common amongst the ancients. Reticulates. The name of a section of Lithophytes, comprehending those in which the polype cells have a reticulate disposition on the surface of expanded plates. Reticule (Lat. reticulum). In a telescope, a network of fine spider's webs or wires cross- ing each other at right angles, and dividing the field of view into a series of small equal squares. It has been long used for observations on the quantity of the enlightened parts of a luminary during eclipses ; and is found well adapted for that and similar purposes. Reticulum (Lat. dim. of rete). The name of the honeycomb bag, or second cavity of the complex stomach of the Euminant quadrupeds ; so called from the reticulate or honeycomb- like disposition of the cells, mostly hexagonal, which occupy its inner surface. Beticueum. In Botany, the debris of inter- lacing fibres found at the base of the petiole in palm-trees. Retina. The pulpy expansion of the optic nerve in the interior of the eye ; it is the seat of vision. Retinaculum (Lat. a hold-fast). In Bo- tany, the name of a hispid gland found on the stigmas of orchids and asclepiads, by which the pollen masses are held fast. Retinalite (Gr. prfTivri, resin, and hiQos, stone). A massive variety of Serpentine with a resinous appearance, from Canada. Retinite (Gr. prjTij/Ti). A mineral substance, intermediate between resin and asphalt, dis- covered by Mr. Hatchett in roundish or irregular opaque lumps of a yellowish or pale brownish- yellow colour, in tertiary clay at Bovey Tracey, in Devonshire, associated with lignite ; also at Halle, and in peat at Osnabruck in Hanover. When digested in alcohol, it yields a portion of resin, and asphalt remains. Retinitis. Inflammation of the retina. Retipeds (Lat. rete, and pes, afoot). The name given by Scopoli to one of the divisions of a binary arrangement of birds, including all those which have the skin of the tarsi divided into small polygonal scales. Retired Flank. In Military art, a flank bent inwards towards the rear of the work or army, of which it forms a part. Retorsion (Lat. retorqueo, I drive back). In International Law, a designation for the use, by a power injured through the withdrawal by another power of the indulgences sanctioned by comity of nations in its favour, of the power of retorting by the withdrawal of the like in- dulgences from the latter. [Comity.] Retort (Lat. retortus, part, of retorqueo). A Chemical vessel employed in a variety of distillations. It is generally made of glass or earthenware, and sometimes is provided with a stopper so placed above the bulb as to enable RETREAT substances to be introduced into it without] soiling the neck; in this case it is called a tubulated retort. A j receiver is usually annexed 'to it for the purpose of collecting the products of dis- tillation. Fig. 1 re- presents a plain retort and receiver ; in fig. 2 both are tubulated. Eetorts of large size, made of iron or of fire- clay, are used for the distillation of coal in the manufacture of gas. Retreat (Fr. retraite). The name given to the beating of drums or sound of trumpets at sunset in all garrisons ; after which sentries challenge, and no trumpet sounds or drum beats, except for watch-setting and tattoo, or in case of an alarm, until the following Reveille. Retrenchment (Fr. retranchement). In Fortification, a line of works formed so as to cut off parts of a fortress, and enable the garrison to continue the defence after the parts outside of them are taken. [Fortification.] Retrocedent (Lat. retroceclo, / go bach). In Pathology, a term applied to those diseases which move about from one part of the body to another ; as retrocedent gout, when it leaves the toe for the stomach. Retrogradation. A term applied to the apparent motion of a planet when it is contrary to the order of the signs, or when the planet appears to move westward among the fixed stars. [Planet.] Retrograde (Lat. retrogradis, going back- ward). This term is applied to backward as opposed to direct motion. In Astronomy, the apparent motion, from east to west, of the heavens is retrograde. Retti Weights. The small egg-shaped scarlet and black seeds of Abrus precatorius, which are employed in India as weights. Return. In Architecture, a projection, moulding, or wall continued in a different or an opposite direction to that of the original direc- tion of the body returned. Return. In Law, in its most usual sig- nification, this word is applied to writs. The return to a writ is, properly speaking, a recital by the sheriff or other officer to whom it was directed of what he has done in execution of it, as, for example, in cases of civil process, that the defendant cannot be found (technically called non est inventus), has no goods within the sheriff's bailiwick (nulla bona), and so forth. This is indorsed on the writ ; and the writ is then delivered into the court whence it issued on the return day or day when the writ is returnable. The remedy against the sheriff for a false return is by action on the case The return of members of parliament is thus strictly speaking, the return by the sheriff, or other returning officer, of the writ addressed to him, certify ing the election in pursuance of it. [Parliament.] 269 REVERSE Refuse (Lat. retusus, blunted). In Botany, a term applied to parts which terminate in a round end depressed in the centre. Retzite. A red variety of Zeolite from iEdelfors in Sweden ; named after Retzius, by whom it was analysed. Reussin or Reussite. Anhydrous sul- phate of soda and magnesia, occurring in cry- stals and in mealy efflorescences, near Seidlitz in Bohemia. Named after Reuss, the Austrian mineralogist. Revalenta ilrahica. The commercial name (formed by transposition from the name of the plant which yields it) for a much vaunted kind of meal, which is simply the prepared seeds of the Lentil, Ervum Lens. It is sometimes called Ervalenta, which comes nearer its true name. Reveille (Fr. reveil, an awaking). The name given to the beating of drums or sound of trumpets at daybreak in all garrisons, after which sentries do not challenge till the follow- ing Retreat. Revelation. [Theology.] Revelation, Book of. [Apocalypse.] Revels, Blaster of the, or Xsord of BEisrule. The name of an officer formerly attached pro tempore to royal and other dis- tinguished houses, whose duty it was to preside over the Christmas entertainments. This office was first permanently instituted in the reign of Henry VIII. ; it appears to have gone out of fashion towards the end of the seventeenth century. Revendication (Fr.). A term of the Civil Law, signifying a claim legally made to recover property, by one claiming as owner. The right of property must, generally speaking, be com- plete, to proceed to the action of revendication ; thus, no such action can be brought for corporeal things until after delivery, by which they pass. Revenue (Fr. revenu). The name given to the income of a state derived from the cus- toms, excise, taxation, and other sources, and appropriated to the payment of the national expenses. Useful and comprehensive tables, showing the revenue and expenditure of Great Britain, will be found in the parliamentary papers printed every session. Revertoeratory Furnace. A furnace in which the flame is made to pass over a bridge, and then beat down again upon a hearth or surface, on which the materials to be heated are placed. [Founding.] Reverend (Lat. reverendus). A title of respect given to the clergy. In Roman Catho- lic countries the members of the different reli- gious orders are styled reverend. In England deans are very reverend, bishops right reverend, and archbishops most reverend. In Scotland, the principals of the universities and the moderator of the General Assembly for the time being are styled very reverend. Reverse (Lat. reversus, part, of reverto, / turn back). In Numismatics, the opposite to the obverse or face of the coin or medal. [Numismatics ; Obverse.] REVERSED DIP Reversed Dip. In mountain districts, as in the Alps, where the strata frequently show proof of having been lifted up by a force acting intensely, but with limited play, they have some- times been lifted through an angle greater than a right angle. The result is that beds origin- ally uppermost are now apparently underlying, and this phenomenon is expressed by the term reversed dip. Except in districts where there have been extensive movements, it is not likely that this condition of the beds can exist ; but wherever it does occur, it is extremely puzzling to the young geologist. Besides the cases in the Alps and other mountain tracts, there are not wanting folded strata, chiefly in the coal measures, where a re- version of dip is repeated over and over again. Such cases are common both in the French and Belgian coal-fields, and are the result of lateral pressure. Reversed dip has been noticed in some parts of England, though rarely. Beds thus displaced, if followed along their line of outcrop, are soon found to have their proper relative position. Reversion. In Law, a reversion is defined to be the residue of an estate in lands, tene- ments, or hereditaments, left in the grantor, to commence in possession after the determination of some particular estate granted by him. Thus, for example, when a landlord grants a lease for years, the estate remaining in him is called the reversion, and carries the right to the rent re- served, although the tenant enjoys the actual posesssion of the land during his tenancy. Reversion, Reversionary Payments. In the doctrine of Annuities, a reversion is a payment which is not to be received, or a bene- fit which does not begin, until the happening of some event, as the death of a person now living. Payments which are to be received at the end of a specified period of time are usually called deferred payments. The present value of a sum of money to be received on the death of an individual of a given age depends evidently upon the chances which the individual has of surviving each future year of age, combined with the interest of money. The method by which the value is calculated, from an observed or assumed law of mortality, has been explained under the term Assurance ; and for the sake of facilitating calculations of this kind, which are of very frequent occur- rence in the affairs of life, extensive tables have been published, computed from various hypo- theses of mortality, and at different rates of interest. Such tables are usually exhibited in the form of Annuity Tables, from which the solution of all questions relating to assurance and reversions is easily deduced. [Annuity ; Assurance.] Let A denote the value of an annuity of 11. on a life of a given age, V the present value of \l. to be received at the end of the year in which the life fails (the year being supposed to commence with the day on which the annuity is payable), r the rate of interest, and v= 1 -r (1 + r) ; then 270 REVERSION V=t/(l+A)-A,orV=t;-(l-tf) A. Suppose, for example, that on the death of A. , whose present age is fifty-five, the sum of 5,000^. is to revert to B., or his assigns, and that B. proposes to sell his interest in this rever- sion ; and let it be proposed to calculate the sum which he ought now to receive, allowing the purchaser interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum. In the table given under the term Annuity the value of an annuity of 1/. on a male life aged fifty-five is 11-0392. At 4 per cent, we have r = -04, and 0 = l-s-l'O4 ; there- fore y = 12 ' 0392 -ll-Q392 = -5370. This is 1-04 the value of the reversion of ll. ; consequently 5,000*. x -5370-2,685^. is the sum which B. should receive for his reversionary interest. When the reversionary benefit consists of an annuity to commence upon the death of an individual, and to continue for a term of years certain, its value is found by computing the value of the annuity for the assigned period, and proceeding as in the above example ; but when it consists of an annuity commencing upon the death of one individual, and termin- able upon the death of another, it becomes necessary to have recourse to tables of annuities on joint lives. Thus, if A. becomes entitled upon the death of B. to an annuity of 11. for the remainder of his life, the present value of the reversion, or of A'sinterest, is equal to B — AB; where B denotes the present value of the an- nuity on the life of B., and A B the value of the annuity on the joint lives of A. and B., that is to continue only so long as both remain alive. The four following rules give the solution of all the cases of reversionary annuities which can arise when three lives are concerned, and it is seldom that a case occurs in practice in- volving a greater number. It is to be observed that the two letters A B standing together de- note, as above, the value of an annuity on the joint lives of A. and B., B P that of an annuity on the joint lives of B. and P., APQ, that of an annuity on the joint continuance of the three lives A., P., Q., and so on. Let R be the value of the reversionary annuity in each case. 1. On a single life A., after the longest of two lives P. and Q. ; R = A- AP-A Q * APQ. 2. On the longest of two lives A., B., after a single life P.; R = A + B-AB-AP-BP + APB. 3. On a single life A., after two joint lives P., Q. ; R = A — APQ. 4. On two joint lives A., B., after, a single life P.; R = AB — ABP. When reversionary benefits are contingent on lives failing in an assigned order, as for instance an annuity to be received upon the death of A. provided he die while B. is living, the formula becomes more intricate, and could scarcely be explained without entering into details incon- sistent with the nature of this work. For full information on the subject, see the Treatises of Baily (1813) and Milne (1816). We may remark, however, that the formulae for the so- REVERSION OF SERIES lutions of questions connected with this subject may be greatly simplified by the use of an ap- propriate notation : for examples of which, see the 'Essay on Probabilities' in the Cabinet Cyclopedia-, and Hardy's New and General Notation for Life Contingencies (1840); in which last work the solutions of all the cases of annuities and assurances which can arise, when not more than three lives are concerned, are arranged in a convenient table. Reversion of Series. In Algebra, a method of expressing the value of an unknown quantity which is involved in an infinite series of terms, by means of another series of terms, involving the powers of the quantity to which the proposed series is equal. Thus if the pro- posed series be z = a x + b x 1 + c x* + d x i + . . .ad inf. . . ( 1) and if we assume i=A^ + B^ + C^ + D^+ . . .ad inf. . . (2) the original series will be reverted on deter- mining the coefficients A, B, C, D, &c. The ordinary method consists in substituting the last series (2) and its powers for x and its powers in the series (1), and equating the coefficients of like powers of z in order to ob- tain the values of A, B, C, &c. Maclaurin's Theorem may be employed advantageously for the same purpose. Arbogast, in his Calcul des Derivations, gives a general formula whereby these coefficients can be calculated with com- paratively little trouble. In the Penny Cyclo- pedia the values of eleven of these coefficients and the law of their formation are given. Revetment (Fr. revetement). In Fortifi- cation, a facing to the steep sides of a ditch or parapet. In field works it may be of tim- ber, turf, hurdles, gabions, &c. ; in permanent works it is generally of masonry. In perma- nent fortification, when a portion only of the exterior of the rampart is revetted, the wall is called a demi-revetment. When the wall is carried up to the superior slope, it is called ' a fidl revetment ; the latter is much more defensible against escalade. Bevetments have been constructed in four different forms, named from their profiles, rectangular, leaning, sloping, and counter- sloping. The first of these is a wall of equal thickness throughout ; the second differs only in being inclined to the bank supported, so as more effectually to resist the pressure of the earth ; the third has a greater thickness at the base than the top, its back being vertical, and its face sloping ; the fourth has its back slop- ing, and face vertical. Hollow or counterarched revetments are those constructed with counter- arches, forming vaulted defensive galleries, or filled in with earth. Review (Fr. revue). The name now com- monly assumed, by literary usage, for periodical publications consisting of a collection of critical essays. The Journal des Savans, commenced at Paris in 1665 by M. de Sallo, is commonly cited as the first review properly so called. The most distinguished modern journals under the 271 REVIEW, BILL OF name of review in France are, the Revue Ency- clopidique, the oldest of them (now extinct) ; the Revue Francaise and Revue des Deux Mondes ; and the Revue Britannique, which consists of translations from the English. In England the Monthly Review (established in 17-19) was the first publication of its kind. The establishment of the Edinburgh Review in 1802, followed by that of the Quarterly in 1809, may be said to have commenced a new era in criticism : from that time reviews have been adopted as the organs for conveying the opinions of sects and parties in religion and politics, as well as in literature. All the leading works of this de- scription (the Edinburgh, Quarterly, West- minster, British Quarterly, North British, Church of England, Christian Remembrancer, and Dublin) now appear quarterly, or nearly so. The management of reviews in England is in the hands of an editor, whose name, how- ever, does not appear, the publisher being the party responsible. The articles are generally anonymous. All these reviews adhere to their designation, the articles admitted being in the form of reviews on some work or works specified at the head, although, in point of fact, the latter are often not even noticed by the reviewer, his remarks being more in the form of a general essay than of a review. In this way they serve the purpose of affording governments or poli- tical parties the means of making statements of facts, or declarations of opinion, which do not involve them in the difficulties of direct respon- sibility, and yet are generally understood to convey their sentiments. The pay of writers in reviews is various, depending not only on the means of the review, but on the rules adopted by particular editors ; for some have thought proper to equalise their rate of remuneration, others to retain in their own hands the power of estimating contributions according to their supposed value. The French revues are con- ducted on a different plan. Articles in general have the name of the contributor attached ; and the form of a review is not preserved, tales, poetry, essays on the politics of the day, &c. being admitted indiscriminately. This plan has been adopted in some of the reviews recently issued in this country, as in the Fortnightly .Review, Macmillan's Magazine, the Contem- porary Review, &c. Besides France and Eng- land, reviews have been long established in the other European states, and in America ; but this species of publication has taken the deepest root in Germany, where reviews may be said, without exaggeration, to appear daily, though none of them possess the influence of the leading English reviews. (Hallam, Literary History, pt. iv. ch. vii.) Review. In Military language, an inspection of a body of troops assembled for that purpose by a royal personage or officer of high rank. Review. In a Naval sense, a fleet or squad- ron passing through various manoeuvres and evolutions, with perhaps a pretended battle. Review, Bill of. In Law, a bill filed in order to procure an examination and alteration REVIEW, COURT OF of a final decree in Chancery duly signed and enrolled. If not enrolled, a petition of re- hearing is the proper proceeding. Review, Court of. A court of appeal from the Commissioners in Bankruptcy, established by stat. 1 and 2 Wm. IV. c. 56, and abolished by 10 and 11 Vict, c. 102. Revise (Lat. revideo, I see again). In Printing, a second proof taken for examination by the first proof. A press revise is the final proof pulled before printing off the form of types. Revivor, Bill of. In Law, a continuance of an original bill in a court of equity, when by death some party to it has become incapable of prosecuting or defending a suit, or a female plaintiff has incapacitated herself by marriage from suing alone. A bill of revivor and sup- plement continues a suit upon an abatement, and supplies defects which may have arisen from some event subsequent to the institution of the suit. In many cases an order of revivor may now be obtained without a fresh bill. Revocation, Power of. In Law, a power contained in a deed, by which the grantor retains the liberty to revoke it. Wills are in their nature revocable, but deeds as a rule can- not be revoked unless power for that purpose is reserved. Revolute (Lat. revolutus, part, of revolvo, / roll back). In Botany or Zoology, when a part is rolled outwards or backwards. Revolution (Lat. revolutio). In Astronomy, this word is used to signify the motion of a secondary body round a primary one, as con- tradistinguished from rotation, which signifies motion round an axis. The time of revolution is the period in which a planet, satellite, or comet returns to the place in its orbit from which we estimate its setting out. Revolution. In Mechanics, this term is synonymous with rotation. Revolution, Frencn (Era of the). In Chronology, this era "was substituted for the Christian era in all public acts and documents, by a decree of the National Convention in 1793 ; and fixed at the 22nd of September, 1792, the day of the foundation of the French republic. It was abolished by Napoleon, and the Chris- tian era restored in 1806. Revolution, Surface of. In Geometry/ a surface generated by the motion of a line, right or curved, around a fixed axis. Thus the surface generated by the motion of one right line around another is either a cone or a hypcrboloid of revolution according as the two lines do or do not intersect each other. The motion of an ellipse around one of its axes generates an ellipsoid of revolution, which re- ceives the name of prolate or oblate spheroid according as the major or minor axis remains fixed. It is obvious that every sphere whose centre is in the axis must intersect the surface of revolution in circles whose planes are perpen- dicular to the fixed axis ; so that the general equation of a surface of revolution is {x — af + (y— b) 2 + (^-c) 2 = F (lx + ray + nz), 272 1 RHABDOMANCY where a, b, c are the coordinates of any point in the axis ; I, m, n are proportional to the direction-cosines of the latter, and F any functional symbol. The lines of curvature on a surface of revolution are plane curves. Those of one system consist of circles in planes per- pendicular to the axis, those of the other system are the meridian lines, all equal to the generat- ing curve, and situated in planes which intersect in the axis. The normal at any point of a surface of revolution also intersects the axis. The intercept upon it made by the axis and the surface is one of the principal radii of curvature, whilst the other coincides with the radius of curvature of the meridian line. Revolution. In Politics, a word of some- what indefinite meaning, but usually denoting an extensive change in the political constitution of a country accomplished in a short time, whether by legal or illegal means. The term Revolution, in English History, is applied by way of eminence to the political change effected in the year 1688, when William III. and Mary acceded to the throne on the forced abdication of James II. Revolver. A term applied to a fire-arm with several chambers or barrels, which are brought successively under the action of the trigger, or percussion arrangement, so that several shots can be fired without the necessity of reloading. Rex Sacrorum or Rex Sacrificulus. In ancient Rome, an officer answering to the archon basileus at Athens. [Archon.] On this officer those powers seem to have been conferred which the kings had possessed as priests of the nation. As no political influence was attached to the office, the plebs did not care to assert their claims to it, and the rex sacrorum was always elected from the body of the patricians. (Liv. ii. 2.) Rhabarbarine. [Chrysophanic Acid.] Rhabdologia (Or. pafidos, a rod, and \6yos, a description). The name given by Napier to a method of performing multiplication and division by means of a set of figured rods or scales. [Napier's Rods.] Bhabdomancy (Gr. papdo/jLavrela). Pro- perly, divination by a rod or wand. Some persons have been believed to be endowed by nature with a peculiar sense or perception, by which they are enabled to discover things hid in the earth, especially metals and water. But a more prevalent opinion has been that the discovery of these substances might be effected by means of a divining rod. The divining rod is a branch of a tree, generally hazel, forked at the end, and held in a particular way, by the two ends, in the hands of the adept ; and is supposed to indicate the position of the substance sought by bending towards it with a slow rota- tory motion, the adept, according to modern practice, being placed in contact with some metallic or other magnetic substance. The art is said to be occasionally practised in the south of France and Italy, under the names of met alio scopy, hydroscopy, &c. Campetti, an RHADAMANTHUS Italian, in the beginning of the present century, excited much attention by his professed powers of rhabdomancy. Rtaadamanthus. In Mythology. [Minos.] Khaetizite. A Mineralogical synonym of the Kyanite of the Tyrol (the Bhoetian Alps). Rliamnacese (Ehamnus, one of the genera). A natural order of arborescent or shrubby perigynous Exogens, inhabiting all parts of the wox*ld excepting the arctic regions. The berries of various species of Bhamnus, e.g. B. catharticus, are violent purgatives ; while the fruit of some species, as Zizyphus Jujuba, the Jujube, is harmless and eatable. They are all small-flowered polypetalous or apetalous plants, with four or five stamens alternating with the lobes of the calyx. Bhamnus (Gr. pd/xvos). The typical genus of Bhamnacece, consisting of shrubs or small trees, mostly found in the temperate countries of the northern hemisphere. They are called Buckthorns, and furnish some useful dye plants. The most important commercial product of the genus is the dyeing material used by calico- printers, and known as Yellow-berries, or Persian berries, considerable quantities of which are annually imported from Asiatic Turkey, and from Persia by way of Trebizonde. These are usually ascribed to B. infectorius, but they are probably collected indiscriminately from several species — the unripe fruits alone being gathered. From the bark of B. chloro- phorus and B. utilis the Chinese prepare their beautiful green dye, Lo-kao, called in this coun- try Chinese Green Indigo. Large quantities of this Indigo have been imported into Lyons, and used for dyeing silks, the shades of green imparted by it being exceedingly beautiful, especially when seen under the influence of artificial light. A similar dye, however, has since been extracted from B. catharticus. The indigenous Purging Buckthorn, B. ca- tharticus, produces little shining black fruits, which resemble corns of black pepper when dry ; these were formerly in great demand as a purgative medicine, and are still employed by rustic practitioners, but on account of. the vio- lence of their action they have deservedly fallen into disrepute, although Syrup of Buckthorn is still included in our pharmacopoeias. The bark likewise possesses active purgative properties. The pigment known as sap or bladder-green is prepared by mixing the fresh juice of buckthorn berries \uth lime, and evaporating to dryness. The wood of the Alder Buckthorn, B. Fran- gula, yields the best charcoal for making gun- powder ; and the Alaternus, B. Alatirnus, an : evergreen shrub, is grown for ornamental pur- poses in gardens and shrubberies. Rltiampliastos (Gr. pdu(pos, a beak). The i name of a genus of Scansorial birds ( Tucans) in the system of Cuvier, distinguished by an i enormous beak, nearly as thick and as long as f the body in some species. The compensation < by which this disproportionate beak is rendered manageable and portable is an extremely light i and cellular structure internally. It is arcuated < Vol. III. 273 EIIEOMETER , near Iho extremity, and in old tucans is irre- ; gularly indented along the edges. The tin an s are distinguished from the hornbills by the scansorial modification of their feet, in which : two toes behind are opposed to two in front ; and by their long, narrow, and ciliated tongue. ■ They are confined to the hot climates of Ame- ■ rica, where they live in small flocks, feeding on fruit, insects, and the eggs and callow offspring of other birds. Rliaponticin. [Chrysophanic Acid.] Rhapsodist (Gr. pa^wfiSs, from pdwrcj, I sew or stitch, and w5tj, a song). A name given to the minstrels who recited the Homeric poems in Greece, especially before the period at which those poems were first committed to writing. (Grote's History of Greece, vol. ii. p. 174 &c. ; Gladstone's Homer and the Homeric Age, i. 246 ; Max Midler's History of SemsJcrit Literature, 502 &c.) Rliatany (Peruv.). The astringent root of Krameria triandra. What is called Savanilla Ehatany is the root of a New Grenada variety of Krameria Ixina. [Krameria.] Ehea (Gr. 'Pea or 'Pda). In the Hesiodic Theogony, a daughter of Ouranos and Ge (Heaven and Earth), and wife of Cronos, by whom she became mother of Hestia [Vesta], Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. In the existing Homeric poem she is only named once {Iliad xv. 187). At Athens, where the, worship of this mother of the gods is said to have been first introduced among the Greeks, her temple was called the Metroum (Mrjrp&ov), i. e. the house of the mother. The etymology of the name Ehea seems doubtful. Ehea. The name of a genus of Struthious birds, of which the three-toed ostriches of South America are the representatives. X£2iein. [Chrysophanic Acid.] ESlieometer (Gr. pew, I flow ; jxerpcv, mea- sure). A term proposed by Peclet as a syno- nym for galvanometer, and generally adopted by the French writers on physics. Professor Wheatstone, in an ingenious paper entitled 'An Account of several new Instruments and Processes for determining the Constants of a Voltaic Circuit,' published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1843, uses the term, in a general sense, to designate any instrument for measuring the force of an electric current, without reference to its particular construction. Mr. Wheatstone also uses the following simi- lar terms in describing apparatus employed in investigations on the same subject : — Bheomotor (Lat. moveo, I move). Any appa- ratus which originates an electric current. Bkeoscope (Gr. , and (popiw, I bear along). A terra employed by Ampere to desig- nate the connecting wire of a voltaic apparatus, as being the carrier or transmitter of the current. Rhetoric (Gr. prjTopiK-f], sc. rexvr}, the rketo- ! rical art ; from pyrwp, an orator). In the widest j sense in which the. word is occasionally used by J modern writers, the art of prose composition generally. In the most restricted and most ; etymological sense, the art of oratory, or of ad- j dressing public assemblies. In an intermediate sense, in which, perhaps, it is most commonly employed, the art of argumentative composition. | This comes nearest to the signification which Aristotle, the earliest extant writer of a formal j treatise on rhetoric, attached to the title of his j subject, when he defined it to be the art of dis- covering and employing topics of persuasion. He arranged these topics or means of persuasion under three heads. First, those which arise from the character of the orator himself ; i. e. the character in which, by what must be termed rhetorical artifice, he places himself before his hearers. It is obvious that a speaker address- ing an assembly, who is known by them to be actuated by honest motives, and to understand the subject on which he speaks, advances by the mere possession of these adventitious attri- butes a long way towards the end and aim of oratory, viz. persuasion. Hence it is that Ari- stotle presents, as one of the chief branches of rhetoric, the art by which the speaker or writer, as it were, invests himself with these attributes, and thus insures a more favourable reception to his argument. The art of moving the passions by the use of such arguments and representations as are proper to excite each belongs also, in Aristotle's arrangement, to this division of his subject. In his second division he treats of argument itself, considered with respect to its cogency or inconclusiveness in point of form; and hence logic, in this point of view, becomes ancillary to, or a subdivision of, rhetoric. The third division of the subject exhibits the modes of persuasion arising from style, arrangement, delivery, and action ; and to this third branch writers who have treated of rhetoric in its more limited sense have usu- ally confined themselves. As the work of Aristotle is the first, so it is the only systematic treatise on rhetoric which the ancients have left us, among whom the art was much more diligently cultivated than among the moderns. Public speaking was of infinitely greater importance in the classical commonwealths than in any modern state ; even in our own, where it is most studied and value 1, it is but a subsidiary accomplishment. The true momentum of decision, that which convinces or dissuades, lies in the pen of the writer rather than in the voice of the orator ; and whilst in the Grecian republics assemblies were actually swayed by oratory to determine on a particular course of action, its principal use now appears to be to arraign, to vindicate, 274 HIIEUM or to explain the actions of individuals. French oratory, from the nature of its subject, is and always was confined within narrow limits. Probably pulpit oratory, in modern European society, answers most nearly to the classical notion of rhetoric ; and, had it ever been sub- jected to systematic rules, would have been found most nearly to conform to those which the ancients have left us. Among the Romans, oratory did not begin to be cultivated as a sci- ence until just at the period when its political importance was about to cease. Rhetoric, under the Roman empire, was taught as a regular science ; but its practical display was confined to the orators of the forum, among whom the art gradually declined, from the tendency of the civil law, during the last period of its developement, to conduct all process by written rather than oral method. On the other hand, the rides of rhetoric were applied to the con- struction of declamations, a species of fictitious argument much in vogue during the decline of Roman literature; and of panegyrical ha- rangues. The study of rhetoric, in this per- verted sense of the word, i. e. of declamatory speaking or writing, found peculiar favour in the African and Oriental schools of the Roman empire. Some of the early Christian writers, especially Tertullian, afford evident tokens of having acquired the art of composition under such discipline. [Eloquence.] Rheum (Gr. pev/xa, from pew, to flow). A genus of large-growing herbs of great importance in medicine, as the source of the Rhubarb of the shops, and also of considerable culinary value as the source of the Rhubarb of the garden. [Rhubarb.] The former consists of the root of the plants, which is dug, washed, and sun- dried, and then carefully assorted for exportation, its value depending very much on the nature of the climate in which it is produced. It is sup- posed to be the produce of B. palmatum. The latter consists of the succulent leaf-stalks of garden varieties of B. Bhaponticum and B. undu- latum, the latter yielding the delicate-flavoured rhubarbs with red stalks. Though in Queen Elizabeth's time the leaves of Rhubarb were used as a potherb, it was not until the beginning of the present century that the tender leaf- stalks came to be employed for tarts, and were found so valuable for various other culinary preparations. They are excellent, either stewed alone, or with rice ; and a capital preserve has been made from them. When too large and old for cooking, they undergo a process by which the juice is expressed from them and made into a delicious wine similar to that from green gooseberries, and closely resembling champagne ; indeed, it may be suspected that much of the so-called champagne commonly drunk is no other than a preparation from the stalks of Rhubarb. The juice is stated to contain a large amount of oxalic acid, as well as nitric and malic acid; and it is these which give an agreeable taste to the stalks when cooked, but which render them ill suited to persons of weak digestion. RHEUMATISM In the Gardener 's Chronicle for 1846 (p. 5) Mr. A. Forsyth first, directed attention to another part of Khubarb as being suited for culinary purposes, and to which he gave the namo of Rhajlowcr. This is the large globular pouch of unopened flowers, which is described as being of a beautiful colour when dressed in the same manner as Khubarb, of a milder flavour, and forming altogether a dish of great delicacy. Rheumatism (Gr. ^v/xaria-fiSs). A pain- ful affection of the joints, attended by swelling or stiffness, and alfecting chiefly the tendi- nous and fibrous textures. It is occasionally accompanied by fever, thus becoming acute rheumatism, or rheumatic fever ; in which case the joints are much swollen and excessively painful ; the pulse frequent, but seldom hard ; the perspiration usually abundant and acid; the tongue extremely foul, and the bowels costive ; headache is seldom complained of, and delirium very rare. In this form of the dis- ease a translation or metastasis to the heart is not uncommon. The treatment consists in the use of purgatives, diuretics, and alkalies. Lemon juice has also been used with advantage in acute cases, and opium in large doses is with some a favourite mode of treatment. Chronic rheumatism is not in general attended by any very remarkable constitutional symptoms. It occasionally leads to permanent distortion of the joints ; affects the periosteum, tendons, and ligaments ; and is most common in debilitated habits, when the health has been broken by previous disease or over-exertion of body or mind. These cases come more properly under the head of rheumatic gout. Opium, especially in the form of Dover's powder, is often use- ful in this disorder to procure rest. The bowels should be kept moderately active by warm purges, and tonics and alteratives cau- tiously administered. A course of sarsaparilla is often extremely serviceable : colchicum has been resorted to, but with most uncertain success. Rhinanthus (Gr. pis, piv6s, a snout, and &udos, a flower). A genus of annual weeds growing in pastures, the common species, B. Crista galli, being known as the Yellow Eattle. They belong to the Scrophulariaeece. Rhine, Confederation of the. A con- federation formed in July 1806 between se- veral princes of the south and west of Germany and the French emperor Napoleon, who was constituted the protector of these states when the latter had separated themselves in per- petuity from the Germanic empire. Rhinocarpus (Gr. pis, and KapirSs, fruit). A large tree of Columbia, New Grenada, and British Guiana, belonging to the order Ana- car diacecs. It is known in Guiana as the Wild Cashew, and in New Grenada as Caracoli, and yields an excellent tough durable timber, and a pleasant edible fruit, In Panama, according I to Seemann, the tree is called Espave, and its bark is said to be used in stupefying fish. Rhinoceros (Gr. pivSttepcus, literally nose- horn). The name of a genus of Perissodactyle 275 1 RHIZOBOLACEiE Pachydermal mammals, characterised by one or two horny productions upon the nose. A species of horn-bill is also called rhinoceros, on account of the remarkable recurved horny process which rises from its upper mandible. Six or seven species of rhinoceros now exist, con- fined to Africa and South-Eastern Asia. In the later tertiary period an equal number of species existed; and in the middle tertiary we have evidence of a hornless form, Acerotherium, allied to Hyrax. Rhinolophus (Gr. pis, piv6s, nose, and \6, on account of the rose-red colour of some of its salts, especially of the chloride, when dissolved in water). A metal discovered in 1803, by Wollaston, asso- ciated with palladium in the ore of platinum. It is of a whitish colour, very difficult of fusion and very hard. Its specific gravity is 12'1, and its atomic weight 52-16. It is repre- sented by the symbol R. It has been used for the points of- metallic pens. [Platinum.] SJhodizito (Gr. foStfciv, to make red). A species of Lime-Boracite, which, when heated before the blow-pipe, colours the flame, first green, but afterwards red. It is found, in minute translucent and shining crystals, which are white or inclining to yellow or grey, near Mursinsk in the Ural. Rhodizonic Acid. A substance formed by passing dry carbonic oxide over highly heated potassium, and acting on the product by water. A red powder separates, which is rhodizonate of potassa, from which rhodizonic acid may be separated by a mixture of sul- phuric acid and alcohol. Its formula is said to be C 10 H 4 0 12 . Khodochrome (Gr. pudou, and xpovs, Lat. rhus). A large genus of Anacardiacecs, found abundantly in the tem- perate countries of both hemispheres. They are for the most part shrubs, and possess poisonous properties of a more or less marked character. Indeed some American species, such as R. ve- nenata and R. Toxicodendron, produce effects almost rivalling those once fabulously imputed to the Upas-tree of Java (Antiaris), the hands and arms of some persons, and sometimes even the whole body, becoming much swollen from simply touching or carrying a branch of one of them, the swelling being accompanied with in- tolerable pain and inflammation, and ending in ulceration. These effects, however, are not felt by everyone, some persons being able to handle the plants with impunity. A few of the species yield useful products, such as R. Coriaria, the Tanning Sumach, which affords commercial Sumach. This plant is a native of the European countries bordering the Mediterranean, and when allowed to grow to its full size attains a height of fifteen or twenty feet ; but in a cultivated state the young shoots are cut off annually for the sake of their leaves, and it is consequently seldom seen higher than four or five feet. The Sumach of commerce cons : sts of the finely ground young leaves : it is extensively employed for tanning and dyeing purposes, from 12,000 RHYME to 18,000 tons being annually imported, chiefly from Sicily. R. Cotinus, another South Eu- ropean species, called the Venus or Venetian Sumach, yields the yellow dye-wood called Young Fustic, which in olden times was sup- posed to be the young branches of the true Fustic-tree {Madura). k The Japan Wax recently brought in con- siderable quantity to this country is the produce of the fruits of R. succedanca. R. vemicifera, another small Japanese tree, yields the famous lacquer so extensively employed by the inhabi- tants of that country for lacquering various articles of furniture and small- ware. It exudes from wounds made in the tree, and is at first milky-white, but becomes darker and ultimately black on being exposed to the air. Nothing certain is known respecting the mode of pre- paring it for use, and it is said that the Japanese themselves have lost the secret of its prepara- tion, for the lacquer-ware at present manu- factured is greatly inferior to the ancient. Ithyrae (A.-Sax. gerim, Ger. reim). In Poetry, the correspondence of sounds in the last words or syllables of verses. The latter is the true rhyme of modern European lan- guages. There are rhymed verses in the Latin classical poets, where the jingle seems inten- tional, and more distinct examples of it in the fragments of Roman military songs, &c. which have come down to us. But in the earlier pe- riod of the decay of the Latin language, when accent was substituted for metre in the rhythmical arrangement of the verse, rhyme made its way into the composition of church hymns, &c. It has been attempted, but with little success, to deduce this innovation from the Goths, and from the Arabians ; but the former, like the old Teutonic races, probably used alliteration but no rhyme in their verses ; and the latter could not have influenced European literature until a period long after that in which rhyme first appears. It has been proved, beyond the possibility of doubt, that rhymed Latin verse was in use from the end of the fourth century. (Hallam, Literary History, part i. ch. i. § 35.) A rhyme in which the final syllables only agree (strain, complain), is called a male rhyme ; one in which the two final syllables of each verse agree, the last being short (motion, ocean), female; and the hitter is sometimes extended in Italian poetry to three syllables {femore, immemore), when the verse is called sdrucciolo. In English such a license is hardly permissible, except in bur- lesque poetry (see Hudibras and Don Juan for instances). By the strict rules of French prosody, the male and female species of rhymes must be alternately used, however intricate the disposition of the verse may be, although the last short syllable is generally mute, or very slightly sounded. Rhymes which extend not only beyond the last three syllables, but through the whole structure of the lines, are used in Arabian and Persian poetry. Rhymes in which the consonants of the last syllable in each verse are identical 278 RHYTHM (dress, address) are vicious in English, but rather admired in French poetry. One more singularity of English poetry deserves notice. | While from the irregularity of our spelling many 1 syllables rhyme with each other although widely 1 dissimilar in orthography (woo, pursue), there are, on the other hand, rhymes which speak to the eye, and not to the ear ; i. e. in which the 1 orthography of the rhyming syllables is the 1 same, but the pronunciation different; as wind, 'find; gone, alone. In the following triplet of j Dryden — j 'Tis nothing yet ; then poor and naked come, Thy Father will receive His nnthrift home, ' And thy blest Saviour's blood discharge the mighty i sum— 1 it will be seen that the first and third lines j rhyme in a legitimate manner, although the ! last syllables are differently spelt ; while the ' first and second rhyme to the eye only, and ' not to the ear. This is a license rendered admissible only by precedent, i rniynchoptiores (Gr. pvyxos, a snout, and #e'p<*>, / carry). The name of a family j of Coleopterous insects, comprehending those which have the head prolonged in the form ! of a snout or proboscis. Rtiynchosaurus (Gr. pvyxos, and aavpos, [ lizard). A genus of Cryptodont Reptiles from the new red sandstone (trias) of Shropshire. The remains indicate a lizard-like animal with the most remarkable shaped cranium, which was edentulous, and resembled that of a bird or turtle. The premaxillary bones were produced downwards in the form of a beak, over the lower jaw, as in Dicynodon. Unlike that genus, however, there is no trace of any canine teeth in the upper jaw. The indications of the loco- motive extremities denote an animal adapted for motion on land as well as in water. Rhythm (Gr. pv6/,i6s). The consonance of measure and time in poetry, prose composition, and music and by analogy in dancing. Each verse or each period may be considered as a whole, in which the poetical rhythm is regular and exact, within certain limited va- riations, the rhetorical less perfect, and the pleasure derived from it rather matter of taste and experience than of rule. Those parts which receive the ictus or stress of the rhythm are termed arsis (elevation), the remainder form the thesis (depression); the former is frequently denoted to the eye by the accent marked ', when in a foreign or unknown word we wish to direct the voice in pronunciation to employ the correct emphasis. The smallest rhythmical division is the foot, by which every union of arsis and thesis is understood. A short syllable is an original unit of time ; a long syllable contains two units. The number of feet enumerated in classical writers on metre amounts to twenty-eight, including all the varieties which may be formed out of two, three, or four syllables, long and short, and varying from two to eight units of time. [Foot; Metre; Rhyme.] Rhythm. In Physiology, the more or less RHYTHM regular succession of the contractions of cer- tain automatic muscles. In the heart the motion commences in the venge cavse, and pro- ceeds through the auricles and ventricles, and then, after an interval, is resumed in the venae cavse. In the intestine the movement travels in a vermicular manner from above down- wards ; and a second movement, beginning at the upper part of the intestine before the first has completed its course, affects the parts in the same order. These movements are called rhythmic ; those of the intestinal tube are also called 'peristaltic. Rhythm:. [Music] Rial. A gold coin current in the reigns of Henry VI. and Elizabeth : under the former its value was ten shillings, under the latter fifteen shillings. Rial or Real. A Spanish coin. [Money.] Rib (Ger. rippe). The rib of a ship answers in many respects to the rib in an animal frame. The base of the rib is in the keel as a backbone, and it serves to maintain generally the cavity of the vessel. A rib is of massive timber in several pieces scarfed or chocked together. These pieces beginning from the bottom are the cross piece or floor, futtocks, top-timbers, and, if the vessel be of great height, the length- ening pieces. The ribs are otherwise known as the timbers. Rib. In Botany, the principal vein or nervure which proceeds from the petiole into the blade of the leaf. Ribs. In Anatomy, the lateral appendages of a vertebra, especially when developed so as to encompass the trunk. In the human subject there are twelve pairs of ribs, which, in general homology, are the pleur apophyses, the sternal cartilages being the hamapophyses, and the sternum the haemal spine. Ribs. In Architecture, curvilinear timbers to which, in an arched or coved plaster ceiling, the laths are nailed. Ribaudequin (Low Lat. ribaudequinus, perhaps from ribaud, ribaudaille — Eng. ribald — the name used to denote all the humbler classes of foot soldiers). A mediaeval engine of war, consisting of a cart armed with iron spikes, and after the fourteenth century furnished with small cannon. Such engines are mentioned in the year 1382, as being placed in front of troops arrayed in order of battle. (Christine de Pisan, Livre des Faits d'Armes, ch. xxvi. fol. 36 ; Mon- strelet, ch. lxxxiv. p. 206 ; Brackenbury, Ancient Cannon in Europe, p. 36.) Ribband Shores. Strong supports for the frame of a ship during building. Their heads rest against the ribbands, and their bases on the slip or dock. Ribbands. In Shipbuilding, longitudinal bands of comparatively thin timber stretching from stem to stern at different distances from the keel. They are bolted on outside the ribs, in order to preserve the proper curvature and to impart stability to the vessel while yet in skeleton. The ribbands of the slip are square timbers 279 RICCATTS EQUATION fastened lengthways on the bilgeways, to pre- vent the timbers of the cradle from slipping outwards during launching. Ribbon Jasper. A name given to those varieties of Jasper in which the colours are ar- ranged in parallel layers or stripes. The. prin- cipal localities are Saxony and the Ural ; but it is also found in this country near Tortworth in Gloucestershire ; in the Pcntland Hills ; at Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh ; in the isles of Islay and Rum, &c. Ribbon Jasper is, in general, a result of the alteration of argillaceous strata by contact with igneous rocks. Ribes (the Arab name of an acid plant, now ascertained to be Rheum Ribes). The botanical name of the genus which yields us the Gooseberry and Currant, whose succulent berries are well known. There are, besides, numerous ornamental flowering shrubs of the same family. The Gooseberry, R. Grossularia, is indigenous to this country, as well as to many other parts of Europe, and has been found, according to Royle, in Nepal. It will ripen in Norway as far north as 66^°, nearly 16° north of London, but will not succeed so far to the south, for even in southern parts of England, under a hot sun, the fruit of some of the varieties becomes as if parboiled. The cooler climates of the North of England and Scotland suit it best. It is an important fruit, furnishing abundantly to mil- lions of the manufacturing population materials for tarts, pies, sauces, &c. at an early period of the season, before any other fruit can be had for these purposes. By competition for prizes in Lancashire and the adjoining counties, the size of the berries has been enormously increased, although some of the old sorts, such as the Red Champagne, are yet unsurpassed in quality. The varieties are exceedingly numerous. The Currant, 7?. rubrum, is indigenous to Central and Northern Europe, including Britain, Siberia, and Canada. It is to be found wild as far north .as Finmark, but, like the goose- berry, it is not suited for so warm a climate as the South of Europe, otherwise it would have- extended into Italy, and would have become known to the Greeks and Romans, which does not appear to have been the case. The English name of Currant may be attributed to the similitude of the fruit to the Corinth or Zante Grape, the currant of the shops. Improved varieties of the Currant appear to have been introduced from Holland, and the Red Dutch and the White Dutch are amongst the best in cultivation at the present day. These fruits are always in demand for making wine, tarts, jellies, jams, &c, and the quantities grown for that purpose have greatly increased since the price of sugar has become reduced. The refri- gerant juice is also very grateful to the parched palates of persons suffering from fever. The Black Currant, R. nigrum, is a fruit much prized for domestic use, both as a preserve and as medicine. Ribhus. In Mythology. [Orpjteus.] Riccati's Equation. An important or- dinary differential equation, of the first order RICOIACEJE and degree, first investigated by the Italian mathematician Kiccati. It is usually expressed in the form ^ + ay- — bx n , tix J and is always solvable by a series of double transformations of the form ax zx~ when n has the form — 4« 2i±l where i is either 0 or a positive integer. The equation becomes linear by assuming and to it may be reduced several other differen- tial equations of greater generality. (Boole's Differential Equations.) Xtieciaeese, [Hepatic;e.] Rice. [Okyza.] Rice Paper. The produce of the Aralia papyri/era, a low shrub, with large leaves, from Formosa, where it is wild and abundant. The trunk and branches resemble those of the elder. The pith, dried and rolled or hammered, and pared by sharp knives, forms the paper. It is dyed of different colours, and large sheets are obtained by pressing the smaller pieces together. It is usually sold in small squares of about four inches made up into packets of 100 each, a bundle of five packets being sold for 4d. (Swinhoe, Pharmaceutical Journal vi. 52.) Rieinoleie Acid. One of the acids result- ing from the saponification of castor oil. Ricimis (Lat. a tick). The best known species of this genus of Euphorbiacen is 11. communis, the seeds of which yield Castor-oil, The plant is a native of India, but is now widely distributed over the warmer regions of the globe and throughout the Mediterranean region. It is cultivated with us as «n annual, and is known under the name of Palma Christi. In this country the stems do not attain a height of more than from three to five feet ; but in Spain, Crete, Sicily, and elsewhere, the plant is stated to become a small tree. There are several varieties of this plant, differing in sundry slight particulars, and amongst others in the size of the seeds. These latter are oval, flat- tened, of a greyish colour mottled with brown- ish blotches. The best oil for medicinal pur- poses is derived from the small seeds, that procured from the large seeds being coarser, and in India employed for lamps and in veterinary practice. The oil is extracted by boiling the seeds and by pressure in an hy- draulic press, the latter process yielding the most esteemed oil. Rickets. [Rachitis.] Ricochet Fire (Fr. ricochet). In Gunnery, the fire of a battery placed at right angles to the line of troops or works aimed at ; the guns being fired with reduced charge and consider- 280 RIFLE REGIMENTS able elevation, so as to give the shot a low velocity and a high curve, in order that it may be brought down immediately after clearing the crest of the parapet, and then by rebounding along the face of the work, dismount the guns or rake the line of troops under cover. It was invented by Vauban, and first employed at the siege of Haarlem in 1572. It arrived at per- fection at the siege of Ath in 1697. It gave superiority to the attack over the defence of fortresses. Riddle. [Enigma.] Rider. A term used to signify any addition to manuscripts or other documents, inserted after their completion. Eider. A term used by miners to denote a deposit of ore overlying the principal mineral. Riders. In Shipbuilding, riders were for- merly internal ribs or timbers worked from the kelson as high as the lower deck, to impart ! greater firmness to the ship's frame. These riders restricted the space in the hold, and have now been generally superseded by bands of iron fastened diagonally on the inside of the ' ribs. I Ridge (A.-Sax. hricg, Ger. ruck). In I Architecture, the upper horizontal timber in a roof, against which the rafters pitch. Riding-. The three divisions of the county of York are so termed, by a corruption of the Saxon word trithing or triding (third part). Riding- Bitts. On Shipboard, massive frames of wood and iron round which the cable is coiled when the vessel rides at anchor. The bitts are bolted through two decks. Large vessels have two pairs : smaller vessels one pair. In inconsiderable merchant ships the windlass is made to do duty for riding-bitts. Riding Master. A commissioned officer in regiments of cavalry and brigades of royal artillery. He holds the relative rank of lieu- tenant. Ridoito(ItaL). A favourite public Italian entertainment, consisting of music and dancing; held generally on fast eves. Riemannite. A Mineralogical synonym for Allophane, after Biemann, by whom it was first noticed. Rifaeimento (Ital. re-establishment). A term in common literary use applied to any work or treatise, the materials of which have not been derived from original research, or collected for the first time. Rifle. [Gun; Rifled Guns; Small Arms.] Rifle Pits. Holes or short trenches, generally about four feet long and three feet deep, forming, with the earth thrown out in front of them, cover for two men. There is generally a loophole on the top of the breast- work, made by placing two sand-bags with a third resting on them, so as to cover the head and shoulders of the rifleman. Rifle Regiments. Although the whole of the infantry of the British army is now armed with rifles, the rifle brigade and 60th regi- ment, which were armed with rifles while the other troops had only smooth-bored muskets, RIFLED GUNS are still distinguished as rifle regiments, as are also the Ceylon, Cape, and Canadian regiments. Rifled Guns. C ans in which two or more spiral grooves are cut in the surface of the bore. The groove of a rifled gun is simply a portion of the thread of a female screw with a Fig. 1. long pitch. If A 13 C be a right-angled triangle (fig. 1), in which BC equals the cir- cumference of the bore of the gun, and A 13 the length of the bore — suppose the triangle ABC wrapped round the surface of the bore, as in Fig. 2. fig- 2, then A C is the helix or — -v b curve of the groove. But in — most rifled guns the twist, or inclination of the grooves, is much less than one turn in the length of the bore, and is measured in terms of the length in which one turn is completed. When AC is a straight line, as in fig. 1, the twist is uniform; but if ■c,. o AC be curved, as in fig. 3, the c groove wjII have an increasing or gaining twist, the angle of twist CAB becoming greater towards the muzzle. In this case the projectile is easily started, gaining a greater velocity of rotation as it proceeds to- wards the muzzle of the gun. The object of rifling a gun is to give the projectile a rotation round an axis coincident with that of the bore. This insures greater accuracy of fire. If a spherical projectile be employed, no other advantages follow ; but if an elongated projectile be used, as it can be when thus given a rotation round its longer axis, not only is accuracy increased, but we gain all the other advantages due to this form, which have been described in the article Projectile. Elongated projectiles have, there- fore, entirely superseded spherical projectiles for rifled guns. Both small arms and cannon are rifled; but many difficulties occur in the construction of rifled cannon which are not met with in small arms ; especially that of obtaining guns strong enough to resist the enormous strain caused by firing large charges with heavy projectiles [Gun], and the impossibility of using very large shot or shell made of lead alone. Small Arms will be treated separately ; we here speak only of rifled cannon. The conditions which a rifled cannon should fulfil are : »(1) to insure accuracy of fire ; (2) to give as high velocity as possible ; (3) to remain uninjured by much work; (1) to be simple in construction. To insure accuracy of fire, a rotatory motion must be given to the projectile round an axis coincident with that of the bore ; the axis of the shot nxust be stable on leaving the piece ; and the shot must have sufficient velocity of rotation (depending on its form, length, and weight) to counteract the tendency which it has to turn over. To give the pro- jectile a high velocity, the gun must be able to stand a large charge of powder ; and in order to do this, remaining uninjured, a very 281 construction is required. This streilgl It strc will depend on the quality of the metal used, on its being distributed so as best to resist the strains to which the different parts are subjected, and on the method of rifling not exerting undue strain on the gun. The con- struction should be so simple that the gun may be easily and rapidly worked, and not liable to derangement. Breech-loading and muzzle-loading /ifled ordnance have each their advocates. The advantages of the former are that a projectile of larger diameter than the bore can be used, and so its axis will be perfectly stable ; that, the gun can be loaded when run up (the gunners being thus less exposed), and can *be worked in a smaller space ; that the bore can be easily examined and cleaned ; and that a shot is sure to be home. Their disadvantages, as compared with muzzle-loading guns, are that the construction is necessarily more com- plicated ; with large guns the breech-loading apparatus is heavy; and they are weaker, weight for weight. As soon as it appeared that rifled guns would be generally substituted for smooth-bored guns, numerous schemes were brought forward, which may for all practical purposes be classed under one of the four following heads : — 1. Muzzle or breech-loading guns having fitting it li the bore :ibs projectiles to fit the Fig. 4. projectiles of hard metal mechanically. 2. Muzzle-loading guns having soft metal studs or grooves. 3. Muzzle-loading guns with projectiles having soft metal envelopes or cups to be expanded in the bore by the gas. 4. Breech-loading guns, with projectiles coated with soft metal, larger in diameter than the bore, but compressed by the gas into the grooves. We will first consider some of the most important English systems of rifling. As examples of the first class, in which the pro- jectiles are of hard metal, and made to fit the bore mechanically, we may notice the Whitworth and. Lancaster gims. The Whit- worth gun has an hexagonal spiral bore, with the corners rounded off. The form of bore and projectile are shown in fig. 4. The Lan- caster gun has an elliptical spiral bore (fig. 5). Al- though it may be scarcely correct to speak of these forms of bore as grooved, it will be seen that a circle, by having in the one case six, and in the other two grooves cut, and the corners chamfered away, can be altered into either of these shapes. In both cases the projectiles are of iron or steel. In these systems it is evident that the pro- jectile cannot fit the bore perfectly, and that A Fig. 5. RIFLED GUNS there must be some allowance of windage. If this is reduced too much, there will be great difficulty in loading, and a small quantity of rust or dirt on either bore or shot will render the gun temporarily unserviceable ; if, On the other hand, there be too much windage, the shot will not be stable on leaving the bore. Besides this there must be a great tendency to wear out the gun, by the action of the hard metal of the projectile upon it. It is evident that the chief difficulty with a muzzle-loading riHed gun is to load easily, and yet insure stability of axis of the projectile on leaving the bore. This is ingeniously overcome in the Armstrong shunt gun, which, with the "Woolwich system and Scott's, belongs to the second class. A shot in entering a gun with spiral grooves, presses or bears against one side of the grooves ; in coming out, against the other side. In the shunt gun the stud for the shot is only about half the width of the groove. The half of the groove on which the shot enters is of uniform depth throughout, and allows some windage ; but the half of the groove on which the shot bears in coming out is gradually decreased in depth towards the muzzle by an inclined plane, so that the shot is firmly gripped before it reaches the muzzle, and leaves the bore with a stable axis. A plan of a groove of the shunt gun, and plans of the muzzle, are Fig. 6. C < IMC LIN Ex PARALLEL shown in figs. 6 and 7. The shot is shown going in and coming out. In going in, the shot Fig. 7. Shot goinp in. Shot coming out. at E is shunted into the narrow portion of the groove. The studs for the projectiles of this gun are of copper. Scott's gun has a bore shaped as in fig. 8; the driving side of the studs on the projectile are of zinc, and they enter at the deep portion of the grooves, bearing on the shallow portions as they come out. The Woolwich system is only a slight modification of the French, which will be spoken of presently, the grooves being shallower, and having their corners rounded off. The large muzzle-loading guns in our service are rifled on this system, some having a uniform, and others a gaining twist. In the latter case the studs in the front row are smaller in diameter than those in the hind row, the sides of the studs which bear in loading having no spiral ; but the sides which bear coming out having a spiral corresponding to the sharp- est twist of the rifling, which is of course next the muzzle (fig. 9). By this arrangement the shot is driven by the hind 282 Fig. 9. studs only, until near the muzzle, when both studs act, and the shot is brought into the proper position on leaving the piece. The third class includes the American Par- rott gun, Blakely's, Jeffrey's, Lynall Thomas', Bashley Bx-itten's guns. The latter, which may Fig. 10. be taken as a good sample of this class, has five shallow grooves ; and the projectile, which is made of iron, has a leaden envelope A, and a wooden sabot B (fig. 10). The shell is easily inserted, being smaller than the bore; but when the gun is fired, the sabot is driven against the envelope, and expands the lead into the grooves. Projectiles of this nature will not generally stand large charges, the envelope giving way. Mackay's system is also really of this class. The gun is grooved, and the projectile, which is of iron, is smaller in diameter than the bore. It has neither envelope nor studs, but a large cartridge of sawdust is inserted between the powder and the shot, and is doubtless com- pressed on the discharge, and jammed between the shot and the bore, thus entering the grooves, and giving rotation to the shot. The fourth class includes the Prussian gun, and the Armstrong brsech-loading guns. The latter have been adopted into our service for all rifled field guns, and several larger natures. The projectile is coated with lead, and is inserted into a chamber behind the bore, of larger diameter than the bore (fig. 13). The bore has a number of small grooves, sepa- rated by lands, narrower than the grooves (fig. 11). The explosion Fig. 11. drives the projectile in- to the bore, compressing its soft coating into the grooves, and so giving a rotatory motion to the shot. There are two methods of closing the breech ; the first by a vent piece, which is dropped into a slot, and pressed tightly against the rear of the powder chamber by a screw ; the second by a wedge and stopper, which work in guiding grooves, and are forced in sideways behind the powder chamber. But the peculiar system of rifling, or method of giving the rotation, matters but little, so long as the conditions above named are fulfilled ; if projectiles of the same form, size, and weight, be fired with equal charges from various guns, having the same twist, the results will vary but little, no matter what may be the system of rifling. The great pro- blem to solve is how to construct a gun of sufficient strength to withstand heavy pro- jectiles fired with large charges. "When a charge of powder is ignited in the bore of a gun, the gas exerts a pressure equal in every direction, which forces the shot through the grooves along the bore, and exerts a double strain upon the metal of the gun, a tangential strain tending to rend the metal* lengthwise RIFLED GUNS along a line drawn from breech to muzzle, and a longitudinal strain tending to fracture the gun across, or to drive out the breech. The initial strain, or the strain to which the gun is subjected before the shot moves, is the most severe, for the gas, being then confined in the smallest space, exerts its. maximum pressure per square inch ; and this initial strain gene- rally fractures a gun. Now, the longer it takes to move the shot, the more powder will be ig- nited before the shot's motion, and the greater will be the initial strain. In a smooth-bored gun the shot is rolled along the surface of the bore, probably when only a very small portion of powder is converted into gas. In a rifled gun there is considerable friction between the elongated shot and the bore, additional work is required to give the shot a rotatory motion, and the area of projectile presented to the force of the gas is much less for a given weight of shot, than with a round shot. Besides, in those systems which have soft coatings or en- velopes for the projectiles, additional work is required to compress the soft metal into the grooves. Thus there is much greater diffi- culty in moving the shot in a rifled gun, and consequently also a much greater strain than on the metal of a smooth-bored gun. Bronze and cast iron, the metals chiefly employed as materials for ordnance until the introduction of rifled guns, are not suited to withstand this great strain. Bronze, though tough, and, if well made, uniform in quality, is too soft for the bores of guns, and is also very costly ; cast iron, although hard enough, is uncertain in tenacity, and cannot alone be used for rifled guns, unless fired with very small charges only. Cast-iron guns strengthened by rings or tubes shrunk or driven on exter- nally, will not stand great strain, but mode- rately good results have been obtained by lining them with a tube of wrought iron or steel, as proposed by Major Palliser. Wrought iron and steel are the metals now almost universally employed for rifled guns. Wrought iron is exceedingly tough, and not liable to snap or to fly into destructive pieces, but it is rather too soft for the bore pf a gun, and it is very difficult to obtain thoroughly sound forgings of great size. Cast steel, well ham- mered, is hard and elastic, but is liable to snap without warning and fly into pieces ; it is rendered harder and tougher by being tem- pered in oil, but there is great difficulty in obtaining large castings of thoroughly uniform quality. Steel is also very expensive. It has not as yet been found practicable in this country to make large rifled guns in one solid casting of great strength; though in Krupp's works, at Essen, in Prussia, large guns are so made. Even their endurance, however, is not such as would satisfy us in this country. The formation of guns from one solid forging has been advocated, but con- demned by many good authorities. The Hors- fall smooth-bored gun, made at the Mersey Works at Liverpool, was of this nature. It 283 weighed nearly twenty-five tons, and had a calibre of 1.3 inches. The method chiefly employed in this country is to build up guns of several pieces. By this plan several advantages are gained. 1. The parts may be of such a size that their soundness may be depended upon. 2. Dif- ferent materials may be used, each being placed at that part of a gun which it best suits. 3. The materials may be applied so that their fibres may run in a direction most favourable to the peculiar strain they will have to withstand. But in this method of construction, great care must be taken to pro- vide against the separation of the parts ; and it is evident that the fewer parts there are, the less likely will the gun be to shake to pieces. Whitworth advocates steel for all parts of a gun. His method of building up, as given in his own words, is this : ' The tube of the gun is made taper, then a series of hoops are made, which are screwed on together so as to form another tube, that is put on by hydraulic pres- sure ; each layer is put on a little tighter than the succeeding one.' Blakely is also a strong advocate of steel for all parts of a gun, though he has employed both cast and wrought iron. His method of shrinking on the outer tubes when hot, so that in cooling they contract and grasp the inner tubes, is employed in the manufacture of Armstrong guns, and in the gun factories at Woolwich. The essential features of the Armstrong method of construction are : 1. The disposal of the fibre of the metal round the bore, by coiling, so as to resist the tangential strain, the welds running in the direction of the least strain as regards separation. 2. The em- ployment of a breech piece to support the bottom of the bore, with the fibre running lengthwise so as to resist longitudinal strain. 3. The shrinking on the different portions, so that the exterior of the gun takes a clue share of strain. The different parts of the gun are also now hooked together by means of Fig. 12. shoulders and corresponding recesses. Both coiled iron barrels and steel barrels are now used in the royal gun factories, with forged breech pieces and trunnion pieces, and coiled outer tubes. Fig. 13 represents a section of an Armstrong 12-pr. screw breech-loading gun. Fig. 13. A A, barrel, coiled iron or steel. BCD, coiled outer tubes. P, breech piece, solid forging. T, trunnion ring, ditto. V, vent piece. E, tappet ring. L, lever ring. S, breech screw. RIFLED The same method of construction, with mo- difications, has been adopted for our larger guns. Mr. Fraser, of the royal gun factories, has suggested some important improvements, which will both strengthen the gun and lessen its cost. The principal methods of construction and systems of rifling of this country having now been explained, it remains briefly to mention the rifled guns of the principal foreign nations. The French have adopted the systeme la Hitte, the shape of the groove and stud in which are shown in the annexed figure. The Fig. 14. studs are of zinc, and centre the projectile by means of bevelled driving edges. The French field guns are of bronze ; the canon de 4 raye, which is their GUNS general service field gun, has the same calibre as the old brass 4-pounder ; it has six deep grooves, and the projectile has two rows of studs. Their heavy guns are principally cast iron hooped with steel, and muzzle loaders, with a gaining twist applied to the system above described. They have a few breech loaders, up to, but not over, six inches calibre. The French system has been adopted, with modifications, by Spain, Portugal, Russia, Holland, Switzerland, Wurtemburg, and, as already shown, by ourselves for some guns. The Italians have chosen the French system for their field guns, which are made of bronze up to the 16-pounder; they have some 24- pounder and 40-pounder iron-hooped guns, muzzle-loaders, and a few heavy breech-load- ing cast-iron Cavalli guns, which were cast in England, and proved at Woolwich. The Austrian field guns are bronze muzzle- Fig. 15. loaders, and the projectiles are covered with zinc and tin (fig. 15) of the same shape as the bore, but one-twelfth of an inch less in dia- meter. The grooves in the gun may be said to be formed by wrapping a number of triangles round a cylindrical bore. The exterior of the projectile being of the same shape, the latter enters the bore easily and is pushed home, riding on the bases of the triangles, with windage above and at the sides. A slight turn with the rammer, acting on small drivers left on the head of the shell, centres it, so that it comes out with its axis coincident with that of the bore, and windage equally distributed, viz. a small space at the base of each of the triangles. The projectile for what is called the 4-pounder field gun weighs about 8 lbs. English, and the gun itself about 582 lbs. The Austrians have lately made a number of breech-loading cast-iron guns for siege and garrison purposes, on the old Prussian system, the Kolben vcrschluss of Wahrendorff. A cy- linder, introduced through a hole at the side of the breech, fits into a corresponding orifice in the breech stopper, thus preventing the 284 latter from being driven back ; but this cy- linder frequently becomes jammed, and the action of the arrangement cannot therefore be considered successful. They have also bought some of Krupp's guns, rifled and with his patent breech-loading arrangement. At one time they introduced several batteries of rifled guns for gun cotton, but in the autumn of 1862 these were abandoned, and the present system introduced. The systeme la Hitte had been previously tried and condemned. The Prussians have a few 24-pounder bronze breech-loaders on their new system (Krainer's), throwing shell weighing about 60 English pounds ; and some 6-pounders and 12-pounders throwing projectiles of 15 lbs. and 32 lbs. re- spectively. For field guns they have entirely adopted the breech-loading system and steel guns. The latter are cast and hammered by Krupp, of Essen, and afterwards bored and rifled at Spandau near Berlin. The 4-pounder is the field gun of the Prussian service, the projectile weighing about 9^ lbs. English. The breech is closed by a double wedge which works at the side, as in our own wedge system. Into the face of the front wedge fits a loose steel cup to take the first shock of the dis- charge, and to contain a copper ring valve, so arranged as to be pressed closer to the back of the bore by the gas. This can be taken out and cleaned, or replaced by another almost instantaneously. Krupp's system, which is both simple and strong, has been partially adopted by many powers. The breech is closed by a single thick steel wedge, which slides in and out easily, and is driven firmly home, after it has been pushed in, by a lever and screw, the latter working half in the breech and half in the gun. The recess in the wedge corresponding to the steel cup in the Prussian system contains a cop- per ring valve like that in the Prussian sj-stem. In both these systems (Krainer's and Krupp's) the gun is multigrooved, and the projectile has a soft metal coating with three raised rings of the same material. The Russians, in addition to guns on the modified French system, have bought the heaviest Krupp's guns yet made, of 11 inches calibre, about 540-pounders, for Cronstadt. They have also several American guns, a few shunt guns, and some Blakely guns. A committee held in 1865, of which General Todleben was president, has decided that steel 8*58 calibre breech-loading guns are to be adopted for coast defences ; that they are accurate, good against armour plate, and st and 425 rounds at least ; but that Krupp's muzzle- loading guns of large calibre cannot be con- sidered safe after 250 rounds have been fired from them. Broadwell's system of breech- loading, a modification of Krupp's, will probably be definitely adopted. The Turks are arming their ships principally with Armstrong's guns. The Japanese have purchased fifty of Krupp's six-inch guns. RIG RIGIDITY The Swedes have tried WahrendorfFs breech- loading system, but both they and the Danes are settling down to the definite adoption of muzzle-loaders on a modification of the shunt system. All their ordnance are cast iron, but some pieces will be strengthened by internal steel tubes. The Americans have a great variety of pieces ; their navy still favours cast-iron smooth-bored guns of large calibre. Some twenty-inch guns have been made, a pair of which are fitted to the ' Puritan ' ironclad, a park of them being also in readiness for land service ; but these will only stand comparatively small charges, although by a method of cooling from the interior, invented by Rodman, greater strength is obtained in the cast iron of which they are made. Their rifled Parrott guns, which are made of cast iron strengthened with wrought-iron hoops, were of much service during the war, though several cases of burst- ing occurred. A committee on ordnance has recommended the Ames gun, which is built up of wrought iron. No breech-loading system is in favour in America, their plan being gene- rally, as in the Parrott gun, a ring of brass at the base of the projectile, which is expanded by the gas into the grooves, or, as in the Schenkel system, a papier-mache detached wad, which i takes the rotation, and transfers it to the projectile. On comparing the rifled ordnance of foreign powers with that of our own country, we have no reason to be dissatisfied. Our guns, being made of wrought iron, will not, on failure, break up like cast iron or steel ordnance ; and from their accuracy of fire, the capacity of their shells, and the power which the latter have, owing to their elongated form, of maintaining a high velocity, obtained from the large charges which we are able to use, they are certainly not surpassed by those of any other nation. For further information, the reader is referred to Major Owen's Lectures on Artillery, 4th edition. Por minute details, it is necessary to consult professional papers, bluebooks, &c. Rig (A.-Sax. wrigan, to dress). The peculiar manner of fitting the masts and rigging to the hull of any vessel ; thus the terms schooner rig, ship rig, &c, imply the masts and sails of these vessels without regard to the hull. Eig Veda. [Veda.] digging-. On Shipboard, the system of cordage by which the masts are supported, and the sails extended or taken in. The rigging is hence divided into standing rigging and running rigging. The standing rigging con- sists of the pendants, short strong ropes first put over the lower mast heads, and having thimbles for hooking tackles to ; the shrouds, stays, and backstays. The lower rigging im- plies that of the lower masts, the topmast rigging that of the topmast, and so on. The running rigging comprises the lifts for raising and lowering the upper masts and the yards, the braces for trimming the yards, the halyards 285 for hoisting flags, &c, and the clew-lines, sheets, tacks, and guys used in managing the sails. The size, strength, number of ropes &c. of the rigging, are all matters determined by experience. Rigging Zaoft. The room or rooms in which the rigging is prepared and tested. Right (Ger. recht, akin to Lat. rectus). In Geometry, a term applied to certain figures which are deemed to be the simplest of their kind. Thus a right line is one whose direction never varies ; the more common term is straight. A right angle, again, is formed by two straight lines which intersect each other in the most symmetrical manner; i.e. in such a way as to divide the whole angular space around their point of intersection into four equal parts. Similarly, a right prism is one whose edges are perpendicular to the plane of its base, whilst in a right cylinder and right cone the base is a circle whose plane is perpendicular to the axis of symmetry. In these cases, as in many others, the term right is opposed to oblique. Right Ascension. In Astronomy, the angle formed at the pole of the equator by two great circles, one of which passes through the first point of Aries, and the other through I a celestial body ; it is consequently measured by the arc of the equator intercepted between those circles. Eight ascension and declination are the two coordinates to which the positions of celestial objects are for the most part re- ferred. It is sometimes convenient, however, to give their latitudes and longitudes. Right, 25ivine. [Divine Right of Kings.] Right, Petition of. A declaratory enact- ment passed by the parliament of 1628. This name was- adopted by the framers, who wished to imply by it that the franchises therein specified were not newly acquired, and that the law was merely explanatory of the ancient constitution. It was calculated to protect the subject against forced loans, beneA r olences, taxes imposed without consent of parliament, arbitrary imprisonments, &c. Much delay and some evasion took place before Charles I. could be induced to give the royal assent to this measure. Right, Petition of. This term also denotes the process by which a subject may obtain possession or restitution from the crown of either real or personal property. The pro- ceedings upon it have recently been simplified (23 & 24 Vict. c. 34), and assimilated in many respects to the course of an ordinary action between subject and subject. Rights, Bill of. [Bill of Rights.] Rigidity (Lat. rigiditas). In Mechanics, a resistance to change of form. In theoretical investigations respecting the application of forces through the intervention of machines, the latter are frequently assumed to be per- fectly rigid, so far as the forces employed are able to affect their integrity of form and struc- ture. Rigidity is often, in the arts, called stiffness, and is opposed to flexibility. RIGOR MORTIS RINGWORM Rigor Mortis (Lat.). In Physiology, the general stiffening of the body produced by the simultaneous contraction of all the muscles of the trunk after death. The muscular coat of the arteries also contracts after death, on division and mechanical irritation, on the application of cold, and under the stimulus of electricity. Rilievo. [Relief.] Eimose (Lat. rimosus, from rima, a fissure). In Zoology, when the surface of an animal or part resembles the bark of a tree, having nu- merous minute, narrow, and nearly parallel excavations which run into each other. Rinderpest or Cattle Plague. The Report of the Cattle Plague Commission (May 1866) renders it necessary to make a few re- marks in addition to those already made in the article Murrain. Although no unfailing spe- cific has been discovered, some facts have been ascertained which throw considerable light on the pathology of this disorder. It appears that within forty-eight hours of the time when the animal has imbibed the disease, the tem- perature of the body rises from two to three and a half degrees of the thermometer. The period of incubation is thus shown to be shorter than was generally supposed, and this rise of temperature is especially valuable as furnishing a means of separating sick from healthy cattle, and shortening the time of qua- rantine. The whole course of the disease is seven days; but hitherto it has been erroneously treated as beginning when it has already existed for four days, and obtained a fatal hold on its victim. It is confined almost entirely to ruminating animals, although it may exist in the sheep and goat. The commissioners unani- mously report that it is propagated only by contagion; and that it consists in a poison generated in the blood and capable of being conveyed by inoculation, the increase of the poisonous matter when the disease is once esta- blished being marvellously rapid. For the pur- pose of disinfection they recommend chlorine and the acids obtained from tar and sulphur. Inoculation and vaccination with the matter of the cow-pox have been tried as a preventive without success. All strong medicines, it is asserted, heighten the mortality ; and the only remedies suggested are cleanliness, ventilation, disinfection, and careful- feeding. If these con- clusions accord with the facts, the necessity of a strict quarantine becomes imperative for all cattle arriving from foreign ports. In their third and final report, issued June 1866, the commissioners adhere to their former conclusions as supported by microscopic and other experiments. Having used the highest magnifying powers, Dr. Beale considers that ' with regard to the nature of the contagion itself, evidence has been adduced to show that it con- sists of very minute particles of matter in a living state, each capable of growing and mul- tiplying rapidly when placed under favourable conditions ; that the rate of growth and multi- plication of these minute particles far exceeds 286 J that at which the normal germinal matter of the blood and tissues multiplies, and that they appropriate the pabulum of the tissues, and even grow at their expense.' The most efficient disinfecting agents, sul- phurous and carbolic acids, are supposed to act by destroying the vitality of the poisonous particles emanating from animals in a state of disease. On the whole, the commissioners are convinced of the necessity of treating the disease as strictly contagious, and of the im- portance of marking the rise of the natural temperature of the animal as the first and surest symptom that the disorder has begun. Rinforzando (Ital. strengthening). In Music, a direction to the performer, denoting that the sound is to be increased. It is marked thus < ; and is also expressed by the abbrevia- tion rf. Ring (A.-Sax. bring). A solid body gene- rated by a circle whose centre describes a closed curve to which the plane of the circle is always normal. The radius of the generating circle is usually constant, so that the ring is enclosed by a Tubular Surface. Ordinarily, too, the locus of the centre of the generating circle is itself a circle. [Annulus.] Ring of an Anchor. The ring, bolted into the top of the shaft, to which the cable is made fast. Ring: Bone. In Farriery, a callus growing in the hollow circle of the little pastern of a horse, just above the coronet. Ring: Sail. A small and light sail set on a mast on the taffrail. Also a studding sail set upon the gaff of a fore-and-aft sail, and stretched on the ring-tail-boom. It is very rarely used. Ring: of Saturn. [Saturn.] Rings, Fairy. [Fairy Rings.] Ring-s, Meteoric. [Meteors, Luminous.] Ring-bolt. On Shipboard, a strong iron ring passing through a hole at the end of an iron pin, which is clinched through the beams of the deck or the side. The principal use is to give bearing to the tackle for running the guns in and out. Ring-ropes. Auxiliary ropes bearing on ring-bolts in the deck, and temporarily fastened to the cable at different parts in very heavy weather, to furnish a more powerful hold on it while diminishing the strain on the riding bitts. Ringworm. This disease is of two kinds, viz. the ringworm of the body and the ringworm of the scalp. The former is a vesicular erup- tion (Herpes circinatus), and is not contagious ; while the latter is a pustular form of disease (Porrigo scutulata), and so contagious as to prove a scourge to any public establishment into which it may be introduced. The ringworm of the body is by no means a very manageable disease : it is to be treated by attending to the general health, and by applying astringent mineral lotions. The ringworm of the scalp is a most obstinate affection. It begins with clusters of little pustules, which form scabs, leaving a red pimply surface, and destroying the roots of the hair as the disease proceeds EIOLITE (which it never fails to do if not prevented) over the greater part of the head. It. is most common in children of a feeble flabby habit ; but as it is communicable by contagion, it spreads rapidly in schools and families by the frequent contact of the heads of children, or by the use of the same caps, combs, towels, &c. : so that when it once appears, the diseased children should be strictly removed from the others. The treatment consists in shaving the head, and using frequent and regular ablutions in the first instance, sponging the part with weak soap-and- water ; when the scabbing begins, other applications must be used, the selection of which must entirely depend upon the degree of irritation and other circumstances. Solutions of nitrate of silver, sulphate of copper, iodide of potassium, or of iron, pitch and tar ointments, petroleum and naphtha, mercurial ointments of different kinds, various other stimulants, as also some- times sedatives, are resorted to, to get rid of the morbid state of the pai't ; but so whimsical and obstinate is the disease, that it is impossible to lay down any mode of treatment which can be considered as approaching to a specific. Except in particular cases, no internal medicine has appeared to be of use. Riolite. A native selenide of silver found at Tasco in Mexico, and named after Del Eio, by whom it was analysed. Riot (Ital. riotta). In Law, a tumultuous disturbance of the peace by three persons or more assembling together of their own authority in order to assist each other, against anyone who shall oppose them, in the exe- cution of a private purpose, and afterwards executing the same in a violent and turbulent manner. A rout is said to be a disturbance of the peace by persons assembled together to do a thing, which, if executed, would make them rioters, and making some motion towards that object: an unlawful assembly is a similar disturbance by persons who neither execute their purpose, nor make any actual motion towards the execution of it. Ripidolite (Gr. pnris, a fan, and XlQos, stone). The name given by Von Kobell to a green Chlorite occurring in grouped folia, at St. Gottharcl, at Rauris in Salzburg, and in the Zillerthal. It is a hydrated silicate of alumina, protoxide of iron and magnesia, and is found at Penrhyn in Caernarvonshire, and in Argyleshire ; also in Dauphiny, the Ural, the Harz, the Alps, and at Gumush-dagh in Asia Minor. Ripieno (Ital.). In Music, a term sig- nifying full, and used in compositions of many parts, to distinguish those which fill up the harmony and play only occasionally, from those that play throughout the piece. Ripple SSarks. The peculiar undulated marks, left by the receding waves on the sea beach, which are occasionally found in some of the older strata of rocks, and are con- sidered as announcing a similar action at a remote period. The wind blowing over a 287 RISUS SARDONICUS sandy district sometimes occasions a similar appearance. Rishis, The Seven. In Sanscrit Mytho- logy, the seven sages who were supposed to dwell in the seven stars of the constellation known by us as the Great Bear. This notion belongs to that large class of legends which spring up from the partial or total forget- fulness of the original meaning of a word. Such misapprehensions, it is obvious, must arise when families and tribes diverge from a common centre, carrying with them a number of words expressive of sensible or material notions. Such words would assume more and more the character of personal appellatives, the extent of the change being determined by the measure in which the original force of the word was remembered. Thus such names as Endymion and Anadyomene are even in later legends little more than epithets ; but the Greek Argynnis became a maiden beloved by Agamemnon, whereas the Sanscrit arjunt remains a simple epithet denoting beauty. But when such words had sunk into mere proper names, they were liable, by a process common to all languages, to be con- founded with other words which they might happen most nearly to resemble in sound. The result would be, in grammatical phrase, false etymology; the practical consequence would be the growth of a myth. Erom a root which meant to shine, the Seven Rikshas, or shiners, received their name ; and to the same root probably belongs the name of the golden bear, the Greek &pKros, and Latin ursa, as the Germans gave to the lion the title of goldfusz ; and thus when the epithet had by some tribes been confined to the bear, the seven shiners were transformed into seven bears, then into one bear with Arcturus for their bearwarcl. In India also the meaning of riksha was forgotten ; but instead of refer- ring the word to bears, the people confounded it with rishi, wise, and the seven stars or shiners became the abode of seven sages or poets. The same lot befel another name for this constellation. They who spoke of the seven triones had long forgotten that their fathers spoke of the stars as tdrds (staras), or strewers of light, and converted the bear- ward into Bootes, the ploughman ; while the Teutonic nations, unconscious that they had retained the old root in their word stern or star, likewise embodied a false etymology in wagons and wains. (Max Muller, Lectures on Language, second series, viii. ; Westminster Beview, January 1865, p. 48.) Rising Xiine. On the sheer-plan and other draughts of a ship, a curved line marking the height of the floor timbers throughout the length, and thereby fixing the sharpness and flatness of the vessel's bottom. Rising: Wood. In Shipbuilding, the por- tion of the keel let into the floors. Risus Sardonicus (Lat. the sardonic laugh). A convulsive grin, giving a peculiarly horrible expression to the countenance, chiefly RITORNELLO RIVER SYSTEMS observed in cases of tetanus and inflammation of the diaphragm. It has been generally sup- posed to have been so named, as being produced by eating a species of ranunculus growing about certain springs in Sardinia ; but this derivation is far from probable, and the Greek phrase 6dov). In Archi- tecture, the sculptured representation of this flower is found in the centre of each face of the abacus in the Corinthian capital, and is called the rose of that capital. Roses are also used to decorate the caissons in the soffitts of coronas and ceilings. Rose. In Botany, the English name for ROSE ENGINE a well-known and universally cultivated flower, 1 belonging to the genus Rosa. [Rosacea.] Rose Engine. In Mechanics, an appen- dage to the turning lathe, by which a surface \ of wood or metal, as a watch-case, is engraved with a variety of curved lines. The assem- blage of these lines presenting some resem- blance to a full-blown rose, is called by the French rosette ; and hence the engine by which the ornament is produced is called a rose en- j gine. The mechanism by which the figures are produced is composed of one or more plates or cams set on the axis of the turning lathe, or suit- I ably rotated and formed with waving edges or grooves, which govern, in a manner correspond- | ing to the pattern of the edges or grooves, the movement to or from the centre of the cutting ' point, ^fhe combination of the rotatory motion of the lathe and the radial motion of the tool J cuts figures corresponding to the nature of the radial motion given. Rose Quartz. A beautiful variety of Quartz of a rose-red or pink colour, and nearly transparent. Large masses of a most delicate rose colour are to be obtained in the vicinity of Ratnapoora in Ceylon, and it is also found in Aberdeenshire, the Shetlands and Hebrides, near Belfast, Rabenstein in Bavaria, &c. Roses, White and Red. In English History, the well-known feuds that prevailed between the houses of York and Lancaster are so called, from the emblems adopted by their respective partisans ; the adherents of the house of York having the white, those of Lancaster the red rose, as their distinguishing symbol. These wars originated with the de- scendants of Edward III. ; and after extending over a period of more than eighty years of bloodshed and devastation, were finally put an end to by the victory of Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, over Richard III. in 1485, the victor uniting in his own person the title of Lancaster through his mother, and that of York by his marriage with the daughter of Edward IV. Since that period the rose has been the emblem of England, as the Thistle and Shamrock are respectively the symbols of Scotland and Ireland. Rose-noble. A gold coin of the value of Gs. 8d., first coined in the reign of Edward III. Roselite. A deep rose-red variety of Cobalt Bloom containing lime. It is met with at Schneeberg in Saxony, and was named after Gustave Rose of Berlin. Rosellane (Eng. rose). An altered Anorthite, according to G. Rose. It is a hy- drated silicate of alumina, lime, magnesia and potash, tinged red by manganese, and occurs in small grains embedded in limestone in Sweden and Finland. [Rosite.] Roselle. The name given to Hibiscus Sabdariffa, the ripened calyces of which have a pleasant acid flavour, and are used both in the East and AVest Indies for making tarts and jellies, and also a cool refreshing drink. Rosemary (Lat. ros marinus, sea-dew). This name is given to a small evergreen shrub 309 ROSETTA STONE of the Labiate order, which inhabits rocky hills in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean, and is commonly cultivated in our gardens. It has very narrow green leaves, turned back at the edge, and hoary underneath. The flowers are of a dull greyish blue. It has been employed in infusion as a remedy for headache, and is extensively used in the manufacture of pomatum for promoting the growth of hair. Oil of rosemary gives th« green colour to these preparations. It is also said to be one of the ingredients in Eau de Cologne. Narbonne honey is stated to owe its peculiar flavour to bees feeding on ihe blossoms of the rosemary. The grey bushes, mantled with dewdrops, on the rocky coasts of France and Italy, justify, it is said, the singu- lar name given to the plant. It is the Aifiavwrh of the couple, the plane of which contains the axis. The only effective part of the forces, therefore, will be the component couple Gr cos , by the moment of inertia fr 2 dm with respect to the axis of rotation. Unless the latter, however, be a central prin- cipal axis, a momentary percussion will be pro- duced on it by this couple of impulsion G cos

. • rotation such that oA = — ^ — , where

aid to the stat e of the barometer, the evolution of gas from the coal being found to be in a great degree proportionate to the amount of baro- metric pressure. Safety Valve. [Steam Engine.] SaSiower. The Carthamus tinctorius, or Bastard Saffron, the dried flowers of which are used as a dye stuff, and in the preparation of the pigment called rouge. Saffron (Welsh safrwn, Ger. and Dutch saffran). The prepared stigmas of the purple- flowered Crocus sativus. The stigmas of this species of crocus are of a deep orange colour, and have a peculiar and very characteristic odour ; they are used in medicine, chiefly as a rich yellow or orange colouring matter. Saffron is principally imported from the South of Europe, especially Spain ; formerly it was largely cultivated in this country in the vicinity of Saffron Waklen in Essex. Saffron is often adulterated to a considerable extent with the SAGA petals of other plants, especially with those ' of the marigold. Saga (a Teutonic and Scandinavian word, 1 connected with the verb sagen, to say). The general name of those ancient compositions which comprise at once the history and my- ! thology of the northern European races. Their language is different from the modern Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian, and is more powerful , and expressive than either of these later dia- lects. Of the mythological sagas the most famous are the saga of Pagnar Lodbrog, the | Herrarar saga, the Voluspa saga, and the Wii- kina saga. The historical sagas are very numerous ; the Jomsvikingia saga and the Kaflinga saga comprehend much of the early annals of Norway and Denmark ; the Eyrbiggia saga is the chief historical document of ancient Iceland. Many of them are collected in the great work of Snorre Sturleson called Heims- Tcringla. [Epic ; Mythology ; Nibelungen Lied ; Sigurdr.] Sagapenum. A fetid gum-resin brought from Persia and Alexandria, probably the produce of a species of Ferula. It is occa- sionally used in medicine as a nervine and stimulating expectorant. Its odour somewhat resembles that of assafoetida, but it is much weaker. Sage. [Salvia.] Sageretia (after M. Sageret, a French vegetable physiologist). A genus of Bham- nace his creditor a sum of money equal to or greater than the amoimt of the debt, this vail be considered to have been intended as a satisfaction of the debt. Satisfied Terms. In Law. In the prac- tice of Conveyancing it is common to limit long terms of years to trustees upon trusts for raising money out of an estate, &c. When these trusts are fulfilled the term is said to be satisfied, and it was formerly usual upon sub- sequent dealings with the property to convey the unexpired residue of such terms upon trust (as it was said) to attend the inheritance, as there were cases in which terms so assigned might be used as a protection by purchasers, mortgagees, &c, against incumbrances of which they had no notice. The statute8&9 Vict.c. 112 349- SATURN put an end to satisfied terms, and consequently to the practice of assigning them. Satrap (Gr. a-arpdivris, Lat. satrapa, iden- tified by Michaelis with the Persian Schah- derban, the Icing's door-keeper'). The title- given by the Greek writers to the governors of provinces under the Persian kings before the conquests of Alexander. The satrapies of the Persian empire are enumerated by Herodotus, iii. 89. {Mem. de V Acad, des Inscr. vol. xxxi.) Saturation (Lat. satur, full). In Che- mistry, a fluid is said to be saturated with a substance when it holds as much of it in solution as it can take up and retain : we thus speak of sahirated solutions of saline, and other bodies. The term saturation is also especially applied to the combination of acids- and alkaline or other basic bodies, in such definite proportions as neutralise each other; thus we say that sulphuric acid is satu- rated by potassa, when neither acid nor alkaline properties are predominant: hence, also, the resulting sulphate of potassa is called a neutral salt. An excess of acid would be termed super' saturation. Saturation, Fraction of. The term fraction of saturation is used to denote the ratio of the elastic force of the vapour actually existing in the atmosphere, to the elastic force of as much vapour as atmospheric air is capable of containing in an equal volume and at the same temperature, or as would saturate the air. Saturday. The seventh day of the week, held by the Jews as their sabbath. It re- ceives its name from the god Sseter, or Saturn. [Sunday.] Satureja (Arab. Statter, a name for labiate plants). A genus of Labiate yielding the herb known as Savory, of which two sorts, the summer and the winter, are cultivated, both highly esteemed in cookery for their powerful aromatic flavour. Both species were noticed by Virgil as being among the most fragrant herbs, and on this account were recommended to be grown near beehives. Vinegar flavoured with savory and other aromatic herbs- was as much used by the ancient Romans as mint-sauce is at the present day with us. To preserve a supply, it should be cut just before the flowers expand, and dried by exposure to air. Saturn (Lat. Saturnus). In Astronomy, one of the principal planets in the solar system, and the sixth in the order of distance from the sun. Though less brilliant than Venus and Jupiter, Saturn is nevertheless a conspicuous object in the heavens, and has accordingly attracted the attention of astronomers since the first dawn of the science. The system of rings with which this planet is surrounded renders it a unique member of the planetary family ; and modern investi- gations tend somewhat to show that we have in it an evidence of the truth of Laplace's hypothesis of the original formation of our system. This singularity of Saturn's appearance was first noticed by Galileo, to whom the planet SATURN appeared triple, or like a large body placed between two small ones. The explanation of the phenomenon was first given by Huygens. In addition to the apparently double ring revealed by the first telescopes, in 1850 a third ring, interior to the two others, was simulta- neously discovered in America and this country. The new ring is very faint and dusky ; and hence is called the crape ring ; through it the body of the planet is easily visible. Modern observations have shown not only that this ring is double, but that the two rings first noticed are themselves subdivided into other rings, and that the number and position of the divisions are constantly changing. When seen through a good telescope, the disc of Saturn appears striped with dark belts, somewhat similar to, but broader, less nume- rous, and less strongly marked than, those of Jupiter. From their parallelism to the planet's equator, it is inferred that they are probably determined by currents similar to our trade winds. Saturn is attended by eight satellites; the two nearest the planet and Hyperion can be seen only under the most favourable circum- stances, and with telescopes of very high power. [Satellite.] From the circumstances of its casting a dark shadow on Saturn on the side nearest the sun, and receiving the shadow of the planet on the opposite side, it was at first inferred that Saturn's ring is composed of solid ponderous materials. But it also followed that the ring must therefore be under the influence of the planet's 'attraction, and so was liable to be deranged by the disturbing action of the satellites, the largest of which does not move in the same plane. Hence it became an interesting problem in physical astronomy to determine the conditions under which its equilibrium could be maintained. La- place showed from the theory of gravitation, that in order to maintain the stability of the ring, it was necessary that the planet's attraction should be counteracted by a centrifugal force arising from a very rapid rotation of the ring in its own plane. Observation has confirmed the result of theory ; for from the motions of certain dusky spots on its surface it has been found that the ring revolves in 10 h. 29 m. 17 s., which is very nearly the period assigned by Laplace, and that in which a satellite would revolve at a distance equal to that of the middle of the ring. Laplace also showed that in order to resist the tendency to subversion of the equilibrium, it was necessary to suppose the ring to be of unequal density or thickness in its different parts, so that the centre of gravity might not coincide with the centre of figure ; for if it were perfectly similar throughout, its equili- brium would be disturbed by the slightest force, as the attraction of a satellite ; and as it would have no tendency to recover itself, it would ultimately be precipitated on the planet. This inequality of form also would seem to be j indicated by observation, for it has been noticed 350 that the two arms of the ring sometimes appear to be of unequal length. Since the time of Laplace this interesting problem has engaged the attention of some of the most powerful analysts. Pierce and Max- well have by turns shown that the rings cannot be solid and cannot be liquid, and observation certainly endorses these theoretical results, the variations in the divisions of the rings, the, so to speak, birth of the crape ring, and the alleged increase in the breadth of the ring system, are irreconcilable with the assumption of solidity. It has therefore been suggested that the rings may be composed of an innumerable multitude of satellites. Mr. Proctor, in a remarkable book recently published {Saturn and his Syste/u) remarks as follows : — ' The temporary divisions and mottled stripes are easily explained. It is conceivable, for in- stance, that the streams of satellites forming the rings might be temporarily separated along arcs of greater or less length by narrow strips altogether clear of satellites, or in which satel- lites might be but sparsely distributed. Divi- sions of the former kind would appear as dark lines, while those, of the latter kind would pre- sent precisely that mottled appearance seen in the dusky or ash-coloured stripes. The trans- parency of the dark inner ring is easily under- stood if we consider the satellites to be sparsely scattered throughout that formation. The fact that this ring has only become visible of late years no longer presents an insuperable diffi- culty, for it is readily conceivable that the satellites forming the dark ring have origin- ally belonged to the inner bright ring, whence collisions or disturbing attractions have but lately propelled or drawn them. The gradual spreading out of the rings is explicable when the system is supposed to consist of satellites connected only by their mutual attractions ; while the thinness of the system is obviously a necessary consequence of such a formation, for the attraction of Saturn's bulging equatorial regions would compel each satellite to travel near the plane of Saturn's equator.' The elliptical shading noticed at the ends of the apparent longer axis of the dark ring, is also explained: — 'We have only to imagine that the satellites are strewn more densely near the outer edges of the bright rings, and especially of the inner bright ring, and that this density of distribution gradually diminishes inwards. For instance, we may conclude that along the inner edge of the inner bright ring the satellites are so sparsely strewn that, at the extremities of the apparent longer axis of that edge, the dark background of the sky becomes visible through the gaps between the satellites' Further particulars of this interesting system will be found noticed under Planet and Satellites. We append in this place the latest values of the dimensions of the ring system, calculated according to both the old and new solar parallax. They are taken from Mr. Proctor's book already referred to. SATURN Longitude of ascending node of ring on the ecliptic 167° 43' 28"-93 Inclination of rings' plane to the ecliptic 28 10 21 • 95 Annual precession of the vernal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere 3"145 Complete revolution of either equinox in 412,080 years Milos. Old Value. New Value. Exterior diameter of outer ring 173,500 166,920 Interior „ „ . . 153,500 147,670 Exterior diameter of inner ring . 150,000 144,310 Interior „ „ 113,400 109,100 Interior diameter of the dark ring 95,400 91,780 Breadth of outer bright ring . 10,000 9,625 „ of the division between the rings .... 1,750 1,680 „ of inner bright ring . 18,300 17,605 of the dark ring . . 9,000 8,660 „ of the svstem of bright rings 30,050 28,910 „ of the entire system of rings 39,050 37,570 Space between the planet and dark ring 10,150 9,760 As the plane of the rings is inclined to the ecliptic, and maintains its parallelism during the revolution of the planet, the angle under which it is presented to the sun is con- tinually changing ; the appearances which it presents to the earth are therefore also con- tinually changing. The points in which it intersects the ecliptic are in 170° and 350° of longitude ; consequently, whenever the planet comes into either of those longitudes (and it must pass through both in each revolution), the plane of the ring passes through the sun, and only the thin edge is illuminated. In this case, the whole quantity of light which is reflected from it is insufficient to render it visible, and it entirely disappears, even in the most powerful telescopes. On the 29th April, 1833, Sir John Herschel records, ' The disappearance of the rings is complete, when observed with a reflector 18 inches in aperture and 20 feet in focal length.' A little before or after the planet is in this position, the ring is seen as a fine straight line of light drawn across the disc of the planet, and projecting on each side. As the planet con- tinues to recede from these points the sun's rays fall upon the ring, and the luminous line gradually opens out into an ellipse, which becomes wider and wider, until it attains its maximum when the longitude of Saturn is 80° or 260°. Now it is evident that the ring will be visible only when the sun and earth are both on the same side of it ; and that it will become invisible when its plane passes through the centre of the earth as well as when it passes through the centre of the sun, though for a different reason. On this account two or three disappearances of the ring may happen in a short period of time. The disappearances take place about every 15 years, or half the time of Saturn's revolution in his orbit, and the two sides of the ring have alternately fifteen of our years of sunshine, and fifteen years of darkness. Saturn. In Latin Mythology, a king of Italy, to whom was ascribed the introduction of agriculture. Saturn thus answers to Tripto- lbmus in the Greek legend of Demeter ; and there can be little doubt that the name is connected with the Latin verb sero, satum, to sow, while nothing in his attributes corresponds 351 SAUNDERS WOOD to tho Greek Cronos [Zeus], with whom he has been generally identified. The wife of Saturn, the corngrower, was Ops (wealth or plenty). Like Romulus, Saturn disappeared from tho earth when his work was done; and the fan- cies of mythographers derived the name of the Latin country, Latium, from this disappearance (lateo, I lie kid). Saturnalia. In Roman Antiquities, the festival of Saturn, celebrated about the middle of December, and lasting at different times for one, three, and five days. It was a season of complete liberty and rejoicing. No business was done : friends visited and made presents to each other; and slaves were permitted to jest with their masters, and were waited on by them at table. Satyr. In Zoology, the orang-utan (Simia satyrus, Linn.) is sometimes so called. Satyrs (Gr. adrvpos, another form of rirvpos, a ram). In Mythology, beings represented with the heads, arms, and bodies of men, and the lower parts of goats. They were under the peculiar government of Dionysus or Bacchus. Satyric Srama, In the Greek theatre, a theatrical piece, in which the chorus consisted of satyrs of a semi-burlesque cha- racter, as in the Cyclops of Euripides. It was customary for the tragedian to present at the same time three tragic pieces and one satirical drama, forming a tetralogy. (Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Boman Antiquities, art. 1 Tragcedia.') Saucer of a Capstan. An iron bed or socket bolted to the deck below that on which the capstan is, for the purpose of securing the pivot or spindle on which the apparatus works. Saucisson (Fr.). [Powder Hose.] Sauer or Sour 2£raut. A salted prepa- ration of cabbage much esteemed in Germany, and of which large quantities are prepared for winter use. It is made by shredding the cabbages and packing them in layers in barrels with salt, unground pepper, and a few cloves, the whole mass being firmly pressed down with weights. Partial fermentation sets in, and the watery juice rises to the surface. This expressed juice is after a time poured off, and water containing a solution of salt poured in, and changed from time to time till it ceases to rise with a scum and fetid smell. The cabbage is then fit for keeping, and is stored in the barrels, still rtnder pressure, in cellars, and continues in excellent condition for use till late in spring. When used, it is washed with soft water, and stewed with bacon or salted meat, and is said to be very wholesome. Saugh. One of the names of the Sallow Salix caprca. Saul or Sal. The Indian name of a valu- able timber, much xised in the East for building and engineering purposes. The tree which yields it is the Skorea robusta of botanists. Saunders or Sandal Wood. The white or scented sandal wood produced by Santalum album and brought from the East Indies. When distilled with water, it yields a thick essential SAURIANS SCABINUS oil smelling something like roses. Red saunders or sandal is the wood of the Pterocarpus san- ta'inus, also a native of India. Its colouring matter is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, and is used to impart a red tinge to certain tinctures. The resinous exudation of this tree constitutes one of the varieties of dragon's blood. Sauriasis (Gr. g-avpos^ a lizard). The name of an order of reptiles, including all those which are covered with scales and have four legs, as the crocodile and lizard. The mouth of the saurians is always armed with teeth,. and their toes are generally furnished with claws ; they have all a tail more or less long, and generally very thick at the base. A few species, exceptions to the general character, have only two- legs. The most gigantic and singular species of the Saurian order are now extinct. Sauropterygia (Gr. cravpos, lizard, and 7TT6pi»|, fin). An order of Fossil Peptilia in which are no postorbital and supra-temporal bones : there are large temporal and other vacui- ties between certain cranial bones ; a foramen parietale ; two antorbital nostrils ; teeth simple, in distinct sockets of the premaxillary, max- illary, and premandibular bones, rarely on the palatine or pterygoid bones ; maxillaries larger than premaxillaries ; limbs natatory ; not more than five digits. An episternum and clavicles. A sacrum of one or two vertebrae for the attachment of the pelvic arch in some, numerous cervical vertebrae in most. Pleurapophyses with simple heads ; those of the trunk long and bent. The genera Nothosaurus, Pistosaurus, Conchiosaurus, Simosaurus, Placodus, Tanystro- pheus, Sphenosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Pliosaurus, and Polyptycliodon, belong to this order, which is found in all the strata from the trias to the chalk inclusive. Saururacese (Saururus, one of the genera). A small order of Hypogynous Exogens, be- longing to the Piperal alliance. They differ from Piperaccce in the compound nature of their ovary, and in their constantly stipulate leaves. The species^ which have no important proper- ties, are natives of North America, China, and Northern India. Saussurite. A compact variety of Epidote of a green or ash-grey colour, forming the Jade or Nephrite of the Swiss Alps. Named after De Saussure, by whom it was originally dis- covered in rounded masses on the borders of the Lake of Geneva. It is also found in Corn- wall at Kynance Cove, Coverack Cove, and the Lizard ; and in Scotland at Glen Tilt in Perth- shire and Portsoy in Banffshire. Sauvag-esiacese (Sauvagesia, one of the genera). A small order of Hypogynous Exo- gens of the Violal alliance, found in South America and the West Indies. Savannahs (Span, sabana) or Prairies. Vast tracts of plain land of small elevation, and generally covered with vegetation throughout most of the year. The prairie land of North America occupies at least two and a half millions 352 of square miles. Part of it is heathy or bushy part alluvial and wet, but the greater part dry and grassy. The savannahs of the Mississippi are grassy, and occasionally salt effloresces on the surface. The pine barrens of many of the Southern states are similar tracts, barren except for a growth of pine. The interior of Africa contains very extensive tracts cf low plain covered with much vegetation, and the resort of large wild animals in enormous herds. These also are savannahs. Savin (Lafe. sabina). One of the species of juniper {Juniper us Sabina). It is alow evergreen shrub, of an acrid irritant nature, and possess- ing purgative, stimulant, and emmenagogue properties. Saving's Sanks. The Savings Bank Acts were consolidated and amended by stat. 26 and 27 Vict. c. 87. At the end of 1864 the number of savings banks amounted to 578, and the aggregate amount of their deposits to thirty- nine millions and a half. In addition to these there were about five millions of deposits in the Post Office savings banks. [Bank, Savings.] (Degerando, Be la Bienfaisance Publique, vol. hi. 1. 2. ch. iv.) Savitar. In Hindu Mythology, a name for the sun, as having a golden hand. Like the names Lykios, Lycaon, &c, the word de- noted originally only the golden rays which shoot from the sun ; but when the name was taken literally, the story grew up that the sun, offering up a sacrifice, cut off his hand, which was replaced by an artificial hand of gold. (Max Muller, Lectures on Language, second series, viii.) Savory. [Satureja.] Savoy. One of the hardier of the varieties of Cabbage, remarkable for its bullate or blistered leaves. It is the type of a race of subvarieties, included under the name Brassica oleracea bullata major. Saw-wort. The common name for Serra- tida, a genus of Composites represented in this country by S. tinctoria, the herbage of which yields a yellow dye. Saxifragacese (Saxifraga, one of the gene- ra). A natural order of Perigynous Exogens, of herbaceous habit, chiefly inhabiting the moun tainous regions of Europe and the northern parts of the world. They are nearly allied to RosacecB, from which they differ in having poly- spermous, didymous, partially concrete carpels, and albuminous seeds, and in wanting stipules. The root of Heuchera americana is a powerful astringent, whence it is called in North America Alum-root ; other species are pretty herbaceous plants. Saxon Architecture. [Architecture.] Saxon Blue. A solution of indigo in concentrated sulphuric acid: it is much used as a dye stuff. Saxony Beryl. A name under which Apatite is sometimes sold by lapidaries. Scabbard Fish. [Lepidopus.] Scabimis. The Latinised form of the old German word schoppe, in French echevin. SCABROUS Judicial officers of various descriptions in the middle ages bore this title, especially in the communes, or municipalities. See as to its history, Meyer's Instit. Judiciaires ; Mem. de V Acad, des Inscr. vol. xxxvii. Scabrous (Lat. scaber, rough). In Botany and Zoology, when a surface is rough to the touch, from granules scarcely visible. Sceevola (Lat. from scsevus ; Gr. anai6s, on the left hand). An extensive genus of Gooden- iacc(C, almost peculiar to Australia and the Sandwich Islands. They are herbaceous plants or small shrubs ; and one species, 8. Lobelia, the Taccada of India and Ceylon, commonly found on the seashores of tropical Asia and the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, has a thick succulent stem, full of pith, which is beautifully fine and white, and resembles that of the Kice-paper plant, with which it has been confounded. It is much used by the Malays and Siamese for making artificial flowers, small figures, and other articles used as decorations at feasts and on festivals. Scaffolding:. In Architecture, the tem- porary combination of timber-work, by the means of upright poles and horizontal pieces, on which latter are laid the boards for carrying up the different stages or floors of a building, and which are struck or removed as soon as they have answered their purpose. The scaf- folding used for carrying up buildings on the Continent was formerly more scientifically and solidly constructed than that used in this country. But great improvements have latterly taken place in our practice ; and instead of the poles lashed together with ropes which were formerly used, squared timber properly bolted is now employed, so as to constitute a framework that will carry a travelling crane on the top. This crane or winch is often now worked by steam. Scagliola (Ital.). In Architecture, a com- position : sometimes called also Mischia, from the mixture of colours employed in it to imitate marble. The Florentines claim the invention of this art, but it had been practised in Lom- bardy previous to its introduction at Florence. Lanza says that it was invented by Guido Sassi, who died in 1649, at Carpi, in the state of Modena, and that he commenced by exe- cuting cornices and other members of archi- tecture which had all the appearance of the finest marbles ; whereas its introduction at Florence was not till the middle of the eighteenth century. Scagliola is composed of gypsum or sulphate of lime, calcined and reduced to a fine powder, with the addition of which to water a fine paste is made. When columns are made with the composition, a frame or cradle is first formed, which is lathed round and coated with lime and hair, raised up in some parts with small projections. On this, when dry, is laid a composition con- sisting of pure gypsum, calcined and passed through a sieve, and, as wanted, mixed with glue or isinglass ; it is floated with wooden moulds of the proper form, during which Vol. III. 353 1 SCALE operation the colours, by which the imitation is obtained, are put on. When tin's is set, the work is smoothed with pumice-stone with one hand of the workman, while the other is employed in washing it with a sponge and water. It is then polished with tripoli, char- coal, and a piece of fine linen, and afterwards with a piece of felt dipped in oil and tripoli, and finished off with pure oil laid on with cotton wool. Scalar (Lat. scala). In the language of Quaternions, a positive or negative number. [Quaternion.] Scald (Norse skalld). In the old Norse language, a poet. In the northern literature, those mythological poems of which the writers are known are properly called songs of the Scalds, while those of unknown authors are termed Eddas. It appears from Tacitus that the ancient Germans had those three classes of poems which were ftmnd at a later era in Scandinavia, namely, relating to the gods, to heaven, and to historical subjects. The Scalds whose remains have come down to us are very numerous. Their poems are partly alliterative, and partly rhymed ; and this latter circum- stance seems to indicate works of compara- tively recent date. Th£ historical value of their poems is considerable; but they are written in a peculiar vein of exaggeration, and in a metaphysical and almost enigmatical fashjon, which appears to have been charac- teristic of the poetical art of the north. [Edda ; Saga.] A list of the Scalds, with remarks on Scaldic poetry, is given in the Fundgruben des Orientes, vol. i. Scale (Ital. scala, a ladder or series of stairs). In Mensuration, a line or rule of a definite length, divided into a given number of equal parts, and used for the purpose of measuring other linear magnitudes. The term scale is also applied to a mathematical instru- ment, consisting of an assemblage of lines and figures engraved on a plane rule, by means of which certain proportional quantities or arithmetical results are obtained by in- spection. Of these the principal are the plane scale, the diagonal scale, Ganter's scale, &c. For the construction and uses of these various scales, see Kobertson's Description and Use of Mathematical Instruments. Scale. In Music, a progressive series of sounds rising or falling through such inter- mediate degrees as create an agreeable and perfect succession, wherein all the harmonica! intervals are conveniently divided. The dia- tonic scale has seven notes in each octave, the intervals being whole tones and semitones, arranged in the. proper order according as the mode is major or minor; the chromatic scale has twelve notes, the intervals being all semitones. Scale. In Zoology, this name is properly applied to the plates, generally thin, small, and imbricated, which defend the skin of fishes. They are substances of different texture which are developed beneath the true epiderm, and A A SCALE appertain to the systenVOf the rete mncosum. j The so-called scales of serpents and other reptiles are modifications of the epidermis, and are sometimes termed scutes. Fishes have been classified according to the structure of their scales. [Ctenoid ; Cycloid ; Ganoid ; Flaccid - .] Scale. The hard crust of salt, lime, &c, which collects upon the inner surface of the plates of a boiler, when proper attention has i not been paid to the blowing off. The ham- mers that are used for detaching this scale are specifically known as scaling hammers. Scale of Notation. In Arithmetic, num- bers are represented by numerals placed side by side, which numerals hav J e an intrinsic as well as a local value. By the scale of notation is meant the order of progression of these local values. Thus, in the ordinary or denary scale, the value of the unit as we proceed from right to left increases in the ratio of one to ten. The ratio is called the bUtse or radix of the scale. [Arithmetic] Scale of Relation. [Recurring Series.] Scales for Weighing. [Weights and Measures.] Scalene Triangle (Gr. (n6s, unequal). In Geometry, a triangle whose sides are unequal. Scalenus (Gr. ca, from (rxK w > I cleave). Separation from an organised society. The ; term is generally applied by the members of ecclesiastical or theological bodies to persons separating from their own communion. Thus, the chief schisms enumerated by Roman | Catholic authorities are those of the Nova- , tians, the Donatists, the Luciferians, the Greek church, and the Protestants. The great schism I of the West in the fourteenth century holds also an important place in the history of the Papacy. [Antipope.] Schisma (Gr. as they are termed, are introduced running through holes in the point of the bolts ; and these pins, after being pushed through the holes provided for their reception, expand side- ways, and cannot fall out, while their presence prevents the nuts from unscrewing without clipping them off. Screw jack. An instrument employed for lifting heavy weights and consisting essen- tially of a screw so disposed as to enable the pressure it exerts to be conveniently applied. A similar instrument, called a dumb craft, is sometimes used instead of a screw jack into which wheels and pinions are introduced which protrude a ram by means either of a rack or screw ; and by the point of this ram the pressure is communicated. Screw Pine. The common name for the species of Pandanus. [Pandanaceje.] Screw Propeller. An instrument for the propulsion of vessels, consisting of two or more SCREW PROPELLER twisted blades, like tho vanes of a windmill, set on an axis running parallel with tho keel, and revolving beneath the water at the stern. The screw propeller is driven by a steam engine situated within the vessel, and by its revolution in the water it carries the vessel forward, as a cork-screw is drawn forward when pene- trating a cork, or a bolt when turned round in a stationary nut. The water in which the vessel floats forms the nut of the screw pro- peller ; and thus when the propeller is turned round, the vessel is screwed on. To enable the water to act as the nut of the screw, the thread traced in the water requires to be very much deeper than if it were traced in metal or wood, and the pressing surface of the screw must be large, to prevent the thread from being stripped or broken by the reacting force. Accordingly, screw propellers are made with a small central body and deep thread ; they are also made as large in diameter as possible, reaching, usually, from the keel to near the surface of the water. In the length of the screw only a very short piece, usually about one sixth of a convolution, is employed. History of the Screw Propeller. — The screw propeller is probably as old as the windmill ; aud a windmill of the construction now usually * employed is represented in the 77th proposi- tion of Hero's Spiritalia, a work written 130 years before the Christian era. In China screw propellers are said to have been em- ployed" from a very early date as an arrange- ment for sculling vessels ; and in fact a screw is a continuous sculling machine, in which the necessity of reciprocating motion is superseded by giving a complete revolution to the pro- pelling blade. Captain Basil Hall, in his ac- count of his voyage to Loo Choo, states that the Coreans scull their ships instead of rowing them ; and, from what he saw of the operation, he is inclined to give the preference to that mode of propulsion. The galleys of the Greeks and Romans were also propelled by an action of the oars more nearly resembling sculling than rowing, as was first pointed out by Robert Hooke in 1684; and Hooke also showed that this mode of action would be ex- ceedingly efficient. In a work entitled Philo- sophical Collections, printed for Richard Chis- well, printer to the Royal Society, 1681, there is a paper by Hooke on Horizontal Windmills, containing various suggestions of great origina- lity and importance. Hooke says that he does not consider horizontal windmills to be as efficient as vertical windmills : but if they are in any case employed, it will be advisable, he says, to make them on a certain construction, of which he gives a representation, and which is almost identical in its main features with the most improved species of feathering paddle wheel now employed in steam ships. Hooke adds, that wheels of this kind may be set to work advantageously as water wheels in a river where no dam can be made, as may also the common vertical windmill with twisted arms. In this cursory suggestion we have the germ Vol. III. 369 both of the screw propeller and the feathering paddle wheel. Robertson Buchanian admits having taken the idea of his feathering wheel from the mechanism of orreries which was in- vented by Hooke ; and the same considerations which make the screw and feathering wheel eligible instruments when driven by the water equally hold when the water is driven by them. On October 14, 1683, Hooke showed to the Royal Society an instrument which he had invented for measuring the velocity of the wind. It consisted of four vanes, like the vanes of a windmill, set upon an axis, the vanes being so constructed that they could be set at any angle that was desired. On November 28, in the same year, Hooke showed to the Royal Society an instrument which he had shown to some of the members twenty years before, for measuring the way of a ship through the water. The prime mover of this instrument was a screw turned by the water, and the instrument not merely took cognisance of the progress of the vessel through the water, but also of the lee way. The plan of making gearing in steps, as is now usually done in such screw vessels as make use of gearing, is also an invention of Hooke' s. Wheels made upon this principle are divided in the direction of their breadth into a number of parallel wheels which are set a little in advance of one another, so that the teeth of each do not come in the same line. The benefit of this practice is that the teeth, though necessarily very thick to give adequate strength, work as smoothly as if they were thin and small, or as if the space between the teeth were only a fractional part of its actual amount. In the Bccueil de Machines approuvecs par V Academic, depuis 1727 jusqitau 1731, there is a machine described, which was invented by M. du Quet, for dragging up barges against a current in a river by the aid of a screw driven by the water ; and by the screw thus driven a rope, dragging the barges, is to be wound up. This screw, which is a helical blade wound upon an axis, is only partially immerged in the water, and it would be a much less effectual instrument than the screw of a windmill form previously recommended by Hooke. In Bou- guer's Traite du Navire, published in Paris in 1746, an arrangement of revolving oars, re- sembling the vanes of a windmill, is mentioned as having been proposed for the propulsion of vessels ; but this expedient, it is stated, had not been found to possess sufficient force. In 1752, Daniel Bernoulli obtained the prize offered by the French Academy of Sciences for the best project for impelling vessels with- out the aid of the wind. Bernoulli's apparatus consisted of an iron axle 14 feet long and two inches thick, set upon each side of the vessel beneath the water. Each axle was to carry eight wheels, six feet diameter, set at equal distances from one another, and eaoh wheel was to have eight arms or spokes, to the extremity of each of which a sheet-iron plane 16 inches square, and inclined so as to form an BB SCREW PROPELLER angle of 60 Q with the axle or keel of the vessel, was to be affixed. Bernoulli's plan appears to have been contrived to meet Bouguer's objec- tion, and it would probably answer for towing, but the revolution of such a large number of wheels in the water would in all cases of con- siderable speed occasion a serious loss of power from friction and other analogous causes. In Emerson's Principles of Mechanics, pub- lished in 17 54, we have an explanation of the mode of constructing screws with an expanding or increasing pitch. Emerson describes an arrangement of screw set vertically in a well or stationary cylinder, as an instrument for render- ing available a fall of water in giving motion to mills. The water is admitted at the top of the cylinder and escapes at its base, and in its descent it turns round the screw by which the cylinder is filled up. Emerson explains, that at the top of the cylinder the blade of the screw must have very little inclination with the axis, but at the bottom of the cylinder the blade of the screw must have a considerable inclination with the axis. Blades set in a conical pit or vessel, and driven round by the gravity of water, have long been in use in France, under the name of Danaides, or roues a poircs ; and in some cases the blades were 'merely plane surfaces suitably inclined, while in other cases they were spiral or screw-formed. Instruments of this kind are described by Belidor in his Architecture Hydraulique. In 1768, a work on the Archimedean screw was published at Paris by M. Paucton ; and it is suggested that a pterophore, composed of the circumvohition of the thread of a screw round a cylinder, should be placed on each side of a vessel to propel her through the water, or one only may be used at the fore part. These screws, it is stated, may be either wholly or partially immersed. In 1776, a submarine vessel was invented by D. Bushnell, an American, which was to be raised upward or sunk downward in the water by means of an inclined blade or oar affixed to the top and operating in the manner of a screw, and forced forward or backward in the water by another similar blade affixed to the bow. This vessel was to carry a powder magazine, which was to be screwed to the bottom of an enemy's ship to blow her up. It was the original of Pulton's torpedo. In 1784, Joseph Bramah, of London, engineer, obtained a patent for propelling vessels by means of a wheel with inclined fans or wings, similar to the fly of a smoke-jack or the. vertical sails of a windmill. This wheel was to be fixed to an axis passing out at the stern of the vessel, and was to revolve beneath the water with a stuffing box or proper packing surrounding the shaft, where it pierces the vessel, to prevent the water from entering. In 1794, William Lyttleton, a merchant of London, obtained a patent for an instrument which he called an ' aquatic propeller,' and which consisted of a single convolution of a three threaded screw. The thread of a screw is the projecting part of 370 it, and a screw may have one, two, three, or any other number of threads. A string wound round a cylinder represents the thread of a screw ; and if one string only be wound round it, the screw will be a screw of one thread; if two strings be wound round it, so as equally to divide the space, the screw will be a screw of two threads ; and so of any number. If, instead of a string, a thin ribbon of iron be wound edgeways round the cylinder, and be soldered thereto, then a slice cut off the end of this screw will have two projecting arms or portions of this ribbon, if the screw be one of two threads; three projecting arms, if of three threads ; and so of any other number. In any screw pro- peller, therefore, the number of threads is the same as the number of arms. The pitch of the screw is the distance from one thread of the screw to the next thread measured on the axis, supposing the screw to be continued through a whole convolution. A spiral stair is virtually a screw ; and the pitch is the vertical distance from any one step of the stair to the step im- mediately overhead. Inl799, EdwardShorter, of London, mechanic, obtained a patent for propelling vessels, and among the expedients which he employed is one termed a 'perpetual sculling machine,' con- sisting of a screw immerged in the water at the stern of the vessel. The shaft, which gives motion to the screw, passes through the stern of the vessel above the level of the water, and is armed at its extremity with one of Hooke's universal joints, from whence a pole extends obliquely into the water with the screw attached to its extremity. The end of the pole is pre- vented from sinking too deeply in the water by a buoy which supports it at the proper elevation, and guy ropes are applied, by means of which the pole and screw may be moved to the one side or the other, so that the vessel may be steered, or assisted in her steerage, thereby. Between 1800 and 1836 various arrangements of screw propellers were proposed by Dallery, Stevens, O'Beilly, James, Trevithick, Boswell, Millington, Scott, Whytock, Delisle, Bourdon, Dollman, Perkins, Brown, Tredgold, Maceroni, Cummerow, Smith, Church, Copley, Ovinel, Peltier, Salichon, Poole, Woodcroft, Sauvage, Emerson, Burke, Theal, Smith, and Fitzpatrick. The forms of these screws are very various, but in most cases they consist of helical blades, like the vanes of a windmill, revolving beneath the water at the stern, or of a helical feather coiled round an axis, in the manner of an Archimedean screw, In some cases the pitch of the screw is intended to be uniform, and in other cases in- creasing, the uniform pitch being a straight line wound upon a cylinder, and the increasing pitch being a curved line wound upon a cylinder, or a straight line wound upon a cone or spire. Bourdon, in 1824, formed his screw with an increasing pitch, and placed it in the dead wood of the vessel. Tredgold, in his work upon the i Steam Engine, published in 1827, recommended j that screws should be made with an increasing ] pitch. Peltier, in 1830, proposed to make his SCREW PROPELLER screw with an increasing pitch, and Woodcroft proposed the same thing in 1832. Marestier, in 1824, in a work published by direction of the French government, giving an account of steam navigation in America, described various arrangements of screw propellers which had been tried in that country, but none of those expedients had come into practical operation. Littleton in 1794, Shorter in 1802, Stevens in 1804, Bourdon in 1824, and several others at different times, had practically tried the effect of propelling vessels by means of a screw. But these experiments led to no useful result, and in 1836 there was no vessel propelled by a screw in existence. In that year patents for pro- pelling vessels by a screw were taken out by F. P. Smith and Captain John Ericsson ; and to these two persons the successful introduction of the screw as a propeller must be attributed. Ericsson, not meeting in this country with the encouragement that he expected, went to America, where he soon after constructed the war steamer Princeton, and in 1862 he designed the Monitor class of screw turret vessels. Smith, as soon as his early trials had demonstrated the efficacy of the screw as a propeller, built the Archimedes, and soon afterwards his propeller was applied to the war steamer Rattler. It has subsequently been applied to most of the sea going steamers, whether constructed for purposes of war or of commerce in this and other countries, and is now the species of pro- peller in general use, although paddles are still used for river vessels and also for the convey- ance of certain mails which require to be carried in all weathers at a high rate of speed. It would swell these remarks beyond the limits to which they must be restricted, to attempt any enumeration of the various modi- fications in the form of the screw, and in the mode of its application, which have been made or proposed since its practical introduction as an available propeller. In this country vessels are, for the most part, fitted with screws of a uniform pitch formed with either two or three arms, but sometimes with four arms. Griffith's screw with shovel -formed blades and a central ball is much used in the navy, where a form of screw with four blades, of which the leading half of each blade has a less pitch than the following half, has also been in some cases em- ployed; but has been discarded. Mangin's screw, which consists substantially of two double- bladed screws with very narrow blades set immediately behind one another on the screw shaft, has also been employed in some cases with good results, the space between the screws allowing the water to pass ; and as the column of water in which the screw revolves is less put into rotation, there is less shake at the stern. In Smith's earlier experiments upon the screw propeller he employed a single-threaded screw of two convolutions, such as that represented in fig. 1. During one of his trials, however, the screw having come in contact with some object in the water, about half of it was broken 371 away, and the vessel was found in consequence to realise a higher speed than before. The Archimedes was originally fitted with a single- threaded screw of one convolution, such as that represented in fig. 2. ; and it was with* a screw Fig. 1. Fig. 2. of this kind that the efficiency of the screw as a propeller was originally demonstrated. She was subsequently fitted with r j gi 3, a double-threaded screw of ^ half a convolution, which j|\ M\ gave the same amount of _ll]j\Jul propelling surface, and di- ^^^M^SS^ minished the uneasy motion II IW at the stern. This screw is jrjf \| represented in fig. 3. The Rattler was fitted with a screw of this kind, but its length was subsequently reduced to one- sixth of a convolution, which made j^g. 4. its length just one-third of its original length, and the best results were ob- tained with this proportion. This W amended screw of the Rattler is jL^ shown in perspective in fig. 4. £zMr Ericsson, in his original form of -HI propeller, employed two wheels / % armed with helical blades and re- / % volving in opposite directions. The — object of this arrangement was to neutralise any tendency which one wheel might have to Fig. 5. turn the vessel from her appointed course. The second wheel however was soon discarded, as Fig. 6. Fig. 7. it was found that it was not required. Fig. 5 represents Ericsson's original arrangement of B B 2 SCREW PROPELLER the screw propeller, and fig. 6 is the propeller of the Princeton, which was subsequently super- seded by a four-bladed screw of the form shown in fig. 7. Description of the mode of applying the Screw Propeller. — In the most approved method of introducing the screw propeller into a vessel, the screw is set in a hole or opening in the dead wood behind the stern post, and before the rudder post. It is sometimes hung upon a short shaft, which is carried by a metal frame with a rack on each side, and in these racks endless screws work, which, being put into revolution, raise the frame, lifting the propeller out of the water, so as to enable the screw to be repaired if required, or a new one to be intro- duced without putting the vessel into dock. Before, however, the frame can be raised, the shaft, which, passing through the ship, commu- nicates with the engine, has to be pulled on end, so as to disengage it from the boss of the short shaft, which supports the screw. A vacant space is left between the end of the shaft which communicates with the engine, and the end of the shaft which communicates with the screw, so as to enable the shaft communicating with the screw to be drawn on end without dis- turbing the other shaft ; and a short pipe fixed to the one shaft, but sliding on the other, is so applied that, notwithstanding the end play, the force of torsion will be communicated from the one shaft to the other. Pigs. 8 and 9 re- Fig. 8. present the screw propeller and the apparatus for raising it out of the water, as applied in H.M. steam frigate Ajax. By a reference to these figures, the configuration of the screw usually employed for the service of the navy, and the mode of raising it out of the water, will be readily understood. A catch represented as engaging the centre of the screw is put down only when the screw requires to be raised out of the water, and its use is to retain the blades in a vertical position during that operation. This method, however, of con- structing the screw connections so that the screw might be raised out of the water when the vessel was under sail alone, though at one time widely adopted in the navy, never found much favour in the merchant service, and latterly in the navy also it has been discarded. The method de- scribed of raising the screw was avail- able only when the screw was formed with two blades, and in most cases it is found advisable to keep the screw in water at all times, but to let little steam into the engines when the wind is fair, thus economising the coal nearly as much as if the screw were to be disused altogether during those periods. The screw shaft, at the point where it passes 372 through the stern of the vessel, is kept tight by means of a stuffing box, consisting of a long pipe fitted tightly into the hull of the vessel. Through this pipe the screw shaft passes, and the space between the shaft and the pipe is kept tight by means of a plaited rope of soft hemp forced tightly into a recess provided for the purpose by means of screws. It is very de- sirable that the shaft should fit so accurately into this pipe as to be exempt from all side play, which, if it exists, will have the effect of communicating a disagreeable motion to the stern of the vessel. In wooden vessels the pipe should be made of brass ; and it has been found advantageous to cover with brass that part of the shaft that revolves within the pipe, so as to obviate corrosion from the sea-water and also to enable strips of lignum vitse to be introduced to constitute a bearing for the shaft. Wooden bearings or bushes are found to be better than metal ones in the case of all shafts or bearings working in water. But the metallic surface in contact with the wood should be brass and not iron when salt water is the lubricant, else the iron will be roughened by corrosion , and will then rasp the wood rapidly away. In all cases the extremity of the vessel in advance of the screw should be brought to as fine a line as possible, and the hole in the dead wood in which the screw revolves should be considerably larger than the screw itself. The screw in its revolution carries with it a coating of water, and if this coating be partially stripped off at every revolution from the too near proximity of the stern part of the vessel, a shock will be communicated at every revolution, from the impact of the water against the side of the dead wood, and a part of the engine power will be also dissipated without effect. Modes of receiving the Thrust of the Screw. — As the screw by its revolution is forced forward in the water, carrying the vessel with it, the screw shaft, it is clear, must have to sustain a forward thrust, and it is this thrust, in fact, which propels the vessel. The severity of this forward thrust, combined with the velocity of rotation which the screw shaft must main- tain, was the occasion, in the earlier screw vessels, of considerable inconvenience, in con- sequence of the friction produced ; and several cases have occurred where the end of the shaft became white hot, and actually welded itself to the steel plate against which it pressed, although a stream of water was all the while running upon the surfaces in contact. Various expedients have since that time been proposed for receiving the thrust, of which one was to let the end of the shaft enter, in the manner of a piston, a tight cylinder of oil, so that it would be against a liquid only that the end of the shaft would pre'ss. Another expedient was to place a large collar upon the shaft, which would press against a number of balls or small rollers resembling the rollers of a swivelling bridge. Neither of these plans, however, has come into practical use ; but one of two other modes is now gene- rally followed. Either tho thrust is received SCREW PROPELLER Fig. 10. upon a number of collars, which aro recessed into a suitable bearing;, or it is received upon a series of discs applied to the end of the shaft, and resting in a cistern of oil, as represented in fig. 10. The cistern is usually cast upon the base plate or some other solid part of the engine, and its end is suf- ficiently strong to bear the thrust of the screw. Interposed, however, between the end of the cistern and the end of the shaft are two, three, or more discs of metal, usually about two inches thick, and of the same diameter as the shaft itself. A bolt passes through their centres to keep them in a line, but they are each free to revolve upon this bolt; and where the shaft passes out of the cistern a collar of leather is applied, to prevent the oil from escaping. It will be obvious from such an arrangement that if the end of the shaft, where it presses upon the discs, begins to heat from undue friction, it will revolve with somewhat more difficulty, and will consequently carry the first disc round with it. The rubbing surfaces, therefore, are no longer the end of the shaft and the first disc, but the first disc and the second disc. In fact, the rubbing surface, instead of being confined to one disc, is dis- tributed over several. Those surfaces, which begin to heat, and consequently to stick, will cease to rub, and thus they will speedily be- come cool again, and their efficiency will be soon restored. The more usual mode of re- ceiving the thrust of the screw, however, is by a collar bearing, the collars being turned out of the solid shaft and the encircling bearing being generally of brass, but sometimes of wood. Bearing surfaces of wood for receiving the thrust were first introduced by Mr. Alexander Gray, engineer of the steamer Himalaya. The brass bearing of the collars being very much worn, Mr. Gray introduced rings of lignum vitse between the collars on the shaft and the collars of the brass, these rings having been each introduced in four pieces and while the vessel was at sea. Best Proportions of Screw. — For mercantile purposes screws with three blades are, on the whole, to be preferred. The diameter of the screw should be as large as it can be conve- niently got, and when the area of the screw's disc — that is, the area of the circle described by the extremity of the arms of the screw — has one square foot of area for every 2 J square feet in the area of the immerged midship section of the vessel, a very efficient per- formance is obtained. The pitch of the screw should be equal to the diameter of the screw, or a little more, and the length of the screw fore and aft should be that answering to one- sixth of a convolution. Thus, in the case of a screw twelve feet in diameter, the pitch would be twelve or fourteen feet, and the length of the screw measured along the axis would be about two feet. Best Forms of Screw. — Screws are commonly 373 made with a uniform pitch, and with the blades standing at right angles with the axis. A slightly progressive increase in the pitch, however, say to the extent of 5 per cent., appears to be advisable — i. e. the pitch of the screw at its leading end should be 5 pet cent, less than at its following end. The pitch at the centre should also be 10 per cent, less than the pitch at the circumference, for the centre should merely screw through the water without seeking to produce any reacting force, which, from the great obliquity of the blades at the centre, could not be done with advan- tage. Finally, the blades of the screw should be bent a little astern, so as to produce in the particles of water which they force backwards a tendency to converge to a point. This ten- dency will balance the divergent tendency produced by the centrifugal action of the screw in its revolution, and the two forces, by balancing one another, will cause the water to be projected backwards from the screw in a cylindrical column. With the ordinary screw the water projected backwards assumes the figure of the frustum of a cone, and some portion of the power is thus lost. Griffith's form of screw, as already explained, is formed with a large central ball and with blades narrower at the point than near the boss, so that each blade has a shovel form, and this species of screw is now much used. Per- forated screws, corrugated screws, and many other kinds of screws have been tested since the earlier editions of this work appeared, without, however, the manifestation of any qualities which encouraged their adoption. In Kigg's screw the screw may be of the usual kind ; but a series of radial blades, like another screw having twice the number of blades possessed by the screw itself, is fixed stationary behind the screw on the rudder post. These blades, set at the opposite angle from that of the blades of the screw itself, are pressed upon by the revolving column of water which the screw puts into rotation ; and this revolving column, by pressing obliquely on the backs of the fixed blades, assists in forcing the ship forward. The rudder post may be made to constitute two of these fixed blades by twisting the portions of it beneath and above the shaft in opposite directions. Positive and negative Slip of the Screw. — When a vessel is propelled by oars, paddles, or any other instrument which acts upon the water, it is obvious, that since the water is not a solid body which can resist without disturbance the application of force, there will be a certain amount of recession in the water, or, in other words, the water will be moved to a certain extent backwards, while the vessel is forced to a certain extent forwards. This backward movement of the water is what is termed Slip, and in its results it is analogous to the loss of power and speed which a locomo- tive experiences when the wheels slip upon the rails. This slip exists in the case of the screw as well as in the case of the paddle or other SCREW PROPELLER species of propeller ; and when the engines of a steam vessel are set in motion while the vessel is at anchor or moored in a river, the whole power of the engines is wasted in slip, or in moving the water without moving the vessel. The ordinary amount of slip in paddle vessels is about one-third of the whole distance travelled, or, in other words, the vessel would go one-third faster with the same number of revolutions if the wheels geared into an iron rack instead of gearing into water. In well- constructed screw vessels the slip is only ten per cent., or, in other words, the vessel would on]y go one-tenth faster with the same number of revolutions if the screw worked in an iron nut instead of working in water. Since, therefore, all the power expended in - pro- ducing slip is lost, and since there is less slip with the screw than the paddle, there is an apparent superiority in the screw from this cause. In some screw vessels, however, the apparent sl'p is nothing at all, and in others it is less than nothing, or, in other words, the vessel is propelled through the water by the screw alone at a greater velocity than if the screw worked in a solid nut with the same number of revolutions. In the early history of the screw propeller, this apparent paradox provoked much incredulity, but the phenome- non is now understood, and is not difficult of explanation. When a vessel passes through the water, the friction of the bottom and the sides puts a column of water in motion which proceeds in the direction of the vessel. Sea-weeds and other light objects adhering to a vessel have be^n observed to stand out straight from her side when the vessel was moving through the water with a considerable velocity, thus making it clear that a film of water must be moving with the vessel. The vacuity also which the motion of the vessel through the water tends to produce at the stern causes a flow of water towards the stern in order to fill it up. It follows, therefore, that a vessel, in passing through the water, puts in motion a stream or current which follows in her track ; and •that this is no hypothetical supposition is proved by the fact that a boat will often follow a vessel without being towed by a rope, and that when a slow steamer gets into a swift one's wake the slow steamer will not fall into the distance, but will be towed by the current which the leading steamer creates. Now, in a screw vessel the screw works in this current ; and if from the form of the stern or other causes the current runs at a considerable velocity, and if from the large dimensions of the screw or otherwise the actual slip of the screw be small, then it will often follow that the slip of the screw will appear to be less than nothing, or negative, if the comparison be made not with the current, but with the stationary water at the ship's side. The screw must at all times have slip relatively with the water in which its works ; but if that water is itself in motion, it is not surprising that the 374 1 vessel should travel through a greater distance than what answers to the pitch and revolutions of the screw, any more than that a paddle vessel in descending a river with a strong current should pass through a greater distance than what answers to the diameter and revolutions of the wheel, if the distance travelled be measured on the river bank. A log placed where the screw revolves will always show that the screw advances with a greater velocity than the vessel as measured at that point, or, in other words, that the screw passes through the current with a greater velocity than the vessel passes through the current, though of course the speed of the vessel and of the current together may be greater than the speed of the screw alone. Further, the screw acts upon water moving inwards towards the stern, while the hydro- static and hydraulic heads of water are not the same. The moving water will be higher than the stationary, that the two may be in equilibrium; and the arrested momentum of the two converging streams where they meet will raise the level of the water at the stern and force the vessel on by hydrostatic pressure. The same action will ensue if the screw be made with a very fine pitch, for the centrifugal force of the adhering water will in such case raise a wave against the stern ; the velocity of rotation of the screw being greater, the smaller the pitch. Fine pitches, blunt sterns, the action of sails, and many arms in the screw, unless the pitch be at the same time made very coarse, all conduce to the creation of negative slip, which is caused mainly or wholly by the interference of the vessel and not by the action of the screw itself. Mr. Eankine, Mr. Froude, Mr. Eeed, and others, have endeavoured to ex- plain the phenomena of negative slip, which, however, is mainly imputable to the causes enumerated above. Measure of the Thrust upon the Screw Shaft, and Amount of Power lost by Slip. — In some vessels a dynamometer has been applied to the end of the screw shaft, and it has thus become possible to measure accurately the amount of forward pressure exerted by the screw. In the Eattler, a vessel of 888 tons burden, tins pres- sure amounted, on an average, to about four tons. This pressure, multiplied by the space passed through by the vessel per minute, and divided by 33,000, will manifestly give the force in actual horse power that is instrumental in the propulsion of the vessel, and the power thus computed amounts, on an average, to about half or two-thirds the power developed in the cylinders. It hence appears that, in screw vessels such as the Kattier, from one- third to one-half of the engine power is wasted in slip and in the friction or other resistances caused by the revolution of the screw in the water. With the paddle wheel the loss from these causes is nearly the same, and the screw and paddle consequently produce about the same speed by the application of the same amount of power. SCREW PROPELLER Eelative Efficiency of the Screw and Paddles. To determine the relative efficiency of the screw and paddle as a propeller, two vessels, the Battler and the Alecto, were constructed of about the same power, 200 horses, and of nearly the same size and form; hut the Battler was a screw vessel, and the Alecto a paddle vessel. The Battler, it was found, had, in nearly all cases, somewhat the advan- tage in point of speed, but the engines of the Battler also exerted somewhat more power. Subsequently two other vessels, the Niger and Basilisk, were constructed of 1,072 tons, and 400 horse power, the Niger being a screw vessel, and the Basilisk a paddle vessel, and the following were the results obtained: — In deep immersions the screw vessel had an ad- vantage of 1| per cent, over the paddle vessel, but with medium immersions the paddle vessel had an advantage of If per cent, over the screw vessel, and in light immersions the paddle vessel had an advantage of 4| per cent, over the screw vessel. The slip of the screw was 24 per cent. Upon the whole, therefore, the screw seems to have somewhat the advantage when the vessel is deep, and the paddle seems to have some- what the advantage when the vessel is at a light or medium immersion. Screw Vessels not adapted to go Head to Wind. « — The experiments with the Battler and Alecto established one important fact in connection with screw vessels, viz. that they are ill adapted to advance against a head wind. For, although both vessels attained the same speed of 4 knots against a strong head wind, yet, in the case of the Alecto, this performance was attained with a velocity of the engine of 12 strokes per minute ; whereas, in the Battler, it was only attained with a velocity of the engine of 22 strokes per minute. It follows, therefore, that a screw vessel in proceeding head to wind will require 1*8 times, or nearly twice the quantity of fuel to do the same amount of work. The screw, in fact, revolves at nearly the same velocity whether the wind is adverse or favour- able, or whether the vessel is lying at anchor ; and this is a serious defect in the case of vessels intended to encounter adverse winds. In the case of vessels, however, which use the screw only as a resource in calms, or as an auxiliary to the sails, this disadvantage will not be experienced, since such vessels have no pre- tensions to the capability of proceeding in direct opposition to a strong head wind, and the evil will be diminished if the screw be immersed deeply in the water, as may best be done when twin screws set in the quarters are employed. Paddle and Screw Vessels tied Stern to Stem. — In all cases where screw and paddle vessels of equal power and size have been tied stern to stern, the screw vessel has prepon- derated, and towed the paddle vessel so soon as the engines were set on. When the Bat- tler and Alecto were tied together in this manner, the Alecto's engines were set on first, and she was allowed to tow the Battler at the 375 rate of 2 knots an hour. The Battler's engines were then set on. In five minutes the two vessels became completely stationary. The Battler than began to move ahead, and towed the Alecto against the whole force of her engines, at the rate of 2-8 knots per hour. In like manner the Niger towed the Basilisk astern, in opposition to the force of her engines, at the rate of 1*1 knots per hour. The natural inference from this experiment would be that the screw is more suitable for towing than the paddle ; yet this inference is not confirmed by experiment. For, when the Niger and Basilisk were each set to tow the other alternately, in the usual manner in which a steamer tows a ship, it was found that the Niger towed the Basilisk at a speed of 5-63 knots, with 593-9 horse power, and that the Basilisk towed the Niger at the rate of 6 knots, with 572-3 horse power. The paddle vessel, therefore, accom- plished in towing the largest speed with the least power. It has also been found that when a paddle and screw vessel set stern to stern push one another instead of pulling one another, the paddle vessel preponderates, whereas, if they pull, the screw vessel prepon- derates. These circumstances seem to show that the power of a screw vessel to tow a paddle vessel astern, when the two are tied together, does not arise from any superior tractive efficacy of the screw itself, but is due to the centrifugal action of the screw, which raises the level of the water at the stern, so that the vessel gravitates "clown an inclined plane. Cause of the serrated Outline of the Dynamo- meter Diagram. — In those screw vessels which have had a dynamometer applied to the end of the shaft the thrust of the screw was made to act upon a spring, and a pencil in connexion with the shaft marked a line upon a revolving * cylinder, which line was either high up on the cylinder, or low down, as the thrust of the screw increased or diminished. The line thus traced, instead of being tolerably uniform and straight, was found to be serrated, like the teeth of a saw; and, on further investigation, it was discovered that every time the screw, in its revolution, brought the blades into the vertical position, and therefore into a line with the stern post, at that moment the thrust was increased. This phenomenon appears to be due to the circumstance of the water imme- diately behind the stern post being carried forward with nearly the same velocity as the vessel itself ; and when the screw comes into that dead water, as it is termed, it is no longer a reaction answering to the difference of speed of the screw and vessel that it has to en- counter, but a reaction answering to nearly the whole speed of the vessel. If such a reaction had to be encountered through the whole revolution of the screw, the velocity of its rotation would be necessarily diminished until the reacting pressure produced was balanced by the pressure on the pistons of the engine. But the momentum of the machinery and of SCREW PROPELLER the screw itself momentarily carries up the thrust to a higher point than that due to the pressure on the pistons. If a screw vessel be reversed until she. attains full speed astern, and be then suddenly changed to full speed ahead, it will be found that a dynamometer diagram, taken at that point at which the vessel is stationary in the water, from the effort to over- come her own momentum, will have a straight, and not a serrated line. Importance of making- the Stern of Screw Vessels very sharp and fine. — The preceding remarks will have very clearly indicated the importance of making screw vessels as sharp as possible at the stern ; but the following facts may be stated in corrobation of the propriety of such a configuration : In 1846 the Dwarf, a screw steam vessel, with a fine run, was filled out in the stern by the applica- tion of three successive layers of planking, so as to alter the shape to that of a vessel with a full run. Prior to the alteration the speed of the vessel was 91 knots per hour, the engines making 32 revolutions per minute. The effect of the filling was to reduce the speed to 3 25 knots per hour, with a speed of the engine of 24 revolutions per minute. One layer of filling was then taken off, and the speed rose to 5 - 75 knots per hour, the engines making 26 - 5 revolu- tions per minute. When the whole of the filling was removed the speed rose to 9 knots, as before. Care was of course taken in this experiment to bring the filling into conformity with the lines of the vessel, so that there should be no roughness or abruptness to aggravate the evils of a full run. Again, the Sharpshooter and Rifleman were sister vessels of 486 tons, and 200 horse power, but the Rifleman was made with a full run, and the Sharpshooter with a fine run. The speed of the Rifleman was found on trial to be 7 '9 knots, and of the Sharpshooter 9*9 knots. The Fig Minx and Teazer were sister vessels of about 300 tons and 100 horse power, but the Teazer was made with a full run, and the Minx with a fine run. The speed of the Teazer was found to be 6-3 knots, and of the Minx 7'8 knots. The sterns of both the Rifleman and Teazer were sharpened subsequently to these trials, and the 100 horse engines of the Teazer were at the same time put into the Rifleman, while new engines of 40 horse power were put into the Teazer. Both vessels went faster than before. The Rifleman, when sharpened at the stern, attained a speed , of 8 knots with engines of 100 horse power, whereas she had before only attained a speed of 7"8 knots with engines of 200 horse power. The Teazer when sharpened at the stern, attained a speed of 7'685 knots with engines of 40 horse power, whereas she had before only attained a speed of 6*3 knots with engines of 100 horse power. The engines of the Teazer, when transferred to the Rifleman drove that vessel nearly 2 knots an hour faster than they had previously driven the smaller vessel, an amelioration con- sequent altogether upon the sharpened form of the stern. Engines for driving the Screw. — It will be obvious, on looking to the pitch of an ordinary screw, and the speed with which the vessel passes through the water, that the screw must revolve with a considerable velocity. For example, if a vessel be driven 10 miles an hour, or 880 feet per minute, by a screw of 1 2 feet pitch, then the screw must make some- where more than the twelfth part of 880, or 73 revolutions in the minute. This is a much higher speed than marine engines have been heretofore accustomed to travel at, and two methods of obtaining the necessary velocity of rotation have been adopted. In the one, the construction and speed of the ordinary engine have been retained without material 11. COO WH££L2 alteration, and the required velocity of revo- case, a new arrangement of engine has been lution has been given to the screw shaft by introduced which is capable of moving with a means of intervening gearing. In the other much greater velocity than ordinary engines, 376 1 SUREW PROPELLER and the engine and screw shaft aro directly connected with one another. Fig. 11 repre- sents a pair of geared screw engines, being the engines constructed by Messrs. John Penn and Son for the Great Britain. These engines are on the oscillating principle, which Messrs. Penn have rendered so celebrated, and they are almost identical in construction with the paddle engines made by Messrs. Penn for the Sphinx and other vessels. The Great Britain is of 3,500 tons burthen, and her displacement, at 16 feet draught of water, is 2,970 tons. The diameter of cylinder is 82£ inches, length of stroke 6 feet, nominal power 500 horses, diameter of screw 15£ feet, pitch of screw 19 feet, length of screw 3 feet 2 inches. The screw has three arms or blades. The multiple of the gearing is 3 to 1, and there are 17£ square feet of heating surface in the boiler for each nominal horse power of the engine. The crank shaft, being put in motion by the engine, carries round the great cog wheel or aggrega- tion of cog wheels affixed to its extremity, and these wheels acting on suitable pinions on the screw shaft cause the screw to make three revolutions for every revolution performed by the engine. Fig. 12 is a representation of a pair of Fig. 12. direct-action screw engines, being the engines constructed by Messrs. John Penn and Son for H.M.'s screw frigates Arrogant and Encounter. Here the cylinders lie in a hori- zontal position, and are traversed through the centre by a pipe or trunk, upon which the piston is cast. The central trunk is circular, and it projects through both the top and bot- tom of the cylinder, the points of penetration being made tight by suitable packing. One end of the connecting -rod is attached to the centre of the trunk, while the other end engages the crank, which turns round the screw shaft. The air-pump, which also lies in a horizontal position, is double-acting, and is situated within the condenser. A large pipe, called the eduction pipe, leads the steam from the cylinder to the condenser, where it is condensed by a jet of cold water, and the hot water thence resulting is ejected by the air-pump through the waste water pipe, and passes overboard. In the figure only one cylinder and one air-pump are represented, but it will be understood that there are two cy- linders and two air-pumps. The valves by which the water is admitted to the air-pump from the condenser and passes again from the air-pump into the hot well and waste pipe, consist of several discs of Indian-rubber, kept down by a central bolt so as to cover radial slits or orifices in a perforated plate, These valves are found to operate without noise or shock, notwithstanding the high speed at which the engine must work in order to give motion to the screw without intervening gearing. The diameter of the cylinder in the Arrogant and Encounter is 60 inches, and the diameter of 377 the trunk 24 inches, which, being deducted, leaves an available area of piston equal to that of a piston 55 inches in diameter. In the Arrogant the length of stroke is 3 feet, and the Encounter is 2 feet 3 inches. The nominal power of both engines is 360 horse. The diameter of the screw of the Arrogant is 1 5 feet 6 inches, and the diameter of the screw of the Encounter is 12 feet. The pitch of both is 15 feet, and the length 2 feet 6 inches. The Arrogant is a vessel of 1,872 tons burden, and the Encounter of 953 tons. Both the engines and boilers are kept below the water- line, so as to be out of the reach of shot. Engines similar to this, but of greater power, have been constructed by Messrs. Penn for the Warrior, Black Prince, Minotaur, Achilles, Bellerophon, Northumberland, &c. But the use of a trunk which passes into the steam and then into the atmosphere at every stroke, is not conducive to economy of fuel. The forms of engine, both geared and direct- acting, for giving motion to the screw, are too numerous to be here described. But in most war vessels the cylinders are placed upon their sides, so as to keep the engines below the water-line. In merchant vessels a form of engine like the land beam engine, with the cylinder at the one end of a beam and the connecting rod at the other — the connecting rod extending downwards from the end of the beam to give motion to the crank — is fre- quently employed. In other cases the cylinder is inverted, and a connecting rod proceeds from the end of the piston rod 'to turn the crank, the end of the piston rod being, of course, steadied by suitable guides. SCREW PROPELLER In the edition of this work published in 1852, it was pointed out that in horizontal engines, like those of Messrs. Penn and Son, it would be better to place the trunk in the air-pump instead of in the cylinder ; and a form of engine of this kind was subsequently pa- tented by Messrs. Robert Napier and Sons, of Glasgow, and was introduced by them into several vessels. The overhead, or forge ham- mer engines, as they are sometimes called, constructed by Messrs. Caird & Co. for the Bremen, Hansa, and other transatlantic vessels, and by Messrs. Napier and Son for the Pereire and Ville de Paris, have been highly efficient and economical. But that species of engine is not adapted for ships of war, as it rises above the water-line ; and the form of horizon- tal engine originally designed by Mr. Holm in 1844 for the Amphion, and introduced into the merchant service by Mr. Bourne in 1853, is now the form of engine most generally adopted for all purposes whether of war or commerce by marine engineers. Mr. Bourne, in 1853, first introduced the plan of balancing the momentum of marine engines by counterweights attached to the crank ; and soon afterwards Mr. Penn introduced similar counterweights into the engines of the Himalaya, and they have since become general. The Amphion form of engine is virtually a steeple engine, as it is called, laid on its side. The cylinder is horizontal and two piston rods, one above the shaft on one side of the crank, and the other below the shaft on the other side of the crank, proceed to engage a cross head which moves horizontally in guides on the opposite side of the crank. From this cross head a return connecting rod proceeds to the crank, and heavy weights are attached to the side of the crank which is opposite to the crank pin, to balance the momen- tum of the piston and its connections. This form of engine is now adopted by Messrs. Maudslay, Ravenhill, Napier, Day, and other leading marine engineers. Screw Vessels with Auxiliary Power. — "We have already stated that screw vessels, intended to go head to wind and to contend against head seas, are not so efficient as paddle vessels, in- asmuch as they require more coal to do the same work. Under the conjoint influence of sails and steam, however, they are under most circumstances as efficient, and, if deeply laden, are more efficient. A screw vessel being di- vested of paddle boxes, partakes more of the character of a sailing ship ; nevertheless, from the experiments with the Niger and Basilisk, it does not appear that a screw vessel is more efficient under sails than a paddle vessel, although such a result might naturally be expected. The advantages incident, therefore, to the. use of screw vessels with auxiliary power do not result from any superiority of the screw as a propeller, nor from the increased facilities which it presents for the application of sails, but are to be ascribed to the large employment in screw vessels of wind power, which costs nothing, instead of steam power, 378 which costs much, and also to the maintenance of lower rates of speed than are thought neces- sary in paddle vessels. The screw, indeed, is a loss cumbrous propeller than the paddle, and, in consequence of the high speed of engine which it permits, a very considerable engine power will go into a small compass. Screw Vessels with A uxiliary Power. — The use of the screw as an auxiliary propeller to sailing ships was at one time regarded as among its most promising applicatidns, and vessels were accordingly made with hoisting screws or with feathering screws, to enable the screw to be raised out of the wat er, or the blades to be set in j a line with the keel when the vessel was under I sail alone. Practically, however, vessels fitted I with screws and engines have maintained them | in constant action, and have contented them- selves with working the steam very expansively in the cylinders in fair winds, so as under those circumstances to save the coal. The liability of derangement of all kinds of hoisting* and feathering apparatus has been a serious dis- couragement to the perpettiation of such plans, and although screw vessels are still made of small power as well as of large power it cannot be said that any auxiliary screw vessels are now employed in the sense of the screw being put wholly out of action in fair winds. The want of some propelling apparatus of small power which would be able to drive forward a sailing ship in calms is still much felt, especially in the case of vessels which require to cross the line. But a screw placed beneath the water at the stern is not the most eligible expedient for that purpose, as it would require to be large and cumbrous to obviate a wasteful amount of slip ; and there is a settled objection in the case of sailing vessels to the introduction of machinery into the hold, and to the perforation of the vessel by shafts and pipes for the sake of a benefit which may only be realised for a few days during the whole voyage. Mechanism for this kind of auxiliary propulsion should be situated upon the deck, and the boiler should be combined with the cooking and distilling apparatus, so as to be as generally useful as possible. The most convenient apparatus would probably be a large and broad vertical oar set on each side of the vessel and moved slowly outward and inward with a sculling action like the action employed in propelling the ancient galleys. The oar would require to be feathered at every stroke, which would be done by bending the arm or by placing more of the blade on one side of the vertical axis than upon the other. For coasting purposes, screw vessels of moderate power have not only superseded paddle steamers but also sailing ships to a considerable extent, as they are found on the whole to carry more cheaply. Twin Screw Vessels. — Many screw vessels are now constructed with a screw projecting through the vessel at each quarter, instead of employing a single screw at the stern, and this plan has the advantage that the necessary propelling area may be got at a lower SCREW SURFACE depth, while by turning one screw ahead and the other astern the vessel may be turned as on a pivot without any aid from the rudder. In some cases, the body of the vessel is split near the centre, and each division terminates in a stern of its own, with its own screw and rudder. In other cases, the screw shaft pro- trudes through the oblique run of the ship on each side, and its outer end is supported by a suitable wrought iron frame, while the rudder is set in the usual place. For war purposes, double screws present many advantages. They afford more power of rapid evolution ; by being more sunk in the water, they are more out of the reach of shot, and the vessel will not be disabled if the rudder or one of the screws should be damaged or destroyed. The Kalamazoo class of American Monitors is built with double screws 15 feet diameter. Each vessel carries two turrets 26 feet dia- meter, and 15 inches thick of iron, and the side armour is of iron 14 inches thick. Conditions to be observed in the Construction of Screw Vessels. — The whole of the superior eligibility of screw vessels for the conveyance of merchandise, whether compared with paddle vessels or sailing ships, is not due to the action of the screw itself or to the use of steam power. Much, probably most, of it arises from the superior form of a vessel which has been simul- taneously introduced, and by which the sails have been rendered much more efficient than heretofore in urging the vessel through the water. The main conditions necessary to the satisfactory performance of screw vessels lie in making the form of the vessel sharp and fine, in applying a large amount of sail power, and in keeping the screw well immersed in the water. Screw vessels should be broad at the water line, so as to enable them to bear the pressure of a large amount of sail ; and the sails should be as flat as possible, and be laced to the spars, so as to enable the vessel to go as near as possible to the wind. The rigging of all vessels is still in a most defective state. It is without any provision whatever for using up the power of the wind in an effectual manner, and a large proportion of that power is conse- quently lost. Under suitable arrangements, vessels would be able to sail directly against the wind, instead of having to tack, as is at present the practice; and there is every reason to believe that, before many years, expedients for this purpose, and for obtaining from a given force of wind and area of sail a much larger propelling effect, will be applied. For further information respecting the screw propeller see a Treatise on the Screw Propeller, by John Bourne, C.E., third edition, 1866, from which the engravings and most of the informa- tion given in this article have been extracted. See also Admiral Paris's report on the naval architecture in the Exhibition of 1862 (Bapport sur VArt Naval en 1862). Screw Surface. [Helicoid.] Scribe (Lat. scriba). The copyists, and at the same time the interpreters of the law, 379 SCROBICULARIA j in the later periods of the Jewish history, ! were called Scribes. In the New Testament, I we find them generally mentioned in con- : nection with the Pharisees, with the leaders of which sect, together with the High Priests, they j appear to have constituted the Sanhedrim. In j addition to their other functions, they were con- cerned in education, and in reading and ex-, j pounding the law to classes of pupils in the outer | courts pf the temple. Some ancient writers , conceive the scribes to have formed peculiar sects by themselves ; but there is no authority for this opinion. Scribing (Lat. scribo, I write or scratch). I In Architecture, fitting the edge of a board to J another board in the same plane as the edge. In joiner's work, it is the fitting one piece of wood to another so that their fibres may be respectively at right angles. Script (Lat. scriptus, written). In Printing, a kind of type cast in imitation of writing. The French call it Anglaise. There is no character of type on which so much labour has been bestowed as on this. The old scripts were cast on square shanks, the ascending and descending letters being kerned, and there- fore liable to be broken off. In 1815, Messrs. Firmin Didot & Sons introduced a new script cut with great freedom and cast on a rhoni- boidal shank, with triangular blocks having a corresponding angle on one side, and the other two sides forming a right angle, with which to justify the beginnings and ends of lines. Messrs. Laurent and Deberney, French artists, about thirty years since introduced a new square-bodied script called Americain, so beautifully cut and managed, that the effect produced when worked is excellent. The kern, instead of being unsupported, is protected by the shank of the letter, having two angles thrown out at the head of the two opposite corners of the body, so as to give support to both ascenders and descenders ; the opposite angles of the letters are cast with a corre- sponding slope to receive the kerned letters without their incurring any danger of riding upon each other. Scriptures, Holy. The name commonly used to designate the writings of the Old and New Testaments, which are comprised in the Canon. [Bible.] Scrivener (Span, escribano, from Lat. scribo, / write). Money scriveners, in old English usage, were persons who received money to place it out at interest, and supplied others, who wished to borrow, with money on security, a class of business now undertaken, in different departments, by bankers, money-brokers, and solicitors. The last regular scrivener is said to have been a person of the name of Jack Ellis, a contemporary of Dr. Johnson, mentioned in Boswell's Life. The city company of scriveners remains to attest the ancient importance of the business. Scrobicularia (Lat. scrobiculus, dim. of scrobs, a ditch). A genus of Dimyarian Acephalous mollusca, allied to Tsammobia. SCROFULA Scrofula. This disease was termed by the Greeks 01 x 01 pa8es, swollen or indurated c/lands of the neck, to which it was said that the pig (x°^P 0S ) is especially subject. Hence the Latin term scrofula has been traced to scrofa, a sow ; but the origin is in either case very dubious, the Greek word being akin, perhaps, to xeppos, hard, and the Latin to scrupus and rupes, a stone or pebble. It is now regarded as the result of a # general disorder to which the name tuberculosis is given. The blood is diseased, and according to the age of the patient different organs are liable to become attacked by tubercular deposit. In early infancy this deposit gives rise to water on the brain. In early manhood pul- monary consumption is the result, while in the intermediate period of life we find mesenteric disease appearing. The popular use of the word scrof id a consists more especially in its application to tuberculosis in children. It is most common among delicate children with fair complexions, and those disposed to rickets. It is rare in warm climates, and seems to be favoured by cold and variable countries. It is promoted by everything that debilitates ; and when its exciting causes are by any accident not brought into action, it may even remain dormant through life, and not show itself till the next generation. In mild cases the glands, after having suppurated, slowly heal ; in others the eyes and eyelids are inflamed, and the joints become affected, the disease gradually extending to the ligaments and bones, and producing a hectic and debilitated state, under which the patient sinks ; or it ends in tuberculated lungs and pulmonary consumption. In the treatment of the mild and simpler forms of scrofula, the diet should be nourishing and invigorating, and a dry situation and sea air are to be sought for ; great attention should be paid to the clothing, so as to avoid colds and coughs ; and tonics and gentle stimulants, with mild nar- cotics, and occasionally the alkalis, should be prescribed. Iodine has sometimes appeared of much service, but it requires the greatest cir- cumspection in its internal use ; it may be applied externally, as may also sea- water and other saline lotions. Chalybeates and mercu- rials are frequently prescribed; and much benefit has, in some instances, been derived from a course of sarsaparilla. Scroll (Fr. ecrou). In Heraldry, that part of the outward ornaments of a shield or achievement on which the motto is inscribed. Scroll. In Shipbuilding, curved pieces of timber bolted to the knee of the head by way of ornament. In old naval works the word is written scrow. Scrophulariaceae (Scrophularia, one of the genera). A natural order of herbaceous or shrubby Peryginous Monopetalous Exogcns, of the Bignonial alliance, inhabiting all parts of the world, except the coldest. The stamens are either didynamous or unsymmetrical ; nevertheless, the affinity of the order is un- doubtedly with Solanaceee, through the medium 380 SCULPTURE of the tribe Salpiglossidece ; so that it becomes necessary to separate them by a mere artificial distinction, considering as Solanacece all such genera as have a plaited corolla, and five stamens, and as Scrophulariaccce all those in which the fifth stamen is wanting, or the aestivation of the corolla imbricated. They are generally acrid bitterish plants. The leaves of some are pur- gative, and even emetic, while some, as Digitalis, are highly poisonous. Nearly all the tribe turn black in drying. Many of the genera, such as Digitalis, Calceolaria, Penistemon, Veronica, Mimulus, &c, are valued by gardeners for their beautiful flowers. Scrotum (Lat.). The membranous bag in which the testes or chief male organs of genera- tion are suspended in the higher vertebrate animals. Scruple (Lat. scrupulus, dim. of scrupus, a rough stone). A denomination of weight; the third part of a dram, and equal to twenty grains. [Weights.] Scrutiny (Lat. scrutinium, from scrutor, / examine). In Parliamentary language, an exa- mination of the votes given at an election by an election committee, at which the bad given on both sides are rejected, and the poll corrected accordingly. Scrutiny. In the Primitive Church, an exa- mination in the last week of Lent of the cate- chumens who were to be baptised on Easter- day ; used chiefly in the ancient church of Kome. Scud (Dan. skud, Swed. skudda). The name given by seamen to loose vapoury clouds driven swiftly along by the winds. To scud, signifies to run directly before the wind in a gale. As the object is to keep before the sea, the fore sail or foretop sail is set ; the latter or the maintop sail is often necessary, as the fore sail is often becalmed from the height of the waves. To scud with bare poles is to run before a storm without any sail set. Scudo. [Money.] Scull. In a fresh-water sense, an oar, so short that one man can work a pair. In its sea meaning, it generally implies an oar placed over the stern of a boat, and worked from side to side ; the blade, which is turned dia- gonally, being always in the water. The action on the water resembles that of the Archime- dean screw. In China, where this method is well understood, large boats are impelled by a single scull with considerable velocity. Sculpture (Lat. sculptura, from sculpo, / carve). The art of carving in wood, stone, or other materials. The origin of this art is a subject not less obscure than the early history of Music and Painting : and it is useless to attempt to arrive at historical conclusions, where the materials from which they might be drawn do not exist. But without venturing to de- termine the age at which the distinction was first established, we may classify sculptured works from the first into the two forms of carvings whether in intaglio or cameo, and of independent statues or figures. The former SCULPTURE branch of the art was much more practised in ancient than in modern times, owing to the universal use of seal rings, which having at first been rude signs, without meaning, and sometimes merely a square or round hole, were at length brought to perfection in the age of Phidias and Praxiteles. The carving of independent figures seems to have been long confined to representations of deities ; but we have no means of determining how long such carvings remained symbolical, or of ascertaining the age in which strictly imi- tative figures were introduced. It has been supposed that phrases in the Homeric poems, as in Iliad, vi. 303, denote the existence of imi- tative statuary ; but this is at the least doubt- ful. The point of such passages lies in the placing of the peplus or robe on the figure, whatever it may have been ; and as we know the use to which the Peplus was put in the Panathenaic festival, we are scarcely justified in assuming the existence of a more advanced art in the Homeric age, on the mere strength of a conventional epithet. The symbolical images of gods were blocks, stones, staves, or beams. ' It was thus,' says Dr. Thirl wall, History of Greece, ch. vi., 'that the god of love was worshipped at Thespise, the goddess of beauty at Paphos, the Graces at Orchomenus, Zeus and Artemis at Sicyon, the Twins at Sparta.' These blocks or masses of stone were all conical in shape, like the images of Baal worshipped by the Phoenician and Canaanitish and Assyrian tribes. This cone was reproduced in the wooden Ashera set up in the Jewish temple at Jerusalem, on the stone altars of Baal, like the Linga of the Hindus on the conventional representation of the Yoni. These masses of wood or stone were further modified into poles or staves, which are known to have been objects of almost universal veneration. 'Even in the time of Pausanias the inhabitants of Chaeronea paid higher honours to a staff, which they believed to be the sceptre of Agamemnon, described in the Iliad, than to any of the gods.' (Thirl- wall, History of Greece, ib.) It is unnecessary to dwell on the connection between these conical blocks, whether of wood or stone, with the phalli or poles borne in the Dionysiac processions, or to say more than that the uni- versality of the emblem seems to point to the conclusion that the first sculptured images or symbols were all phallic. These symbols spring up everywhere, and may in each country have led to the production of other symbols, and finally to imitations of the whole human figure. But except on distant historical evi- dence we have no warrant for tracing the art of one country to that of another ; and the habit of tracing Greek art to Egypt seems to be in an especial degree delusive. There is not the slightest evidence that Greek civili- sation, whether in music, painting, astronomy, or sculpture, was derived from the banks of the Nile, or from the cities of the great Meso- potamian plain. 381 This stage of the art, then, as confined to mere symbolic representation, may be dis- missed as not properly belonging to the history of sculpture. Of the earlier carved works of the Jews, whether teraphim, cherubim, or any others, we do not know enough to be able to speak with certainty; but on the sculpture of the Assyrians the results of recent explorations have thrown a valuable light. From the works thus recovered from the ruins of Khorsabad, Khileh Shagat, Birs Nimrud, and other mounds, we learn that the conventional fetters which were never removed from any branch of Egyptian art were among the Assyrians con- fined chiefly to the representation of deities and kings. Hence in the delineation of the forms of men and beasts the Assyrian painters and sculptors attained an eminence second only to that of the Greeks. But the discoveries of Sir Henry Eawlinson, M. Botta, Mr. Layard, and others, although they carry back the history of Assyrian art to a period long preceding a contemporary history, leave the legendary annals of sculpture in the days of Ninus and Semiramis just where they were, mere fables from which no historical resi- duum can be extracted, even if it be contained in them. The Nineveh marbles in the British Mu- seum illustrate the kind of art referred to ; these and those of Persepolis much resemble the Egyptian. As the Nineveh reliefs record the actions of Sennacherib in Judaea, they may be as early as the seventh century before our era, but not earlier. In Persepolis there are some extraordinary sculptures, bearing considerable resemblance to the style of the Egyptian bassi-rilievi in the palace of Thebes, allowing for the difference of dress; but they contain nothing in science or imitation particularly worthy of our notice. They ap- pear, according to Diodorus, to have been executed by an Egyptian colony carried from Egypt by Cambyses. The earliest sculpture to which we can refer, and on which we can reason, is that of the Egyptians. The abun- dance and variety of the specimens still in existence of their sculpture, minute and co- lossal, domestic and religious, prove them to have been a nation with great resources. The greater portion of their sculpture seems to have been sacred, i. e. representations of the divini- ties and their attributes and qualities. Among their colossal statues, Herodotus mentions one before the temple of Vulcan at Memphis, and another at Sais, placed there by King Amasis, each of the height of seventy-five feet. The part of the sphinx, near the great pyramid, still out of the sand (i.e. from the throat upwards) rises to the height of twenty-five feet. At. Thebes the sitting statues of Memnon, the mother and the sons of Osymandyas, are each fifty-eight feet high. A long catalogue might be added to these ; we will, however, only add, that in the British Museum is a closed hand which must have been part of a statue sixty -five feet high. Grace of form, elegance, and symmetry, are SCULPTURE not to be found in Egyptian sculpture. The in very hard stone faces of their statues have a resemblance to the Chinese, and their bodies are formed with large bellies. They generally stand equally poised on both legs, having one foot advanced ; the arms either hanging down straight on each side, or if one be raised, it is at a right angle across the body. Some of their statues are seated, and some are kneeling ; the posi- tion, however, of the hands is rarely different from what we have described. The faces are generally flat ; the brows, eyelids, and mouths formed of simple curves slightly marked, and with little expression. The tunics and draperies are frequently without folds. The arts of Egypt seem to have been in a stationary state for many centuries previous to the invasion and subjugation of the country by Cambyses. Winckelmann thinks that there were two distinct styles ; the first ending with the conquest just mentioned, and the second commencing at that period, and ending after the time of Alexander the Great. In the first of these styles he describes the forms as straight, such as granite or basalt, and from the distance at which they were usually placed above the eye. In the first case, cutting the ground away from the figure would have occupied quite as much time as carving the figure itself; and, in the second case, the range of the outline created a greater breadth of shadow and distinctness to the spectator. These bassi- rilievi, or hieroglyphics, when found on the walls of tombs, relate the profession, actions, and funeral of the deceased ; on those of palaces they describe the wars, negotiations, triumphs, processions, trophies, with the civil, military, and domestic employments of kings ; on those of temples they were the records of theology ; and on obelisks they are hymns to the gods, or eulogies of their kings. The reliefs are invari- ably coloured. (Sir J. Or. Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, §c. ; Rosellini's Monumenti delV Egitto e della Nubia, §c. ; and Layard's Monu- ments of Nineveh.) The only correct notion that can be obtained on the subject of Phoenician sculpture is from a contemplation of the medals of the Cartha- stiff, and ungraceful. The sitting figures have j ginians, who were a colony from Phoenicia ; though perhaps these may mislead us. The Phoenicians, known by the name of Canaan- ites in Scripture, were at a very early period advanced in civilisation. Beautiful in their own persons, they were, unlike the Egyptian races, themselves models for their artists, and their situation and character were favourable to the progress of the art. Their extraordinary and successful spirit of commerce led to its cultiva- tion, and some of the statues that decorated their temples were celebrated in history. Winckel- mann is of opinion that the Etrurians, or ancient Tuscans, carried sculpture to a certain degree of perfection much earlier than the Greeks. Etrurian art proves that the first attempts to- wards sculpture were in clay, of which innumer- able specimens have been found in Rome and its environs : and as the Romans in the early period of their existence as a people were entirely ignorant of the arts, no doubt is left of these specimens being the work of the Etrurians or Volscians. Clay was for a long time the only material used — 'nulla signa statuseve sine argilla. ; ' and Pliny and Varro tell us that the Hercules, the Jupiter Capitolinus, the quadriga on the top of his temple, and all the other statues of the gods before the temple of Ceres was erected, were ' Tuscanica omnia.' Many of the Etruscan statues bear so striking a resem- blance to those of Greece, that antiquarian shave thought it probable they must have been brought from that country, or from Magna Grrecia into Etruria, about the period of the conquest of Greece by the Romans, when Italy became almost saturated with the magnificent spoils of art which that country yielded. The Etruscan sculpture is in two distinct styles of art. In the first or earliest style, the general lines, or contours, are exceedingly stiff and straight, and the attitudes exhibit anything but a feeling of ease in the figure : the form of the head is entirely devoid of beauty, the out- the legs always parallel ; the feet are sqiieezed together, and the arms fixed to the sides. In the females the left arm is generally folded across the breast, and the draperies exhibit very little skill or knowledge. In the second style the hands become more elegant ; the feet are placed at a greater distance from each other, the arms hang more freely, and the figure is generally clothed with a tunic robe and mantle. The material usually employed is granite or basalt ; the statues are not only formed with the chisel, but polished carefully: and the eyes are sometimes formed of different ma- terials from the statues themselves. Small figures are frequently found, to which the name of penates has been given ; they are sometimes composed of wood, sometimes of baked earth, and some are covered with a green enamel. 'Winckelmann,' says Flaxman in his Second Lecture on Sculpture, ' has remarked that the Egyptians executed quadrupeds better than the human figure ; for which he gives the two fol- lowing reasons: first, that as professions in that country were hereditary, genius must have been wanting to represent the human form in perfection ; secondly, that the superstitious re- verence for the works of their ancestors pre- vented improvement.' ' There are,' he continues, ' statues in the Capitoline Museum with as great a breadth, and choice of grand parts, proper to the human form, as ever they represented in their lions or other inferior animals. In addition to these observations on Egyptian statues, we may remark, the forms of their hands and feet are gross ; they have no ana- tomical detail of parts, and are totally defi- cient in the grace of motion.' The Egyptian bassi-rilievi are commonly what are called sunk reliefs ; they are usually sunk from the surface of the material employed, which practice most probably obtained from their being cut 382 SCULPTURE linos not well rounded ; their figures are almost invariably too slender ; the form of the head is oval, the chin piked, the eyes flat, with some degree of tendency towards squinting. All these defects indicate an infant state of the art, and the very same defects are often seen in the works of the Gothic sculptors. The second style of Etruscan art is conjectured by Win- ckelmann to be contemporary with the age of Phidias ; but this conjecture is in no way borne out or supported by proof. In this style the joints are strongly marked, the muscles raised, the bones perfectly distinguishable, and con- siderable knowledge of the science of anatomy is displayed. The statues of the gods are exe- cuted with delicacy, and there is a show of great power without violent distension of the muscles. The attitudes, however, are far from natural, and the action constantly overstrained. To this Millin adds a third period in the his- tory of Etruscan art, commencing at the conquest of Greece by the Romans, at which time the Etruscan artists became acquainted with the works of the Grecians, and, adopting their style, became at first their imitators, and after- wards their rivals. To the Italian artists of this period Horace is supposed to allude in one of his satires. (Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, $c. ; Winckelmann, Storia delle Arti del Disegno presso gli Antichi, Rome 1783.) Before turning to the sculpture of the Greeks we may notice, as bearing some re- semblance to the Egyptian sculpture, that of the Hindus. The stupendous excavations at Ellora, which have been mentioned in the article Architecture, and those at Elephanta and other parts of India, are well known by representations which have been published in this country. As we have seen, the first dawn of the art was on the soil of Phoenicia and Egypt: we have now to trace it in its meridian splen- dour on the shores of Greece. Greek sculpture has usually been arranged under three epochs. Of the rude and unfashioned representations of the primitive or mythical ages, some mention has already been made, nor is it necessary here to touch upon the works of the so-called Dcedalids, about which we can now form no just conception, except that the material employed by them was wood, their images being called £6ava. About 580 B.C. it is said that Dipcenus and Scyllis, Cretans, became celebrated at Sicyon for their marble statues, which re- tained much of the ancient style in the ad- vancing position of the legs, the general form of the figure, and particularly in the vertical folds of the drapery, the edges of which were zigzag. About a generation later Bupalus and Anthermus of Chios were distinguished for their work in metal throughout Greece. Soon after this period, sculpture received the most elaborate finishing, though the character of the face and limbs was not much changed from the tasteless and barbarous style of former times. Flaxman conjectures that the colossal busts of Hercules and Apollo in the British 383 Museum may have been the works of Dipcenus and Scyllis. It is not difficult to conceive the progressive improvement in an art so much cultivated, between the time of which we are now speaking and the first epoch in which Agcladas, the master of Polycletus, appeared. This early or second period is well illustrated by the casts in the British Museum from the JEginetan marbles, discovered in 1812, and now at Munich. To this period belongs Ageladas, a native of Argos, and contemporary with Pisis- tratus. It was at this period that art approached the personification of ideal beauty by the choice of forms from many models, so that the excel- lence found in each might be combined in one. Its cultivation had become an object of necessity in most of the Grecian states, induced greatly by a practice, introduced about this era, of honouring with a statue every individual who had received three crowns in the public games. These figures of men were called avSpidures, the statues of the gods being ayd\(j.a.Ta. Such a custom afforded the artist the opportunity of contemplating some of the most perfect examples of living beauty, from which were afterwards deduced those canons of proportion on which all future art has been unable to improve. Within the interval of which we have just spoken appeared the sculptor Calli- machus, to whom Vitruvius assigns the merit of having invented the Corinthian capital. [Ar- chitecture.] ' The better drawing of the figure, with a more careful attention to its parts, more precision and variety of attitude, a less elaborate curling and dressing the hair, the form of the figure better shown through the drapery, are all certain signs of a near approach to the age of Phidias.' The third epoch of sculpture among the Greeks was in the age of Phidias, who died 432 B.C. — a period peculiarly splendid in history, as abounding with statesmen, warriors, artists, philosophers, and poets. Athens, destroyed by the army of Xerxes, rose under the auspices of Pericles in renewed and far greater grandeur. Phidias was employed by Pericles in the superintendence of the public works ; and the admiration of his powers was so universal with the ancients, that Quintilian says, speaking of his statue of Athena and the Olympian Zeus at Elis, ' Cujus pulchritudo adjecisse aliquid etiam receptee religioni videtur, adeo majestas operis deum sequavit.' The sculptures of the Parthe- non, now known as the Elgin marbles and in the British Museum, are generally considered the highest triumphs of the art of sculpture, and are assumed to be the work of Phidias and his scholars. Callicrates and Ictinus were the architects of the Parthenon. [Acropolis.] The great reputation of Phidias was founded upon his representations of the gods, excel- ling more in them than in human forms. In his Chryselephantine works in ivory and in gold he was unrivalled. Polycletus, a contempo- rary of Phidias, assisted in perfecting the style of the third epoch. He was of Sicyon, and espe- cially celebrated for his Doryphoros, or lance- SCULPTURE bearer, and his Diadumenue, or youth binding a fillet round his head (now in the British Museum). The first was so esteemed by artists, that it was called the 'canon,' from which they studied their proportions. There is, how- ever, some doubt whether it be this or another statue to which this honour was paid. Among the contemporaries of these great men were Phradmon, Gorgias, Myron, and Scopas of Elis. In a passage of Pliny, Alcamenes is classed with Critias and Hegias, as a rival of Phidias. A fourth epoch, from about 360 b. a, is that in which we become acquainted with the names of Praxiteles, Scopas the Parian, and Lysippus, and in which the style termed by Winckel- mann the fine style was introduced. The graces of youth and beauty were the delight of Praxi- teles ; and in his marble statues at the Cera- micus of Athens he is said to have excelled himself. His Venus of Cnidos was so en- dowed with charms, that her suitors came from all quarters to pay homage at her shrine. This statue, which had been rejected by the Coans on account of its being naked, was refused to Nieomedes by the citizens of Cnidos in payment of a debt of immense amount. It remained at Cnidos in the time of the emperor Arcadius, about 400 a.b. Flaxman, in his Lectures, says of it, that it 'seems to offer the first idea of the Venus de' Medici, which is likely to be the repetition of another Venus, the work of this artist.' A satyr, Cupid, Apollo sauroctonos (the lizard-slayer), and Bacchus leaning on a fawn, are known works of this master. The group of Niobe and her children, now at Florence, is ascribed both to Scopas and Praxiteles. Contemporary with Praxiteles was Lysippus, so celebrated for the group of horses still to be seen in the front of St. Mark's church at Venice. This epoch is not comparable in grandeur with its predecessor. The refinement of art was carried almost to its utmost limit : greater delicacy and voluptuousness may indeed have been, and was, introduced into the female forms, but in dignity and simplicity of feeling it is inferior to the wonderful productions of the age of Phidias. Statues were still painted at this time. [Polychromy.] After this period several of the finest groups and statues were nevertheless executed : one of them, the Lao- coon, now in the Vatican, is in a very high class of art, and perhaps not inferior to any group known. The principal schools of sculpture were those of Athens and Rhodes : from the latter school came the Laocoon, the Torso of Apol- lonius and the Colossus of Rhodes, by Chares, the scholar of Lysippus. Agesander, Poly- dorus, and Athenodorus, sculptors of the Lao- coon, are great names of this school. The Toro Farnese, also at Naples, is the work of Apollonius and Tauriscus, sculptors of Rhodes. The Laocoon is supposed to have been made in the reign of the emperor Titus. To what extent the Rhodians were sculptors may be conjectured from the fact that the 384 Romans carried off from their little island 3,000 statues. After the death of Alexander the Great, 324 years B.C., the arts of design seem to have declined from their meridian excellence. Fifth Epoch. — The year 146 b.c. was signal- ised by the entire reduction of Greece under the dominion of the Romans. Sixty-six years previ- ously a dawn of luxury and taste had opened at Rome by the introduction, through Marcellus, of statues from Syracuse ; but though the increasing luxury of the Romans created a constant demand for fresh objects of the art, its history in the city is but a melancholy continuance of its decline. The only occupation then left for Greek artists was to be found in Rome, whither they were invited, and where very many of them were to be seen. Among them Pliny (1. xxxv. c. 12, and xxxvi. c. 5), mentions the name of Pasiteles, a sculptor, who wrote four volumes, containing a cata- logue of the finest works of art known in his time. Pasiteles excelled as a statuary in metal. His silver statue of Roscius, and his vases, were highly celebrated. Arcesi- laus, Zopyrus, and Aulanius Evander, all Athenians, were among his contemporaries in the Augustan age. The first of these, who excelled in marble, is extolled by Pliny for his care in modelling before he began upon the block. He was the friend of Lucullus, for whom he executed a group, described by Varro, representing a lioness with cupids sporting round her, and endeavouring to force her to drink. Under Augustus, the art had not been entirely divested of grand and noble feeling; but after his time it partook very much of the character of his successors as they appeared. Licentious and obscene under the sway of the vicious, debauched, and cruel Tiberius, under Caligula it became so grossly flattering, that ancient Greek statues of the gods were decapitated to make room for the head of this emperor. Under Nero (to whom, however, we are perhaps indebted for the preservation of the Apollo of the Vatican and the Borghese gladiator, found in his villa at Antium) it became so extravagant, that he had himself cast by Zenodorus, as the Sun, a bronze image 110 feet high [Colossus], to be placed before his 'golden house.' Ves- pasian cultivated the arts as well as literature. The Temple of Peace, which was really a temple of the arts, was by him decorated with the choicest specimens of Greek painting and sculpture. The reigns of his son Titus and of Trajan were also favourable to sculp- ture. The latter was the patron of Apollo- dorus, the architect. Trajan, moreover, had the liberality and good sense to erect statues in honour of the eminent men of his time. The works of this period were, however, rather architectural than sculptural, such as temples, palaces, triumphal arches, &c, and the sculpture chiefly in request was for their decoration ; a want certainly calculated not so much to SCULPTURE retrieve the art from its sinking state as to encourage bold and off-hand execution at the expense of simplicity and expression. Hadrian not only restored the principal buildings at Athens but completed the temple of Jupiter Olympius and richly adorned the interior with statues, some of which were chryselephantine. The statue of Antinous, so generally known, was the work of this reign. Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius were appointed by Hadrian as his successors : under them the art revived for a time, and has acknowledged her gratitude to the last by his bronze statue at the Capitol. How sculpture was encouraged at this time may be gathered from the innumerable busts of these emperors that have reached us. Commodus had likewise been honoured with a multitude of statues, but these upon his death were ordered by the senate to be all destroyed. Under Septimius Severus the de- cay of the art became very manifest: its decline continued during the reign of Alexander Severus, though two busts of him, which were discovered a few years since, are not without merit. During the next half-century, the rapid succession of twenty emperors, scarcely one of whom died a natural death, left but little chance of a revival of sculpture. By the end of the fourth century it was nearly extinct, a fact of which no other proof is necessary than the arch of Constantine and the statues of that prince, through whose removal of the capital of the empire to Constantinople, Eome no longer swayed the sceptre of the fine arts. If the Romans do not deserve the admiration in which the Greeks are held for their knowledge of the fine arts, they deserve our gratitude for their instrumentality in preserving some of the noblest productions of the art of sculpture. There are two epochs under which the taste of the Eomans for the fine arts may be classed : the first begin- ning with the capture of Syracuse by Mar- cellus, and ending at the time of Julius Caesar ; the second, that of the Augustan age, in which all the polite arts flourished. During the early Christian period when Constantinople became the capital of the arts, and to it were gathered the chief monuments of ancient sculpture, little progress was made in the creation of new works; and during the seventh and eighth centuries nearly all that was preserved of the old was destroyed by the fanaticism of the Iconoclasts. The conquest of Constantinople by the Vene- tians, in 1204, the consequent dispersion of Byzantine artists, and the developement of an eastern trade, gave quite a new life to the arts, and the dawn of the classic renais- sance extended over the whole West as early as the thirteenth century. This was more decidedly the case in painting and sculpture than in architecture. In middle Europe the Byzantine and Saracenic tastes prevailed; in the north, the Gothic was then being developed. The Roman power had been entirely de- stroyed in the West of Europe, Italy was di- Vol. III. 385 1 vided into republics and principalities, of which the chief were Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, these being the earliest in fully establishing their liberty. First Ejyoch.— The Pisans, who possessed considerable extent of coast, had in the eleventh century beaten the Saracens in Africa, Sardinia, Majorca, Minorca, and Sicily; and had thus acquired the treasures with which they com- menced the erection of their cathedral in 1063. It was finished in 1092, about seven years after that of St. Mark at Venice had been con- secrated. Schools of painting, sculpture, and architecture soon arose after this period, and the needs of the church found employment for the talent which they produced. It has been conjectured that Buschetto, who seems to have been a Greek, was the founder of the Italian, Gothic, or Byzantine school of architecture and sculpture at Pisa. The reputation of this school was raised to the greatest height by the appearance of Nicolo da Pisa, where he was born about 1205, the pride and glory of the thirteenth century, and the first who on its restoration gave dignity and importance to sculpture. That the Grecian fragments which the Pisans had acquired soon enabled Nicolo to discriminate between them and the style of Buschetto, is evident from some remains of his work in the Campo Santo. In 1225 he was employed at Bologna in decorating the sarco- phagus of St. Dominic, in which his admiration and successful imitation of the antique shine forth. He built the basilica of St. Antonio at Padua, and the church of the Frari at Venice, remarkable for its classical ornament : he was afterwards engaged on the bas-reliefs of the pulpits at Pisa and Siena. He died at Pisa about 1278. Giovanni, the son of Nicolo, suc- ceeded his father, to whom in some respects he was more than equal. He executed the sculptures of the Last Judgment on the fac,ade of the cathedral of Orvieto, commonly attri- buted to his father Nicolo ; he died in 1320, and was buried in the same tomb with his father in the Campo Santo, his own work. Their figures, especially those of their draped females, are elegant, and exhibit, says Flax- man, 1 an originality of idea and a force of thought seldom met with when schools of art are in the habit of copying from each other.' The school of Pisa is not limited to the two just named. Arnolfo da Lapo (1232-1300) the brothers Agostino and Agnolo of Siena, and Andrea Pisano (1270-1345), all deserve to be recorded. Andrea executed in bronze the oldest gates of the baptistery at Florence, on which is represented the life of St. John the Baptist. This work is executed (from a general design by Giotto) with much grandeur and simplicity ; but in his marble statues he is inferior to his master, Giovanni Pisano. Giovanni di Balduccio, scholar of Andrea, was of this epoch : his first works were at Milan, where in 1347 he executed the mausoleum of S. Pietro Martire. In the fourteenth century Giotto established a school distinguished by good C c SCULPTURE drawing, which prepared Florence for a perfect re-establishment of the art. To it belonged Orcagna (1315-76), a name ever to be remem- bered for his celebrated loggia at Florence : he was also eminent for his works in sculpture. A school at Siena, towards the end of this century, produced Jacopo della Quercia, whose principal works were at Bologna, Lucca, Flo- rence, and especially Siena, where a fountain which he executed, at the cost of 2,200 scudi d'oro, was so admired that he acquired the name of Jacopo della Fonte. From his hand are the bas-reliefs in the facade of San Petro- nio at Bologna. The fifteenth century was a splendid era for the production of everything great and intelligent, and most especially for the art of sculpture. The love of liberty and knowledge seemed to animate the whole of the Italian republics ; and as if the republic of the arts were not excluded from the common senti- ment, no individual master seems so to have outstripped his rivals as to have impressed the art with his own particular style. (Perkins, Tuscan Sculpture.) This period brings us to the second epoch of the Kenaissance, the Quattrocento, at the begin- ning of which we find six great artists engaged in a competition for executing the bronze gates of the baptistery at Florence, in which, after a year's trial, Lorenzo Ghiberti bore away the palm from his rivals. Among these was Dona- tello (1383-1466), a Florentine, one of the most distinguished restorers of the art. ' Some of his works,' says Flaxman, ' both in bronze and marble, might be placed beside the best pro- ductions of ancient Greece without discredit.' His alto-rilievo of two singing boys in the Duomo at Florence is, in point of character, sentiment, drawing, and drapery, of extra- ordinary beauty. His marble statue of St. George standing upright, equally poised on both his legs, with his hands resting on the shield before him, so excited the admiration of Michael Angelo, that, after contemplating it in deep silence for a considerable length of time, he is said to have exclaimed suddenly, 'March.' Lorenzo Ghiberti (1381-1455) has immortalised himself in the work for which he bore away the prize from Donatello : from the eulogy bestowed on them by Michael Angelo, they bear the appellation of the 'Gates of Paradise.' Ghiberti made two sets of gates for the baptistery. This undertaking occu- pied forty-nine years of his life, from 1403 to 1452, and still, notwithstanding the criti- cism of Keynolds, remains one of the noblest monuments of modern art. The subjects are from the Old and New Testaments ; and the complaint of Keynolds is, that ' the landscape and buildings occupy so large a portion of the compartment that the figures remained but secondary objects, entirely con- trary to the principle of the ancients.' A cast of the ' Old Testament ' gates is at the South Kensington Museum. Brunelleschi (1377-1444), the intimate friend of Donatello, better known byTiis high acquirements as an 386 . architect, was not less a sculptor of consider- able eminence ; at Florence, in the church of Sta. Maria Novella, is an admirable crucifix by him in wood. In 1470, Andrea Verrocchio waa found amongst the first rank of sculptors in Florence ; he was the master of Pietro Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci, and executed at Venice the famous figure of Bartolomeo Coleoni of Bergamo, on horseback. Antonio Begarelli was distinguished at Modena. We now come to Michael Angelo Buonarroti, whom we have once more [Architecture ; Painting] to introduce to the reader's notice as the most eminent of modern sculptors, as well as of architects and painters. The energetic works of this extraor- dinary man seem rather the result of inspiration than of genius, and with him is introduced The third epoch, that of the Cinquecento, in which the perfect restoration of the art was accomplished. His own works, however, are, in spite of their great power, not free from manner; he was too ostentatious of anatomy, and his heads are usually too small for the limbs ; though, in the case of his David, of which there is a cast at South Kensington, it is the body which is too small for the head and limbs. Many of Michael Angelo's works in sculpture may be seen in casts at the Crystal Palace. Vasari, the historian of the painters, sculptors, and architects, wroto the life of Michael Angelo while he was yet living, and thus justifies himself for so doing : ' Let none be surprised that I have here written the life of Michael Angelo, who is yet living. Indeed, it cannot be expected that he will ever die, and therefore it has appeared to me proper to do him this little honour ; for when in common with other men his life shall pass away, he will be immortal in his immortal works, the fame of which, as long as the world lasts, will live with glory in the mouths of men and in their records, in contempt of envy and despite of death.' Michael Angelo was nobly descended, and at the early age of fifteen was patronised by Lorenzo de' Medici, who took him into his house, and continued his friend until his death in 1492. His career in sculpture was commenced by a sleeping Cupid, a Bacchus and young fawn, and a group of a Madonna sitting with the dead Christ on her knees, executed in 1499 at Eome, and his colossal David, made out of a single block, for the Piazza Granduca at Florence in 1502 ; works which raised him immediately above his con- temporaries. It is not our purpose here to touch upon the productions of Michael Angelo in the other two arts which occupied a great portion of his time, and which it appears he afterwards regretted ; for Condivi, his bio- grapher, observes, 'Che mi rammenta udirlo dire che quando la (the basso-rilievo of the battle of Hercules with the Centaurs) vide, cognosce quanto torto egli abbia fatto alia natura a non seguitar prontamente l'arte della scultura.' Julius II., on being raised to the papal chair, employed Michael Angelo on a SCULPTURE mausoleum for himself, which it was intended to place under the centre of the dome of St. Peter's. It was projected on a most magni- ficent scale; but being subjected to many- delays, and the pope dying, only one of its sides was completed, and thus was afterwards erected in the church of San Pietro in Vinculis by order of his nephew. In this monument is found the celebrated Moses and some other statues, partly executed by Michael Angelo, and partly by his pupil Raffaello da Monte Lupo : the monument was completed in 1550, it having been through various interruptions no less than forty years in progress. It is morti- fying to know that a large portion of this artist's time was wasted at the quarries of Pietra Santa, owing to the misconduct of the underlings of Leo X. Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici, in 1523, engaged him on the sacristy and library of San Lorenzo. In the Capella dei Deposit], or sacristy, are the statues of Lorenzo and Griuliano de' Medici seated, and in Roman military habits : the former is conceived with a simplicity worthy of the highest era of Grecian art. The recumbent statues of Daybreak and Night, under the statue of Giuliano in the same chapel, 'are grand and mysterious : the characters and forms bespeak the same mighty hand and mind evident throughout the ceiling of the Sis- tine chapel and Last Judgment.' They are in casts at the Crystal Palace. He died on February 17, 1564, having nearly completed his ninetieth year. Flaxman, in his Tenth Lecture on Sculpture, closes his account of him thus : ' The character and works of Michael Angelo have been dwelt on at greater length, because, as his mental and bodily powers continued far beyond the usual date of human life, his diligence attained to so much greater perfection in the principles of art. Anatomy, the motion and perspective of the figure, the complication, grandeur, and harmony of his grouping, with the advantages and facility of execution in painting and sculpture, besides his mathematical and mechanical attainments in architecture and building, together with the many and prodigious works he accomplished, demonstrate how greatly he contributed to the restoration of art.' ' Michel,' says Ariosto, ' piu che mortal, Angel' divino.' After this epoch, or perhaps almost be- longing to it, appeared Giovanni da Bologna, or John of Bologna (1524-1608), a Fleming so called for his fountain surmounted by Neptune, in that city. He was a sculptor of extraordinary merit, and eminent for his works in bronze and marble. His Venus coming from the Bath is delicate and graceful; and the group of the Rape of the Sabine women, in the grand piazza at Florence, is extremely well composed, and possesses a fine undulation of line. The Mercury also, springing from the Wind, is energetic and original. There are many small works extant by this artist. Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71), another follower of Michael Angelo, was one of the strangest and most eccentric 387 characters that over existed. He was chiefly employed as a goldsmith and sculptor in metals ; but was frequently engaged on large figures and groups, of which the Perseus holding the head of Medusa in his loft hand, in the Piazza Granduca at Florence, is a splendid example. Other real disciples of the great Tus- can master were Raffaello da Monte Lupo, his favourite pupil and assistant ; Nicolo Tribolo, who executed some works for the facade of the cathedral at Bologna ; and Vincenzo Danti. Of this time also are Baccio Bandinelli (1487- 1562), a man of considerable talent, but greatly inferior to Michael Angelo, though he set himself up as a rival and competitor; Giovanni dell' Opera, a distinguished scholar of Bandinelli ; Baccio da Monte Lupo, the father of Raffaello, who executed the wooden crucifix in the refect- ory of San Marco ; Andrea Contucci, a clever and occasionally successful competitor of Mi- chael Angelo, and founder of the school of Loretto; Francesco Rustici, a pupil of Leo- nardo da Vinci, but whose works evince a devotion to the style of Michael Angelo, and who introduced it into France ; and Jacopo Tatti (1479-1570), commonly called Sansovino, who was the head of the Venetian school of sculpture. As an architect he was an artist of surprising talents, as is manifest from his works at Verona ; his sculpture, however, is deficient in purity, though not in richness of composition. His principal pupils were Danese Cattaneo and Alessandro Vittoria. The principles of the school were diffused through Italy, and were equally to be seen in Lombardy and Naples: in the latter city the principal masters were Marliano da Nola and Girolamo Santa Croce. At Milan were Agostino Busti, and Guglielmo della Porta, whose reputation was raised by the statues executed by him on the tomb of Paul III. in St. Peter's. These have been esteemed as among the best examples of modern sculp- ture. Torregiano, who also belongs to this period, was, like Benvenuto Cellini, of a vaga- bond disposition, but a man of genius ; he was invited over to England, where he wrought upon the tomb of Henry VII. at Westminster, for which he received the sum of 1,000^. He died, a prisoner of the Inquisition, at Seville, in 1522. In England, also, we had Giovanni da Padua in the following reign. Of native sculptors, William Austen, the artist of the Beauchamp tomb at Warwick, 1452, and a London founder, was not unworthy to rank with his Italian competitors in the fifteenth century. Spain produced some celebrated sculptors in the sixteenth century, their first native ar- tist being Berruguette, a pupil of Vasari and Michael Angelo. Berruguette's disciple, Paolo de Cespedes, the painter, of Cordova (1538-1608), is reputed the greatest sculptor that Spain ever produced. It does not appear that Germany produced any sculptors of eminence before the seven- teenth century. But in France, Jacques d'An- cc 2 SCULPTURE gouleme, who had been at Rome, where he ' had a competition even with Michael Angelo ; ' Jean Gougeon (1510-72), who finished the I Fountain of the Innocents at Paris in 1550, 1 and is said to have been one of the victims ! in the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day ; Jean Cousin, whose works, though deficient! in force and truth, yet exhibit much grace and delicacy ; and Germain Pilon, whose detail is remarkable for its beauty — are names that entitle that country to a high rank among the nations of Europe, in which all the works of sculpture that were produced are so many testimonies of the influence which the genius of Michael Angelo exerted over the arts : though the French school is in its taste more directly allied to Parmigiano and Primaticcio. At the commencement of the seventeenth century, Bernini, a 'native of Naples, born in 1598, raised himself to employment before unknown. Endowed with all the qualities necessary for becoming a great artist, and desirous of distinguishing himself by the foun- dation of a new school, he plunged into caprice and complexity, and, preferring effect to sim- plicity, effaced all traces of the style which from the time of Michael Angelo had prevailed in Europe. His draperies, founded on the paintings of the Bolognese school, his affected style, the violent expression in which he de- lighted, are the marks of an ambitious artist, whose only aim was to be striking. He deluged Italy with his works, and corrupted it with his taste till his death in 1680. The most celebrated contemporaries of Bernini were Algardi (1593-1654) and Duquesnoy (1594- 1643), commonly called II Fiammingo. The latter is much esteemed for his representa- tions of youth, and particularly of infants. At Naples he executed a concert of cherubs, and two infants on a monument at Rome, which are his most admired works : the latter was particularly admired by Rubens, who says of it, 'Nature rather than art appears to have sculptured them, and the marble is softened into life.' Camillo Rusconi in Italy succeeded to Bernini, and was the sculptor most in request at the beginning of the eighteenth century. His greatest works were those of San Giovanni in Laterano, where he was assisted by Monnot, Le Gros, Moratti, and Ottoni : he died in 1728. The further progress of sculpture seemed now impossible; in short, the art seemed to have departed, though men whose names are not worth recording, with all the pretensions of artists, still hovered about the scenes of its former glory. In England, Grinling Gib- bons, a native of Rotterdam, was distinguished both as a statuary in bronze and a carver in wood ; he died in 1721. In France, Stefano della Bella, and Pietro Tacca, pupil of Giovanni da Bologna, occupy the interval up to the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. — one extremely creditable to the French school, Francois and Michel Anguier being among the most distinguished. In the remaining period of that monarch's reign, the 388 principal sculptors were Francois Girardon, born at Troyes in 1630, and Pierre Paul Puget, born at Marseilles in 1622, the latter of whom, from his fiery and energetic style, received the appellation of the Michael Angelo of France. These two were the head of the school of the succeeding sculptors of France, which comprised Desjardins, Antoine Coysevox, Pierre Francville, Pierre le Gros, Nicolas Coustou. To this school also belonged Etienne Falconet, celebrated for his writings, and for -the equestrian statue he executed at St. Petersburg of the Czar Peter. The unfortunate Louis XVI., previous to the Revolution, was a great patron of sculpture, and had projected a collection of statues of the most eminent characters of the country. J. B. Pigalle, the sculptor of the day, had executed some of them before the dreadful period which stopped in France for a time all cultivation of the arts. The school of Pigalle was of consider- able extent and influence, Mouchy, Bocquet, Moette, Chaudet, and Lehrun, being members of it, and continuing the art to within a gene- ration of the present century. Of the recent sculptors of France, James Pradier, a Swiss (1792-1852), has acquired perhaps the greatest name. Contemporary, or nearly so, with these in Germany, were Rauchmiiller of Vienna, A. von Schluter at Berlin, N. Millich at Stockholm, and others ; subsequent to whom are Ohnmacht, Sonnenschein, and Nahl of Strasburg, all sculp- tors of much reputation. Our knowledge of Spanish sculptors is so limited, from their reputation not travelling away from their own country, and indeed being little known in Spain itself (except in Madrid and the chief cities, where the principal employ- ment for them is the decoration of churches), that probably little interest would be created by an enumeration of them. In England, up to a late period, the most cele- brated sculptors were foreigners. C. G. Cibber, L. F. Roubiliac, and Peter Scheemackers had the sway ; and monuments of their genius, es- pecially of the second, are the pride of some of our churches.' The art, however, seemed to be near its dissolution, when Antonio Canova, in 1787, revived in Rome the purity without which it is worthless. This justly admired sculp- tor was born in 1757, at Possagno, a village amidst the Asolani hills, at the foot of the Venetian Alps. Pietro his father, and Pasino his grandfather, were sculptors, whose labours were chiefly confined to the churches of the district. Deprived of his father when only three years of age, he was indebted to his grandfather for the early instruction and employment of the chisel, by which he acquired great mechanical dexterity. Attracting the notice of the patri- cian Giovanni Faliero, he was by him placed with Torretto, one of the best Venetian sculp- tors of that day. Torretto soon afterwards died, and young Antonio then studied under Torretto's nephew, Ferrari. But he soon broke through the trammels of the art as it was then practised ; and the rapidity of his progress SCULPTURE having induced his patron to find a more ap- propriate theatre for the exercise of his powers, the young artist was sent to Rome in December, 1780, soon after which time the Venetian government granted him a pension of 300 ducats for three years. At this period the fashionable sculptors of Rome were Agostino Penna, Pacili, Bracci, Sibilla, and others, whose productions are already forgotten : so that in the way of emulation Canova had little to excite his talents. Before the period had expired for which his pension was granted, the zeal of Volpato had been successful in procuring for him the com- mission to execute the monument of Clement XIV. (Ganganelli). Thus was afforded to the young sculptor an opportunity of exhibiting his powers to a public who were fortunately capable of appreciating his merit. Before the expiration of the eighteenth century he had produced an amazing quantity of works, at which time it was not the practice (one after- wards introduced by him) to employ inferior workmen to reduce the block to the last shape of the superficies. The enumeration of his works would occupy much more space than can be here assigned to them : they were often deficient in energy, but generally abounding in grace and elegance ; and in his monumental sculpture there is a vast originality of invention, whilst it is free from extravagance. His females are voluptuous, but not offensively so ; his execu- tion of them is exquisite. In the monument executed in memory of the archduchess Chris- tina of Austria, there is a pathos in the com- position, thefigures of which are linked together with the chain of nature in a manner worthy the divine Raphael himself. Canova died at Venice on October 13, 1822; and his remains were removed to his native place, in which he had erected, at his own expense, a splendid church. Albert ThorWaldsen (1770-1844), a contem- porary of Canova, but much his junior, a native of Denmark, has by his great, though irregular and erratic, genius, raised himself to eminence throughout Europe as well as Rome and in his own country. His powers in basso-rilievo are great; but in his female figures he wants grace. Some distinguished names have also of late adorned the annals of the art in Germany : as Heinrich Dannesker of Stuttgardt (1758- 1836) ; Ludwig Schwanthaler of Munich (1802- 48); Christian Rauch of Berlin (1777-1857) ; and J. M. Wagner of Wiirzburg (1773-1858). In England, the able sculptors John Bacon, Thomas Banks, and Joseph Nollekens, were followed by John Flaxman — a name honour- able to the arts of this country. Intense feel- ing and simplicity characterise all his works ; and in epic sculpture he perhaps surpassed Canova. He was born at York in 1755, and died in 1826. The lectures which he delivered as professor of sculpture at the Royal Academy have been published. {Lectures on Sculpture, ^•c, with fifty-two plates, 2nd edition, 1838.) Sculpture has made great progress in England since the days of Flaxman. Not to mention living men, a very respectable array of names 389 SCULPTURE, PRACTICE OF may bo selected from the list of deceased sculp- tors: Sir Francis Chantrey (1782-1841) ; Sir Richard Westmacott(1775-1856); J.C.F. Rossi (1762-1839); Samuel Joseph (1791-1850); Richard Wyatt (1795-1850); John Hogan (1802-58); Benjamin Wyon (1802-58) ; M. L. Watson (1804-47) ; John Gibson (1780-1866), and Matthew Cotes Wyatt (1778-1862), the sculptor of the equestrian bronzes of George III. in Cockspur Street and of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner, the last the most absurdly placed monument in Europe. For a general history of modern sculpture the reader is referred to the illustrated work of Count Cicognara, — ' The History of Sculpture from its rise in Italy to the century of Canova, to serve as a continuation of the works of Winckelmann and of D'Agincourt.' Sculpture, Practice of. The work of the sculptor is generally limited to modelling in clay; from this model a plaster cast is taken, and from the cast the marble figure is copied by carvers aided by the pointing machine. A model as large as the intended figure or group is first made in clay. It is placed on a stand or banker with revolving top called the sculptor's easel ; and the general form is got out with the hand and fingers, small box-wood or wire tools being made use of to shape the parts that the fingers cannot reach. The clay is kept moist, to prevent its shrinking, till the model is completed. The model is then moulded in plaster of Paris, before it begins to dry, whence a matrix is formed, into which plaster is introduced; and the matrix being broken away from it, the model in clay is thu» transferred into one of plaster. This becomes the standard from which the artist takes all the measurements for the figure he is about to execute. The block of marble and the model being now placed on stands, with a graduated rod, which moves on a frame perpendicular to it, and has a point attached to it which can be made to advance and recede at pleasure, certain prominent points are selected and marked in the model, and their distance measured on the frame longitudinally and vertically, and also the distance that the point on the rod is advanced or receded in order to touch a given point. This being found on the outside of the rough block, the particular point is drilled down to as great a distance as was measured in the model. This operation being repeated for a great number of points, the surface is worked away to all the several points found as above, till at last it assumes the general form of the model. As the sculptor approaches the surface which is to be left when finished, more caution and finer tools become necessary, till at length it is brought into a state for his finishing touches. This purely mechanical process of bringing the shapeless block into something like the form which it is ultimately to bear is performed by workmen, thus effecting a great saving of the artist's labour and time [Modelling ; AVax Modelling.] SCUPPER Scupper (Span, escupir). A hole in a ship's deck or side to carry off the rain or water shipped. Means should he at hand to plug scuppers when the ship rolls them below the surface. Scurvy (Low Lat. scorbutus). This disease, once so common in our navy, is now of very rare occurrence. It generally appears to be connected with debilitating causes, and espe- cially with unwholesome food, want of exercise, cold and moisture. It begins with indolence, sallow looks, and loss of strength and spirits; the gums become spongy, the teeth loose, the breath fetid ; livid eruptions appear on different parts of the body, known as petechia and vibices, and at length the patient sinks under general emaciation, diarrhoea, and haemorrhages. In the prevention and cure of this disease, much is effected by attention to diet and cleanliness. Fresh vegetables, farinaceous sub- stances, and brisk fermented liquors, good air, and due exercise, are among the principal remedial means. Acids, and especially lemon juice, have been much extolled. S outage (Lat. scutum, a shield). In Feudal Law, scutage was a commutation for personal service in foreign wars, paid by military tenants : made general in England, under Henry II. in 1159. [Escuage.] Scutate (Lat. scutatus, from scutum, a shield). In Zoology, when a surface is pro- tected by large scales. Scutellum (Lat. scutum). In Botany, a term used by Gaertner to denote the small cotyledon on the outside of the embryo of wheat, inserted a little lower down than the other more perfect cotyledon, which is pressed close to the albumen. Also the shields of some kinds of Lichens, as Parmelia. Scutibranchians (Lat. scutum ; branchiae, gills). A name given by Cuvier to an order of hermaphrodite Gastropodous Molluscs, in- cluding those which have the gills covered with a shell in the form of a shield. Scutigers (Lat. scutum; gero, / carry). The name of a genus of unequal-legged Chilo- podous Myriapods, which frequent houses and out-buildings in the South of Europe, and prey upon insects, wood-lice, and other small creatures. Scutipeds (Lat. scutum, and pes, a foot). The name given by Scopoli to one of the divisions in his binary system of orni- thology, including those birds which have the anterior part of the leg covered with seg- ments of unequal horny rings terminating on each side in a groove. Scuttle (A.-Sax. scyttel, Span, escotilla, Fr. ecoutille). An easily closed opening in the ship's side or deck to admit light or air, or for communication. To scuttle the decks, implies to cut holes to let the water down from them into the hold, as in the case of fire. To scuttle a vessel, is to cut a hole in her for the purpose of sinking her. Scuttle Butt. A cask of water with a large holo in it placed for use in a ship. 390 SEA ! Scutum (Lat.). The shield of the Roman heavy-armed legionaries : made of wood, de- ' fended with plates of iron, and covered with leather. It was either oval or of semi-cylin- drical shape. In the centre was a boss of brass or iron, projecting from the shield. From this word is derived the modern term Esquire. Scylla (Gr. 2kvAA.cc). In Greek Mythology, a daughter of Nisus, king of Megara. When Minos came from Crete to take vengeance for the death of his son Androgeos, his efforts to take the city were fruitless as long as the purple lock on the head of Nisus remained [ unshorn. Urged by her love for Minos, Scylla cut off the fatal lock, and with it destroyed . the life of her father and the safety of the I city. According to one version, Minos tied Scylla to the stern of his ship and drowned ' her ; but another tale says that she was j changed into a fish which Nisus, transformed into an eagle, constantly pursued. The myth was localised in the names of the port of Nisaea and the promontory Scyllaeum. The Odyssey (xii. 73, &c.) speaks of another Scylla, a daughter of Crataeis, as a monster with twelve feet, six necks, and six mouths, each containing three rows of teeth. This being haunted a rock on the Italian coast; a neighbouring rock being tenanted by Cha- rybdis, who thrice every day swallowed the waters of the sea, and thrice threw them xip again. Like Medusa, Scylla is represented in some legends as having been beautiful, and as having been changed into a monster through the jealousy of Circe or Amphitrite. Scyphus (Lat. ; Gr. onvf Lutrine Oarnivora, the fur of which is much sought after, and whose toes are webbed together to a greater extent than in the true otters. [Lutra.] Sea-pink. One of the names of the Thrift, Armeria vulgaris. Sea-serpent. This word, with the com- mon prefix Great, represents the idea of a sur- face-swimming, air-breathing, marine animal, of a snake-like shape and undulatory motion, variously reported by alleged eye-witnesses as being from 100 to 600 feet in length; and, by most, as having a mane. The best attested instance is that which was said by several in- dependent witnesses to have been seen off the island of Stronsa, in the Orkneys, in 1808. Their reports on affidavit before the local autho- rities are embodied in the paper by Dr. Barclay in the first volume of the Wernerian Transac- tions of Edinburgh. In this paper that anato- mist gave an account of the vertebrae of the supposed animal which had been cast upon the rocky shore of the island during a great storm, shortly after its appearance off the coast had alarmed the fishermen. Two of the vertebrae had been fortunately sent to the museum of the London College of Surgeons ; their true nature was recognised by Owen, and described in his catalogue of the Osteology in the Museum (4to vol. i. p. 98, 1 853) as vertebrae of the great bask- ing shark (Selache maxima, Cuv.). The appear- ance, interpreted as the sea-serpent, had been caused by the alternate rise and fall, on the sur- face of the sea, of the dorsal fins of two indi- viduals, probably male and female, of the bask- ing shark, closely following each other. Both had been driven ashore by the storm ; and, being afterwards discovered in a decomposed state, their back-bones were put together lengthwise, as of one animal, by the fishermen, making a total of upwards of sixtv feet in length. "392 Many and divers are the phenomena at sea which recall the preconceived notion of the great sea-serpent ; and, viewed in that frame of mind, a distance too great for accurate ob- servation, leave a conviction of the marvel which is testified to in good faith. Whenever the monster has been closely approached or cap- tured, it has turned out to be other than was supposed. Captain Sir James C. Boss, in his antarctic voyage, ordered out a boat to ap- proach and if possible kill and capture what seemed to him, his officers, and crew, to be a veritable sea-serpent. It proved to be the great sea-elephant, Phoca ( Cystophora)probosci- deus, nearly thirty feet in length, but leaving a strong wake of more than twice that length through the powerful action of the tail-pro- peller. In other instances, the supposed sea- serpent has proved to be a succession of gram- puses or porpoises tumbling in line, one after another, and deceiving the eye as a continuous undulatory body, when first seen at a distance ; or it has been found to be a log or spar covered with barnacles and sea-weed, which, lifted by the waves and falling, represented the mane of the preconceived monster. Professor Owen's letter in the Times of May 10, 1849, ' On the sea-serpent alleged to have been seen by Capt. McQuhae, of H.M.S. Daedalus,' gave a blow to the animal from which it has never recovered. Since the publication of his recommendation in the Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry {Zoology), the accounts of the true causes of the appearance have multiplied, and the news- paper paragraphs of the fabulous cause have grown scarce. 'When an object is seen afloat, attracting notice by its magnitude or other peculiarity, and is not captured, its nearest approach to the ship, its mode, course, and rate of progression, and the parts actually recognisable, should he noted at the time with the utmost accuracy. If practi- cable, a boat should be put off for close ob- servation . If the observer has not the zoological knowledge, or the opportunity for exact in- spection, requisite for determining the species from the phenomena, he should abstain from giving the object any special name. Supposing it to be an animal, a shot fired, if it do not hit, may so alarm the creature as to cause some sudden movement which may reveal more of its true nature ' (p. 50). This recommendation should be followed in all cases of phenomena simulating the great krakens and sea-serpents. Nevertheless, sea-serpents do exist : they even abound in some localities in the tropics ; they belong to the genus Hydrus or Hydrophis, and are distinguished from land serpents by their compressed tail, which thus becomes a swim- ming organ. The species are commonly from two feet to four feet in length ; rarely, ap- proaching to ten feet. There is no a priori reason why such sea-serpents should not rival or sur- pass the whale in length : but, owing to the long and large lung-like air-bladder which, as serpents, they would possess, they would usually float some time after death : and it is hardly SEA-SICKNESS conceivable that some of the vertebrae should not have been met with on the coasts of Ame- rica or Norway, whore (according to Pontop- pidian and Hans Egede) the monster has been most commonly witnessed, if it had ever existed as a species, represented by the numerous in- dividuals of countless successive generations since creation. The fishes which, after selachc, have been found to raise the notion of the sea- serpent, are those of the tsenioid family or riband-fishes ; of which the species called Gymnetrus Banksii has furnished specimens of nearly 20 feet in length, cast ashore on the coast of Durham and Northumberland. The idea that some lingering representatives of Mesozoic sea-reptiles {Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosau- rus) may have originated the notion of the great sea-serpent, has been entertained by some who were ignorant of the laws of palaeontology. Sea-sickness. Nausea and retching, which attack most persons on first going to sea ; sometimes continuing only a day or two, but often lasting the whole of a long voyage. In some persons its violence is prevented by small doses of opium or by soda water, or saline draughts in the effervescent state. Liniments and plaisters containing opium ap- plied to the pit of the stomach have also been recommended, as mitigating, or even preventing, this most annoying malady. The violence of the attacks not only varies in different individuals at different times, but the same person who escapes in one voyage may suffer severely in another. Dr. John Chapman, who has recently proposed the ap- plication of ice to the back as a remedy for this malady, holds that the proximate cause of sea-sickness consists in an undue amount of blood in the nervous centres along the back, and especially in the segments of the spinal cord related to the stomach, and the muscles concerned in vomiting. {Func- tional Diseases of the Stomach, part i. ; Sea- sickness, its Nature and Treatment, London, Triibner, 1864.) This excess of blood can, he maintains, be reduced by the application of ice, which is a direct sedative to the spinal cord, if placed immediately over it, by lessening its functional and especially its automatic or excito-motor power. This remedy, which Dr. Chapman states has been applied with singular success in cases of sea-sickness, he believes to be likewise applicable in other diseases which have hitherto more or less baffled medical treatment. Sea-thongs. One of the names for the British alga Himanthalia lorea. Sea-trumpet. The common name for the alga Ecklonia buccinalis. Sea-unicorn. The colloquial name for the narwhal {Monoccros), a large species of true Cetacean, in which one of the canine teeth in the upper jaw is extraordinarily developed, and forms a spear-like bone of a spiral form used by the narwhal as a powerful weapon. Sea-urchin. The name generally applied to the different species of Echinus. 393 SEAL, GREAT Sea-weeds. [Algjis.] Sea-wolf. The Anarrhichas lupus, a fish, is often so called in reference to its powerful teeth and its destructive carnassial habits. Sea-wrack. The sea-weed thrown up by the tide, and collected by farmers and others for the purpose of manuring cultivated land. The name is also applied to Zostera marina. Seal (Fr. sceau, or seel ; Lat. sigillum, dim. of signum). In Gem Sculpture, a stamp cut or sunk on stone, capable of yielding an impression to any soft substance. When a gem is selected for cutting, it is put into the hands of the lapidary to reduce it to shape and smoothness. It is then fixed with mastic to a piece of wood to serve as a handle, and the subject is sketched upon it with a copper point or a diamond. The tool is a lathe somewhat resembling a turning lathe, and into the end of the spindle points, knobs, or circles can be inserted. The gem is then applied to the end of one of these tools, according to the nature of the cutting required, wetted with diamond-dust and olive oil, and by frequent working the subject is wrought. Frequent impressions are of course taken during the progress, to show the excesses or defects. These, however, are not necessary in working cameos, because the prominences are obvious to the eye. The tools are soft iron or copper ; and the powder of the ruby, or other hard stones, is often substituted for diamond powder. Seat. (A.-Sax. seol). In Zoology, the Eng- lish name for a genus of Marine Carnivorous Mammiferous Quadrupeds, otherwise called Phocidcs. The variety of seals is very great, and they are found in great numbers in the seas round Spitzbergen, and on the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland. The species {Phoca mtulina) which frequents the British shores is well known, and has been repeatedly described. Seals are principally hunted for their oil and skins. When taken in the spring of the year, at which time they are fattest, a full-grown seal will yield from eight to twelve gallons of oil, and a small one from four to five gallons. The oil, when extracted before putrefaction has com- menced, is beautifully transparent, free from smell, and not unpleasant in its taste. The skin, when tanned, is extensively employed in the making of shoes ; and when dressed with the hair on, serves for the covering of trunks, &c. The seals of the southern hemi- sphere have the fins better developed and more serviceable for motion on land than those of the northern hemisphere. [Fisheries.] Seal, Great. All charters, commissions, grants of land, franchise, liberties, &c, letters patent and letters close, of the king, pass the great seal. The course formerly was, that a grant, or letters patent, passed by bill ; which was prepared by the attorney or solicitor general under warrant from the king. It was then subscribed at foot with the sign manual, and sealed with the privy signet. In this stage it was next, in some cases, taken directly to pass the great seal ; in other cases, an SEAL, PRIVY extract of the bill was taken to the keeper j of the privy seal, who made out a writ or | warrant thereupon to the chancery, where it I passed the great seal. Thus the sign manual j was a warrant to the privy seal, and that to the great seal. There were, however, some grants which only passed through certain offices, as the Admiralty or Treasury, under the sign manual, requiring neither privy nor great seal. By a recent act, however (stat. 14 & 15 Vict. c. 82), the practice of passing instruments under the great seal was sim- plified, and power given to the Lord Chancellor to make regulations with respect thereto. The custody of the great seal is now always en- trusted to the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, that great officer being constituted by the mere delivery of the great seal into his hands, without patent or other formality. In earlier times the offices of Lord Chan- cellor and of Lord Keeper of the great seal were occasionally distinct, but by 5 Eliz. c. 18 the keeper of the great seal has the same place and jurisdiction as the Lord Chancellor ; since that statute, therefore, these offices cannot exist at the same time in different persons. The office of Lord Keeper has occasionally been re- vived in more recent times; the last Lord Keeper was Sir Robert (afterwards Lord) Henley, in 1757. When, as sometimes happens, the office of Lord Chancellor is put into commission, the great seal is entrusted to the chief com- missioner. The seals of Scotland and Ireland are still in use for some purposes. Seal, Privy. [Seax, Great.] Some instru- ments of minor consequence pass the privy seal only. The keeper of the seal is now an officer of state, with the title of Lord Privy Seal. By 14 & 15 Vict. c. 82, the offices of clerks of the signet and privy seal were abolished. Sealing-wax. The wax used for sealing letters, legal instruments, &c. The best red sealing-wax is made by melting in a very gentle heat 48 parts of shell-lac with 19 of Venice turpentine and 1 of Peruvian balsam ; 32 parts of the finest cinnabar, thoroughly levigated, are then stirred in, and the whole well mixed. When it has cooled down, it is either rolled into sticks, or shaped in brass moulds. The best black sealing-wax is a mix- ture of 60 parts of shell-lac and 30 of ivory black : it may be perfumed with a little Peru balsam or styrax. The earliest application of sealing-wax to its present use seems to have been made about the year 1553. The first printed account of it is said by Berzelius to have appeared in 1563. The great soals applied in tin boxes to certain legal documents are made of a mixture of 15 parts Venice turpentine, 5 of olive oil, and 8 of wax melted together, aaid coloured with red lead. Seaman. A man brought up to the sea, and capable of discharging the duties of that life. A complete seaman is called an able seaman, and is rated A.B. ; one less competent, an ordinary seaman ; and a man fresh from 391 SECALE the shore, a landsman or ordinary seaman of the second class. The conditions upon which seamen are to be hired for merchant vessels, with their privileges and obligations, are regulated by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, &c. Wages are contingent on the success of the voyage; loss of a ship or capture by an enemy consequently exonerates the owners from liability for the wages of their seamen. For the Koyal Navy the engagement of sea- men takes place under the provisions of the Mutiny Act for the time being. The reader will find in the Com. Diet, full particulars respecting the enrolment, wages, and in short all the statistics of seamen. Seams (Ger. saum). In a ship, the spaces between the edges of planks : these are caulked with oakum, and then covered with pitch. Seams. In Geology, thin layers which sepa- rate thicker strata. Beds of coal are sometimes called seams. Search, Rig-tit of, or more accurately of Visit and Search. In International Law, in time of war, right of search is defined to be the right of a belligerent to 'visit, to search, and to detain for search ' every vessel, not being a ship of war, which he meets with on the ocean. It can be exercised only by a vessel commissioned by the authority of the state to which it belongs, whether man-of-war or privateer. The right of search in time of peace, to ascertain the nationality of a vessel, with a view to detecting piracy and slave trading, has been the subject of much controversy. (Phillimore, International Law, part x. eh. iii.) Search Warrant. In Law, a warrant granted by a justice of the peace, to search for goods stolen, or respecting which other offences have been committed. The warrant is granted on the oath of a credible witness, that he has 'reasonable cause to suspect' the goods to be in the possession and on the premises of a certain individual (24 & 25 Vict. c. 96). Seasons (Fr. saisons). The four quarters of the year — spring, summer, autumn, winter. The seasons are considered as beginning re- spectively when the sun enters the signs Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn; so that the spring season commences about the 21st of March, summer about the 22nd of June, autumn about the 23rd of September, and winter about the 23rd of December. Sebaceous Glands (Lat. sebaceus, from sebum, suet). Small cuticular glands which secrete a greasy matter, serving to protect and soften the skin and cuticle. Sehacic iLcid (Lat. sebum). One of the acids produced during the destructive distilla- tion of fat. Sehestens. The dried fruits of Cordia Myo:a and C. latifolia, which have long been used as a medicine in India. Secale (Lat.). A genus of cereal grasses, to which belongs the Eye, 8. cereale, a corn- plant commonly cultivated for its nutritious grain, the flour of which forms an inferior kind SECANT .of bread. According to Karl Koch, Rye is found wild on the mountains of the Crimea, at an elevation of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, its ears in such places being not more than from one to two and a half inches long. In this country it is the most limited of our corn crops. The name of 8. cornutum is sometimes given to Ergot of Rye, which is a black horn- like spur, into which the seeds or grains are changed as the result of disease. The same thing occurs in other grasses. In rye some of these spurs are as much as an inch in length, whilst in Lolium or Ray grass they seldom attain to half this size, and in smaller grasses the ergot is in proportion to the size of the seed. The Ergot of Rye has long been known as pre- vailing to a considerable extent in countries where rye is grown for bread, and some dreadful maladies are reported to have arisen where it has been ground with flour. Where it occurs amongst pasture grasses, its more immediate effect upon gravid animals appears to be the procuring of abortion ; and as one of the com- moner grasses, in which it occurs probably to a greater extent than in any other of our native species, is the Lolium perenne, which is always ' found to be largely mixed with all good pas- tures, it becomes a matter of importance to look well to a meadow in autumn before turning in cows, as there is too much reason to believe that abortion is somewhat frequent from a want of i care in this respect. The quantity of ergot in almost any native species of grass growing in low damp meadows is quite astonishing ; and even uplands are not without a considerable proportion if they have sufficient altitude to attract atmospheric vapours. Where and when t it prevails there is much evidence to show that it is not advisable to depasture ; but in cases of necessity the skimming over the bents with the scythe before the admission of cattle is a plan which might obviously be adopted with advantage. [Ergot, Ergotism.] Secant (Lat. seco, / cut). In Geometry, any right line which cuts a figure. A tangent is the limiting position of a secant when two points of intersection coincide. In Trigonometry, the secant of an arc is the line drawn from the centre of the circle through one of the extremi- ties of the arc to meet the tangent at the other extremity. The secant of an angle is the reci- procal of the cosine. Seeeders. [Burghers.] Secession (Lat. secessio, a going aside). In Politics, the act of a portion of a community (or, in common parlance, of a party in deli- berative assemblies) who separate from con- nection with the remainder, and endeavour to form a body apart. The term had its first ap- plication in the instance of the alleged secession of the Roman plebeians to the Mons Sacer, as a protest against the usurpation of the patricians. In modern times, it has come into popular use from a great recent example — the act of the so-called Confederate States in seceding from the American Union. The main argument £95 SECOND used in favour of this proceeding was, that the constitution of 1787, while declaring that ' Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and inde- pendence,' contains no provision directly qualify- ing this doctrine by maintaining the inviolability of the Union ; and. that, consequently, the right of secession is implied in the term sovereignty ; while the previous articles of confederation, superseded by the constitution, had contained the words 1 the union shall be perpetual,' which it was reasonable to infer had been purposely abandoned. The answer ordinarily made was that the Union was in the nature of a league, implying mutual abandonment of rights in their very nature inconsistent with the existence of such union : and that there was no more occa- sion to prohibit, expressly, the repudiation by a state of the compact thus made, than to prohibit the secession of a county, a township, or an individual. See the argument on the Confede- rate side as stated by Sir. Spence, in his work on the American Union, 1862. Seen mm (a word coined from Gr. , / bear). A term mostly used synonymously with telegraph, but which, as its derivation imports, may be applied to any means employed to communicate intelligence by signals. [Tele- graph.] Seme (Fr. sown). In Heraldry, a term employed to describe a field or charge pow- dered or strewed over with figures, such as stars, billets, crosses, &c. Semecarpus. A genus of Indian trees belonging to the Anacardiacew, one species, 8. Anacardium, being the Marking-nut tree of India. The thick fleshy receptacle bearing this fruit is of a yellow colour when ripe, and is roasted and eaten by the natives. The unripe fruit is employed for making a kind of ink, and when pounded serves to form a kind of bird- lime. The hard shell is permeated by an acrid corrosive juice, which is employed externally in rheumatic affections, as well as for destroy- ing warts, but its acridity sometimes causes much inflammatory swelling. This juice, when mixed with quicklime, is employed to mark cotton or linen with an indelible mark. When 403 SEMINARY dry, it forms a black varnish, much used in India; and amongst other purposes it is em- ployed, mixed with pitch and tar, in the caulking of ships. The seeds, called Malacca-beans or Marsh-nuts, are eaten, and are said to stimulate the mental powers. From them an oil is pro- cured, which is used in painting. Semeiotic (Gr. (ttiiji.€icotik6s, from arj^of, a sign). That which relates to the signs or symptoms of diseases. Semele (Gr.). In Greek Mythology, a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and sister of Agave. [Pentheus.] In the Theban legend, she was beloved by Zeus ; and Hera, moved by jealousy, appeared before her in the form of her nurse Beroe, and incited her to demand from Zeus a manifestation of his splendour when next he came to visit her. Zeus, being already under promise to give whatever she might ask, granted her prayer ; and Semele was accord- ingly scorched by the lightnings, while Dionysus, her child, was born amidst the flames. The La- conian version relates that, after giving birth to Dionysus, she was (like Danae, the mother of Perseus) cast forth in a boat, and that her body was thrown up lifeless on the coast near Brasise, where Dionysus was brought up. Semen Contra (Lat.). The Pharmaceu- tical name for a drug composed of the dried leaves and flower-heads of Artemisia Sieberi, and some allied species. It is a celebrated vermifuge. Semen cince, or Semencine, is a drug of similar character, obtained from several species of the same genus. Semi-Arians. A branch of the Arians, who denied the o/xoovtriov, or consubstantiality of the Son with the Father ; but admitted the 6/j.oiov(rioi>, or similarity of substance. [Arians ; Homoousians.] Semi-cubical Parabola. [Parabola, Semi-cubical.] Semi-Pelagians. The Semi-Pelagians differ from the Pelagians in maintaining the necessity of the divine grace towards the prac- tice of virtue ; but at the same time conceive that this grace may be obtained by an effort of the human will. (Milman's Latin Christianity, book ii. chap, ii.) Semi-regular Polyhedrons. [Poly- hedron.] Semibreve. In Music, a note whose length is half that of a breve. It is the longest note generally used in modern music, and is the integer whose fractions are usually adopted to express the length of other notes. Semicircle. In Geometry, the half of a circle ; or the figure bounded by the diameter and half the circumference. Semicolon. [Punctuation.] Semidiameter. In Geometry, half of the diameter ; or the part of the diameter of any figure comprehended between the centre and the extremity of the diameter. Semimetal. A term applied by the old chemists to the brittle metals. Seminary (Fr. seminaire). In the lan- guage of the Eoman Catholic Church, an esta- D D 2 SEMINVARIANT blishment for the maintenance of missionaries intended to be employed in the conversion of infidels and heretics. The chief of all semi- naries is that at Eome, entitled also the Apo- stolical College, but best known under the title of the Seminary or College ' for the Propagation of the Faith.' It was founded by Pope Urban VIII., through the exertions, chiefly, of a Spanish ecclesiastic, Juan-Baptista Vires, of Valencia, in the first half of the seventeenth century. The ' Seminarists ' maintained in this establishment are afterwards employed under the direction of the Congregation of Cardinals for the propaga- tion of the faith ; as are those of various minor colleges established in Eome for the benefit of particular nations and races. The word semi- nary has since passed into ordinary use for a variety of educational establishments for the clerical order. In France the greater or dio- cesan seminaries are collegiate institutions ; the little seminaries are secondary schools ; and all are under the special superintendence of the episcopal authorities. Seminvariant. The coefficient of the highest power of one of the faeients in the co- variant of a quantic. Thus the quadri-cova riant quartic or Hessian of the binary quartic (a 0 , a 1} a 2 , « 3 , a^x, y)* being (a 0 a 2 — a 1 2 , 2a 0 a 3 — 2a 1 a 2 , a 0 a 4 + 2a 1 a 3 — 3« 2 2 , 2«i« 4 — 2a 2 a 3 , a 2 a 4 — a 3 2t %x, y)\ a o a 2~ fl i 2 i s a seminvariant of that quartic, as also is a 2 a± — a 3 2 . To understand the appro- priateness of the term, it must be remembered that, according to Prof. Cayley's definition, an invariant is any function of the coefficients of a quantic which is reduced to zero by each of the operators which, for the original quantic, are equivalent to y^ and arjL [Invariant.] Now, a seminvariant is reduced to zero by one, but not by the other, of these operators. (Sal- mon's Higher Algebra, p. 75.) In the above case, these operators are °da x d . d _ d . + 2a,-,— + 3c/ 2 + 4a. ± da« d d « d . ■• ' d . a.-y - + 2a, + 3a 2 j— +■ 4a 1 4 da 3 3 da 2 *da x 1 da 0 respectively. These functions were originally termed peninvarietnts by Brioschi ; the more appropriate term seminvariant appears to have been proposed by Cayley. Seminymph. Lyonnet so calls the nymphs of those insects which undergo but slight changes in passing to the perfect or imago stage. Semiopal. A silicious mineral, nearly re- sembling the Common Opal, but differing from it in being harder and more opaque, in exhi- biting a less perfect conchoidal fracture, and in the muddiness of its colours. It is found at Okehampton in Devonshire, and in Cornwall at Huel Buller and near St. Ives and St. Just. 404 SEMIKAMIS AND N1NUS Semipalmate (Lat. semi, half, and palma a pxihn). In Zoology, when the toes are con- nected together by a web extending along only their proximal half. The term semi being frequently used in the composition of zoo- logical terms with the same meaning, it is only requisite to refer to the term to which it is prefixed. Semiquadrate or Semiquartile. In the language of Astrology, an aspect of the planets when distant from each other half a right angle, or 45°. The terms semiquintile and scmisextile have a similar meaning ; the first denoting the half of a fifth of the com- plete circle, that is, 36°; and the second the half of a sixth, or 30°. Semiquaver. In Music, a note whose duration is half that of a quaver. Semiramis and Ninus. In Mythology, the founders of the Assyrian Empire of Nine- veh. According to Herodotus (i. 184), Semi- ramis reigned five generations before Nitocris, whom he represents as the wife of Labynetus, the father of the king of the same name who was reigning at Babylon when it was taken by Cyrus. According to Ctesias, she was the wife of Ninus, from whom Nineveh received its name. In the chronology of Berosus, she follows a series of dynasties consisting of Median, Chaldsean, and other kings. But, in truth, the attempt to assign a historical date or character either to Semiramis or to Ninus is as much labour lost as the effort to fix the date of the birth of the nine Muses, or the death of Medusa. ' Ninus and • his queen Semiramis,' says Sir Gr. Cornewall Lewis, ' appear to be purely fabulous beings. The name of Ninus is derived from the city; he is the eponymous king and founder of Nineveh, and stands to it in the same relation as Tros to Troy, Modus to Media, Perseus to Persia, jEgyptus to Egypt, Lydus to Lydia, Mseon to Mseonia, Romulus to Rome. His conquests and those of Semiramis are as unreal as those of Sesostris. It is the characteristic of these fabulous conquerors, that, although they are reported to have over- run and subdued many countries, the history of those countries is silent on the subject. Sesostris is related to have conquered Assyria ; and the king of Assyria was doubtless one of those whom he harnessed to his chariot. But the history of Assyria makes no mention of Sesostris. Semiramis is related to have con- quered Egypt ; but the history of Egypt makes no mention of Semiramis.' {Astronomy of the Ancients, 408.) It is scarcely worth while to notice the version of Dinon and other writers, that Semiramis was a courtesan, who, becoming the wife of Ninus, persuaded him to entrust, her for five days with supreme power, of which she availed herself to put him to death and to establish her own dominion. It is more perti- nent to remark that her mythical history pre- sents features closely resembling the tales of Paris, (Edipus, Perseus, Telephus, Cyrus, Romulus, Chandragupta, and other heroes and founders of dynasties. She is said to have SEMIRAM1S AND NINUS SEMUNCIA been a daughter of the fish- goddess Dcrceto of Ascalon, by whom she was exposed in her infancy. She was saved by doves, as Iamos was preserved by serpents, Paris by a she-bear, Romulus and Cyrus by a wolf or a dog. Like these, again, she is brought aip by a shepherd, until her beauty attracts Onnes, one of the king's generals, who marries her. Ninus on seeing her is also captivated by her charms, and Onnes thereupon slays himself. In later traditions, her fame altogether eclipsed that of Ninus ; she became the founder of Babylon, the builder of tombs more than a mile in height. To her were ascribed all those works of a prehistoric age, which may be classed with the cloacae and other great works of ancient Rome ; and, having performed wonders during her life, she vanishes from earth, like Romulus and Heracles, and wings her way to heaven in the form of a dove. In other legends, she comes forth in a cha- racter very different from that of an Amazonian queen. In these tales she is the counterpart of Aphrodite, the lover of Adonis (or Tham- muz), and is said to have initiated the use of eunuchs, and introduced the marriage of mothers and sons. She is, in short, Astarte, the coarse Oriental ideal of the being whom Living Languages Dialects of Arabic, Amharic. + ,, the Jews. + + + Neo-Syriac. + Semitone (Or. rnxirdviou). In Music, the half of a tone. Strictly speaking, this is not a proper definition of it, inasmuch as semitones are of different lengths, according to their nature. A diatonic semitone is when the name of the note changes, as, for example, from C to D\y , or from B to C ; a chromatic semitone is when the note is merely altered by a sharp or a flat, as from C to Ctt , or from D to Dfr . Semivowel. This term is applied to those consonants which, like vowels, can be pro- nounced independently, or without the aid of any other letter. To this class belong b, d, c, g, k, p, s, t, v, x, and z. Semnopitkecus (Gr. a-e/xvSs, venerable, and Tri6r)Kos, an ape). A genus of long-tailed Catarrhine monkeys, distinguished by the complex stomach, long canines, and the more obtuse facial angle from the other Guenous. The species of this genus are all found in India, where Semnopithecus Entcllus (Hoonu- man, or sacred monkey) has been deified. The slaughter of this animal, even by accident, is punished with severity under the Hindu laws. Semo Sancus. In Mythology, the name of a Roman god, said to have been originally 405 the Greek described as Anadyomene, the child of the bright sea-foam. Semitic Slanguages. The name of that family of languages which is composed of the Aramaic, Hebraic, and Arabic dialects. The first of these branches is known to us chiefly through the Syriac and Chaldee. The Hebraic is represented chiefly by the ancient language of Palestine, the speech of the Jews being most closely allied to that of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. The oldest documents of the third or Arabic branch are the Himyaritic inscriptions : this branch includes the Ethiopic or Gees, and the Arabic dialects. The gram- matical framework of these languages is quite distinct from that of the Aryan languages ; but the most salient point of contrast is per- haps furnished by the fact that the roots of the Semitic dialects, ' as far back as we know them, must consist of three consonants,' many words being ' derived from these roots by a simple change of vowels, leaving the conso- nantal skeleton as much as possible intact.' (Max Muller, Lectures on Language, first series, lecture viii.) The following is given by Professor Max Muller as the genealogical table of the Semitic family of languages : — IG CD o" Sabine. The name Sancus, as connected with Sancire, points to his relation to law or an oath ; and hence he was looked on as presiding over the laws of nations, hospitality, &c. The name Semo is thought by some to be a con- traction for semihomo ; but this, although possible, cannot be proved. Semolina (Ital. ; Fr. semoule). A granular preparation of wheat, used in cookery. Sempervivum (Lat. living always). A genus of succulent shrubby or herbaceous plants belonging to the Crassulacece, and allied to Seclum, from which they are distinguished by having about twelve petals, and the glands at the base of the ovaries laciniated if present. 8. tectorum, the Common Houseleek, is a well- known plant, with thick fleshy leaves arranged in the form of a double rose. It is commonly to be met with on the tops of outhouses and cottages, and is considered to possess cooling properties. 8. ccespitosum has been known to re- main alive in an herbarium for eighteen months, and, when subsequently planted, to grow. Semuncia (Lat.). A small Roman coin, equivalent to half an ounce, being l-24th of the Roman pound. Dead Languages Ethiopic . . . ' .. ... Himyaritic Inscriptions . Biblical Hebrew . . . . . Samaritan Pentateuch (third century a.d.) Carthaginian, Phoenician Inscriptions Chaldee (Masora, Talmud, Targum, Biblical Chaldee) Syriac (Peshito, second century a.d.) Cuneiform Inscriptions of Babylon and Nineveh Classes Arabic or Southern. Hebraic or Middle. Aramaic or Northern. SENATE SENEGAL HOOT Senate (Lat. senatus ; i. e. assembly of elde>-s). The deliberative assembly of the Roman people. The members of this council were originally chosen from the patricians, and were probably single representatives of each of the houses of that order: a plebeian senator is first mentioned A. u. c. 355. Romulus is said to have fixed the number at 100, which (the legend says) was doubled on the admission of the Sabines, and increased to 300 by Tarquinius Priscus ; the more ancient members and those admitted by this last king being distinguished by the titles of patres majorum and patres minorum gentium, or senators of the greater and of the lesser houses respectively. In the last ages of the republic, the members of the senate amounted to about 400, and were still further raised by the emperors to 1,000. The members of the senate are said to have been originally chosen by the kings, and afterwards the election fell into the hands of the consuls, military tribunes, and finally of the censors ; but the fact of having held certain magis- tracies, as the qusestorship, and all superior posts, gave a right to this privilege. Under the regal government, the senate, it is said, deliberated on such affairs as the king proposed to them. On the establishment of the republic, the whole power of the state was thrown into its hands, the different magistrates exercising their authority merely as its delegates. The first constitutional check imposed on it was the power of intercession, or negativing their proceedings, granted to the tribunes of the commonalty. Still, while Rome was free, the authority of the senate, though subordinate to the assembly of the people, remained very great. It assumed the guardianship of public religion ; the management of the revenue ; the appointment of governors to the provinces, whose constitution it settled ; the direction of diplomatic affairs; and many other functions of importance. Under the emperors, its power became, in general, little more than nominal ; yet the assembly still existed till the occupation of Italy by the Goths in the thirteenth century after the foundation of Rome ; and in the last ages of its existence, after the seat of empire had been transferred to Byzantium, it seems to have been the centre of what remained of the old national spirit. After that time, its existence as a council ceased, though the name of senator was still retained by some noble families of Rome as an empty but high-sound- ing title. The senatorial badges were the laticlave, or tunic with a purple band, black buskins reaching up to the middle of the leg, and a silver crescent on the foot. The affairs of the Italian and provincial towns of the Roman empire, in imitation of the capital, were administered by senates. See as to these provincial senates, or curiae, Savigny's Hist, of the Roman Law, vol. i. Senate. In many republican constitutions of modern times, the upper house of the national assembly has been so called. The senate of the United States [Congress] is 406 1 I composed of two members for each state of the I Union. The senators are chosen by the state for six years. The American senate, besides its legislative functions, is also a species of executive council, assisting the president ; its consent being necessary for the ratification of treaties, appointment of ambassadors, judges of the supreme court, heads of departments in the administration, &c. It is also the high court of impeachment for public functionaries. Senate was also the title of the upper legis- lative chamber in France under the first em- pire ; and it has been renewed under the second. The senators are named for life, by the emperor; the number not to exceed 150. The constitutional powers of this body are very extensive, as it can interpret the constitution, decide on the legality of enactments, &c, by Senatus-consulta without the concurrence of the Corps Legislatif. Seneca Oil. The name given in some parts of North America to a Petroleum which exudes from the rocks, or floats on the surface of certain springs, after the Seneca Indians, who discovered the oil in Pennsylvania, and used it as a medicine both internally and externally. [Naphtha ; Petroleum.] Senecio (Lat.). A genus of Composites, remarkable as being probably the most exten- sive in point of species in the whole vegetable kingdom. They. are spread over all parts of the globe, nearly 900 different kinds being known to botanists. The Groundsel, S. vul- garis, and the Ragwort or Ragweed, S. Jacobcea, afford a good idea of the appearance of the European species, the most noteworthy of which is perhaps the well-known 8. Cineraria, better known in gardens as Cineraria maritima, extensively used for planting in flower-beds for the sake of contrast with scarlet and other colours, its beautiful foliage being clothed with short white down. The generic name Cineraria is, however, restricted to a few Cape plants, which differ from Scnccio in the achenes of the ray-florets being winged. The beauti- ful early spring-flowering plants cultivated in greenhouses as Cineraria belong to Senecio, and have been obtained by horticulturists by intercrossing with each other a number of the Canary Island species, such as S. populifolias, S. tussaliginis, &c. The deep blue colour of some of the garden forms of these plants is singular in the genus, and not at all common in the family. Senega Root. The root of the "Poly gal a Senega, called Rattlesnake root. It is brought from North America, and has a peculiar pungent flavour, promoting the flow of saliva. In large doses, it nauseates and purges. It is occasionally used in stimulating gargles ; and in America, as an antidote — probably a very inefficient one — to the effects of the bite of the rattlesnake. Its active resinous principle has been termed Senegin, and also polygalic acid. Senegal Root. The diuretic and very bitter root of Coccidus BaJcis. SENEGIN Senegin. The bitter acrid principle of the jPolygala Senega, or Rattlesnake root. Seneschal. A French title of office and dignity (said to be derived from the old Ger- man word senne, house, and schalk, servant), answering to that of steward, or high steward, in England. They were originally the lieute- nants of the dukes and other great feudatories of the kingdom; sometimes termed baillis or bailiffs. When the kings recovered the rights of suzerainty, and especially the judicial au- thority, in those provinces which had been previously governed by these great nobles, the bailiffs and seneschals continued as royal judges and superintendents, both military and financial ; but their powers, like those of the dukes and counts whom they succeeded, were gradually encroached on by the crown. Senna. The leaves of various species of Cassia, as C. obovata, elongata, acutifolia, &c. Large quantities are imported from Alex- andria, whither they are brought' from Upper Egypt. They are largely* mixed with the leaves of Solenostemma Argel, which, however, are thick, and not ribbed like the genuine senna leaves. They have a nauseous, mucila- ginous, bitter taste, and yield a pale brownish- green infusion. The true senna leaves are dis- tinctly ribbed, thin, generally pointed, and when chewed have a peculiar nauseous flavour, and yield a dark brown infusion. It is a griping, nauseating, and somewhat drastic purge, but a valuable addition to, or vehicle for, other pur- gatives. Other kinds are imported from India. [Cassia.] Senna. Various preparations of senna are used medicinally, and several different species of the plant are to be found in the markets supplying the drug. The Alexandrian and the Indian senna are chiefly used in this country. The former is collected in Nubia and Upper Egypt from the Cassia acutifolia and obovata. The latter going by the name of Tinnevelly senna grows in India, but in all probability is only naturalised there. It is the product of Cassia elongata. Senna contains a purgative principle called cathartin, and also an odorous volatile oil. It is an active purga- tive, possessing irritant qualities, and is apt to cause tenesmus and pain unless it be combined with aromatics. Sensation (Lat. sensus, feeling). The act by which the mind receives, through parts of the nervous system, impressions of qualities or conditions of nervous bodies. Sensation is common or special. In its greatest perfection common sensation, or sensibility, constitutes touch. The special kinds are called the Senses. Senses (Lat. sensus). The faculties are so called by which we become acquainted with the properties and states of external things. They are five in number — sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell : for the physiology of which the reader is referred to the articles ; such as Eye, Ear, Smell, &c. [Nervous System.] Dr. Thomas Brown and Sir C. Bell have pro- pounded the doctrine of a sixth sense, called 407 SENSORIUM the muscular sense (our whole muscular frame being supposed to be a distinct organ of sense) — a doctrine to which Dr. Win-well declared his adherence in his Philosophy of the Induc- tive Sciences, &c. Eor an able examination of the phenomena of the senses, see Bain's The Senses and the Intellect. Sensibility. [Sensation; Sensory.] Sensitive Plant. This name is generally applied to a small annual, called Mimosa pudica, inhabiting the tropics of America. It has a stem about a foot and a half high, covered with stiff hairs ; the leaves are bipin- nate in a somewhat digitate manner ; and the flowers are collected in small pink balls. It derives its name from the irritability of its leaves, which collapse and fold up when touched, or even when irritated by casting on them the focus of a burning glass ; or by exposing them to the vapour of hydrocyanic acid. The cause of this irritability has been investigated by Dutrochet (Memoires four servir a VHist. Anat. ct Phys. des Vegetaux, Sec. vol. i. 534), who refers the phenomenon to the action of endosmose, and to the operation of a ' fibrous tissue capable of moving inward under the influence of oxygenation.' The n ature of the phenomena may be thus explained : When the leaf of a sensitive plant is at rest, it consists of many leaflets spreading flat, and connected in pairs along the sides of certain common leaf-stalks. When one of these leaflet s is irritated, the pair to which it belongs rise upward, and apply their faces to each other ; this is rapidly followed by the same action in the succeeding leaflets, and in the course of a few seconds the whole of the leaflets are in a state of collapse ; then the leaf itself suddenly bends downwards ; and if the plant is in very gGod health, the shock thus com- municated to one leaf will extend to those im- mediately above and below it. After a time the leaf resumes its original position. Upon the approach of night, that is to say, upon the withdrawal of light, the leaf falls of itself into the same state, without any special irritation. This kind of irritability is by no means confined to the Mimosa pudica ; on the con- trary, some otjier species of the same genus, as the M. dormiens, sensitiva, casta, somnians, pedpitans, &c, possess the same property, as is indicated by their names. And among the Leguminous order, it is also found beyond the genus Mimosa, as in the Hedysarum gyrans, whose three leaflets are in a continual state of dancing or balancing during the day. In fact, the folding their leaves at night, which is uni- versal in all the compound-leaved species of this order, is the same thing feebly exercised. Nor is such irritability confined to this order ; the ternate and pinnate leaved species of Oxalis, the Bionea muscipida, and numerous other plants, exhibit similar phenomena. Sensorium (Lat. sentio, I feel). A term employed by physiologists for the central seat of sensation or of consciousness. It has been placed by Bontekoe and Lancisi in the corpus SENSORY SEPIA ccdlosum ; by Willis in the corpora striata ; by Descartes in the pineal gland ; by Vieussens in the centrum ovale; by Boerhai-ve in the boundary line of the grey and white substance ; by Mayer in the medulla oblongata ; and by Camper in the pineal gland and corpora qicad- Hgendna. The doctrines of Prochaska, on the contrary, affirm that wherever ganglionic struc- ture exists sensation is also present. The sensorium is consequently coextensive with the nervous centres. Sensory. This term appears to have been first applied by Hartley to those nerves which convey a stimulus to the neural axis or nervous centres with which they are connected, in contradistinction to the nerves which convey a stimulus from the neural axis to the muscles. ' The actions of sneezing, swallowing, coughing, hiccoughing, vomiting, and expelling the faeces and urine ' are to be deduced ' from those vibrations which first ascend up the sensory nerves and then are detached down the motory nerves, which communicate with these by some common trunk, plexus, or ganglion.' ( On Man, vol. i. p. 97.) This class of motions or vibra- tions, now called reflex, Hartley distinguishes from those produced by the transmission of the sensory vibrations to the brain, where they produce sensation, and excite volition ; and the nerves producing the ' first and fourth classes of motory vibrations of Hartley's system ' have been asserted to be anatomically distinct from those that produce sensational and volitional vibrations. The distinction has not been recognised, and anatomists apply the term sensory to those parts of the neural axis with which the sensory nerves are connected, as e.g. the-posterior columns of the myelon, the optic lobes, the thalami and the corpora striata, which are termed sensory ganglions. Sensualism. In Mental Philosophy, that theory which resolves all our mental acts and intellectual powers into various modifications of mere sensation. The best known, and the most elaborate attempt of this kind which has been made in modern times, is that of Condillac, who conceived that he was following out the principles of Locke into their legitimate con- sequences. For this belief it cannot be denied that there exists at least plausible ground. Locke does indeed draw a distinction between sensation and reflection, as separate sources of ideas ; but his account of reflection is too vague to justify the attempt to reduce it to mere revived sensation. The theory opposed to sensualism is called intellectualism. Sentence (Lat. sententia, an opinion). In English Law, the decree or judgment of the ecclesiastical or admiralty courts is so termed; also, in popular language, the judgment of a criminal court allotting the punishment of a convicted person. Sentry or Sentinel (Fr. sentinelle"). The name given to a soldier when posted on guard. Senza (Ital. without). In Music, this term signifies without ; as senza stromenti, without instruments ; senza violini, without violins. 408 Sepals. In Botany, the divisions of that portion of a flower called the calyx. Separate Estate. In Law, this term de- notes property given or settled to the separate use and benefit of a woman, in respect of which equity (as administered in the Court of Chancery) treats her as an unmarried person, and she will consequently (notwithstanding her being mar- ried, or marrying afterwards) be entitled to it independently of her husband and of his debts, control, and engagements, and he will be bound, where necessary, to confirm and give effect to any disposition of it which she may make. It may be acquired either by prenuptial contract or settlement, or by gift or legacy from a husband or any other person. Separatists or EEotazalites. The name of one of the chief sects of the Mohamme- dans. They were the followers of Wasel Ebn Orta, who dissented from the main body of the Mohammedans about the fortieth year of the Hegira. Their leading tenets consisted in rejecting the "eternal attributes of Cod-; in denying the great doctrine of predestina- tion, so zealously cherished by all the ortho- dox Mussulmans ; and in asserting the free agency of man. This sect is said to have been the first inventors of scholastic divinity, and is subdivided into several inferior sects, which mutually brand one another as infidels. (Sale's Koran, Preliminary Discourse, vol. i. p. 212.) The great opponents of the Separatists were the Sefatians, who maintained the eternal attributes of Cod (hence they were called Sefati, or Attributists) ; but who afterwards adopted a belief in the outward resemblance of Cod to created beings. This sect was afterwards sub- divided into various sects, the chief of which were the Asharians, Moshabbehites, Keramians, Jabarians, and Morgians. Separatists. This name was given to a sect of Christians which originated in Dublin about the year 1803. Their principle, like that of most sects at their commencement, was to return more nearly to what they conceived to be the I primitive form of Christianity. In the year 1833 an Act of Parliament was passed for their relief in the matter of oaths. Sepawn or Sepon. Maize-meal boiled in water, used as food in the North American States. Sepia (Gr. the cuttle-fish). In the Fine Arts, a species of pigment prepared from a black juice secreted by certain glands of the sepia or cuttle-fish, which the animal ejects both to darken the water when it is pursued, and as a direct means of annoyance. That this juice was used as ink by the ancients is well known. Tunc queritur, crassus calamo quod pendeat humor, Nigra quod infusa vanescat sepia lympha ; Dilutas queritur geminet quod fistula guttas. Pers. Sat. III. Pliny (Nat. Hist. 1. ii. c. 29) says that it was the property of this fish, when it was enclosed by a net, to shed a black juice which so darkened the water that the fisherman could not see it. All the varieties of the sepia yield this juice ; but the Sepia officinalis, which is so SEFLYDyE SEPTEMVI1II EPULONUM common in the Mediterranean, is chiefly sought after for the colour which it affords. [Murex.] It is insoluble in water, but is extremely dif- fusible through it, and is very slowly deposited. When prepared with caustic lye, it forms a beautiful brown colour with a fine grain, and has given name to a species of drawing now extensively cultivated for landscapes and other branches of the fine arts. The honour of the invention of the sepia drawing is due to Pro- fessor Seidelmann of Dresden, who discovered it at Rome in 1777. Sepiadae (Gr. crrjiria). Cuttle-fish tribe. The name of the family of Decapodous Dibran- chiate Cephalopods, of which the cuttle-fish (Sepia officinalis) is the type. They are cha- racterised by the rudiment of a shell> in the form of a friable calcareous plate, embedded in the back part of the mantle, and of which the material called pounce is made. Sepiola (dim. of sepia, a cuttle-fish). The name of a genus of Decapodous Dibranchiate Cephalopods, of which the species are of small size, and are characterised by short, rounded, advanced subdorsal fins, and a short internal horny style. Sepiolite.** A hydrated silicate of mag- nesia, with nearly the same composition as Talc. It is the Meerschaum of some authors, and the Magnesite of others. Senium. The bone or internal shell of the cuttle-fish. Sepoy (a corruption of the Indian word sipahi, soldier). The designation of the native troops in her majesty's Indian army, formerly in the service of the East India Company. They were so called as early as 1708 (Mill's British India, book iv. ch. 1.), although at that period they do not seem to have been disciplined in the European fashion, nor, indeed, until long after other European powers had set the example. The first sepoys who were raised and regularly disciplined by the English seem to have been carefully chosen either from among the Mohammedan portion of the popu- lation, or from among the higher castes of Hindus, a considerable proportion of the latter being Rajpoots, the most warlike of Indian races ; but the necessities of the service sub- sequently introduced a greater mixture in their ranks. The character of the sepoys as soldiers was always the subject of much dis- cussion ; they have justly been celebrated for excellent qualities ; as, for instance, patience and fortitude under difficulties and privations. But, on the other hand, if we analyse the ac- count of the wars in which they have been employed, we shall find that they seem to have possessed passive rather than active courage; for instance, that in line they remained steady under fire : in a broken or close country, how- ever, where skirmishers and small detachments are necessarily most employed, they were found wanting. The mutinies of Vellore in 1806 and Barrackpore in 1825 should perhaps have shown that the sepoys were not to be trusted in the same manner as European troops ; and 409 the Indian mutiny of 1857-8 ultimately led to the disbandment of a great portion of the native army. The Bengal sepoys, it is well known, had. been in a state of ill-discipline for a long time before the outbreak ; and tho absence on various employments, civil as well as military, of a large number of the officers, prevented their being properly controlled. The Madras sepoys, with few exceptions, re- mained firm to their trust ; and their fidelity did much towards saving the Indian empire. Under a new regime it is to be hoped that many sepoys will never again be collected together without a sufficient force of European troops to hold them in check. It is probable that a certain number of native troops must always be employed in India to perform duties which the climate forbids to Europeans with- out great risk. (Kaye's History of the Sepoy War.) Seps (Lat. ; Gr. (rrj\p, from j7r&>, to putrefy, in reference to the effects of its bite). The name of a genus of Saurian reptiles, which have a long round serpentiform body, and four very short legs, each terminated in the common seps (Seps chedcides) by only three toes. Septaria. Flattened calcareous nodules found in clay, chiefly in the London clay and Kimeridge clay, but also in the Lias and else- where. They are segregations of the more cal- careous portions of a deposit of marly clay, and are not unfrequently (perhaps always) col- lected round some organic body. Once formed, probably while the mass was wet, they have cracked in drying, and the cracks are filled up with crystalline carbonate of lime or calc spar. They are sometimes cut across and polished for ornamental purposes. Their chief use is to grind down, after burning, into hydraulic lime, for which their mixture of argillaceous matter with limestone makes them very valuable. September (Lat. from septem, seven). This month, so called from its being the seventh month in the Roman year, established, as is supposed, by Romulus, is the ninth month in the so-called calendar of Numa. Several of the Roman* emperors gave names to this month in honour of themselves ; but, unlike the months of July and August, the name of September has outlived every other appellation. Septembrists. The name given to the agents in the dreadful massacre which took place in Paris on September 2, 1792, during the French revolution. The numbers that perished in this massacre have been variously given ; but the term has become proverbial throughout Europe for all that is bloodthirsty and malignant in human nature. Septemviri Epnlonum (Lat.). Certain priests in ancient Rome were so called, whose duty consisted in preparing the sacred feasts at games, processions, and on other solemn oc- casions. They were assistants to the pontifices, certain of whose privileges, such as the right of wearing the toga prcetexta, they enjoyed. Their number was raised from three to seven, it is supposed, by Sylla. SEPTENNIAL ACT Septennial Act. The stat. 1 Geo. I. sess. 2 c. 38, providing that the parliament which passed it, and all parliaments that should thereafter be called, might respectively have continuance for seven years, unless sooner dis- solved. Septentrional (Lat. septentrionalis). A word sometimes used to denote the northern portions of the globe. By the name septen- triones, the Latins designated the seven stars which form the constellation of the Great Bear. For the real meaning and history of the term, see Eishis. Septic (Gr. crt)trTiK6s, making rotten). A term applied by the old chemists and physio- logists to certain substances supposed to pro* mote putrefaction. Septicidal (Lat. septum, a hedge, and csedo, to cut). In Botany, that mode of dehis- cence in which the fruit is resolved into its component carpels, which split asunder through the dissepiments. Septitragal (Lat. septum, and frango, to break). In Botany, that mode of dehiscence in fruits in which the backs of the carpels separate from the dissepiments, whether formed by their sides, or by expansions of the placenta. Septuagesima (Lat. sc. dies, the seventieth day). In the Ecclesiastical Calendar, the third Sunday before Lent; the first Sunday in Lent being termed Quadragesima (fortieth), the three preceding ones Septuagesima, Sexa- gesima, and Quinquagesima. Septuagint (Lat. septuaginta, seventy). The Greek translation of the Old Testament made at Alexandria for the advantage of the Jews of Egypt, who had lost the use of the Hebrew language. According to the old tradi- tion, this version was the work of seventy-two interpreters, who were shut up in separate cells by the command of Ptolemy Philadelphia, and there completed the whole translation alone, in which, upon examination, they were all found to agree to a letter — a prodigy which established the inspiration of the work. It is supposed, however, by modern critics, that this version of the several books is the work not only of different hands, but of separate times. The authority of the Septuagint, as compared with the Hebrew text, from which it differs in many points, has been the subject of much controversy. It is from this version that the authenticity of the Apocrypha, which ure not found in the Hebrew, is asserted by Eoman Catholic writers. The quotations of the Old Testament which are found in the New are for the most part given in the words of the Septuagint. Septum (Lat. septus, part, of sepio, I fence in). In Anatomy, the plate or wall which separates from each other two adjoining cavi- ties ; as the septum transversum, or diaphragm, between the chest and the abdomen ; the septum narium, between the two nasal passages ; the septum ventriculorum in the brain ; and in the heart, &c. The partitions of chambered shells are also called septa. 410 ^PULCHRE, HOLY | Septum. In Botany, any partition sepa- j rating a body into two or more cells in a direction parallel with the longer axis. Parti- tions parallel with the shorter axis are called phragmata. Sepulchre. [Tomb.] Sepulchre, Church of the Holy. By this name is commonly known the church at J erusalem, of which the Greek and Latin com- munions each have partial possession, and which, according to the present local tradition, stands on the site of the church erected by Constantine, near the tomb in which the body of Christ was laid in the interval between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. This popular tradition in- volves the maintenance of three propositions : (1) that the present building stands on the site of a previous church which had been de- stroyed ; (2) that the church so destroyed was the building erected by Constantine ; (3) that the tomb over or near which it was built was the actual sepulchre in which the body of Jesus was laid. On this proposition has arisen a complicated controversy, of sufficient importance to justify our giving a summary of the arguments em- ployed on both sides. Denying the three propositions involved in the current tradition, Mr. Fergusson maintains that the church built by Constantine was not on the site of the present sepulchre, but is the building commonly known as the mosque of Omar. The grounds on which he bases this conclusion are chiefly architectural and topogra- phical, while he also holds that the documentary evidence is substantially on his side. A thorough familiarity with Mohammedan buildings in India and other eastern countries had convinced Mr. Fergusson that the circular shape of the mosque of Omar was proof con- clusive that it was built not as a mosque, but as a tomb, the essential definition of a mosque being that it is a wall at right angles to the direction of Mecca, whereas the round form is common to Mohammedan and other tombs. But the mosque of Omar has four entrances facing the cardinal points of the compass, the principal entrance facing south, so that a worshipper would enter by turning his back on the kaaba. In the absence, however, of any tradition that Omar or any Mohammedan saint had been buried under the dome, the conclusion was forced upon him that this was a Christian sepulchral building, and that it coidd only be the edifice raised by Constantine over what he believed to be the tomb of Christ. Laying down the general position, that in every instance of conflicting evidence an appeal to style is at once allowed to override the most minute and circumstantial written testimony, Mr. Fergusson institutes a comparison between the mosque of Omar and buildings ranging from the third to the seventh or eighth centuries, and concludes that the Kliubbet-es-Sakrah (or Dome of the Rock, or mosque of Omar) is later in date than the palace of Diocletian at Spalatro, but earlier than Justinian's church of St. Sophia at Con- SEPULCHRE, CHUr Btantinople, and that the building known as the Golden Gateway is a work of the same age. It is true, the Moslem tradition since the Crusades assumes that the Bome of the Rock covers the site of the altar or holy of holies of Solomon's temple ; but as neither the Bible, nor the Talmud, nor Josephus mentions a rock as connected with either the altar or the holy of holies, the tradition is worthless, while it may also be shown that the rock Sakrah was al- together outside the temple area, and could not have sustained the altar under any circum- stances. If, on the other hand, it be said that the presence of classical or late Roman details in the Dome of the Rock may be accounted for by the employment of columns and capitals taken from ruined buildings, Mr. Fergusson answers that, if it were a portico of four or six pillars, with twenty or thirty feet of entablature, anything might be assumed, but, confining the argument to the aisle screen alone, eight piers, sixteen pillars, and 400 feet of entablature mitreing at all sorts of angles, and fitting everywhere without any appearance of contri- vance or adjustment, present a phenomenon not to be explained away, while the building is just such an one as we should find emanating from Constantino's order that ' the church may surpass all others in beauty.' These conclusions Mr. Fergusson holds to be generally borne out by historical documents. Thus Eusebius, he affirms, speaks of a round church as built over the sepulchre, and distinct from the great basilica which adjoined it. These buildings, were, it is said, destroyed by fire during the sack of the city by the Persians in 614; but this fire, he thinks, has been as useful to those who adhere to the current tradition as the conflagration at Wolf's Crag was to Caleb Balderstone, the damage done in both cases being much the same. The great proof of this is the fact that a simple monk, named Modestus, restored the whole to their pristine magnificence without means or money. And again, the history of the Mohammedan conquest proves that the Sakrah is not the rock of Omar, the position of which is clearly marked out by that of the gate of Mohammed as being within the substructure of the temple; and, finally, Arculfus, a pilgrim of the seventh century, mentions (1) the Anastasis or round church, containing the sepulchre ; (2) the square church of St. Mary; (3) the large church of Golgotha; (4) the Basilica or Martyrium, built by Constantine with great magnificence. If, then, this is a true account of the facts, a transference of the site took place at some time or other subsequent to the conquest by the Saracens. Of this transference there is no record, but the fact is as easily explained as the transference of the Santa Casa to Loretto, and may have been caused by the envy of the Moslems, who, after the capitulation of Omar had fallen into desuetude, cast longing eyes on the Dome of the Rock, either because they were offended that the Christians should possess a more splendid building than themselves close 411 ,CH OF THE HOLY to their own mosque El Aksah, or becauso they coveted the custody of the tomb of Christ, whom they looked upon as the greatest of prophets next after Mohammed. "When, in the eleventh century, the Christians crept timidly back to Jerusalem, they built themselves a church in their own quarter of the town, and to this church were gradually transferred the traditions of the sites from which they had been dislodged. If any objection be made to this theory on the score of the character in which the inscrip- tions round the dome of the Sakrah are written, Mr. Fergusson meets it by remarking that, although a writing in Coptic characters runs round the dome, one short paragraph in it is said to contain the name and date of the builder ; and as it is allowed that either the name Al Mamoun, or the date, 72 Heg., A. d. 691, is a forgery, no argument can be based upon it, while his own opinion remains that, notwith- standing the evidence of the Coptic character of the writing, the whole is of the time of Saladin. (Essay on the Ancient Topography of Jerusalem, 1847 ; Notes on the Site of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, 1861 ; The Holy Sepulchre at Jeru- salem, being Two Lectures delivered at the Royal Institution, 1865.) In opposition to these arguments and con- clusions of Mr Fergusson, it is maintained that the tradition which claims for the present Church of the Sepulchre the site of the building raised by Constantine has no necessary con- nection wdth the genuineness of the tomb said to have been discovered by Constantine, and that this part of the qiiestion may accordingly be dismissed. And, further, it is argued that the architectural evidence cannot in all cases be received with the unhesitating reliance which Mr. Fergusson places in it; that there are or may be special reasons for distrusting it when we are dealing with the work of a people who, having no style of their own, are in the habit of employing the architects and builders of conquered nations ; that in the case of Waltham Abbey the documentary evidence is neither undisputed nor conclusive, as Mr. Fergusson takes it to be; that the architectural evidence is not in this case received, in the truth of the documentary evidence, as proving that the whole of the present building was erected after the Conquest ; and that we have no right, as Mr. Freeman argues (Gentleman's Magazine, February 1861), to admit without evidence such an hypothesis as that of Mr. Fergusson, who suggests that the ecclesia in which Harold was first buried was a round church which has utterly perished. In support of his theory, Mr. Fergusson has adduced the basilica of San Clemente at Rome, originally erected in the fourth century, and of which he feels convinced that we have now the original apse with its ornaments, except the cross in the centre, which is an interpolation of the thirteenth century, the nave belonging perhaps to the eighth, and the choir to the ninth century. To this it is replied that the recent SEPULCHRE, CHUKCH OF THE HOLY discovery of the lower church of San Clemente, \ bazaars ; and as the Golden Gateway looks the frescoes of which, belonging in some in- \ down immediately on the valley of Jehoshaphat, stances to the tenth and eleventh centuries, show that this church was in use long after it was supposed to have been superseded by the existing church, compels us to assign to the latter a date which sweeps away Mr. Fergusson' s theory about the apse of the existing church with its decorations, inasmuch as the lower level of the previous building precludes the idea that that apse is a remnant of the original building. On the subject generally, it is maintained by Professor Willis, the Rev. G. Williams, Count de Vogue and others, that the reputed Se- pulchre contains indubitably a rock-hewn tomb, whether the Sakrah be likewise a tomb or not ; that the building in which it stands was demolished first by the Persians, and more systematically by the order of Hakem, when every effort was made to destroy the sepulchre by iron hammers and fire, while the Khubbet-es- Sakrah has escaped uninjured, and the rock exhibits ho si^n of having undergone such treatment. It is further argued that the language of Eusebius does not warrant the existence of any round church over the holy sepulchre, as he merely says that Constantine adorned the cave, as such, with choice columns and abundant decorations, and that the cave thus adorned opened into a large hypaethral court, surrounded by. cloisters on all sides ex- cepting the one facing the entrance to the cave, the basilica being on this side, precisely facing the cave and looking east ; that the words of Eusebius leave no room for thinking that the sepulchre was contained in a separate building, and that the title, rh fxaprvpiov rr\s avaardcrecas, applied to the basilica set aside the distinction drawn between the dome of Omar as the Anas- tasis and the Basilica as the Martyrium. Mr. Fergusson, it is urged, finds two buildings, the mosque of Omar, and the Golden Gateway, of which he takes one to be the actual sepul- chral church, and the other to be the entrance to the atrium of the basilica ; and his restored plan, formed from these data, exhibits a basilica, whose western end, so far from being precisely opposite to the sepulchre, does not even face any side of the Khubbet-es-Sakrah whatever. Again, the mosque of Omar is a rotunda ; but the present church of the sepul- chre furnishes evidence that the former building on the same site was not a rotunda, more than half the aisle of the present rotunda being bounded by a concentric wall, in which are placed three small apses, one at the west end, the others on the north and south. If the design of the original church had been round, the north and south apses must have had their axes on the diametral line of the rotunda ; but Professor Willis remarks that the line falls to the east- ward of both these apses, and thus corroborates the description of Eusebius, who likewise speaks of the propykea as opening upon the middle of the great market place. The east end of the pre- sent church still opens on a street of deserted 412 the theory of Mr. Fergusson is rendered, in the judgment of Profftsor Willis, ' ludicrously im- possible.' Further, it is urged that the form of the Khubbet-es-Sakrah proves only that the building was designed to preserve the rock which forms its area, and that this rock is reverenced by the Mohammedans for reasons not connected with the sepulchre of Christ ; that the round church of Modestus, completed half a century before Abdal Malek commenced the mosque, if it be his work, may have suggested the form, while the Greek character of the details is evidence that it was not wholly or in great part built by Saracenic workmen ; and that the dome is confessedly of pure Mohammedan architecture. It is also maintained that, while the Dome of the Pock exhibits no signs of the violence from which the church of the sepulchre is said to have suffered repeatedly, the words of Eusebius seem to state positively that the church of Constantine was built on a hill opposite to that on which the Jewish temple had stood, the new Jerusalem being a name employed by him and by Socrates to designate the Martyrium of the Anastasis itself ; and that the language of Arculfus, who speaks of a round cabin cut out of a single piece of rock in the middle of the • round church, containing a space large enough for nine men to stand and pray, seems to be not less unsuitable as the description of a rock projecting to a height varying from six to ten feet, and having a diameter of nearly fifty feet. It is further maintained that the whole in- scription running round the Dome of the Rock, with the exception of the one name of Al- Mamoun, is written in characters which were in use at the time of Abdal Malek, the real founder, but which had become obsolete long before the age of Saladin, to which the inscrip- tion is assigned by Mr. Fergusson ; that the Mohammedans did not appropriate the building because it was built in honour of Christ ; that the inscription which denies His divinity is no evidence of any supposition on their part that this building contained His sepulchre, and that, in fact, the Moslems, adopting the Gnostic notion that a phantasm was substituted at the Crucifixion, have no belief in the death of Christ, and hold the tomb of Christ in ab- horrence as being the tomb of His betrayer. Finally, it is maintained that all the archi- tectural difficulties raised by Mr. Fergusson have been practically solved by recent dis- coveries of Count de Vogue in Central Syria, which prove that the trabeate and arcuate con- struction characteristic of the Dome of the Rock, was the prevailing feature of the large churches in the province of Antioeh, so late as the seventh century, and that these churches furnish the very type with which the builders of the Khubbet-es-Sakrah would be most familiar, and which they would naturally copy in the buildings which they were employed to erect whether SEPULCHRE for their Christian or Moslem employers. (De j Vogue, Les Eglises de la Terre Sainte ; Williams, j Holy City, including an Architectural History \ of the Church of the Holy Sepidchre, by Pro- fessor Willis ; Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine ; Edinburgh Review, October 1860, art. ' Churches of the Holy Land ;' Quarterly Review, October 1864, p. 404, &e. Sepulchre, Hospitallers of the Holy. An order of knighthood, originally instituted in Palestine, afterwards established in France by Louis VII., and united by Pope Innocent VIII. to that of Malta; but the order still continued to exist in Prance, and was taken under protection by Louis XVIII. in 1814. Sepulchre, Regular Canons of the Holy. A religious order, instituted at Jerusa- lem. These canons were introduced also into France, Poland, Flanders, and England. The order was suppressed by Innocent VIII., and its revenues passed ultimately into the hands of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Sepulture, Rites of. This term denotes literally the ceremonies performed in deposit- ing the bodies of the dead in the earth ; but the expression is applied in a more extended signification to all funeral ceremonies. The three chief modes of treating the dead that have prevailed from the earliest ages down to the present times are burning, interment, and embalming. Among the Greeks and Eomans, both incremation and interment prevailed, though the former was by far the most fre- quent. The practice, peculiar to the. Egyp- tians, of embalming their dead, has been noticed under Mummy ; and the Indian custom of immolating women on the funeral pile of their husbands will be found under Suttee. The practice of interment has been adopted by all the nations that have embraced Chris- tianity. [Cemetery.] Sequence (Lat. sequentia, a following). In Music, a similar succession of chords ascending or descending diatonically. Sequestration (Lat. sequestratio, from sequester, a go-between or mediator). In Eng- lish Law, a species of execution for debt in the case of a beneficed clergyman, issued by the bishop of the diocese on the receipt of a writ to that effect. The profits of the benefice are paid over to the creditor until his claim is satisfied. Sequestration is also, in Chancery, a process for enforcing the decrees or orders of the court by seizure of the property of a person guilty of disobeying them. Sequestration. In Scottish Law — 1. A species of diligence (i.e. a process), used where two or more creditors are in competition for the property of a land estate, the owner of which is in insolvent circumstances ; or where the right to a land estate is the subject of litigation. In these cases the court may, on application, se- questrate the rents, and employ a factor to collect them. 2. Sequestration is also the process whereby the whole estate, both heritable and movable, of a bankrupt, is distributed equitably amongst his creditors. It is granted on appli- 413 SEQUOIA cation to the court of session by the bankrupt, with the concurrence of one or more creditors, or on their application, and on citation of the bankrupt. It is analogous to a bankruptcy in English law. Sequin (Ital. zecchino ; from zecca, a mint). The gold pieces of Venice were ori- ginally so called; afterwards the name was extended to other gold coins in use in the Mediterranean, as those of the pope, the sultan, Florence, and Genoa, [Money.] Sequoia. A genus of Coniferce from North- western America, consisting of two species only, and closely allied to Sciadopitys, being distin- guished from it principally by its peltate scales without bracts, and five to seven seeds. S. sempervirens, the Redwood of the timber trade, extends from Upper California to Nutka Sound. It attains gigantic dimensions, being frequently more than 300 feet high, imparting to the woods of its native country a peculiar character — • 'something,' Douglas tells us, 'which plainly shows that we are not in Europe.' The Red- wood has long been an inmate of our gardens, and principally differs from the Wellingtonia in having linear rather obtuse leaves whitish beneath. S. Wellingtonia (the Wellingtonia of our gardens, and the Big or Mammoth-tree of the Americans) was at first thought to be confined to a single spot, the so-called Mammoth Grove of Calaveras in Upper California ; but it has since been found in the Mariposa and Frezno Groves, and in various other parts of the Sierra Nevada, though, nowhere attaining such a height as in the spot where it was first dis- Sequoia Welling' touia. covered, in June 1850, by an American hunting- party. The tallest tree of the Mammoth Grove, stripped of its bark for the purpose of being exhibited, was 327 feet high, and at the base was 90 feet in circumference. The greatest dimensions seem to have been attained by a tree which was found broken at a height of 300 feet, and which measured at that place 18 feet in diameter. Considering that it was 112 feet in circumference at the base, and tapered regularly to the point where broken, SERAGLIO SERIES it is calculated to have been when in the fulness of its growth 450 feet high. It was at first thought that these trees might be 3,000 years old, but that estimate has since been reduced, by actual counting of the concentric rings, to about 1,100 years. This fine hardy evergreen tree was introduced into Europe in 1853, and stands our climate remarkably well. The wood when first cut is white, but ultimately turns mahogany colour. Seraglio. An Italian corruption of the oriental word serai. The palace of the Turkish sultan in Constantinople is thus designated by European writers. The principal gate of the seraglio is the Babi Humayun, or Sublime Gate, whence the ordinary title of the Turkish govern- ment is derived. Seraphim, or Jesus, Order of the. An ancient Swedish order of knighthood, instituted in 1334 ; but dormant from the period of the Kef ormation until 1748. The number of knights, besides the king and members of the royal family, is limited to'twenty-four. Seraphine. A name formerly used for the instrument now called the Harmonium. Seraphs or Seraphim (Heb.). In the. Angelic Hierarchy of the Jews, the angels of the highest rank. They are represented as sur- rounding the throne of God, whose messengers they are, and as being more immediately inspired with the Divine love, which they communicate to the inferior inhabitants of heaven. They are almost invariably spoken of in connection with the cherubim, whom they resemble both in rank and attributes. Serapis. An Egyptian deity. The image and worship of this god were brought from Sinope in Pontus to Alexandria, in the last year of Ptolemy Soter, in consequence, it is said, of a vision of Ptolemy I. The magnificent Serapeum, or temple of this god, at Alexandria, one of the most splendid of pagan temples, was destroyed by order of the emperor Theodosius during the struggle between the Pagan and Christian population of the city, a. d. 390. (Milman's History of Christianity, book iii. chap, viii.) Serasquier. The name given by the Turks to the commanders-in-chief of their armies. It is compounded of two Persian words, signifying head of an army. Serenade (Span, serenata, from Lat. se- renus, clear). This word signified originally music performed in the open air on a serene evening ; but is now universally applied to a musical performance by gentlemen under the windows of ladies whom they admire. This practice, which was formerly very general in Spain and Italy, has latterly fallen greatly , into disuse in these countries ; but it is still very common in the German university towns, where the students are in the habit of assem- bling in the evening under the windows of a favourite professor, and offering him a musical tribute. Serene, Serene Highness, Serenity (Ger. durchlaucht). Titles of courtesy in I 414 European etiquette, of considerable antiquity. Before the dissolution of the German empire, Serene and Most Serene Highness were the ap- propriate addresses of princely houses hold- ing immediately of the empire. Since that period the rules of princely etiquette have become more uncertain ; but it appears to be the general principle that these titles belong of right to members of the families of sovereign houses in the confederacy, and also to members of ci-devant sovereign houses now mediatised: and that sovereign princes can moreover concede these appellations to princes not sovereign within their own dominions, yet not so as to give them a title to it out of them. But the distinctions as to the mode in which these titles are to be employed in addressing supe- riors, equals, and inferiors, are extremely com- plicated. Serf (Lat. servus, a slave). When the mass of a community, being engaged in agricultural pursuits, hold land at fixed labour rents, and are tied to the soil, or only released from it by an agreement, capitation tax, or formal manumis- sion, such persons are called serfs ; and by a natural analogy, when legal enactments tend to bind labourers to a particular locality or calling, persons are accustomed to . speak of such a population as serf. A serf differs from a slave by the fact that his amount of labour is fixed, and is ordinarily given in compensation for land — ■ the remainder of the produce, after his service is given, or a money commutation for it paid, being his own property, whereas the slave has no property and can be taken away from the soil and disposed of at the pleasure of his owner. Serfdom, under the name of villenage, was slowly extinguished in England before the Eeformation; it lingered in Scotland till the close of the last century, when the last relics of it were finally abolished. In the Russian social system, one of comparatively late origin, the mass of the community were serfs ; but within the last few years serfage has been put an end to in that country. [Obrok ; Ryot ; Slavery; Villein.] Serge (Fr. ; Span, xerga). A cloth of quilted woollen, extensively manufactured in Devonshire and other English counties. Series (Lat. from sero, / join together). An Algebraical expression whose successive terms are formed according to some general law. According as the number of its terms is limited or unlimited the series is said to be finite or infinite. "With respect to series, the principal questions which arise are how to develope a given finite expression in a series, how to find the expression or generating function, from which a series has originated, how to express any general term as a function of the number n of that term, and how to find the sum of any given number of terms or the limit to which, in the case of a convergent series, that sum approaches the greater the number of terms added. [Convergent and Divergent Series.] The most effective way of developing an expression in a series is furnished SERJEANT by the differential calculus (Taylor's Theorem), whilst the calculus of finite differences enables us frequently to ascend from the general term to the sum of any number of terms. Series derive their names from the laws which govern the formation of their successive terms. Thus, an arithmetical series is one whose conse- cutive terms have a common difference ; a har- monic series one of which every three successive terms are in a harmonic proportion. A geo- metric series is one every term of which has a constant ratio to the preceding one ; it belongs to the family of recurring series in which each term is a constant function of one or more preceding terms. The theory of series constitutes an extensive and very important branch of mathematics. Amongst the numerous works on the subject may be mentioned Euler's Introductio in Ana- lysin Infinitorum and Calculus Differential is, Cauchy's Cour aV Analyse and Exercices de Mathematiqucs, Catalan's Traite Elementaire des Series, and Penny Cyclo. art. ' Series.' Serjeant (Fr. sergent, from Lat. serviens). A non-commissioned officer in the army, of higher rank than a corporal. There are Ser- jeants and staff-serjeants ; among the latter are serjeant-majors, quartermaster-serjeants, &c. The regimental serjeant-major acts as assistant to the adjutant. There are colour- serjeants in infantry regiments, troop serjeant- majors in cavalry, and battery serjeant-majors in artillery. There are a certain number of Serjeants to each company, troop, or battery, and they have general duties of supervision. Serjeant. Serjeant-at-law is the highest degree in the common law, and all must pro- ceed through this degree before attaining the dignity of judge. In practice, however, the two dignities- are usually conferred simulta- neously. The Court of Common Pleas was formerly open to Serjeants only for the purpose of pleading, while the coxirt was sitting in banc, they having been anciently the only advocates recognised in the common law. This exclu- sive privilege was attempted to be taken away in 1834, and for five years the court was thrown open. But, after solemn argument, it was decided by the privy council that this enlargement was unwarranted, and the former practice again prevailed until the monopoly of the Serjeants was finally abolished and the court thrown open to the bar at large by stat. 9 & 10 Vict. c. 52. Serjeants-at-law are now made by the royal writ, commanding them to take their degree. No precise time- seems necessary to permit a barrister to be- come a Serjeant. This office is seldom now assumed by practising barristers except by those who practise mostly in the criminal courts, and who wish to be able to hold leading briefs for the defence of prisoners without the necessity, in every case, of obtaining a license to appear against the crown, which as queen's counsel they would be obliged to do. [Queen's Counsel.] (Serjeant Manning's Serviens ad Legem.) 415 SERJEANT Y Serjeant, The Common. An officer of the corporation of«the city of London, dis- charging some judicial functions. Serjeant, King's or Queen's. One or more of the serjeants-at-law, whose presumed duty is to plead for the crown in causes of a public nature, as indictments for treason, &c, but the title is now merely honorary. Serjeants-at-Arms. Officers whose duty is to attend the person of the sovereign, or of the lord high steward when sitting in judgment on a traitor, &c. They formerly formed a sort of body-guard, whose number was restricted by an ancient law (13 Rich. II.) to thirty, but their functions in this capacity have long be- come obsolete. Two serjeants-at-arms are al- lowed by the sovereign to attend at the houses of parliament during their sittings, and each has a deputy. In the House of Lords, the practical maintenance of decorum below the oar, near the throne, and in the gallery, de- volves upon the gentleman and yeoman usher, with their assistants, so that, ' the serjeant-at- arms attending the House of Lords ' has less conspicuous duties to perform than those which devolve upon 'the serjeant attending the House of Commons:' both, however, execute the com- mands of the house to which they belong, as regards the apprehension or custody of all persons committed by order of parliament. In the House of Commons, the serjeant-at-arms is an officer of considerable importance, enjoy- ing large emoluments, assisted by a deputy and several subordinate officers. During the sittings of the house he occupies a chair below the bar, and directs a large proportion of the arrange- ments connected with the maintenance of order in the approaches to the house and the offices adjacent. He is at once the executive and the ceremonial officer of the lower house ; but his discretionary powers are not extensive, for almost all his more important duties are performed under the immediate direction of the house itself, communicated through the speaker. The office is usually held by a gentleman of the military profession, seldom under the rank of a field officer. Serjeanty, Grand and Petty. In the English Law of feudal tenures. Tenure by grand serjeanty was where the tenant held land of the king by service, to be performed in his own person, in his wars, &c. ; such as to bear a banner or spear, or to assist at his corona- tion. Tenure by petit serjeanty was where the owner was bound to contribute some small thing towards military service, &c. ; such as a sword, dagger, bow, or spear. Tenure by grand serjeanty was preserved by stat. 12 Ch. II., which abolished the other feudal tenures, and still subsists in some cases. Tenure by petit serjeanty is not referred to in stat. 12 Ch. II. ; and the Blenheim and Strathfieldsaye estates, bestowed by the nation as the reward of public services, are held of the crown by this tenure, the dukes of Marl- borough and Wellington being each bound to render a small flag annually. SERMON Sermon (Lat. sermo, a discourse). In Ecclesiastical usage, the sermon or homily as a portion of the communion service is said to be of remote antiquity. This ancient custom fell into partial disuse during a great part of the middle ages. The Homilies of iElfric, archbishop of Canterbury in the tenth cen- tury, were long used in the English church ; but these became antiquated; and in the year 1281 (Palmer, Orig. Liturg. vol. ii. ch. iv.) preaching seems to have been generally omitted. In that year, Archbishop Peckham ordered, in his Constitutions, that four sermons should be delivered during the year. But for some time prior to the Reformation preaching was again coming more into use ; and the pub- lication of homilies by authority went far to- wards restoring the ancient practice. [Homily.] Seron (Span.). A buffalo's hide, xised for packing drugs and other articles. Serosity (Lat. serum). The liquid which exudes from the serum of the blood when it is coagidated by heat. It is water holding some of the salts of the blood and a trace of albumen in solution. Serpens or Serpens Ophiuchi. In Astronomy, one of the ancient constellations in the northern hemisphere. Serpent (Lat. serpens, part, of serpo ; Gr. epirw, I creep ; Sarpedon). A musical brass wind instrument, serving as bass to the horns or cornets. It is most generally covered with leather, and has three parts : a mouthpiece, neck, and tail. The compass is two octaves, produced with six holes stopped with the fingers. The serpent is chiefly used for ac- companying Gregorian music in Roman Catho- lic churches. It is rarely employed in the modern orchestra. Serpent. In Mythology, the serpent played an important part. By some nations it was regarded as the emblem of cunning, deceit, and wickedness (compare the narration of the fall of man in Genesis with the Persian myth of Ahriman and Ormuzd) ; by others, such as the Egyptians and Phoenicians, it was looked upon as a good genius ; while by the Greeks and Romans, it appeared under a variety of symbolic representations. "With the latter, the serpent was the well-known emblem of the healing art ; and in the present time a. serpent with its tail in its mouth is regarded as an emblem of eternity. The serpent ap- pears also in the Scandinavian mythology. [Dragon ; Vritra.] In the early ages of the Christian church, a sect of the Gnostics also worshipped the serpent, whence they were called Ophites. Dr. Donaldson identifies the serpent mentioned in Genesis iii. with the' Phallus. (Jashar, in 'partem primam Com- mentarins, p. 47.) Serpent. In Zoology, a general name for the species of the order Ophidia. Serpents are divided into spurious, or Pseud- ophidians, and true, or Ophidians proper. The Pseudophidians, although presenting the well- marked external characters of the order, retain 41G I SERPULEANS an imperfect pelvis, a small sternum, scapula?, and coracoids or clavicles, hidden beneath the skin ; whereby, as well as in the structure of the skull, they approach the Saurian order. The common blind-worm (Anguis fragilis) is a na- tive representative of the Pseudophidian family. The true serpents have neither sternum nor vestige of the scapular arch : they have no third eyelid, nor tympanum ; but the auditory ossicle exists beneath the skin, and its handle passes behind the tympanic bone. Several species retain a vestige of hind-limbs, which in some even shows itself externally in the form of a small hook. The chief subdivisions of the true Ophidians are : the Amphisbcence ; the Typhlopes ; the Boles ( Tortrix) ; the Boas ; the Pythons ; the Colubers ; the Acrochords — all which tribes are non-venomous. The Pseudoboas, Battlesnakes, Trigonocephali, and Vipers are the venomous tribes ; and are dis- tinguished by having the superior maxillary bones short and movable, supporting fewer teeth than in the non-venomous serpents, and having the first of the short series larger than the rest, sometimes the only conspicuous fang, and traversed by the duct of a poison-gland, around which duct the tooth is, as it were, longitudinally folded, so as to appear per- forated by a canal. The last tribe of true ser- pents includes the Hydrophides, or sea-snakes, which have likewise a poison-gland and duct, the latter being enclosed by the last instead of the first of the maxillary series of teeth. The tail of the sea-snakes is flattened vertically, and forms their chief organ of swimming. No species of this family has yet been discovered which exceeds ten feet in length. The remains of an extinct genus of serpents (Pal&ophis), indicating species of from ten to twenty feet in length, have been discovered in the Eocene tertiary formations in Suffolk, Kent, and Sussex. (Prof. Owen's paper in the Geol. Trans., second series, vol. vi. p. 209.) Serpentarius. One of the ancient northern constellations, represented on the globes by the figure of a man grasping a serpent {serpens) in his hand. [Constellation.] Serpentary Root. The root of Aristo- lochia Serpentaria. Serpentine. A hydrated silicate of mag- nesia found disseminated in rocks, or forming large rock-masses, as in the Lizard district in Cornwall. The stone from this locality as well as that from Portsoy in Banlfshire is much used for ornamental purposes instead of marble, being soft and easily worked, and susceptible of a fine polish. The name has reference to its spotted and veined appearance, like that of a serpent's skin. Serpentine. A cannon of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, somewhat larger than the culverin. The name first appears in France about 1450, and in England a few years later. [Culverin.] Serpigo. [Ringworm.] Serpuleans (Lat. serpo, I creep). The name of a family of Cephalobranchiate Anneli- SERRADILLA dans, inhabiting cylindrical and tortuous cal- careous tubes ; generally parasitic on shells. Serradilla (Port.). A fodder plant not much cultivated in this country. It is a small Leguminous annual, the Ornithopus sativus of botanists. Serrate (Lat. serratus, from serra, a saw). In Zoology, when a part is cut into teeth like a saw, or is armed with teeth whose sides are unequal. Serricorns (Lat. serra, a saw; cornu, a horn). The name of a family of Coleopterous insects, comprehending those which have ser- rated or saw-shaped antennse. Sertularia (Lat. sertum, a wreath). The name of a genus of compound tubular Polypes ; restricted, in modern zoology, to those species in which the cells are arranged on two sides of the stem either opposite or alternate. Serum (Lat. whey). In Anatomy, the con- stituent of the plasma, or liquor sanguinis, which remains after the separation and coagu- lation of the fibrin. Serum contains a large quantity of albumen, and coagulates at a tem- perature of from 150° to 170°. Serval. A species of spotted cat (F. serval, Cuvier) found at the Cape of Good Hope. The species there represents the lynx of Europe and the ocelots of South America. Servetists. In Ecclesiastical History, a name which has sometimes been given to Uni- tarians, who hold the simple humanity" of Christ; from Michael Servetus, a celebrated professor of those opinions, who was burnt to death at Geneva, by the orders of the magis- tracy of the republic, under the influence of Calvin, in 1553. Servile. A Spanish political nickname ; applied, in the first instance, to those who op- posed the changes advocated by the liberal party in the cortes of 1808 and the following years. Servites (servants of the Blessed Virgin). A religious order, instituted in Tuscany in A..D. 1233, under the rule of St. Augustin. The monks wore a black habit, in commemoration of the widowhood of the Virgin. (Mosheim, cent. xiii. part ii.) Servitor (Lat. from servio, / serve). An undergraduate, who is partly supported by the college funds, is so called at Oxford. The servitors at Oxford correspond to the sizars at Cambridge. Servitude (Lat. servitudo). In the Civil Law, servitude is divided into real or predial, mixed, and personal : the first being the sub- jection of an inheritable thing to certain duties or services towards another inheritable thing ; the second that of an inheritable thing towards a person ; the third, that of a person towards a person or thing, i.e. slavery, whether by de- pendence on a person or on the soil. The word servitude is equally applicable to the duty or burden, and to the right of exacting it : e.g. the right of way which A enjoys on the land of B, and B's liability to permit that right to be exercised, are both designated by the term Vol. III. 417 SERVIUS TULLIUS servitude; the first active, the latter passive. Real servitudes are numerous, and fall into several classes or divisions. They are, for example, either visible, such as the right to light and air, sewers, &c, or latent, such as the right of way, right of drawing water, &c, which appear only when they are exercised. They were also divided by the Romans into urban, which affected dwellings in the city ; and rustic, appertaining to land and farm building. Of mixed servitudes only three species were recognised by their writers on jurisprudence — usufruct, use, and habitation. Servitude, domestic. [Slavery.] Servius Tullius, As the name of Romulus, the first of the traditional kings of Rome, has been included in the list of mythical personages noticed in this work, the interests of historical truth seem to require the admission that the last of the Roman kings is scarcely less mythical than his predecessors. The history of Servius is made up either of prodigies and marvels, or of plausible fictions of the kind which De Foe turned to such good account in his life of Robinson Crusoe. In one version, Servius is the son of a god, born of a slave named Ocresia ; soon after his birth his mother saw his head enveloped in flames; when she awoke him the fire was extinguished. Niebuhr rejects this story as a mere contrivance to ac- count for his name, which, he affirms, has nothing to do with slavery, but denotes a child born (sero, late) in the evening, as Manius means one born (mane) in the morn- ing. Another account makes him the post- humous son of a chieftain slain in defending Corniculum against Tarquin. The emperor Claudius, on the other hand, in a speech preserved on a brazen tablet at Lyons, as- serted that Servius was not a Latin at all, hut an Etruscan, his real name being Mastarna ; that he came to Rome with Coelius Vibenna, and, settling with him on the Ccelian hill, changed his name to Servius Tullius. But Coelius is the mere eponym of the hill which bears the name, as Orchomenos and Phigaleus are mere eponyms of Arcadian towns ; and we have no means of knowing whence the emperor Claudius derived his information, nor is there any ground for believing that the Etruscans possessed an authentic historical literature. The legend in Livy represents him as suc- ceeding to the throne while quite a young man ; but almost immediately he has children old enough to be married to the children of Tarquin. So, again, Servius is said to have been murdered by the second Tarquin when the latter was a young man ; but if this Tarquin was, as he is represented, the son of Tanaquil, he roust have been 70 years old when he became king on the death of Servius, 95 when he was expelled, and 110 at his death. The story of his murder is a topo- graphical legend to account for the name of the Vicus Sceleratus or the Accursed Street. This tale, in the belief of Niebuhr, formed part of a great epic poem lost before the time of EE SESAMOID BONES contemporary historians. Of such a loss we j have no evidence whatever. The element of plausible fiction comes in with j the description of the Servian constitution. The contradictions which run through the whole ac- count of the motives and character of the change 1 are pointed out by Sir Cornewall Lewis, who j admits the possibility that ' there may have 1 been some historical ground, resting on a j faithful official tradition, for connecting the name of Servius with an arrangement of the census ; but there is no sufficient reason for \ believing him to have been the author of the matured and complex system which is pre- sented to us as his work, or for supposing that the authorship of it is ascribed to him in any other sense than that in which Eomulus is said to have founded the senate, Numa the ceremonial law, and Tullus Hostilius the law of the Fetiales.' ( Credibility of Early Boman History, ch. xi. § 30.) Sesamoid Bones (Or. o-naafioeiSr^s, like sesame-seeds). Small bones developed at or near the articulations of joints are so called by reason of their somewhat bean-like form. The term is also often given to the ossi- fications which are found in various tendons attached to the long bones. The patella or knee-cap is the largest of the sesamoid bones in man. Sesamum (Lat. ; Gr. (T^a-a/jLou). A genus of plants of the natural family Pedaliacea. They are supposed originally to have been natives of India ; but are now cultivated in many coun- tries. Their seeds, which are employed as an article of diet, yield an oil of a very fine quality, which, under the name of Gingelly oil, forms an extensive article of commerce in the East. When of good quality this oil is used for adulterating oil of almonds. All the species are annuals. Sesbania (Arab, sesban). A genus of Leguminous plants consisting of shrubs or shrubby annuals dispersed over the tropics of both hemispheres, having pinnate leaves, the leaflets of which often possess the irritable nature of the well-known sensitive plant. The Danchi of India, an erect slightly branched annual, is cultivated for its fibre, which, though coarse, is of great strength and very durable in water or when repeatedly wetted, and is consequently valuable for the ropes of fishing-nets, &c. ; but it is not suit- able for ship's cordage, as it contracts Very much when wet. Sesia (Gr. . Third, the major seventh, being only a major semitone less than the octave, as from C to B t| . Severite. A variety of Halloysite, some- what resembling Lithomarge. It is a hydrated silicate of alumina, found in small masses, from two to five inches in diameter, in Tertiary deposits at St. Sever in France. Sewages. The drainage water of towns, including all sorts of house waste. Since the adoption and extended use of water-closets, the waste water of towns has become more offen- sive than, in the old days of privies and cess- pools, it used to be ; and enactments are now being levelled against the increasing consequent pollution of rivers. The agricultural utilisa- tion of this filthy drainage water is the true remedy for all the evils complained of. The soil deodorises the water poured over it, which flows off purified, leaving behind it as the food of plants those ingredients whose putrefaction would have poisoned the air. Its leading fer- tilising ingredient is nitrogen in some of the many forms which by decomposition yield am- monia. Sewage generally yields ammonia at the rate of about seven grains in a gallon, or 1 in 10,000 of weight. This extreme dilu- tion forbids all hope of extracting the valuable part of town drainage water except by employ- ing a growing plant for the purpose ; and the use of the liquid, as of water in irrigated meadows, by letting it flow over the surface of grass land, seems to be the best or indeed the only method of turning it to useful and profitable account. In this way 100 to 150 tons of sewage may produce a ton of grass; and as that near towns is worth 18s. to 1/. per ton, we get 2d. per ton as, under ordinary cir- cumstances, the total value of the sewage water of towns. For the expense of hiring land and labour in the process we must, however, deduct one-half to three-quarters of the whole receipt, 1 -', so that if ultimately towns shall obtain \d. to \d. a ton for their drainage stuff as a contri- bution towards their expenditure and sewers, the result must be considered satisfactory. In the first instance, the risk of the venture being considerable, the only arrangement possible with any company who should propose to take the sewage for agricultural use is that either of simple gift for a term of years, or of reserving an ultimate share in the profits after they have been realised. It is proper to add, that no one has yet suc- ceeded in extracting 2d. per ton from sewage ; but there seems reason to expect that better and more economical field arrangements may SEWER yet succeed in realising the anticipations of the theorist. Taking gnano at 11. 14s. per ton, and 828 tons of sewage equal in fertilising power to a ton of guano, Liebig reckons that the sew- age of London is worth l - 84<^. per ton, or has an annual value of 15s. 4d. per head of the population, 100 tons of sewage per annum being considered as about the amount of sewage due to each individual. Dr. Hoffmann's esti- mate does not differ much from this. He con- siders the sewage to be worth about 2d. per ton, or to be worth 17 s. Id. per head of the population ; and taking the population at 2,600,000, the bulk of sewage annually dis- charged by the sewers would be 266,000,000 tons, and its annual value 1,385,540^. Esti- mates of value not widely differing from these have been given by Voelcker, Sir C. Fox, Hope, Lawes, Ellis, Mechi, and others. Many expedients for deodorising sewage have been propounded, but none of them generally adopted, and the conviction seems now to be that the soil itself is the best deodoriser. Nor is there yet much agreement as to the best modes of applying sewage to land. On the whole, the best plan seems to be to apply it in the same way in which water is applied to irrigate the fields. The sewage may be run over the fields, which should be divided into beds some 50 yards wide, with a slope of 1 in 120, or thereabout; so that, carried along the ridge line of the beds, it may trickle down their sides to the furrow which will act as a surface drain, and carry it to where it may be again used on a lower level. Sewer. In Architecture, a subterraneous conduit, or channel, to receive and carry off the superfluous water and filth of a city. The sewers of Rome have been the models of those of the modern cities of Europe. The cloacae had, between the Quirinal, Capitoline, and Palatine hills, many branches, which joiningin the Forum, now the Campo Vaccino, were received for con- veyance into the Tiber by a larger one, called the cloaca maxima. It must be admitted, however, that it is erroneous to designate the Eoman cloacae by the term sewers. They were rather drains, made to carry off the stagnant water of the pestilential marshes which occupied much of the low ground near the Tiber, and the spaces between the Aventine, Palatine, and Capitoline hills. The height and width of the cloaca maxima are equal, each measuring 13^ feet. Arched drains or sewers have been found in the ruins of Assyrian cities. In modern sewers, which are built of brick set in cement, the section is generally made of an egg form, with the smallest end downward, with a view of obtaining the necessary strength against com- pression, and of narrowing the surface of the stream of sewage, as it becomes shallower, so as better to maintain the scouring action due to its velocity, and thus to diminish deposits which would virtually convert the sewer into a long cesspool. The effect of improving the sewerage of towns has been to pollute the 422 1 j rivers into which the sewers discharge to such an extent, that it has been necessary in London and in some other large towns to construct intercepting and transmitting sewers of large size, which transmit the sewage to a point of the river sufficiently near the sea to get rid of it without offence. The intercepting sewers, like catch-water drains, receive as much of the sewage as can be collected at the level which is necessary to transmit it by gra- vity to its destined outlet; and the portion which cannot be thus transmitted is collected by a sewer at a lower level, and after having been conducted sufficiently far along the banks of the river to be clear of the town is pumped by steam engines or otherwise up to the higher level, where it can be disposed of in common with that transmitted by the intercepting sewer. But many are now of opinion that the whole system of the sewerage of towns is constructed upon an erroneous principle, since the sewers are, in fact, made to fulfil two sepa- rate functions, the proper discharge of which is impossible in a single system. The original function of the sewers of most existing towns was to carry off the rain which fell on the streets and houses into the nearest river. But the changes introduced into the domestic ar- rangements of our houses during the present century, have superadded the function of trans- mitting such refuse to that of transmitting the mere surface water. Now, as rain falls at irre- gular times, and sometimes in very large quan- tities, the sewers require to be large to be able to transmit this large volume of water; and in dry weather, but for the sewage pro- ceeding from the houses, the sewers would be empty and dry. The small stream of sew- age, however, requiring at such times to be transmitted does not flow at a sufficient velo- city to carry on all the matters suspended in it, and the sewers thus virtually become long and high cesspools with a thick deposit of fetid mud at the bottom. In heavy rains no doubt a large part of this deposit is swept out ; but this action leads to the further evil that the volume of sewage becomes at those times so great that it is difficult to deal with it, since the transmitting and distributing capa- bilities of any conduits employed to lead it away must be made equal to the greatest pres- sure which is likely to be put upon them on the worst occasions. These evils point to the propriety of having two systems of sewers in towns, of which one (best formed with clay or iron pipes) shall be devoted to the single pur- pose of transmitting the sewage of the houses to some appropriate terminus ; and as this sewage is not large in volume, and is nearly uniform in quantity, the dimensions of such sewers need not be great. The ordinary sewers would thus be restored to their primary func- tion of transmitting the surface waters alone, and these waters might be conducted into the nearest river without sensibly polluting it. This system was tested and advocated by Mr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, about 1840; but al- SEWERS, COMMISSIONERS OF though it has often been since advocated by others, it has not yet been adopted. The quan- tity of sewage yielded by a town would be approximately measurable under this system by the quantity of water delivered to it, ac- cording to which the sizes both of the water pipes and sewer pipes should be computed, whereas the dimensions of the sewers for trans- mitting the surface water would be properly measurable by a reference to the maximum rainfall in a given time, and the area of ground from which the water had to be conducted. For further information, see Sewage; and also reports made to the Metropolitan Board of Works ; Hellerstedt's Paper on the Paris Sewers ; Keports by Messrs. Hawksley, Wick- stead, Bateman, &c, on the sewerage of various towns in England, and Reports published by the General Board of Health. Sewers, Commissioners of. These com- missioners have been appointed by the crown from very early periods to enforce the law relating to the defences of the land against the sea, and inundation by land floods and to the free course of navigable rivers. The law on the subject was extended and settled by the statute of Sewers (23 Hen. VIII. c. 5), and many subsequent Acts have since been passed. The commissioners are a court of record, and may fine and imprison for contempts, and have various powers of levying rates. The Land Drainage Act of 1861 contains some important provisions on the subject. Sewing: RKachine. Sewing machines have been divided into four classes. In the first, the needle is passed completely through the stuff, as in hand- working ; but this method, adopted naturally in the infancy of the invention, has been generally abandoned. The sewing machines of the second class are known as the chain-stitch or crochet machines, wrought by a so-called crochet needle, which terminates with a hook. In the third class, the machines are wrought by two threads, the stitch produced by them being known in America as the mail- bag stitch. The fourth class of sewing ma- chines produce more complex stitches, which are formed by sewing two threads, mutually interlacing each other in chain stitch, so as to avoid the unravelling to which the simple chain stitch is subject. For a description of these several classes of machines, the reader is referred to the art. ' Sewing Machines ' in Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines. Sexagresima (Lat. sixtieth). In the Ca- lendar, ftje eighth Sunday (nearly sixty days) before E r. Sexagesimal Arithmetic. A method of computation proceeding by sixties (as the com- mon arithmetic proceeds by tens), and used by the ancient Greek astronomers for facilitating arithmetical calculations, particularly division and the extraction of roots ; operations which, when performed on numbers expressed by the complicated Greek notation, are attended with great labour and difficulty. 423 SEXTANT Sexagesimal Fractions. In Arithmetic, siich fractions as have 60, or some multiple of 60, for their denominator. Fractions of this kind were anciently the only fractions used in astro- nomy ; and they are still retained in the division of the circle, and of time, where the degree, or hour, is divided into sixty minutes, the minute into sixty seconds, and so on. Sextans or Sextant. In Astronomy, one of the constellations formed by Hevelius. It is placed across the equator, and on the south side of the ecliptic. Sextant (Lat. sextans, the sixth part; the limb of the instrument being the sixth part of a complete circle). An instrument for measuring the angular distances of objects by reflexion. The sextant is capable of very general appli- cation ; but it is chiefly used as a nautical instrument for measuring the altitudes of celestial objects, and their apparent angular distances. It is an instrument of the utmost importance in navigation. The principle of the sextant, and of reflecting instruments generally, Fig> ls depends upon an ele- mentary theorem of to \ catoptrics ; viz. if an object be seen by re- )k A flexion from two mirrors / I \ which are perpendicular / I to the same plane, the a ~~ — iTTV 1 ^ E angular distance of the / \ 1 object from its. image is / D \ 1 double the inclination of M the mirrors. Thus, let A and B be sections of two mirrors per- pendicular to the same plane, and inclined to each other in the angle A I B ; a ray of light coming from the sun and falling upon the mirror A, in the direction S A, will be reflected in the line A B ; and falling upon B, it will again be reflected in the direction B E. Let A B be pro- duced to D, and S A prolonged to meet B E in E. Now, since the angles of incidence and reflexion are alwavs equal [Reflexion], we have D B E = 2 D B"l, and B AE = 2 BAI; but D B E = B A E + BE A, and D B I = B AI + B I A, con- sequently B A E + B E A = 2 B A I + 2 B I A ; and therefore, since BAE = 2BAI, we have also BEA = 2BIA; that is to say, the angular distance between the object S and its image seen by the eye at E, in the direction E B H, is the double of the inclination of the mirrors. It may be remarked, that the place of the image, as seen from E, is independent of the situation of the mirrors on the plane, so long as the line of the intersection of their planes and their inclination to each other remain constant. From what has been now said, it may be seen that if a convenient method could be devised for measuring the inclination of two mirrors perpendicular to the same plane, when they are so placed that the image of an object S is brought to coincide with an object H seen directly, we should at once have a reflecting instrument for measuring angular distances. SEXTANT Such instruments are the sextant, the quadrant, the reflecting circle, respectively so called from the extent of the arc which the graduated limb embraces. The contrivance adopted for this purpose in the sextant is to attach the frame of the mirror B to the plane of the sector of a circle A M N, and the frame of the mirror A to a radial bar A I revolving in the plane of a sector round a pin passing through the centre. Both frames are generally supplied with the means of adjusting the planes of the mirror ver- tically, and B is generally also capable of being turned by a delicate motion a small way round a pin passing through the frame of the sector. The arc or limb M N of the sector is graduated ; and the revolving radius or index carries at its extremity a vernier scale, applying to the graduations on the limb, and subdividing them into such smaller portions as may be desired. The method of finding the zero point of the limb may be understood generally from the following considerations: The angle E (fig. 1) being double the angle I, it follows that when the mirrors are parallel, or the angle I is nothing, the angle E is nothing also, and S and its image will appear as one object, the one exactly covering the other. It is therefore only necessary to turn round the radial bar which carries A till the image of a distant object seen by reflexion from B is in accurate conjunction with the object itself, seen directly ; and the point on the limb at which the index then stands is the zero point of the arc. If it is not also the zero of the numbered graduations, its distance from the numeral zero is called the index error of the instrument, and is to be applied as a correction to all angles measured. In graduating the limb, half degrees are marked as whole ones, and the smaller divisions accordingly ; so that the angle read from the instrument is not the inclination of the mirrors, but the distance of the object from its image. In this class of instruments, therefore, 90° are indicated by an arc of 45°, 120° by an arc of 60°, &c. The mirror A is completely silvered behind ; but B is silvered on that half only which is next the plane of the instrument, the upper part being left clear, that objects, such as H, may be seen through the upper portion of it, as well as the images of others, as S, by re- flexion from its lower, sUvered, surface. The mirror B is so placed by the maker that when A is parallel to it, the index, which carries A, either exactly or nearly corresponds with the zero of the divisions as they are numbered on the limb. When the index has been set by hand nearly in the position re- quisite for measuring any proposed angle, it is 424 clamped to the limb by a screw acting on a spring, and moved slowly by a tangent screw till it attains accurately the required position. Such being the general principles of the instrument, we shall now briefly describe the different parts of it, as constructed by the best makers, and the methods of adjusting and observing with it. The only important object to be aimed at in the frame is to combine lightness with sufficient strength. The telescopes used are of two kinds. One, a direct telescope, which is simply an opera- glass ; and having a narrow field of view, is generally used in the more ordinary sort of observations, such as observing altitudes. The other is an inverting or astronomical telescope. In the frames of each eye-piece are two pairs of wires, each pair perpendicular to the other, dividing the field of view into nine spaces, of which that in the middle is square ; and it is important that in all observations made with this instrument the contact of the image seen by reflexion, and of the object seen directly, should be made as near the middle of this square as possible, at any rate at the same distance as the centre of the square from the plane of the instrument. It is essential, also, that the telescope should be parallel to the plane of the instrument ; and in the collar into which the telescope is screwed there are two screws for making this parallel adjustment. The adjustment is not very liable to alter, but no careful observer will omit to examine it at every convenient opportunity. Both the mirrors are supplied with coloured glasses of different degrees of shade, framed and placed in such a position that they can be turned down before the mirrors, either singly or combined. The eye-pieces of the telescopes are also supplied with coloured shades, set in caps, which are screwed on the eye-piece. They are used in taking the index error by means of the sun, and in observing the sun's altitude from an artificial horizon. Adjustment of the Sextant. — 1. To set the index glass, when it admits of adjustment, per- pendicular to the plane of the instrument. Place the index about the middle of the limb ; and looking obliquely into the index glass, the part of the limb will be seen by reflexion in the glass, as well as directly. If the part of the limb seen directly and its image in the glass appear as one continued frame, the mirror is in adjustment ; but if the reflected image appears to incline downward, it shows that the face of the glass inclines backward from the perpendicular ; if upwards, that it inclines forward, and the adjustment must be made by the screw supplied for the purpose. 2. To set the horizon glass perpendicular to the frame of the instrument. Having carefully adjusted the index glass, or seen that it is in adjustment, screw the telescope into its socket ; adjust the eye-piece to distinct vision ; screw the dusk shade cap on the eye end of the telescope, or turn down SEXTANT shades before the mirrors ; and looking towards the sun, bring the index near to zero ; move it steadily backwards and forwards, and the re- fleeted image of the sun will be seen to pass over his disc, as viewed directly. If the two circular discs accurately cover each other in passing, the perpendicular adjustment of the horizon glass requires no adjustment; but if they pass a little aside of each other, so that two different-coloured lines appear on each side of the overlapping middle part, the mirror B must be turned by the appropriate screw till the discs accurately cover each other, when the adjustment will be complete. This adjustment may also be effected by making a bright star and its image coincide with each other ; but in this case it is scarcely necessary to say that the darkening shades must be turned aside. 3. To set the telescope parallel to the plane of the instrument. This adjustment is effected by two screws in the collar which attaches the telescope to the limb of the sextant, diametri- cally opposing each other in a line perpen- dicular to the plane of the instrument. By tightening the upper one the object end of the telescope is inclined towards the instrument, and the contrary effect is produced by tighten- ing the lower one. To make the adjustment, turn round the eye-piece of the telescope till two of the wires in its focus appear parallel to the plane of the instrument (and of this the eye can judge with sufficient accuracy) ; then take two objects, as two bright stars, or the sun and the moon, whose distance in either case should not be less than 90°, in order that any error in the adjustment may become more apparent, and bringing the image of one of the objects in accurate contact with the other object on the wire next the instrument, instantly bring them to the other wire ; and if they are also in accurate contact upon that wire, it may be concluded that the axis of the telescope is parallel to the plane of the instrument. If the ol jects are the sun and moon, and they sepa- rate at the farther wire, it shows that the object end of the telescope inclines towards the plane of the instrument, and the contrary if they overlap ; and the error must be corrected by turning the proper screws in the collar. The index error of the instrument may be most conveniently and accurately determined, as fol- lows. Having effected the perpendicular adjust- ment of the horizon glass by the method above explained, bring the border of the sun's re- flected image to coincide with the sun seen directly both on the right and left side ; and, reading the index at both observations, if one reading is on the left and the other on the right of zero, half the difference is the index error, and the fourth part of the sum is the sun's semidiameter ; but if both readings are on the same side of zero, half the sum is the index error, and the fourth part of the differ- ence is the semidiameter. The Reflecting Circle depends on the same principles as the sextant, from which it differs chiefly by having the whole circle graduated. 425 SEYBEIiTITE In some instruments of this kind the angle is measured by repetition. [Repeating Ciiiclk.] But the only instrument of this. kind that can be now said to be in general use in this country is Troughton's reflecting circle ; in which, by means of three equidistant indexes, and by observing alternately with the face of the index direct and reversed, six times the re- quired angle is obtained, without reference to the index correction. After what has been said above on the principles of reflecting in- struments generally, the following short account of this instrument will be sufficient. All the indexes move round together ; and, of course, the apparatus for slow motion, or the tangent screw, is requisite only for one of them, which is called the leading index, and which, for the sake of convenience, stands at or near zero on the limb when the revolving and fixed mirrors are parallel. In the annexed figure let B D, B E, and B F Fig. 3. the positions of the in- dexes when the revolving mirror is parallel to the fixed one K L ; and let AC and MN be two positions of the revolv- ing mirror when it is equally inclined to K L. Then the arcs D Gr, D Gr', EH, EH', FI, FT, passed over by B D, B E and B F, will be all equal ; and if, when the mirror has the position M N, the face of the instrument be reversed, M N and K L will have the same relative position to each other that A C and K L have ; and consequently if an object is seen by reflexion from A C and K L, it will also, when the instrument is reversed, be seen by the reflexion from M N and KL to an eye placed in the same situation. Hence the degrees on the arcs Gr Gr', H H', I I', which are the differences of the readings of the ob- servations in the direct and reversed positions, are each the measure of double the distance of the object from its reflected image. The de- grees being numbered round the circle from 0 to 720°, and the indexes placed very nearly at equal distances from each other, it is customary in practice to read the degrees, with the minutes and seconds, from the leading index only, and to read only the minutes and seconds at the other indexes. Sextile Aspect. In Astrology, the aspect of two planets when they are distant from each other the sixth part of a circle, or sixty degrees. Sextinvariant. [Invariant.] Sexton (a corruption of sacristan). A church officer, who is properly the keeper of holy things belonging to divine worship, and said to be the same with the ostiarius in the Roman church. A sexton is usually appointed for life (whether by the minister or others, ac- cording to custom), and in such case a manda- mus lies to restore him to his office. Seyfcertite. A kind of Clintonite, found SFORZATO in beds of granular limestone, at Amity in New York. Sforzato or Sforzando (Ital. forced). In Music, a term written over a note to signify that it is to be played or struck louder than the rest ; it is abbreviated sf or sfz. Sfumato (Ital. smoky). In Painting, a term applied to that style of painting wherein the tints are so blended that the outline is scarcely perceptible,- the whole presenting an indistinct misty appearance. The Milanese painters exhibit this quality more than any others. Sgraffito or Sgrafiaato (Ital. scratched). Iu Painting, a species of drawing in which the ground is prepared with dark stucco, on which a white coat is applied ; which last being re- moved with an iron instrument, the scraping it away forms the shadows, giving it the appear- ance of a chiaroscuro painting. The principal designs of Polidoro da Caravaggio are executed in this manner, which is capable of great effect, and is extremely durable. Shabrack. The large saddle-cloth, forming part of the full-dress equipment of officers of cavalry and horse artillery. The term is said to be of Hungarian origin. Shackle. On Shipboard, a ring. The term is applied more especially to the rings of the ports through which the port-bar is passed to close the porthole effectually, and to the ring of the anchor by which it is attached to the cable. Shad (Ger. schade). A large species of herring, the Clupea alosa of Linngeus. It forms a separate genus in the Cuvierian system. Shaddock. The fruit of the Citrus decu- mana, one of the species of the Orange family. It is said to be named after the person who first carried it from the East to the West- Indies. Shadow (A.-Sax. sceadn, Grer. schatten, Gr. (Tkotos and ama). In Optics, a portion of space from which light is intercepted by an opaque body. As the rays of light proceed in straight lines, every opaque object on which light falls is accompanied with a shadow on the side opposite to the luminous body ; and the shadow appears mere intense in proportion as the illumination is stronger, because any object placed within it contrasts more strongly with the surrounding objects on which the light is suffered to fall. As every point of a luminous body is a sepa- rate focus of illumination, it follows that an opaque object illuminated by the sun, or any other source of light which is not a single point, must have an infinite number of shadows, though not distinguishable from each other; and hence the shadow of an opaque body re- ceived on a plane is always terminated by a penumbra, or partial shadow, the extent of which is greater in proportion to the magni- tude of the luminous body, the distance of the opaque body from the plane on which the shadow falls, and the degree of obliquity with which the luminous rays fall on the plane. 426 SHAFT Coloured Shadows. — In certain states of the atmosphere the shadows of opaque objects projected on a white surface are frequently ob- served, about the time of sunrise or sunset, to be of a blue colour. This curious observation appears to have been first made by the cele- brated painter Leonardo da Vinci, and is also noticed by Otto Guericke in his Magdeburg Experiments ; but no further notice seems to have been taken of the phenomenon until about a century later, when it was again noticed by Buffon. Happening to stand on an eminence about the time of sunset, he perceived the shadows of the trees on a white wall about 30 or 40 feet distant to be coloured with a light green, inclining to blue. The next morn- ing, at sunrise, he repeated the observation ; but instead of finding the shadows green, he found them blue, or rather the colour of lively indigo. Afterwards he often observed the shadows both in the morning and evening, but always observed them to be blue ; and he re- marks that any one may see a blue shadow, if he will hold his finger before a piece of white paper at sunrise or sunset. The phenomenon |has since been frequently observed, and is now known to be due to the hyper-sensitiveness of that portion of the retina of the eye which receives the image of the shadow, for rays complementary to those which are illuminating the rest of the retina ; thus in the red glow of evening, a surface in shadow, which is in fact reflecting a subdued light, appears green, whilst with a yellow light from the rising or setting sun shadows appear blue. [Comple- mentary Colours.] Shadow. In Painting, the form which a solid object projects on a surface or surfaces by being interposed between the surface or surfaces and the sun, or other luminous body. [Sctography.] Shade is a term applied to that portion of the object which is not obvious to the luminoxis body. Shaft (A.-Sax. sceaft). In Architecture, that part of a column between the base and capital, sometimes called the trunk of the column. The shaft of a column always dimi- nishes in diameter from about a third of its height. Sometimes it has a slight swelling [Entasis] in the lower part of its height. In the oldest Doric columns, the diminution was so considerable as to give the column a conical appearance. In the Doric edifices at Athens, the upper diameter is not more than a quarter I less than the lower diameter ; in the temples of Jupiter Nemeus, between Argos and Corinth, not more than a fifth less. In Ionic and Corin- thian columns, the difference of the upper and lower diameters varies from a fifth to a twelfth. The ancients seem to have regulated the dimi- nution in some proportion to the absolute height of the column, for no particular law seems to have prevailed in terms of the lower diameter. Shaft. In Mechanics, that part of a machine in which the motion is communicated by torsion, as in the paddle-shaft or screw-shaft of a steam- ship. Shaft. In Military Mining, the vortical SHAG excavation made to reach the required position for the charge. Horizontal or inclined excava- tions are called galleries. Stiagr (A.-Sax. sceaega). The English name of a species of cormorant (Pelicanus graculus, Linn.). Shag. A term used in Scotland for the refuse of barley. Also the commercial name for a kind of prepared tobacco. Shagreen. A species of leather, supposed formerly to have been prepared from the skin of the shagree, a species of whale. It is pre- pared from horse or ass skin, its granular ap- pearance being produced by embedding in it, whilst soft, the seeds of a species of cheno- podium, and afterwards shaving down the sur- face : it is dyed with the green produced by the action of sal ammoniac on copper filings. It was formerly much used for watch, spectacle, and instrument cases, and was made chiefly in Astracan. Shan (Pers. prince). The title given by European writers to the monarch of Persia, who in his own country is designated by the ■ compound appellation of Padishah. Shah-namah ( The Book of Kings). The most ancient and celebrated poem in the modern Persian language, by the poet who received as a title of honour the name ' Firdousi ' (of Paradise), by which he is known. Its date is supposed to be about a.d. 1000. A complete translation into English, in four volumes, was published by Captain Macan, Calcutta 1829. Shake (A.-Sax. sceacan). In Music, a quick alternate repetition of the note above with that over which the mark tr is placed, commonly ending with a turn from the note below. Shakers. In Ecclesiastical History, a sect said to have originated by a secession from the body of Quakers, in 1747, in Lancashire ; they received their nickname from the peculiar con- tortions of body which they adopted in their religious exercises. Anne Lee, the leader of this sect, joined the society in 1758 ; and con- sidering herself persecuted in England, went with a few followers to New York in 1774. She died ten years afterwards, at which time her sect had made great progress in America. Shako. The headdress worn by all infantry of the line in the British army, and by the Austrian and some other troops. Shale (Ger. schale, a shell). A name given to certain argillaceous rocks, which split in some degree like slate, but much less perfectly, and are so little altered as to be easily reducible to clay by mechanical rubbing and pounding. Shales are very common in the coal measures, both in England and elsewhere, but they are not essential to the presence of coal. Some shales contain a marked proportion of bitu- minous matter capable of being separated by distillation at a low and regulated temperature. These are called bituminous shales, and., though generally distinct, they pass into coals in some places and cannot be distinguished from them. [Bituminous Shales.] Shales differ from schists in being almost entirely argillaceous 427 SHAKK and slightly metamorphic. Their impurities are iron and limestone, which occur as acci- dental and not as essential ingredients. Tiny differ from slates in being less perfectly meta- morphosed. The shales in the coal measures are often loaded with fossil plants, which are very slightly changed. Slates, when they contain fossils, exhibit them in a greatly altered state, and schists contain only inorganic and crystal- line minerals. Notwithstanding these broad distinctions, the young geologist may occa- sionally find difficulty in distinguishing shales from slates, and either of these rocks from schists. [Schist.] Shallop (Fr. chaloupe). An open, broad boat, once employed by fishermen, but now nearly superseded by luggers and yawls. It has two masts rigged schooner-fashion. Shallot or Eschalot (Fr. echalotte). The Allium ascalonicum of Linnseus. It possesses the flavour of garlic, but is less pungent, and is highly esteemed in cookery. Shamanism or Schamanism. A gene- ral name applied to the idolatrous religions of a number of barbarous tribes, comprehend- ing those of Finnish race — the Ostiaks, Samo- jeds, and other inhabitants of Siberia as far as the Pacific Ocean. These nations generally believe in a Supreme Being, but they assign the immediate government of the world to a number of secondary gods, both benevolent and malevolent towards man. The shamans or priests possess the power of propitiating such as are malignant. For accounts of these remote people, see Von Wrangel's Journey to the Polar Sea. Shammy or Shamoy. The tanned or tawed skin of the chamois goat. Any soft pliable leather now passes under the name. [Leather.] Shampooing. A name given to an ope- " ration which consists in pressing the joints and rubbing them, so as to mitigate pain, and restore tone and vigour to the parts. Shamrock. The popular emblem of Ire- land, corresponding to the rose of England, and the thistle of Scotland. It is generally believed to have been the plant called white clover, Trifolium repens ; but others suppose it to have been the wood sorrel, Oxalis Acetosella. Shank. In Architecture. [Femur.] Shank of an Anchor. The shaft or principal member. It sustains the flukes at one end and the shackle at the other ; it passes through the beam, if of wood, or is pierced br it if of iron. Shank of a Hook. The straight part above the bent portion. Shank Painter. The rope or chain which passing round the shank of the anchor, lyin£ horizontally, confines it to the ship's bow, abaft the cathead. Shark (Lat. carcharus, G-r. icdpxapos). A Large genus of fishes (Squatus). All these fishes have five branchial openings on each side of the neck, resembling two fissures. SHARP Some are ovo-viviparous, whilst others lay eggs covered with a hard and horny case. Sharp (A.-Sax. scearf, Ger scharf). In Music, a character It , which prefixed to a note signifies that it is to be sung or played a semi- tone higher than it naturally would have been without such character. Shaster. The Hindu name Shaster, or Sastra, denotes the book which contains the interpretations or explanation of the Vedas by sasta, i.e. science. Of such books we have the Vedanga-Schastra, the Schastra-Bade, and several others. Shea Butter. A kind of solid oil, ob- tained in Africa from the seeds of the Shea- tree, Bassia ParJcii. Sheaf. In Mechanics, a solid cylindrical wheel fixed in a channel and movable about an axis, as in the block of a pulley. [Sheave.] Shear Steel. A kind of steel made by welding several bars together, and again draw- ing them out. It is used for clothiers' shears, and many other cutting instruments. [Steel.] Shearing 1 . The term in Scotland for reaping. Shearing Sheep. The operation of clip- ping off the wool from the bodies of ewes and lambs ; generally performed in the beginning of summer, when the animals are not likely to suffer from being deprived of their warm cover- ing, and when there is sufficient time for the wool to grow again before winter. Sheath (A.-Sax. sceath, Ger. scheide). In Botany, a term applied to a petiole when it embraces the branch from which it springs, as in grasses ; or to a rudimentary leaf which wraps round the stem on which it grows, as in the scape of many Endogenous plants. Sheathing. The covering laid on a ship's bottom to defend it from the worms. Sheets of thin copper nailed on with copper nails constitute, at present, the sheathing of all the better kinds of vessels. Lead has been used, at least as early as the time of Trajan ; thin planking of fir was subsequently em- ployed ; and large-headed iron nails, called scupptr nails, are used still for the same pur- pose on the bottoms of old hulks, piles, &c. Zinc and different compositions have been pro- posed as substitutes for copper, but they have proved less successful, as the copper produces by its oxidation a poisonous acid which deters sea-animals from adhering. The oxidation, however, gradually wastes the copper; and Sir H. Davy ingeniously suggested the application of pieces of zinc or iron upon different parts of the copper surface. These pieces of zinc or iron by the action of the sea-water render the copper electro-negative, and capable, there- fore, of resisting the oxidising and corrosive agencies of the substances held in solution. The pieces so applied have been properly called protectors ; but by occasioning the pre- cipitation of earthy matters upon the copper, while they effectually protect it, they render its surface favourable to the adhesion of weeds, barnacles, &c, and sometimes to such an ex- 428 SHEERS tent as to interfere with the passage of the ship through the water : and upon these grounds Sir Humphry's valuable suggestion has been ne- glected. When vessels are laid up in dock, the protectors are in successful use. Sheave. The wheel in a pulley. In ships' blocks it is usually of brass or lignum vitae, not unfrequently in combination, a square coak or bush of brass being inserted in the centre of a wheel of lignum vitse. Sheave-hole is the hole through a block or spar in which a sheave is fixed. Shechinah (Heb. shukan, to dwell). The Jewish name for the Divine presence, which is represented as resting, in the shape of a cloud, over the ' propitiatory,' or ' mercy-seat,' as it is rendered in our translation (Lev. xvi. 2). The Jews reckon- it among the five par- ticulars which were present in the first temple, and wanting in the second. On this account God is so often said in Scripture to ' dwell be- tween the cherubim ; ' i. e. between the images of cherubim on the mercy-seat. (1 Sam. iv. 4 ; Psalm lxxx. 1, &c. See, amongst other au- thorities, the special dissertations of Lowman and Skinner On the Shechinah.) Sheep. [Ovis.] Sheepshank. A very useful knot for shortening a rope in the middle, without fit- ting it or loosening its ends. It is of service in preventing two blocks coming together, or in shortening the backstays when a mast is struck. This knot (shown at fig. 5, art. Knots) is formed by doubling the rope in three parts, and taking a hitch over the bight at each end with the other rope. Sheer (A.-Sax. scyr, Ger. schier). The curve which the line of ports, or of the deck, presents to the eye when viewing the side of the ship. When these lines are straight, or the extremities do not rise, as is most usual, the ship is said to have a straight sheer. Sheer Battens. In Shipbuilding, long battens by which the position of the wales or bends is marked on the timbers preparatory to those planks being bolted on. Sheer Plan. In Naval Architecture, the longitudinal section of a ship, taken through the keel, at right angles to the horizon. It shows the position of every point in the vessel in regard to its distance fore or aft of the mid- ship point, and to its height above the keel. Sheer Strake. In Shipbuilding, a thick strake of planking immediately under the gunwale. Sheers. Apparatus for raising heavy weights to a considerable height, as hoisting masts into a ship, or boilers into a steam- vessel. The easiest-formed sheers are made of two spars lashed together near the top with a block suspended from the point of intersection. The resemblance borne by such spars to an open pair of shears is said to have suggested the name. In permanent sheers, employed in dockyards, the upper ends of the spars are cut off, the tops joined by an iron cap and bolts, the bases firmly set in masonry, and the appa- SHEERS SHERBET ratus ia lowered or raised by chains working to j the top of a massive mast, rising vertically from between the feet of the spars. In some instances a pair of sheers is placed on each side of the centre spar, the whole being built on a stone causeway, between two basins. A sheer hulk is an old hull fitted with sheers. It has the advantage of locomotion, but the weight of modern boilers and masts is so great as to have caused the sheer hulk to become nearly obsolete. Its place has in some degree been taken by the Derrick. Sheers. In Artillery, two spars from thirty to forty feet long, lashed together at one end. Their other ends are planted in the ground, the lashed ends being raised by tackle, and fixed by guy ropes. To the lashed end is at- tached a tackle ; and the whole arrangement is used for mounting and dismounting guns from towers, &c, in the same manner as a Derrick. Sheet (Span, escota). The rope attached to the after or leeward clew or corner of a sail, to extend it to the wind. In the square sails above the courses, the ropes attached to both clews are called sheets : in all other cases the weathermost one is called a tack. Sheet Anchor. The largest and most powerful anchor carried by a ship. Sheik (Arab, elder or eldest). A title of dignity properly belonging to the chiefs of the Arabian tribes or clans. The heads of monasteries are also in some instances termed sheiks among the Mohammedans. It is also the title of the higher order of religious per- sons who preach in the mosques. The mufti of Constantinople bears the title of Sheikh-ul- Islam. Shekel. The name of a weight and coin in use among the Jews. The weight of the shekel was about half an ounce in English avoirdupois weight, the value of the coin being 2s. 7d. There were two standards of the shekel : the shekel of the sanctuary, which was used in calculating the offerings of the temple, and all sums connected with the sacred law ; and the royal or profane shekel, used for all civil payments. Various opinions are en- tertained respecting the relative value of these two .standards ; but nothing certain can be averred on the subject. Wener and Michaelis (without, however, any sufficient reason, as it appears) are of opinion that the shekel used in commercial transactions differed from both of these. (Wener, Biblisches Recdwbrterbuch, art. ' Sekel.') Sheldrake. The common name of the species of duck called Anas tadorna, which is the type of the subgenus Tadorna of Eay and modern ornithologists. This elegant species frequents many parts of our coast, and re- mains throughout the year. The female com- monly selects a rabbit-hole in which to deposit her eggs, which are sometimes as many as six- teen in number. The sheldrake feeds on small fish, marine insects, and sea-weed. Shelf (A.-Sax. scylf). On Shipboard, a longitudinal timber running around the inner 429 side of the ribs, and bolted to them as well as to the stem and sternpost. The shelves im- part great longitudinal strengthening to tho ship, and at the same time serve to sustain the decks. Shell (A.-Sax. scyl). The hardening prin- ciple of shell is generally carbonate of lime nearly pure. The animal principle, in the por- cellaneous shells, is a small quantity of solu- ble gelatine ; in the mother-of-pearl shells, it is albuminous. The latter, therefore, when steeped in dilute muriatic acid, leave a mem- branous or cartilaginous residue ; but the former are entirely soluble. For the form, structure, and mode of growth of shell, see CONCHOLOGY. Shell. In Artillery, a hollow projectile. A common shell contains a charge of powder, which is ignited at the required time by means of a fuse, and so bursts the shell, the frag- ments being very destructive. The fuse of a common shell is generally so arranged as to burst the shell upon its striking the object. [Martin's Shell; Segment Shell ; Shrapnel Shell.] Shell Lac. [Lac] Shell XvEari. A deposit of clay and other substances, mixed with shells, which collects at the bottom of lakes. Shelley's Case, The Rule in. In Law, an ancient doctrine of real property law, still of great practical importance. It may be shortly stated as follows : "When a person by any gift or conveyance takes an estate of free- hold, and in the same gift or conveyance an estate is limited to his heirs, the words the heirs are words of limitation of the estate of the ancestor, i. e. they are considered as defining the estate or interest taken by the ancestor, and not as giving any estate or interest to the heir individually. Thus, for instance, if an estate be given to A for life, and after his death to his heirs, A will take an absolute fee simple as if the gift had been simply to him and his heirs, and the person who may be the heir of A will take nothing unless by descent or gift from A. Shepardite. A Mineralogical synonym of Schreibersite. Shepherd Stings. Legendary kings of Egypt, sometimes called Hycsos. According to Bunsen {Egypt's Place in Universal History ), the conquest of Egypt by Hycsos or Amalekite invaders took place 2547 B.C., and the dynasties then established held the native princes as their tributaries for about 900 years; the rise of the eighteenth dynasty in 1625 B.C. being accompanied by the expulsion or withdrawal of the Hycsos and the bondage of the Israel- ites. Eor the value of this chronology, see Sesostris. (Sir G. C. Lewis, Astronomy of the Ancients, ch. vi. ; Edinburgh Review, July 1862, p. 101.) Sherbet (a word borrowed from the Persian). A favourite beverage in the East bearing some resemblance to our lemonade, made of water, lemon juice, and sugar, with the addition of SHERIFF some other ingredients, such as rose water, to give it a delightful perfume. Sheriff (originally shire-reeve, from the Saxon, meaning the reeve or governor of the shire). The title of that functionary who acted at first only as the deputy of the earl, hence styled in Lat. vice-comes, but who has long been the chief civil officer in each county, where he is styled bailiff of the crown, and where he is specially intrusted with the execution of the laws and the preservation of the peace. For this purpose he has at his disposal the whole civil force of the county — in old legal language, the posse comitatus. The most ordinary and important functions of the sheriff, which he universally exercises by a deputy, called under- sheriff, for whose conduct he is responsible, consist in the execution of writs issuing from the superior courts, or awarded by the judges on their consent, to take effect within the county. The sheriff himself only executes in person such parts of his office as are either purely honorary, such as attendance upon the judges on circuit (for whose lodging he is also bound to provide) ; or as are of some dignity and public importance, such as the presiding over elections and the holding of county meet- ings, which it is in his power to call at any time. Sheriffs were originally chosen by the free- holders of the county, except in some few counties where the office was hereditary, as it was in Westmoreland, till the death in 1849 of the last earl of Thanet, without issue (see stat. 13 & 14 Vict. c. 30). The system of popular election was abolished in the reign of Eichard II., and sheriffs have long been appointed by the crown upon presentation of the judges, in a manner partly regulated by law, partly by custom ; but sheriffs may also be nominated by the crown without recommendation of the judges, and are then familiarly styled pocket sheriffs. The city of London has, by charter, the right of appointing sheriffs of London and Middlesex. Those appointed in either way are bound under a penalty of 500/. to serve the office, except in specified cases of exemption or disability. The description given of the office in England applies to Ireland without variation, except as to the time of its origin. Sheriff Depute. In Scotland, the principal sheriff of a county. He is named by the crown, must be an advocate of three years' standing, and receives a salary. He is entitled to name sheriff substitutes; executes writs, returns juries, &c. ; decides on claims for enrollment in the county lists of parliamentary voters, and exercises a certain criminal jurisdiction. He also holds civil courts for the recovery of small debts, and a court of record, the jurisdiction of which extends to all personal actions, and possessory actions for the recovery of real property. Sherry. A Spanish wine made from the grapes of Xeres in Andalusia. Genuine sherry is a rich dry wine, containing from 20 to 23 per cent, of alcohol : there are many varieties, and 430 1 SHIELD it is . extensively imitated and adulterated. [Wine.] Shew-bread. In the Old Testament. The name given to the twelve loaves of bread, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, which were appointed to be placed every Sabbath ' on the pure table before the Lord,' for the sus- tenance of the priests. They appear to be the same with the ' shew-bread' in 1 Sam. xxi., where the act of David in taking these loaves for the nourishment of himself and his followers is related. Shiah. A Mohammedan sect who consider Ali, the fourth caliph, as the rightful successor of Mohammed, and regard his three predecessors, Abubekr, Omar, and Othman, as usurpers. The Eersians belong to this division — the Mohammedans who hold that Abubekr and his two next successors were legitimate caliphs being called Sonnites. Shibboleth (Heb. a flood). The name given to a test by which the Jews sought to distin- guish true persons or things from false. The following account is given of the origin of this term : After the battle gained by Jephf ha over the Ephraimites (Judges xii.), the Gileadites commanded by the former secured all the passes of the river; and on an Ephraimite attempting to cross, they asked him if he was of Ephraim. If he said no, they bade him pronounce the word Shibboleth, which the Ephraimites, from inability to give the aspi- rate, called Sibboleth ; and by this means he was detected, and instantly thrown into the river. In modern times this word has been adopted into the language of politics, in which it signifies those political opinions on which all the mem- bers of a party are agreed, or the watchword by which it is intended to unite them. Shield (A.-Sax. scyld, Ger. schild). A piece of defensive armour, very extensively used be- fore the invention of gunpowder, and still em- ployed by many nations among which military art has made imperfect progress. The ancient Greek shield, as described in the Homeric poems, was large and massive, . sufficient to cover the man from the face to the knee, com- posed of leather, inlaid in some instances with metal. That of the Eoman legionary was four feet high and two and a half broad, formed of wood covered with leather, and strongly guarded with bosses of iron or bronze. The ancient Britons and other nations of antiquity wore round, light, basket-like shields, often of wicker- work; more resembling the parma or lighter shield of the Eomans. The Norman shield, as used in England down to the time of Henry II., was 'of the form called kite or pear-shape,' flatter at first, afterwards approaching to the semi-cylindrical. Heraldic devices were first borne on it, so far as is distinctly ascertained, in the reign of Henry II. {Pictorial Hist, of England, i. 640.) In that of Edward IV. the shield had become triangular: the point of the triangle was rounded off about the end of the fourteenth century. Afterwards the shape of the shield, as worn by knights, became more SHIELDS and more fantastic. In actual service it fell gradually into disuse, as sword and buckler fight, the favourite pastime as well as warlike practice of former days, became obsolete after the rapier and dagger had been introduced in the reign of Elizabeth. The Highlanders carried the target with the broad sword to a much later period. (Hewitt's Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe.) Shields. In Botany, little coloured cups or lines with a hard disc surrounded by a rim, and containing the fructification of lichens. Shilling- (A. -Sax. scilling, Dan. skilling). An English silver coin equal to twelve pence, or the twentieth part of a pound sterling. Among the Anglo-Saxons, the value of the shilling was only five pence ; it afterwards underwent many alterations, containing some- times sixteen pence, and often twenty pence. The period when it obtained its present value is assigned to the reign of Edward I. Many other countries besides England have a coin of this name ; of these, perhaps, the Hamburg schilling is the best known. Its value is Id. English. . Shiloh (Heb.). A name mentioned in the prophecy of Jacob, Genesis xlix. 10, and by some interpreters supposed to designate the Messiah ; but the real meaning of the passage seems to be still a subject of controversy. Shingle (Oxer, schindel, from schinden ; Lat. scindo, to cleave). The coarse gravel, or ac- cumulation of small stones, found on the shores of rivers or the sea ; in the latter case the term sea- beach is applied. Shingles (a corruption of the French word cringle, from the Lat. cingulum, a belt). This eruptive disorder (known to nosologists by the title of Herpes zoster) is generally tishered in with febrile symptoms, followed by an itching or tingling sensation of some part of the body, occasioned by patches of little red pimples, forming in the course of twenty -four hours small transparent vesicles ; these succeed each other till they at length form a kind of belt round some part of the trunk or abdomen : they often form small ulcerations and scabs, continuing their progress for three or four weeks. This disorder is not contagious, and generally very slight; but in irritable habits the itching occasions want of rest and fever, and it is sometimes attended by a deep-seated pain of the affected part. The cause of shingles is generally obscure, though it may sometimes be referred to indigestion and suppressed perspiration : young persons are most subject to it. Gentle aperients and dia- phoretics, strict attention to the diet, and occa- sional anodynes, are the only internal remedies generally required ; and externally a little cold cream or fresh spermaceti ointment, or the occasional application of a very weak Goulard's lotion, is all that is necessary. [Herpes.] Shingles. In Architecture, small slabs of wood, or quartered oaken boards, used instead of slates or tiles for covering churches or spires. They are sawn to a certain scantling, or rather 431 SHIP cleft to about an inch thick at one end, and shaped like wedges, four or five inches broad and eight or nine inches long. Ship (Ger. schiff, Gr. ) because the direction in which it can be trained is only limited by the obstructions on the deck. . 3. That the gunners and gun are safer : because during loading the port can in most cases be turned out of fire. 4. That it allows of greater rapidity of fire : because the gun can be kept always directed to the mark aimed at. 5. That it throws greater weight of metal on one side than is otherwise possible. 6. That it gives advantage of position, inas- much as the turret vessel can keep her head in any direction most convenient. 7. That it allows of correct aiming con- currently with narrow portholes. As the best specimens in the British navy of these rival classes, may be mentioned, for broadside ironclads, the Bellerophon, which has a powerful broadside ; the Pallas, which has guns capable of being trained fore and aft, as well as to the broadside, her side being con- structed, as in the annexed diagram, on the level of the portholes; and the Mi- notaur, a stupendous five- masted frigate, ironclad throughout. For turret ves- sels, the Royal Sovereign is a fine ship, but of wood ; the Wyvern and Scorpion are smaller vessels, of iron, and very efficient ; the Wa- terwitch, of 800 tons, is in- tended as a sort of turret gunboat, propelled by the ejection of water. In foreign navies, the same models as in the British navy have been more or less followed, the American chiefly trusting to Monitors, the French to broadside ships, and among them having two two- deckers, the only specimens (and those not encouraging) of such ships among ironclads. £riiire (from A. -Sax. scyran, to divide ; whence the verb to sheer). A territorial divi- sion. In modern language, shire is synonymous with county ; but some smaller districts in the north of England retain the provincial appel- lation of shires : as Richmondshire, in the North Riding of Yorkshire ; Hallamshire, or the manor of Hallam, in the West Riding, which is nearly coextensive with the parish of Sheffield. [County.] Siaire Clerk. An officer appointed by the sheriff to assist in keeping the county court. Shire XVXote. In Ancient English Law, the shire meeting, i.e. sheriff's court. F F 2 Approximate half- breadth plan of Pallas on the level of the portholes. SHIRT OF NEED Shirt of STeed. In the ages of chivalry, a garment, called by the Germans nothhemd, which was supposed to render the wearer proof against all wounds. Shiva. [Siva.] Shoddy. A kind of woollen cloth, made from an inferior species of material, such as old stockings, flannel, and other soft goods. Its origin dates back as far as 1813, but it was long regarded as a dishonest production. The old goods are torn up into their original fibres by cylindrical machines armed with teeth, and reworked up. The price of ordinary shoddy varies from \d. to 5d. per lb., and the white from 2c?. to 106?. Some goods, such as pea-jackets and low-coloured blankets, are made with only one part of pure wool to six parts of shoddy. [Mungo.] Shoe (Ger. schuh). A covering for the foot, usually made of leather. Among the Jews these coverings were made not only of leather, but of linen, wood, and, for soldiers, sometimes of brass and iron. The Roman shoe, or calceus, covered the whole foot, and was tied above with strings, being thus dis- tinguished from the sandal or solea. The fashion of long points is the most singular feature in the history of mediseval shoes. These long-pointed shoes were called crackowes, and were tied by chains to the knee. An Act of Parliament in 1463 forbade the use and manu- facture of such shoes ; but the prohibition was ineffectual, and recourse was had to the excom- munication of those who wore shoes with points exceeding two inches in length. Shoemakers' Black. Atramcntum suto- rium. A name given by Pliny to sulphate of iron, or green vitriol, from the circumstance of its being used to rub over tanned leather, to which it communicates a black dye. Shooting' Stars. The article Meteors, Luminous, contains a general resume of our present knowledge of the phenomena among which shooting stars are included. In this place, therefore, we need only deal some- what with the early history, and some of the more interesting details. The apparent magnitudes of shooting stars are widely different. The greater part of them may be classed of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th magnitudes ; but some occur which surpass stars of the 1st magnitude, and even exceed Jupiter and Venus in brilliancy. In some of them the globular form can be easily recognised; and, in fact, it is impossible, from their appear- ances, to make any distinction between the larger shooting stars and the smaller indivi- duals of the class of meteors to which the name of Fiue-bales or bolides is usually ap- propriated. Some of the shooting stars leave a luminous train behind them, which marks their path through the sky with a milk-white light. These trains for the most part disappear in a few seconds ; but sometimes they continue longer, and even for several minutes. In the case of ac'ual fire-balls, Dr. Olbers observed trains 436 SHOOTING STARS [ which continued from six to seven minutes ; and Brandes, in one instance, estimated that fifteen minutes elapsed between the extinction of the fire-ball and the disappearance of the luminous train. The trains in general assume the form of a cylinder, the interior of which is ' void of luminous matter ; and not unfrequently, j before their disappearance, they take a curved | form. The most probable explanation was ! held to be, that they were caused by finely ; divided solid and phosphorescent matter left behind by the meteor, and bent by currents of air. This explanation of the latter phenome- ; non has been placed almost beyond all doubt by t the observations of M. Coulvier Gravier. The older philosophers had formed various : theories to explain these remarkable phenomena. By some they were supposed to be the products of an oily sulphurous vapour existing in the 1 atmosphere, which being disposed in thin layers, and becoming inflamed by some means, would exhibit the appearance of a clear brilliant spark passing rapidly from one point to another. About the middle of the last century, when the effects and phenomena of electricity began to be better understood, Beccaria and Vassali, among others, regarded the shooting stars as merely electrical sparks ; an hypothesis which was soon shown to be untenable. At a later period, when the inflammable nature of the gases became known, Lavoisier, Volta, Herbert, Toaldo. Gren, and others, referred these meteors to hydrogen gas, which, by reason of its in- ferior density, they supposed must be accumu- lated in the higher regions of the atmosphere. Dalton, however, showed that such accumula- tion cannot take place, inasmuch as all the gases which constitute the atmosphere must be equally diffused through its whole extent, according to the law of Mariotte. Deluc main- tained that certain phosphoric exhalations ge- nerated in the earth, and becoming inflamed in the sky, formed the true essence of the shooting stars. In this state the subject remained when Chladni published his celebrated work on the causes of the masses of iron and other similar substances found in Siberia by Pallas, in which he clearly established, by comparing the cir- cumstances of a great multitude of observa- tions, that fire-balls are meteors having their origin beyond our atmosphere ; that, in fact, they are masses of nebulous matter moving in space with planetary velocities, which, when they come in the way of the earth in its revo- lution about the sun, and enter the atmosphere, are inflamed by its resistance and friction, and become luminous, sometimes scattering masses of stone and iron on the ground. Halley, Wallis, Pringle, Maskelyne, and others, had previously assigned a cosmical origin to these meteors, but without suspecting that masses of stone and iron fell from them. The close resemblance which the greater part of the shooting stars present to fire-balls, at once induced Chladni to consider these phenomena also as cosmical ; that is to say, as small masses SHOOTING STARS of matter not having their origin in our atmo- 1 sphere bul entering it- from without, and which arc either entirely consumed in it, or become extinguished when they have passed beyond it. These conclusions, however, required to be confirmed by a more accurate investigation of the phenomena ; for as yet no exact determination bad been made of the actual average heights of the shooting stars above the earth, or of their orbits, velocities, or magnitudes. In the year 1798 this important but difficult enquiry was undertaken by Professors Brandes of Leipsig, and Benzenberg of Diisseldorf (both at that time students in Gottingen). Having selected a base line (about nine miles in length), they placed themselves at its extremities on ap- pointed nights, and observed all the shooting stars which appeared, tracing their courses through the heavens on a celestial map, and noting the instants of their appearances and extinctions by chronometers previously com- pared. The differences of the paths traced on the maps afforded data for the determination of the parallaxes, and consequently the heights and the lengths of the orbits. On six even- ings, between September and November, the whole number of shooting stars seen by both observers was 402 ; of these 22 were iden- tified as having been observed by each in such a manner that the altitude of the meteor above the ground at the instant of extinction coidd be computed. The least of the altitudes was about 6 English miles. Of the whole there were 7 under 45 miles; 9 between 45 and 90; 6 above 90 ; and the highest was above 140 miles. There were only two observed so com- pletely as to afford data for determining the velocity. The first gave 25 miles, and the second from 17 to 21 miles in a second. The most remarkable result was, that one of them certainly was observed not to fall, but to move in a direction away from the earth. By these observations a precise idea was first obtained of the altitudes, distances, and ve- locities of these singular meteors. A similar but more extended plan of observation was organised by Brandes, in 1823, and carried into effect at Breslau and the neighbouring towns, by a considerable number of persons observing at the same time on concerted nights. Between April and October about 1,800 shooting stars were noted at the different places ; out of which number 62 were found which had been observed simultaneously at more than one station in such a manner that their respective altitudes could be determined, and 36 others of which the observations furnished data for es- timating the entire orbits. Of these 98, the heights (at the time of extinction) of 4 were computed to be under 15 English miles ; of 15 between 15 and 30 miles ; of 22 between 30 and 45 ; of 33 between 45 and70 ; of 13 between 70 and 90 ; and of -11 above 90 miles. Of these last two had an altitude of about 140 miles, one of 220 miles, one of 280, and there was one of which the height was estimated to exceed 460 miles, 437 Of the 36 computed orbits, in 26 instances the motion was downwards, in one case hori- zontal, and in the remaining 9 more or less upwards. The velocities were between IS and 36 miles in a second. The trajectories wen frequently not straight lines, but curved sometimes in the horizontal and sometimes in the vertical direction, and sometimes they were of a serpentine form. The predominating direction of the motion of the meteors from north-east to south-west, contrary to that of the earth in its orbit, was very remarkable, and is important in reference to the theory of their physical origin. A similar set of observations was made in Belgium in 1824, under the direction of M. Quetelet, the results of which are published in the Annuaire de Bruxelles for 1837. M. Quetelet was chiefly solicitous to determine the velocity of the meteors. He obtained six corresponding observations from which this element could be deduced, and the results varied from ten to twenty-five English miles in a second. The mean of the six results gave a velocity of nearly seventeen miles per second, a little less than that of the earth in its orbit. Another set of corresponding observations was made in Switzerland on August 10, 1838 ; a circumstantial account of which is given by M. Wartmann in Quetelet's Correspondance MatJwmatique for July 1839. M. Wartmann and five other observers, provided with celestial charts, stationed themselves at the observatory of Geneva ; and the corresponding observations were made at Planchettes, a village about sixty miles to the north-east of that city. In the space of seven and a half hours, the number of meteors noted by the six observers at Geneva was 381 ; and during five and a half hours, the number observed at Planchettes by two observers was 104. All the circumstances of the phenomena — the place of the apparition and disappearance of each meteor, the time during which it continued visible, its brightness relatively to the fixed stars, whether accompanied with a train, &c. — were carefully noted, and the trajectories projected on a large planisphere. The extent of the trajectories described by the meteors was very different, varying from 8° to 70° of angular space. The velocities ap- peared also to differ considerably; but the average velocity was supposed by M. Wartmann to be 25° per second. It was found, from the comparison of the simultaneous observations, that the average height above the ground was about 550 miles ; and hence the relative velocity was computed to be about 240 miles in a second. But as the greater number moved in a direction opposite to that of the earth in its orbit, the relative velocity must be diminished by the earth's velocity (about 19 miles in a second). This still leaves upwards of 220 miles per second for the absolute velocity of the meteor, which is more than eleven times the orbital velocity of the earth, seven and a half times that of the planet Mercury, and probably greater than that of the comets at their perihelia. SHOOTING STARS Such are the principal faets which were early- established respecting the heights, velocities, and orbits of the shooting stars ; and it is from these, and others lately made which confirm them, that we have been enabled to form any probable conjectures respecting their origin. The early theories, as already stated, ascribed an atmospheric origin both to shooting stars and fire-balls ; but, although there is little doubt that shooting stars do not become visible until they are immersed in our atmosphere, yet the supposition of the atmospheric origin of these meteors is on other grounds altogether untenable. Another hypothesis respecting their origin was, that they are bodies projected to our earth from volcanoes in the moon. Dr. Qlbers was the first, perhaps, who showed the possibility of this hypothesis. On computing the forces necessary to overcome the moon's attraction, he found that a body projected from the moon with a velocity of about 8,500 feet in a second would not fall back on the lunar surface, but recede from it indefinitely ; and that in order to reach the earth it is only necessary that the projectile should have the velocity of 8,300 feet, which is quite conceivable, being only about four or five times that of a cannon-ball. The hypothesis of the lunar origin of meteoric stones was adopted by Laplace, Berzelius, Benzenberg, and others ; but the observed velocities of the shooting stars have rendered this origin extremely improbable with respect to them; In order to enter our atmosphere with a velocity of 20 miles in a second, it may be shown that if they come from the moon they must have been projected from the lunar sur- face with a velocity of about 120,000 feet in a second, which may be regarded as altogether impossible. It thus appears that those shooting stars and fire-balls which have the planetary velocity of from 20 to 40 miles in a second, cannot with any probability be regarded as having their origin in the moon. Whether any individual bodies moving with a smaller velocity may have a lunar origin, is a question which cannot be decisively answered. ' To me,' says Dr. Olbers, 'it does not appear at all probable; and I regard the moon, in its present circum- stances, as an extremely peaceable neighbour, which, from its want of water and atmosphere, is no longer capable of any strong explosions.' Another hypothesis, suggested by Chladni, has now for some time met with gradually increasing favour. It consists in supposing that, independently of the great planets, there exist in the planetary regions myriads of small bodies which circulate about the sun, generally in groups of zones ; and that some of these zones intersect the ecliptic, and are consequently encountered by the earth in its annual revo- lution. Speaking of this hypothesis, which is now accepted on all hands, Mr. Joule says : ' Its likelihood will be rendered evident if we sup- pose a meteoric stone, of the size of a six-inch 438 cube, to enter our atmosphere at the rate of eighteen miles per second of time, the atmo- sphere being ^ of its density at the earth's surface. The resistance offered to the motion of the stone will, in this case, be at least 51,600 lbs. ; and if the stone toiverse twenty miles with this amount of resistance, sufficient heat will thereby be developed to give 1° Fahrenheit to 6,967,980 lbs. of water. Of course by far the largest portion of this heat will be given to the displaced air, every par- ticle of which will sustain the shock, whilst only the surface of the stone will be in violent collision with the atmosphere. Hence the stone may be considered as placed in a blast of intensely heated air, the heat being com- municated from the surface to the centre by conduction. Only a small portion of the heat evolved will therefore be received by the stone ; but if we estimate it at only it will still be equal to 1° Fahrenheit per 69,679 lbs. of water, a quantity quite equal to the melting and dissipation of any materials of which it may be composed. The dissolution of the stone will also be accelerated in most cases by its breaking into pieces, in consequence of the unequal resistance experienced by different parts of its surface, especially after its cohesion has been partially overcome by heat. It appears that the varied phenomena of meteoric stones and shooting stars may all be explained in the above manner ; and that the different velocities of the meteorolites, varying from four to forty miles per second, according to the direction of their motions with respect to the earth, along with their various sizes, will suffice to show why some of these bodies are destroyed the instant they arrive in our atmosphere, and why others, with di- minished velocity, arrive at the earth's surface. The presumptions in favour of the cosmical origin of the shooting stars are founded chiefly on their periodical recurrence at certain epochs of the year, and the extraordinary displays of the phenomena in various years on the nights of the 12th or 13th of November. We shall here merely state the principal circumstances accompanying those of 1799, which put the notion of a lunar origin entirely out of the question. On the morning of the 12th of November, 1799, before sunrise, Humboldt and Bonpland, then on the coast of Mexico, were witnesses to a remarkable exhibition of shooting stars and fire-balls. They filled the part of the heavens extending from due east to about 30° towards the north and south. They rose from the horizon between the east and east-north-east points, described arcs of unequal magnitude, and fell towards the south ; some of them rose to the height of 40°, all above 25° or 30°. Many of them appeared to explode, but the larger number disappeared without emitting sparks: some had a nucleus apparently equal to Jupiter. This most remarkable spectacle was seen at the same time in Cumana, on the SHORE borders of Brazil, in French Q-uiaiia, in the I channel of Bahama, on the continent of North ,\ merica, in Labrador, and in Greenland; and even at Carlsruhe, Halle, and other places in Germany, many shooting stars were seen on the same day. At Nain and Hoffenthal in Labrador, and at Neuhernhut and Lichtenau in Greenland, the meteors seem to have ap- proached the nearest to the earth. At Nain they fell towards all points of the horizon ; and some of them had a diameter which the spec- tators estimated at half an ell. (Humboldt's Becueil des Voyages, $c. vol. ii.) The second great meteoric epoch is the 10th of August, first pointed out by M. Quetelet ; and although no displays similar to those of the November period have been witnessed on this night, there are more instances of the re- currence of the phenomena. In the three years 1838, 1839, 1840, shooting stars were observed in great numbers both on the 9th and 10th; but they appear in general to be unusually abundant during the two first weeks of August. The other periods which have been remarked are the 18th of October, the 23rd or 24th of April, the 6th and 7th of December, the nights from the 15th to the 20th of June, and the 2nd of January. Halley first suggested the idea that the shooting stars may be observed as signals for determining differences of longitude by simul- taneous observations; and Maskelyne in 1783 published a paper on the subject, in which he calls the attention of astronomers to the phe- nomena, and distinctly points out this applica- tion. The idea was revived by Benzenberg in 1802; but so long as they were regarded merely as casual phenomena, it could scarcely be hoped that they would be of much use in this respect to practical astronomy. As soon, however, as their periodicity became probable, the pheno- mena acquired a new interest ; and some recent attempts to determine longitudes in this man- ner have proved that the method is not to be disregarded. In fact, most of our most recent knowledge of the star-showers has been ac- quired by systematic observation of them at places some distance apart, telegraphically connected. See an interesting paper on this subject by Dr. Olbers, in Schumacher's Jahr- buch for 1837 ; also the Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes for 1836; Mem.de VAcad. de Bruxelles for 1838; Schumacher's Astrono- mische Nachrichten, vols. xvi. and xvii. ; and general papers communicated during 1863, 1864, and 1865, by Mr. Newton to Silliman's Journal, and by Mr. Herschel to the Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society. Shore. In Architecture, a piece of timber or other material placed in such a direction as to prop up a wall or other heavy body. Shorea (after Sir J. Shore, governor- general of Bengal). This tropical Asiatic genus belongs to the order Bipteracem, and consists of large resinous trees, with entire or wavy-edged leaves, and axillary and terminal panicles of sweet-smelling yellow flowers. S. 439 SHRAPNEL SHELLS \robusta, the Saul or Sal, is a native of India, .extending from tlie provinces of Bengal and Behar to the foot of the Himalayas within the limits of the tropics. It is a magnificent and most important timber-tree, frequently attaining a height of upwards of a hundred feet. The wood is of a light-brown colour, close-grained, strong and durable, and is extensively employed in India, both by the natives and by Europeans, for shipbuilding, engineering, and other pur- poses where great strength and toughness are requisite. It is stronger, and at the same time much heavier than Indian teak. An oil is obtained from the seeds. Part of the resin known as Dammar is likewise obtained from this and other species of Shorca. Shores (Dutch schoor). Strong props, used in shipbuilding, to keep the vessel steady on the slip. They are placed under the wales of the ship's bottom. Breast-shores are similar props used when a completed vessel is docked. Short Page. In Printing, a page short of its full quantity of matter, such as those at the ends of chapters, or at the end of a book. Shorthand Writing. [Stenography.] Shortstuff. In Shipbuilding, thin planks fastened over the ribs on the inside between the portholes. Siiot (A. -Sax. scyt). Any solid Projectile. Shot Sioekers. Long pieces of wood pierced with holes like cups, in which the shot are placed, along the sides and round the hatchways. Shoulder (A.-Sax. sculdre, Ger. schulter). In Fortification, the angle of a bastion in- cluded between the face and flank. Shoulder Blade. The scapula, or pleura- pophysial element of the pectoral arch. Shoulder-of-SI&utton Sail. A triangular sail used in small vessels as an auxiliary to prevent leeway. It is mounted on a temporary mast at the stern, its base being extended on a beam, and its apex against the mast. No gaff is employed. Shoveller. The name of a species of duck, remarkable for the length and terminal ex- pansion of the shovel-like bill ; whence the name of Spathidea, proposed for the subgenus of which it is the type. It is the Anas clypeata of Linnaeus. Shrapnel Shells. In Artillery, a shell invented by General Shrapnel of the Boyal Artillery. The projectile originally consisted of a thin iron shell filled with balls, sufficient powder being inserted with the balls to cause, when ignited by the fuse, the bursting of the shell ; it was designed to act as case or grape at longer range than was attainable by those projectiles. Hence it was also called spherical case shot. The essence of the shell's construc- tion is that the bursting charge should be so small as merely to open the shell, allowing the bullets to continue in flight with unimpeded velocity. Improved Shrapnel shells had the bursting charge separated from the balls by being placed in a cylinder in the middle of the shell, In the diaphragm Shrapnel shell the. SHREW SIDA powder is separated by an iron diaphragm from the bullets, all space between which is tilled up with coal-dust. Shrapnel shells should burst about fifty yards short of the object, and should not be fired at very long ranges, or the bullets will not have sufficient velocity. Slirew. A small insectivorous mammal, some species of which are aquatic. [Sorex.] Shrike. A name for the Butcher birds, or species of Lanius. Shrine (Ger. schrein ; Lat. serinium, a desk or cabinet; whence also screen). Properly, the receptacle of the remains or relics of a saint. Shrines are of two sorts : portable, used in processions, called in ~Latmferetra ; and fixed in churches. The appropriate place for shrines, in the churches of the middle ages, was gene- rally in the eastern part, in the space behind the high altar. Such is the situation of the celebrated shrine of the three kings of Cologne ; and such was that of the shrines at St. Albans, Canterbury, Durham, and AVestminster, before the Reformation. (Archcsologia, vol. i.) Shrouds (A. -Sax. scrud). The large ropes supporting a mast laterally ; they take the names of their respective masts, as main- shrouds, fore-topmast-shrouds, mizcn-topcjallant shrouds, &c. Shrove Tuesday. The Tuesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, and immediately pre- ceding Ash Wednesday ; so called from the Anglo-Sax. shriven, to confess, because on that day confession was made preparatory to the fast of Lent. Shrub (A.-Sax. scrob, Ger. schroff, rough). In Botany, a small low dwarfish tree, which, instead of one single stem, frequently puts forth from the same root several sets or stems. Shrub. The name given to a species of sweet wine or liqueur, of which rum forms the chief ingredient. Shuttle (Icelandic skutul). An instru- ment used by weavers, which guides the thread it contains, so as to make it form the woofs of stuffs, cloths, linen, and other fabrics, by throwing the shuttle alternately from left to right and from right to left across between the threads of the warp, which are stretched out lengthwise on the loom. In the middle of the shuttle is a kind of cavity, called its eye or chamber, in which is enclosed the spoul, which is part of the thread destined for the woof. Shwan Pan. The calculating instrument of the Chinese. It is similar in shape and construction to the Roman abacus, and is used in the same manner. [Abacus.] Si. In Music, the French and Italian name for the seventh sound, added by Le Maire, a Frenchman, at the latter end of the seven- teenth century, to the six ancient notes, ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, of Guido. It corresponds to our B. Sialagogue (Gr. aia\ov, saliva ; ayccySs, a leader). Medicines which increase the flow of saliva. Sibbens. A disease endemic in some of the western parts of Scotland, somewhat re- 440 sembling the yaws, and propagated by direct application of the contagious matter. Siberite. A synonym of Rubellite or Red Tourmaline, the finest specimens of which have been found in Siberia. Sibyl (Gr. XifivWa). The name given to certain prophetic women said to have lived in Greece and Italy. Some authors recount as many as ten of them. The most celebrated were the Sibyl of Cumse 4 fabled to have been consulted by JEneas, and the prophetess who is said to have offered her books to Tarquin the Proud. (Mem. de VAcad. des Inscr. vol. xxiii.) Sibylline Books. Documents supposed to contain the fate of the Roman empire. Nine of them are said to have been offered by an old woman, called Amalthsea, to Tarquin the Proud ; but Tarquin refusing to give the price which she asked, she went away, and burnt three of them. Returning with the remainder, she offered them to the king on the same terms as before; and on his second refusal departed again, and returned with three, which she still offered at the same price as the original nine. The king, struck with her conduct, at last acceded to her offer, and intrusted the care of the books to certain priests (the quindecemviri). The story runs that they were preserved in a stone chest beneath the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, being consulted in times of public danger or calamity, and that they were destroyed by the fire that consumed the Capitol in the Marsic war. After this calamity, ambassadors were sent to collect such fragments of Sibylline prophecies as they could pick up in various countries ; and from the verses thus collected Augustus formed two new books, which were deposited in two gilt cases in the temple of the Palatine Apollo. Sibylline verses are often quoted by Christian writers, as containing prophecies of Christianity; but these were composed during the second century of the Christian era. Sicilian SJarth. A name sometimes given to fossil bezoar, which appears to be of a similar character to Armenian Bole. Sicilian Vespers. In Modern History, the name commonly given to the great massacre of the French in Sicily, in a.d. 1282. They were the soldiers and subjects of Charles of Anjou, who had made himself master of the island after the defeat and death of Conradin. The insurrection broke out on the evening of Easter Tuesday. Its consequence was the ex- pulsion of Charles ; and the islanders placed themselves under the protection of the king of Arragon. Sick-bay. On Shipboard, a portion of the main-deck partitioned off for invalids. It is usually in the bow. The partitions are easily removed, and* in time of action, in a man-of- war, the sick-bay is transferred to the cockpit. Sida (Gr. (n'Srj). An extensive genus of Malvacem, many of the species of which are used medicinally. The root of S. acuta is esteemed by the Hindus as a valuable stoma- chic, and is administered in ague, dysentery, SIDE KEELSONS SIE(JE and as a remedy for snake-bites, wliile the I leaves are used as a poultice, as likewise are those of 8. retusa, 8. sti/pulata, and 8. mauri- I liana. Others are used in cases of rheumal ism, and as an application in cases of the stings of wasps and other insects. The wood of these trees is extremely light ; that of 8. micmntka j is used to make rocket-sticks in Brazil, where ; large quantifies are employed on fete-days at the doors of the churches. The Chinese culti- vate 8. tilicefolia for the sake of the fibre of its bark, which they prefer to hemp. Side Keelsons. In large ships, keel- sons parallel to, and somewhat smaller than the principal keelson, and distant about six feet from it. They extend from fifteen to twenty -five feet fore and aft of the main-mast, and are bolted through to the outside planking. The object is to give additional support to the ship's frame in the part adjoining the principal mast, and consequently the point of greatest strain. Side lever. The part of a certain species of marine engine which communicates the motion from the side rods to the cross tail, and which answers to the working beam in land engines. [Steam Engine.] Side-saddle Flower. One of the names of the curious pitcher-bearing genus of plants, called Sarracenia by botanists. Sidereal System. [Star.] Siderite (Gr. aioripos, iron). Sparry Iron- ore, or native carbonate of iron. The term Siderite has also been applied to a vitreous variety of Quartz of an indigo or Berlin blue colour, from Golling near Salzburg. Sideroealeite (a word coined from the Gr. (ribypos, and Lat. calx, lime). The name given by Kirwan to the Brown Spar of Werner. SideroscSiistolite (Gr. aiSrjpos ; eleavable ; and XlQos, stone). A hydrated silicate of iron, found in small six-sided black prisms at Conghonas do Campo in Brazil. Siderosoope (Gr. aidripos ; greater than, < less than, &c. Sign. In Astronomy, a portion of the eclip- tic or zodiac, containing thirty degrees, or a twelfth part of the complete circle. The first commences at the point of the equator through which the sun passes at the time of the vernal equinox; and they are counted onwards, pro- ceeding from west to east, according to the annual course of the sun, all round the circle. The names of the twelve signs, in the order in which they follow each other, with the characters by which they are indicated on globes, and in the almanacks and books of astronomy, are as follows : Aries r, Taurus 8, Gemini U, Cancer , Virgo Libra ^t, Scorpio ty\, Sagittarius f, Capri- cornus vr, Aquarius as, Pisces x. It is to be remarked, that the above are also the names of the twelve constellations of the zodiac ; and in ancient times (above 200 years before our era), the places of the signs and the constellations were coincident; but owing to the motion of the earth's equator, by which the equinoctial points are carried backwards on the ecliptic about 50 - 6" annually, the inter- sections of the ecliptic and equator, and conse- quently the commencement of the signs, now correspond to different stars, the first point of the sign Aries being at present near the beginning of the constellation Pisces. On this account care must be taken not to con- found the signs of the zodiac, which are fixed in respect of the equinoxes, with the constel- lations, which are movable in respect of those points. [Constellation.] The ascending signs are the six beginning with Capricornus, through which the sun passes while advancing from the winter to the summer solstice, and is, consequently, ac- 445 SIGNALS, NAVAL quiring altitude with respect to inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. The other six, be- ginning with Cancer, are called the descending signs. Sign. A picture hung in front of inns ; a remnant of a custom which formerly prevailed with regard to shops in general. Sign, Botanical. [Symbols, Botanical.] Sig-n BXanual. The royal signature, super- scribed at the top of bills of grants or letters patent; which are then sealed with the privy signet or great seal, as the case may be, to complete their validity. But there are some grants which pass through certain offices, as the Admiralty or Treasury, under the sign manual only. Signal Xaight. [Blue Light.] Signals. [Telegraph.] Signals, ETaval. A system of symbols addressed to the eye — as flags, boards, lights, &c. — for establishing communications at dis- tances too great for the voice. Guns are also used for the same purposes. The first signals seem to have been merely distinguishing flags for certain ships. In the system instituted by James II. for orders to the fleet, the pur- port depended on the part of the ship at which they were exhibited ; a condition very detrimental to the use of signals at sea. A code composed of numeral flags and pendants, i. e. in which each combination of numbers had a verbal expression assigned to it, seems to have been the first step towards a general system, as before this plan each admiral in- stituted his own code. In 1815, Sir Home Popham's code was adopted. This added several literal or alphabetical flags and pen- dants, which greatly extended the means of communication, but necessarily rendered the signals indistinct, and their purports deceitful, in many cases, from the increased difficulty of distinguishing each flag from the rest. In 1826, in consequence of some plans having been sub- mitted by admirals for a more efficient system, the code still partly in use, which was consi- dered as an improvement on its predecessor, was adopted. In 1828, Admiral Paper pub- lished his code, which was one of those xmder consideration. The principle of this system was that the manner of combination of the flags and pendants of which the signal is composed, i. e. their order or arrangement, should point out the subject of the signal, or, as the author terms it, the point of service to which the signal relates ; while the numbers of the individual symbols indicate the number of the signal in its class. The numbers are denoted, as usual, by the colours ; but when these fail, from haze or distance, the number is supplied by numeral distant sig?ials. From the distinctness at- tending the small number of symbols (the smallest possible for complete numeral sig- nals), the precision obtained from classification by which the simplicity of each signal is pro- portioned to its importance, and the saving of the time often wasted in vain attempts to distinguish the precise disposition of the colours SIGNALS, NAVAL of each flag, this system has been considered by some competent judges as the sole thoroughly efficient method. In the merchant service, signals are of less extensive utility than in the royal navy, their chief employment being to express the names of vessels, latitude and longitude, and a few other such particulars. Attempts have been made by the principal maritime governments to esta- blish a universal code of signals for the mer- cantile marine of all nations. The colours of flags are rather a drawback to their usefulness, as at a distance signalmen find it hard to distinguish between blue, red, and black, or between yellow and white. Some modern systems have therefore been tried with only black and white in the flags. This, of course, diminishes the number of symbols. But flags, generally, are subject to the objec- tion of indistinctness. On a still day they will not extend at all; on a windy day they may happen to extend in a direction end on to the observer, when of necessity they will be unintelligible. Solid figures, of canvas on iron frames, have been tried ; but the cone, sphere, cylinder, and cube, are the only figures which presented the same appearance in every direction. The reduction in the num- ber of symbols renders a code desirable. With many flags hung one above another it is easy to spell a word, and this is known as word sig- nalling, but with few symbols — the nine mime- rals, 0, and two repeaters for instance — it saves much time if a combination of four symbols be taken arbitrarily to represent a word or common sentence. This is a code. The sym- bols named above are sufficient to communicate 14,000 words and phrases ; and they constitute the basis of the code adopted by the Admiralty and the Board of Trade. In addition to other advantages over word-signalling, the code has the gain of being applicable to any signals — flag, telegraph, flashes, &c. — and the numbers, representing not spelling of words but the idea embodied in those words, are equally appli- cable in all languages. The next competition is between signalling and telegraphing; in the former the whole word or combination of nume- rals is exposed at once, while, in the second, one letter or numeral is shown at one motion. At first sight the former seems the quicker mode ; but the preparatory arrangements take longer, more apparatus is requisite (at least twelve different signs being indispensable) than with the telegraph, where four signs, each of which can be shown affirmatively or negatively, an- swer all the purposes. The simplicity of the telegraph system will certainly make it general before long. Having shown that word-signals must yield to codes, and that codes can be better commu- nicated by telegraphing than signalling, it is only necessary to show the various apparatus used for the latter. The oldest of the modern telegraphs is the arm telegraph, still used on railways; here a post with two revolving arms can make any signal. It is, however, only 416 SIGNATURE ! visible at a point in front or nearly in front. I The great improvement was Kedl's cones, con- I si sting of four black cones on a mast. Each cone is constructed like an umbrella, | and, by means of a spring, its nor- mal position is closed tight upon the mast. By a cord from each cone, the operator can open it at will, and keep it in an open posi- tion as he pleases. The cones re- present four positions— open, posi- tive ; shut, negative. By combina- tions of these, all the symbols for telegraphing are obtained. The signs can be changed with the utmost rapidity; the mast is light, and easily removed from one point to another ; it forms a ready com- munication from ship to shore, between por- tions of armies, or indeed in any situation, as the signals appear the same in every direction. For day telegraphing these cones have now been universally adopted in the British service. Several ingenious officers — and notably Captains Bolton and Colomb — have developed the system of the cones to any signs whatever which admit of four positions and a positive or negative aspect. Thus, two men's arms extended or by their sides ; one man raising an arm, with or without a hand- kerchief, four times in quick succession ; four notes on a horn or steam-whistle — long notes for positive, short notes for negative — constitute a telegraph ready for use. Many experiments have been made to try the most efficient sym- bols for distant telegraphy. The results have given the preference for clay signalling to jets of steam, long or short, and for night purposes to the flashes of a strong light. For this latter purpose the light is covered by a shade and exposed 1^ seconds for a positive signal and half a second for negatives. Four puffs of steam or flashes of light constitute a symbol, and four symbols one phrase or word, as shown by the code. It is needless to point out that these time-signals are precisely on the principle of Morse's electric telegraph. Steam-jet,' ' Flashing Sound,' or 'Electric Tele- graph Time-signals,' repre- senting the symbol 3,591 , to which an arbitrary meaning is attached. Signature (Lat. signature.). In Music, the flats and sharps placed after the clef, at the beginning of the staff, which affect, throughout the movement, all notes of the same letter. Signature. In Printing, a letter of the alphabet placed at the bottom of the first page of each sheet of a work, to denote, alphabetically, the order of the sheets. It is customary to commence with B on the first sheet of the body of the work, and to go regularly through the alphabet, with the exception of the letters J, V, and W, which are never used as signatures, and which had, in fact - , no existence in the alphabet at the time of the invention of printing ; $ expressing both I and J ; W, both U and V ; and 2KB, the double letter W. If the work extend to more sheets in number than there are letters in the alphabet, the succeeding sheets go on with a second alphabet, which commences with A, and both the letters are usually given; in this manner, A A, or A a, and sometimes, to avoid the repetition, thus, 2 A. If a third alphabet be necessary, it is always, at the present day, placed with the number before it, as 3 A. The printer's first alphabet consists of twenty-two letters, and the second and succeeding ones of twenty-three. As a guide to the bookbinder, there are other signatures used in a sheet besides the first. SIGNATURE In a sheet of octavo it was till recently usual for the first page to have B, the third B 2, the fifth B3, and the seventh B 4 : in a sheet of twelves they were carried to B 6, B 5 being the first page of the offcut ; and however numerous the pages may be in a sheet with one signature, when they were all inserted, they were continued to the last odd page before the middle of the sheet, but never carried beyond the middle. In general they were all omitted except the first two, to show the first fold of the paper, and the first on the offcut. Small capitals are more frequently used for signatures than large capitals, as disfiguring the foot of the page in a slighter manner. Sometimes figures are used instead of letters, but not often ; the Gentle- man's Magazine is an instance. No. of Sheets Signature Folio No. of Sheets Signature Folio No. of Sheets Signature Folio 23 2A 353 46 3A 721 1 B 1 24 B 369 47 B 737 2 C 17 25 G 385 48 G 753 3 D 33 26 D 401 49 D 769 4 E 49 27 E 417 50 E 785 5 F 65 28 F 433 51 F 801 6 G 81 29 Gr 449 52 G 817 7 H 97 30 H 465 53 H 833 8 I 113 31 I 481 54 I 849 9 K 129 32 K 497 55 K 865 10 L 145 33 L 513 56 L 881 11 M 161 34 M 529 57 M 897 12 N 177 35 N 545 58 N 913 13 0 193 36 G 561 59 O 929 14 P 209 37 P 577 60 P 945 15 Q 225 38 Q 593 61 Q 961 16 K 241 39 E 609 62 E 977 17 S 257 40 S 625 63 S 993 18 T 273 41 T 641 64 T 1009 19 U 289 42 U 657 65 U 1025 20 X 305 43 X 673 66 X 1041 21 Y 321 44 Y 689 67 Y 1057 22 Z 337 45 Z 705 68 Z 1073 Signatures, 33oetrine of. A belief held by some ancient physicians and pharmaceutists that every natural substance which possesses medicinal virtue, indicates, by an obvious ex- ternal character, the disease for which it is a remedy, or the object for which it should be employed. Hence, it was assumed that poppies must relieve diseases of the head, from the form of their seed-vessels ; turmeric, being yellow, must cure jaundice ; cassia fistula, intestinal disorders ; groomwell (or lithospermum), gra- velly disorders, from the polish and hardness of its seeds ; and so on. Upon this principle it is probable that red cloth was held in estimation as an application to cutaneous eruptions, and that John of Gaddesden in the fourteenth cen- tury ordered the son of Edward L, who was attacked with smallpox, to be wrapped in scarlet cloth and lie in a room with scarlet hangings. 447 Signet, The Privy. One of the royai seals in England, used in sealing private letters and grants under the sign manual. It is in the custody of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. [Seal ; Secretary.] The signet in Scotland is the seal by which the royal letters and writs for the purpose of justice are now authenticated. Hence, the title of clerks to the signet, or writers to the signet ; whose business is nearly the same with that of attorneys in England. They were anciently clerks in the office of the Secretary of State, by whom writs were prepared ; and when the signet became employed in judicial proceedings, they obtained a monopoly of the privileges of acting as agents or attorneys before the Court of Session. Significant 3Jigits of a Number. Those digits which remain after striking off all the ciphers on the right or left. Thus the signifi- SIGNOR SIGURDR cant digits of 12300 are 1, 2, 3, and those of the decimal number "00301 are 301. It is in logarithms that this distinction is usefully made. The logarithms of all numbers whose significant digits are the same have the same mantissa or decimal part, and differ only in their characteristics. The number of places, to the left or right of the unit's place, of the firgt (extreme left) significant digit gives, respec- tively, the positive or negative characteristic of the logarithm. [Logarithms.] Signer (Span, senor ; Lat. senior, elder). The Italian term equivalent to the English Lord, Sir, or Mr., the French Monsieur, and the German Herr. Signoria was anciently the appellation of the chief council of Venice, Genoa, and Lucca. Sigurdr. In Northern Mythology, the great hero of the Volsunga Saga, which was afterwards expanded in the Edda and finally remodelled in the lay of the Nibelungen. Sigurdr, in the tale of the Volsungs, is the son of Sigmund, born after his father's death. Sigmund, the son of Volsung, a descendant of Odin, had gained possession of the sword Gram, which Odin in disguise had driven to the hilt in an oak trunk, and left for the man who was strong enough to draw it out. With this sword Sigmund overcomes every enemy, until, in a battle between him and the sons of King Hunding, Odin reappears in his old disguise and presents a spear on which the sword Gram is broken in twain. Sigmund then dies on the battle-field, and his wife Hjordis gives birth to Sigurdr, in the house of Hialprek, king of Denmark. This child, the favourite hero of Teutonic song, grows up into a manhood as majestic as that of Phcebus and Achilleus. [Iliad.] His golden locks flow down over his shoulders, and gleam like the rays of the sun; his eye is bright and piercing, and his coun- tenance full of splendour. He is the foster child of Begin (the smith of King Hialprek), who urges him on to slay the dragon Eafnir [Python], who lay on the glistening heath, coiled round a heap of gold. But Sigurdr, bent first on avenging his father's death, asks Begin to forge him a new sword. The weapon snaps in his hand ; and Sigurdr then obtains from his mother the broken bits of Gram, out of which Begin forges a new blade, the force of which nothing could withstand. Having slain the sons of King Hunding, Sigurdr attacks and slays Eafnir, thus becoming master of the golden treasure, and with it of a ring on which Andvari the dwarf had laid a curse, by which it should become the bane of every man who owned it. By eating Fafnir's heart, Sigurdr is also endowed with a marvellous wisdom, which enables him to understand the song of birds. Biding away with his spoil, he came to a lonely heath, in the midst of which a fierce flame surrounded a house, in which lay a fair maiden Brenhyldr, the daughter of Atli, in a sleep never to be broken until there came some one brave enough to ride through the flame. At the touch of Sigurdr, she wakes up, and Sigurdr, 418 having plighted to her his troth, rides on to the house of Giuki the Nifiung [Nephele"}, who determines that Sigurdr shall marry his daughter Gudrun. So Grimhildr, Giuki' s wife, gave him a potion which caused him to forget Brenhyldr, and Gudrun becomes the wife of Sigurdr. Meanwhile, Brenhyldr still waited the return of Sigurdr to rescue her from her captivity. Gun- nar, the brother of Gudrun, having resolved to marry Brenhyldr, tries in vain to ride through the fire, and therefore Grimhildr by her magic arts made Sigurdr change shapes and arms ,with Gunnar, and so deliver Brenhyldr. On the bridal bed Sigurdr places his sword Gram between himself and Brenhyldr, to whom in the morning he gives the ring of Andvari, receiving from her another in return. Sigurdr then resuming his shape, hands Brenhyldr over to Gunnar ; but no sooner has he done this than the power of the magic potion passes away, and he sees too late that he has betrayed his first love. At length, from Gudrun, Brenhyldr learns that she was rescued from the flame not by Gunnar, as she thought, but by Sigurdr ; and, her love for the hero giving place to indignation at his treachery, she urges on Gunnar and his brothers to slay him. But they had sworn, as the gods had sworn in the case of Baldr, not to hurt Sigurdr. Hence, that which they would not do themselves, they incite their half-brother Guttorm to do for them. Thus was Sigurdr slain as he lay sleeping ; but his death revives all the love of Brenhyldr, and lying down by the side of Sigurdr, with his good sword Gram between them, she dies heart-broken on his funeral pile. Then Gudrun, wandering away, becomes the wife of Atli (the brother of Bren- hyldr), who claims the treasures won by Sigurdr from the dragon, but which the Niflungs had taken when Sigurdr was slain. Unable to gain them by force, Atli invites Gunnar and his brethren to a feast, and then ensnares them. Gunnar is thrown into a pit of serpents, one of which flies at his heart and stings him to death. Gudrun then, in revenge for the death of her brothers, first slays her children by Atli, and then kills her husband Atli himself. Weary of her life, she casts herself into the sea ; but the sea will not let her die, and bears her to the land of king Jonakr, by whom she becomes the mother of three sons, who are all dark haired like the Niflungs, and a daughter, Swanhild, whom Hermanric seeks for his wife, sending his son Bandver to w r oo her. Bandver, instead of doing his father's bidding, seeks her for himself, and for this misdeed is put to death. Afterwards, seeing Swanhild washing her golden hair, Hermanric rides his horse over her, as- the cause of all his troubles, and tramples her to death. Gudrun then bids her sons avenge their sister, and they slay Hermanric in his sleep, as- Sigurdr had been slain by Guttorm. For this crime they are put to death ; and, soon after, the weary life of Gudrun comes to an end. This Teutonic myth has a double value, (1) as SIGURDR t hrowing light on the mythology of other races, and (2) as enabling us to form a judgment on the quasi-historical character which some myths have assumed. (1) It will probably be disputed by none, that if in two tales full of startling events two or three incidents should be found common to both, a certain connection may be inferred be- tween the stories ; and it may be assumed either that they are the work of the same writer, or if of two writers, that one borrowed from the other, or that both obtained their materials from one common source. If the number of these com- mon incidents be multiplied, the presumption of a connection between the stories is indefinitely strengthened ; and in proportion to the impro- bability that one writer borrowed from the other, the conclusion that they worked on a common stock of materials gathers force. But, if it be found that these common incidents have the same sequence, that the motives assigned to the actors in these tales, as well as their character- istic features, are in each case the same, it seems impossible to doubt that the tales have a com- mon substratum ; and as the idea that the authors of the Volsung tale borrowed their materials from the Iliad or the Odyssey, or that the Greek epic poets borrowed from those of Persia and India, is too wild to be entertained by any who have studied the conditions under which traditions are diffused, it follows that legends exhibiting the same features in common point to one and the same source, from which the tales have been carried in different directions, to receive in their distant homes a new local colouring, w r ith modifications which must be the result of new geographical features and new conditions of soil and climate. Some points of resemblance between the myth of Sigurdr with the myths of non-Teutonic peoples have been already pointed out. But the correspondence may be traced in almost every detail. If Odin leaves a sword which is to become the property of him who is able to draw it from the oak trunk, so iEgeus hides his weapons beneath a stone, which must be lifted by Theseus before he can become possessed of his father's arms. The portrait of Sigurdr is ' also the portrait of Phcebus Apollo, of Achilleus and Odysseus, of Phaethon, Patroclus, and Telemachus. From Hjordis, his mother, Sigurdr obtains the sword Gram, reforged by Regin the blacksmith, brother of the Danish king ; from Thetis, Achilleus receives the ar- mour which the smith Hephaestus had made, in place of that which Hector had stripped from the body of Patroclus. The vengeance taken by Sigurdr on the sons of king Hunding is the revenge taken by Achilleus on the Trojans for the death of his friend. His slaughter of Fafnir is the slaughter of Python by Phcebus, of the Minotaur by Theseus, of the Libyan dragon by Perseus, of the Sphinx by OSdipus, of the snakes which Heracles strangles at the outset of his career. The power granted to Sigurdr of under- standing the voices of birds is granted also to Iamos, and Melampus is taught the same Vol. III. 449 wisdom by serpents. If Brenhyldr sinks into a death-like sleep, after being wounded with a thorn by Odin, so is Isfendiyar, in the Persian epic, slain with a thorn by Rustem. Brenhyldr the maiden is Persephone, the Kore or Girl ; like Persephone, she is taken away from the world of the bright gods, and guarded in a dismal land, from which one hero alone can deliver her, as Andromeda can be rescued from the dragon only by the invincible Perseus. Brenhyldr, again, is the first love of Sigurdr ; to her he plights his faith in the spring time of his life, and scarcely have they met before they must part. So was it with Iole and Heracles, with GSnone and Paris, with Odysseus and Penelope, with Briseis and Achilleus. In these legends the relation of Gudrun to Brenhyldr is that of Deianeira to Heracles, of Helen to Paris once called Alexandros ; and in each case the desertion is followed by vengeance. The ' wrongs and woes ' of Helen roused the wrath of the Achaean chieftains ; and the death of Paris answers to that of Sigurdr. In each case the de- serted maiden reappears, forgiving and tender at the close. 03n6ne cannot heal Paris, but like Brenhyldr she lies down on the fiery couch by his side ; and Iole stands by the funeral pile of Heracles on the rugged heights of 03ta. The remainder of the tale only repeats the story of Sigurdr in a modified form ; and the same substantial repetition is seen in the tale of Ragnar Lodbrog, Aslauga, and Thora. In the traditional history, this Lodbrog, or Lothe- brok, is said to have been murdered by Biorn, the huntsman of Edmund, king of the East Angles. With the historical character of this statement we are not here concerned ; but it is significant that Ragnar wins his first wife Thora by delivering her from a dragon as Sigurdr rescued Brenhyldr, Ragnar Lodbrog is, again, a son of Sigurdr. After Thora' s death, he woos Kraka, whom he is on the point of deserting for the daughter of Osten, when Kraka reveals herself as the child of Sigurdr and Brenhyldr (Thorpe's Northern Mythology, i. 108, 113); and thus the tale of Sigurdr and Brenhyldr is reproduced in that of Randver and Swanhild, as well as in that of Ragnar and Aslauga. If a comparison of Teutonic with Greek and Aryan mythology supplies the key which un- locks the secret of this astonishing parallelism, the discovery may be welcomed as setting at rest many very perplexing questions and some disagreeable doubts. But the parallelism would nevertheless remain a fact, even if we were altogether unable to explain it. For the light thrown on the subject by comparative mythologists, the reader is referred to the arti- cles Mythology; Language ; Polyonymy; Sy- nonymy. It may suffice here to remark that Sigurdr, in his brilliant life and early death, in his desertion of his firstborn, in his physical features, in his matchless bravery and his invincible weapons, in the struggle which follows his marriage with Gudrun, and in the forgive- ness of Brenhyldr when his offence has been atoned by his death, reproduces w r ith singular G G SIGURD1I exactness the chief features in the myths of Apollo, Heracles, Meleagros, Bellerophon, Achilleus, Odysseus, Paris, Perseus, Theseus, j Bustem, Kephalos, and other heroes. And, finally, it may be noted that the myth of the marriage of Gudrun with Atli exhibits in her jealousy and the slaughter of her children the closest parallelism to the myth of Medeia and Jason. 2. But the myth of Sigurdr, in its later de- velopements, is (if possible) even more im- portant, as showing the slender value which can be assigned to a legend, on the ground that it mentions names which we may know to be historical. Charlemagne is as much an historical personage as William III. or Sir Isaac Newton ; and it may be asserted, that the , myths which have gathered round his name preserve, amid many perversions, a certain groundwork of real history. But without the testimony of witnesses known to be contem- porary, we could not distinguish between that which is and that which is not historical. Speaking of a battle fought against the Basques, Eginhard mentions among the slain, 'Hruod- landus Britannici limitis prsefectus.' This is, probably, the Roland of chivalrous mythology, who fell at Roncesvalles. Knowing, thus, from other sources, that Charlemagne had an officer named Hruodland or Poland, we are, perhaps, able to say that the tales relating to Roland have gathered round a person of whom we know the name, but nothing more. But as soon as we leave the sure ground of historical testimony, the test is found to be delusive. The story of the Nibelungen Lay is essentially the same as that of the Volsung tale ; but the names, still preserving a resemblance to those in the earlier saga, are in the later poem the names of persons whom we know to be his- torical. Thus, Gunnar becomes Gunther, a Burgundian king of the fifth century, who was conquered by the Huns of Attila. Hence, Atli, the brother of Brenhyldr, and the second husband of Gudrun, is changed into Attila ; while Sigurdr has been identified with Sieg- bert, king of Austrasia, 1 who was actually married to the famous Brunehault, who actually defeated the Huns, and was actually murdered by Fredegond, the mistress of his brother Chilperic' ' This coincidence between myth and history,' remarks Professor Max Miiller, ' is so great, that it has induced some euhemeristic critics to derive the whole legend of the Nibe- lung from Austrasian history, and to make the murder of Siegbert by Brunehault the basis of the murder of Sifrit or Sigurdr by Bren- hyldr. Fortunately, it is easier to answer these German than the old Greek euhemerists, for we find, in contemporary history, that Jor- nandes, who wrote his history at least twenty years before the death of the Austrasian Sieg- bert, knew already the daughter of the mythic Sigurdr, Swanhild, who was born, according to the Edda, after the murder of her father, and afterwards killed by Jormunrekr [Her- manric], whom the poem has again historicised 150 in Hermanicus, a Gothic king of the fourth century.' (Comparative Mythology, 68.) Now, here we have to note that we know the names of Gundicar, Siegbert, Dietrich of Bern, ( — Theodoric who lived at Verona), Brunehault, Hermanicus, and others mentioned in the lay, to be tha names of historical persons, only because we find them in authentic contemporary narratives ; but from the Nibelungen Lied we do not learn even their names. If we had not obtained the knowledge from other sources, we could not have known from the poem that Siegbert ever lived, and could no more have been justified in saying that he was murdered, than we are now justified in saying that the coast of Kent witnessed the landing of Brute, the Trojan, on the shores of England. Hence, so far as the lay is concerned, Attila, Brune- hault, and all the rest are mere names ; while of the men themselves we know absolutely nothing. If we apply this canon to the epics of the Homeric age, we find ourselves confronted with names of places, some of which tell their own tale as belonging to the regions of cloud and mist, while others are indubitably names of places known to us in history. But beyond this they make certain statements about places, which manifestly hold good at the present day. Tiryns and Mykense still exist, and their huge walls attest the past greatness of their rulers. When, therefore, the poems speak of these places as powerful cities, they state what is historically true ; but we learn the fact not from the poems, but from the actual remains of these towns, whose greatness precedes the dawn of con- temporary history. Hence, when the poet tells us that the name of the prince who ruled at Mykense was Agamemnon, he may be stating what is not less historically true than his statement that Tiryns had great walls ; but so far as the Iliad is concerned, Agamemnon re- mains to .us a mere name, while of the events of his life, or of the fortunes of his companions, we know absolutely nothing. They may have fought at Troy ; but as we cannot deny the possibility of this fact, so neither can we affirm its reality. That some powerfid chiefs must have ruled in Mykense, we know ; that the name of one of these chiefs was Agamemnon, we can neither maintain nor deny ; that he may have done some of the things attributed to him is at once within the limits of possibility and beyond the limits of human knowledge, in the absence of contemporary historical testi- mony. But it is quite certain that much of what is told of him and his allies could never have taken place ; and a comparison of Greek and Hindu myths seems to force on us the conclusion that many, if not most, of the names of the Achaean chieftains are derived from a source common to the Homeric poems and the Vedic hymns. The coincidence of Argynnis and Arjuni, of Briseis and Vrisaya, of Paris and Pani, of Helen and Sarama, of Ixion and Akshivan, of Achilleus and Ahalya, SILENACE^E SILHOUETTE of Daphne and Dahana, of Phoroneus and i deposition of the silica; when, howover, tho Bhuranyu, with many others, cannot possibly be solution is evaporated to dryness, the silica (he result of accident, or of conscious borrow- 1 remains as insoluble as before. This solu- ino 1 on the part of the Homeric poets from bility of hydrated or gelatinous silica, which, poets who dwelt between the Granges and the when dry, is perfectly insoluble, may serve to Indus. explain the occurence of silica in water, and its The conclusion is, that we are not justified deposition in chalcedonic incrustations. But in denying that men and women, bearing the : silica presents another remarkable character; names which occur in the Homeric or other ( i.e. that if we reverse the above proportions, poems, may have lived in the places to which and fuse together a mixture of one part of they are assigned, and may have done some of, carbonate of potash and three of powdered the acts ascribed to them, and at the same time : rock-crystal or calcined flint, we then obtain a that we have no warrant (in the absence of i transparent and fusible compound, nearly in- historical testimony) for maintaining that they , soluble in water, namely glass. did so act, or that they ever lived at all. Plate glass and window glass, or, as it is Silenaceae. One of the names proposed for the Caryophyllacece. Silentiary (Lat. silentiarius, from silen- tium, silence). Among the Romans, the title of office of a class of slaves attached to wealthy houses. In the court of the emperors, there was a body of officers attached to the house- hold styled silentiaries. Thence the title came to functionaries of higher authority, and was borne by cabinet secretaries in the so-called Lower Empire, and in the courts of Charlemagne and other western potentates who derived their code of ceremonial from Byzantium. Mem- bers of the privy council seem to have been sometimes called by this name under the Plan- tagenets in England. Silenus (G-r. StAt^os). In Greek Mythology, the foster-father and attendant of Bacchus, and likewise leader of the satyrs. He was re- presented as a robust old man in a state of intoxication, and riding on an ass, with a can in his hand. He was invested with prophetic powers, and hence became the symbol of wis- dom hidden beneath a rough exterior. Silex (Lat.) or Silica. This important substance constitutes the characteristic in- gredient of a great variety of silicious mine- rals ; among which rock-crystal, quartz, chal- cedony, and flint may be considered as silica nearly pure. It also predominates in many of the rocky masses which constitute the crust of our globe, such as granite, the varieties of sandstone, and quartz rock. Although silica has none of the ordinary or more obvious acid properties, yet, as it combines in definite pro- portion with many salifiable bases, and expels carbonic acid when fused with the carbonated alkalies, it is termed silicic acid, and its various compounds have been denominated silicates. When pure and colourless rock-crystal is heated red hot, and quenched in water, it be- comes opaque and' friable ; and if in this state it be reduced to powder, it presents one form of pure silica. If in this state (in which it is perfectly insoluble in water) it be fused with j with the rest of his pottery. The legend states three parts of carbonate of potash, it forms a that this original specimen of the plastic art was glass which is soluble in water, and from this still preserved at Corinth when the city was solution (formerly called liquor of flints) the sacked by Mummius 146 B.C. The Etruscan concentrated acids throw down the silica in ' vases furnish to an amazing extent, and in the form of a gelatinous hydrate ; but if the ( boundless variety, some of the most beautifully solution be diluted, and the acid gradually drawn and elegant silhouettes that have ever added, the alkali may be neutralised without been executed. [Painting.] commonly called, crown glass, are silicates of soda and lime ; and flint glass, of which our common glass utensils are made, is a silicate of potash and lead. [Glass.] Silica, in its ordinary or anhydrous state, is insoluble in all acids except the hydrofluoric, which immediately acts upon it, and forms a gaseous compound, the terfluoride of silicon. Silica was long considered as an elementary form of matter; but Sir H. Davy found that when the vapour of potassium was brought into contact with pure silica heated to whiteness, silicate of potassa was formed, and a dark- coloured matter separated, which was afterwards found to be the base of silica, and to which the terms silicium and silicon have been applied. [Silicon.] Silhouette (Fr.). In the Fine Arts, a name given to the representation of an object filled in of a black colour, and in which the inner parts are sometimes indicated by lines of a lighter colour, and shadows or extreme depths by the aid of a heightening of gum or other shining medium. This sort of drawing derives its name from its inventor, Etienne de Sil- houette, the French minister of finance in 1759. Eepresentations of this sort may be well enough taken from the shadow of a person thrown on a piece of paper placed against a flat surface or wall. The likeness may be still better taken, if on a reduced scale, by means of the instrument called a Pantaghaph. The invention of what is called a silhouette is, however, ascribed to a remote period, being said to have been the method by which the daughter of Dibutades, a Greek potter at Corinth, drew the outline of the shadow of her lover's profile cast by her lamp on a wall ; and has been placed at the time of the renewal of the Olympic games, shortly before the expul- sion of the Bacchiads from Corinth, about 776 B.C. The father, it is said, cut out the plaster within the outline, took an impression from the space in clay and baked the squeeze 451 g g 2 SILICATES Silicates (Lat. silex, a flint). Compounds of silica (silicic acid) with certain bases ; thus we have silicates of lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, &c, amongst minerals ; and silicate of lead is an important ingredient in flint glass. Silicificae. Substances petrified or mine- ralised by silica. Silicious Sinter. A name given to the light cellular Quartz or opaline silica, which is i deposited by the waters of hot springs, such as those of the Geysers in Iceland. Silicita (Lat. silex, flint). The name given j bv Thomson to a yellowish- white Labradorite rrcm Antrim in Ireland. Silicon, Silicium. The peculiar non- metallic element which in combination with oxygen constitutes silica. Assuming silica to be a compound of 2 atoms of silicon and 4 of oxygen (Si 2 0 4 ), silicon will be represented by the equivalent 14, and silica, consisting of 28 silicon and 32 oxygen, by 60. Silicon is ob- tained by the action of potassium or sodium on chloride of silicon or on silico-fluoride of potassium, at high temperatures, and exists in two conditions, amorphous and crystalline. Amorphous silicon is a brown powder, insoluble in and heavier than water, not acted on by sulphuric or nitric acids, but soluble in hydro- fluoric acid and in caustic potash ; when heated in oxygen it burns into silica. The preparation and properties of silicon have been described by Caron and Deville. {Ann. de Chim. et Phys. lxvii. 3me ser.) Like carbon, silicon occurs in the amorphous, graphitoidal, and crystalline forms. It also forms compounds with hydrogen, bromine, fluorine, and sulphur. Silicula (Lat. dim. of siliqua, a pod). In Botany, a fruit exactly similar to that called a siliqua, except that it is shorter, and contains fewer seeds. It is never more than four times as long as broad, and usually much shorter. Siliqua (Lat.). In Botany, a one or two- celled, many-seeded, linear fruit, dehiscent by two valves separating from a replum. The seeds are attached to two placentae adhering to the replum, and opposite to the lobes of the stigma. Silk (A.-Sax. seolc). A fine glossy thread or filament spun by various species of cater- pillars or larvae of the Phalcena genus. Of these, the Phalcena atlas produces the greatest quantity ; but the Phalcena bomhyx is that which is commonly employed for this purpose in Europe. The silkworm in its caterpillar state, which may be considered as the first stage of its existence, after acquiring its full growth (about three inches in length), proceeds to enclose itself in an oval-shaped ball, or cocoon, which is formed by an exceedingly slender and long filament of fine yellow silk, emitted from the stomach of the insect preparatory to its assuming the shape of the chrysalis or moth. In this latter Stage, after emancipating itself from its silken prison, it seeks its mate, which has undergone a similar transformation ; and in two or three days afterwards, the female having deposited her eggs (from 300 to 500 in number), botli insects terminate their existence. 452 SILK Many insocts, however, besides the genus Phalcena, supply silk. Of these, one of the most important is the Ailanthus silkworm, the introduction of which into England has been strongly recommended. Some kinds of spiders also produce silk, but not in such quantities or in such a shape as to have any economical significance. Raw silk is produced by the operation of winding off, at the same time, several of the balls or cocoons (which are immersed in hot water, to soften the natural gum on the fila- ment) on a common reel, thereby forming one smooth even thread. When the skein is dry, it is taken from the reel and made up into hanks ; but before it is fit for weaving, and in order to enable it to undergo the process of dyeing, without furring up or separating the fibres, it is converted into one of three forms — ■ viz. singles, tram, or organsinc. Singles (a collective noun) is formed of one of the reeled threads, being twisted, in order to give it strength and firmness. Tram is formed of two or more threads twisted together. In this state it is commonly used in weaving, as the shoot or weft. Thrown silk is formed of two, three, or more singles, according to the substance required, being twisted together in a contrary direction to that in which the singles of which it is com- posed are twisted. This process is termed organsining ; and the silk so twisted, organsine. The art of throwing was originally confined to Italy, where it was kept a secret for a long period. Stowe says it was known in this coun- try since the 5th of Queen Elizabeth, 'when it was gained from the strangers;' and in that year (1562), the silk throwsters of the metro- polis were united into a fellowship. They were incorporated in the year 1629 ; but the art continued to be very imperfect in England until 1719. [Post.] 1. Historical Sketch of the Manufacture. — The ar£ of rearing silkworms, of unravelling the threads spun by them, and manufacturing the latter into articles of dress and ornament, seems to have been first practised by the Chinese. Virgil is the earliest of the Bom an writers who has been supposed to allude to the production of silk in China, and the terms em- ployed by him show how little was then known at Borne as to the real nature of the article: — Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres. Georg. book ii. lin. 121. But it may be doubted whether Virgil, in this line, refers to cotton rather than silk. Pliny, however, has distinctly described the for- mation of silk by the bomhyx. (Hist. Nat. lib. xi. c. 17.) It is uncertain when it first began to be introduced at Borne : but it was most probably in the age of Pompey and Julius Caesar, the latter of whom displayed a profusion of silks in some of the magnificent theatrical spectacles with which he sought at once to conciliate and amuse the people. Owing principally, no doubt, to the great distance of China from Bome, and to the difficulties in the SILK way of the intercourse with that country which was carried on by land in caravans whose route, lay through the Persian empire, and partly, perhaps, to the high price of silk in China, its cost, when it arrived at Rome, was very great ; so much so, that a given weight of silk was sometimes sold for an equal weight of gold ! At first it was used only by a few ladies emi- nent for their rank and opulence. In the be- ginning of the reign of Tiberius, a law was passed — ne testis serica viros fozdaret— that no man should disgrace himself by wearing a silken garment. (Tacit. Annal. lib. ii. c. 33.) Rut the profligate Heliogabalus despised this law, and was the first of the Roman emperors who wore a dress composed wholly of silk (kolo- sericum). The example once set, the custom of wearing silk soon became general among the wealthy citizens of Rome, and throughout the provinces. According as the demand for the article increased, efforts were made to im- port larger quantities ; and the price seems to have progressively declined from the reign of Aurelian. That this must have been the case, is obvious from the statement of Ammianus Mareellinus, that silk was, in his time (anno 370), very generally worn, even by the lowest classes. (Lib. xviii. c. 6,) China continued to draw considerable sums from the Roman empire in return for silk, now become indispensable to the Western world, till the sixth century. About the year 550, two Persian monks, who had long resided in China, and made themselves acquainted with the mode of rearing the silkworm, encouraged by the gifts and promises of Justinian, succeeded in carrying the eggs of the insect to Constanti- nople. Under their direction they were hatched and fed ; they lived and laboured in a foreign climate ; a sufficient number of butterflies were saved to propagate the race, and mulberry -trees were planted to afford nourishment to the rising generations. A new and important branch of industry was thus established in Europe. Ex- perience and reflection gradually corrected the errors of a new attempt ; and the Sogdoite am- bassadors acknowledged, in the succeeding reign, that the Romans were not inferior to the natives of China in the education of the in- serts, and the manufacture of silk. (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. vii. p. 99.) Greece, particularly the Peloponnesus, was early distinguished by the rearing of silkworms, and by the skill and success with which the in- habitants of Thebes, Corinth, and Argos carried on the manufacture. Until the twelfth century, Greece continued to be the only European country in which these arts were practised ; but the forces of Roger, king of Sicily, having, in 1147, sacked Corinth, Athens, and Thebes, carried off large numbers of the inhabitants to Palermo, who introduced the culture of the worm and the manufacture of silk into Sicily. From this island the art spread into Italy ; and Venice, Milan, Florence, Lucca, &c, were soon after distinguished for their success in raising silkworms, and for the extent and beauty of their manufactures of silk. (Gibbon, vol. x. p. 110; Biographic Universale, art. 4 Roger II.') The manufacture of silk appears to have been introduced into Spain at a very early period by the Moors, particularly in Murcia, Cordova, and Granada. The last town, indeed, pos- sessed a flourishing silk trade when it was taken by Ferdinand in the fifteenth century. The French having been supplied with workmen from Milan, commenced, in 1521, the silk manufacture ; but it was not till 1564 that they began successfully to produce the silk itself, when Traucat, a working gardener at Nismes, formed the first nursery of white mulberry- trees, and with such success that in a few years he was enabled to propagate them over many of the southern provinces of France. Prior to this time, some French noblemen, on their return from the conquest of Naples, had introduced a few silkworms with the mulberry into Dauphiny ; but the business had not prospered in their hands. The mulberry plantations were greatly encouraged by Henry IV. ; and since then they have been the source of most beneficial employment to the French. James I. was most solicitous to introduce the breeding of silkworms into England, and in a speech from the throne he earnestly recom- mended his subjects to plant mulberry -trees ; but he totally failed in the project. This country does not seem to be well adapted to this species of husbandry, on account of the great prevalence of blighting east winds during the months of April and May, when the worms require a plentiful supply of mulberry-leaves. The manufacture of silk goods, however, made great progress during that king's peaceful reign. In 1629 it had become so consi- derable in London, that the silk throwsters of the city and suburbs Were formed into a public corporation. So early as 1661 they em- ployed 40,000 persons. The revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, contributed in a remarkable manner to the increase of the English silk trade, by the influx of a large colony of skilful French weavers who settled in Spitalfields. The great silk-throwing mill mounted at Derby, in 1719, also served to promote the extension of this branch of manu- facture ; for soon afterwards, in the year 1730, the English silk goods bore a higher price in Italy than those made by the Italians, according to the testimony of Keysler. It would be im- possible, within our limits, to give an account of the gradual progress of the silk manufacture from that period down to the present time. Upon this subject, the reader will find ample details in the Commercial Dictionary ; meantime we may remark, that a great revolution was effected in the manufacture in 1825. Before that epoch the legislative enactments with respect to it were the most contradictory and impolitic that can well be imagined. The im- portation of foreign silks was prohibited under the severest penalties ; but the advantage which this prohibition was believed, though most erroneously, to confer on the manufacturer, SILK-COTTON TREE would, under any circumstances, have been more than neutralised by the imposition of oppressive duties on the raw material. This vicious system was productive of a twofold mischief ; for, by teaching the manufacturers to depend on custom-house regulations for pro- tection against foreign competition, it made them indifferent about new discoveries and in- ventions, while, owing to the exorbitant duties on the raw material, and the want of improve- ment, the price of silks was maintained so high s,i to restrict the demand for them within comparatively narrow limits. In 1825, however, a new and more reasonable order of things was introduced. The duties on the raw ma- terial were greatly lowered ; and at the same time foreign silk goods were allowed to be imported on payment of a duty of 30 per cent, ad valorem. This new system was vehemently opposed at its outset, and it was confidently predicted that it would occasion the ruin of the manufacture ; but the result has shown the soundness of the principles on which it was bottomed. The manufacturers were now, for the first time, compelled to call all the resources of science and ingenuity to their aid ; and the result has been that the manufacture has been more improved during the last thirty-five years than it had been in the whole previous century, and that it has continued progressively to increase. These duties were again modified *>y the Act 9 & 10 Vict, c. 23, by which foreign manufactured silks were charged at 15 percent, ad valorem, or at an equivalent sum charged by weight. At the same time the duties on raw and thrown silk were repealed. In 1859, all duties on silk manufactures were abolished. The total quantity of raw silk imported for home consumption in 1865 was nearly 8,000,000 lbs. But the annual importations vary ex- ceedingly. Thus the quantity was more than 12,000,000lbs. in 1857, more than 10,000,000 lbs. in 1862; but only 5,655,401 lbs. in 1864. The import of foreign manufactured silk has increased from 300,000lbs. the maximum, before the duty was repealed, to nearly 2,000,000lbs. in the year 1865. The price of the raw material has, however, undergone a considerable increase, the silk, raw and manu- factured, imported into this country having been entered in 1865 at more than 17,600,000/. The number of persons engaged in the silk m mufacture does not probably exceed 250,000. According to Mr. Fortune, the supply of silk derivable from China is all but inexhaustible, the increased demand for Chinese produce having hardly had any effect on the price of the raw material in the silk districts. The same, too, may be said of Japan ; and if the attempts to naturalise various silk-produeing insects, and especially the Ailanthus, in Eng- land, succeed, silken fabrics of various fineness and brilliancy will become plentiful and cheap. Silk-cotton Tree. [Bombax.] Silkworm. The larvae of many species of Lepidopterous insects enclose themselves in a filamentary secretion called silk, but the name 454 SILL silkworm is given par excellence to that of the mulberry moth {Bomhyx mori, Linn.), on account of the quality and abundance of the material of the case or cocoon in which the final metamorphosis takes place. The silk- worm is a modified or domesticated variety of a species aboriginal, it would seem, to China. Silk is a secretion of a pair of tubes called serictcria, which terminate in a prominent pore or spinnaret on the under lip of the caterpillar. Before their termination they receive the secre- tion of a smaller gland, which serves to glue together the two fine filaments from the seric- terja: the apparently single thread being in reality double, and its quality being affected by the equality, or otherwise, of the secreting power of the two sericteria. When full-grown, the silk- worm begins to spin, in some convenient spot affording points of attachment for the first- formed thread, which is drawn from one part, to the other until the body of the larva lecomes loosely enclosed by the thread. The work is then continued from one thread to another, the silkworm moving its head, and spinning, in a zigzag way, in all directions within roach, and shifting the body only to cover the part which was beneath it. The silken case so formed is called the cocoon. During the period of spinning the cocoon, which usually takes five days for its completion, the silkworm de- creases in size and length; then casts its skin, becomes torpid, and assumes the form of the chrysalis. The main object of the silk- worm breeder is to obtain cocoons of a large size, composed of a long, strong, very fine, even and lustrous thread. Different varieties of silkworm have thus been established, such as the Sina, Syrie, and Novi races in France. Besides the silk from the Bomhyx mori, stronger and coarser kinds are obtained, as in India, from the tussur moth (Satumia mylitta), which feeds on the leaves of the Terminalia catappa and Zizyphus jujuha. The cloth woven from this silk is called tussur cloth, and is made chiefly at Midnapore. The moonga silk is from the Bomhyx saturnia, which feeds upon the same trees as the tussur moth. The Bhalcena (Attacus) cynthia produces the eri silk, woven into cloth at Assam : the larvae feed on various leaves, but prefer those of the castor- oil plant {Bicinus com?nwnis). They have lately received attention under the name Ailanthus silkworm. As in other instances of domesticated varie- ties, the silkworm is subject to diseases, of which that named the muscardinc is the most disastrous to the sericicultm-ist, It has re- ceived great attention in Italy, from Dr. Bassi of Lodi, and in France from Andoin, Gruerin-Meneville, Quatrefages, and others. Sill (Sax. syl). In Architecture, the hori- zontal piece at the bottom of a framed case, such as that of a door or window. This word is also used to denote the bottom piece of a quarter partition. Ground sills are those timbers on the ground on which are placed the posts and superstructure of a timber building. SILL OF AN EMBRASURE Sill of an Embrasure. In Fortification, the inner edge of the bottom or sole of an em- brasure. Sillimanite. An anhydrous silicate of alumina, found in a vein of gne r ss at Chester near Saybrook, in Connecticut. It is of a dark grey colour passing into clove-brown, and either occurs in slender prisms, which are flattened and striated, or fibrous, columnar, or compact massive. Named after Professor Silliman. Sillon (Fr.). In Fortification, a work raised in a ditch to defend it if too wide. It may be of any form, but must be lower than the works of the place, and higher than the covered way. Silptiium (Gr. ai\(piov). A genus of large- growing Composites, of which the most interesting species is the Compass-plant, S. laciniatum, the leaves of which are said to present their faces uniformly north and south, a statement which needs confirmation. The plant is also known as Pilot-weed, Polar-plant, Rosin-weed, and Turpentine-weed — the latter named from the abundant resin exuded by its stems, which grow to a height of three to six feet, as well as by the leaves, which are deeply pinnatifid. The tuberous roots of 8. Iceve, a plant with smooth dock-like leaves, are eaten by the natives of the Columbia River valley. 8. perfolxatum, gets the name of Cup-plant, because the winged stalks of its opposite leaves are united together so as to form a cup with the stem in its centre. Silphium is also the name given to a gum- resin supposed by some to be obtained from Thapsia Silphion, and by others from Prangos pabularia. Silt. The name given to the sand, clay, and earth which accumulate in running waters. Silurian. The name given by Sir Roderick Mnrchison to a series of rocks forming the upper subdivision of the sedimentary strata found below the old red sandstone, and formerly designated the grcywacke series. These strata are well developed in that part of England and Wales formerly included in the ancient British kingdom of the Silures. [Geology.] Siluridans (Lat. silurus ; Gr. crlhoupos, a sheath-fish). The name of the family of fishes of which the genus Silurus is the type, and which includes the electric silurus {Malapterurus e'ectricus). They are chiefly distinguished by the want of true scales, having merely a naked skin, or large osseous plates. A strong osseous spine forms the first ray of the dorsal and pectoral fins, except in the genus Malapterurus. Silvanite. [Syevanite.] Silvanus. A rural Italian deity ; so called from Lat. silva, a wood. He also presided over boundaries. Silvas (Span. ; Lat. silva, a wood). A tract covered with forest vegetation, occupying at least a million of square miles in the tropical part of South America. A fifth part of this vast area is annually subject to inundation, and the exuberance of animal and vegetable life resulting from such conditions renders the whole district almost hopelessly unapproachable by civilised man. This tract is chiefly on the 455 SILVER course of the Amazon, and the group of rivers connected with it. Silver (Ger. silber). This metal, the Luna or Diana of the alchemists ( D ), represented by the symbol Ag (argentum), and by the equi- valent 108, is found native, and in a variety of combinations, the most common of which is the sulphide. Native Silver occurs massive ; arborescent, capillary, and, sometimes, crys- tallised. It is seldom pure, but contains other metals, which affect its colour and ductility. Silver is not unfrequently obtained in con- siderable quantities from argentiferous sulphide of lead, which is reduced in the usual way, the argentiferous lead being then fused in a shallow dish, placed in a reverberatory furnace, with a current of air constantly passing over its sur- face ; in this way the lead is converted into oxide or litharge, and the silver is left in the metallic state. The sulphides of silver are reduced by amal- gamation. The ore, when washed and ground, is mixed with a portion of common salt, and roasted. During this operation arsenic and antimony are expelled, the copper and the iron are converted into oxides, chlorides, and sul- phates, and sulphate of soda and chloride of silver are formed. The pulverised product is agitated with mercury, water, and filings or fragments of iron ; in this operation the chloride of silver is decomposed, chloride of iron is formed which is washed away, and the silver and mercury combine into an amalgam, from which the excess of mercury is first squeezed out through leather bags, and the remainder driven off by distillation. Pure Silver may be procured by dissolving standard silver in nitric acid, diluted with an equal measure of water. Immerse a plate of clean copper in the filtered solution, which oc- casions a precipitate of metallic silver ; collect it upon a filter; wash it with a weak solution of ammonia, and then with water, and fuse it into a button. Silver is of a more pure white than any other metal : it has considerable brilliancy, and takes a high polish. Its specific gravity varies be- tween 10-4 and 10-6. It is so malleable and ductile, that it may be extended into leaves not exceeding a ten-thousandth of an inch in thick- ness, and drawn into wire infinitely finer than a human hair. Silver melts at a bright red heat, estimated at 1873° of Fahrenheit's scale, and when in fusion appears extremely brilliant. It resists the action of air at high temperatures for a long time, and does not oxidise ; the tarnish of silver is occasioned by sulphuretted hydrogen. Pure water has no effect upon the metal ; but if the water contains organic mat- ter, it is sometimes slightly blackened. In the Voltaic arc it burns with a fine green light, and throws off abundant fumes. Exposed to an intense white-heat in the air, it evaporates, but in close vessels it is not sensibly volatile. If suddenly cooled, it crystallises during con- gelation, often shooting out like a cauliflower, and spirting particles of the metal out of the SILVER crucible. This arises from the escape of oxygen, which the metal absorbs and retains "whilst fluid, but suddenly gives off when it solidifies : this curious property of absorbing oxygen with- out combining with it, is prevented by the presence of a small quantity of copper. There are three oxides of silver — a suboxide, Ag 2 0 ; a protoxide, AgO ; and a binoxide, Ag0 2 . But the protoxide only forms permanent and definite saline combinations. It is obtained by adding a dilute solution of potash to a solu- tion of nitrate of silver. It is of a dark olive colour, and when heated to dull redness is re- duced to the metallic state. It imparts a yellow colour to glass, and is employed in enamel and porcelain painting. Berthollet's fulminating silver is formed by the action of ammonia on this oxide. The best process for preparing it is to pour a small quantity of strong aqueous ammonia upon the oxide; a portion is dis- solved, and a black powder remains, which is the detonating compound. It explodes with tremendous violence when rubbed or heated; nitrogen and water are evolved, and the silver is reduced. It is probably a nitride of silver, = Ag 3 N. Fulminate of silver, which is the compound usually known as Fulminating Silver, has been already noticed. When silver leaf is acted upon by gaseous chlorine in a humid state, it is gradually con- verted into a white chloride of silver; but this compound is usually procured by adding a solution of common salt to a solution of nitrate of silver. It falls in the form of a white curdy precipitate, which, by exposure to light, be- comes violet-coloured, brown, and ultimately black, a property which has led to its em- ployment in photography. Chloride of silver is so insoluble in water, that the minutest por- tion of any chloride in aqueous solution may be detected by it. It is insoluble in nitric and in cold sulphuric acid, but is abundantly soluble in solutions of ammonia, cyanide of potassium, and the alkaline hyposulphites. Iodide and Bromide of silver are yellowish insoluble compounds, both of which have been found native in Mexico. They are principally important in reference to photography. Nitric acid diluted with three parts of water, is the readiest solvent of silver : if the silver contains copper, the solution is bluish ; or if gold, that metal remains undissolved in the form of a black powder. The solution of nitrate of silver is caustic, and tinges animal sub- stances at first of a yellow = A, becoming, by exposure to light, purple or black. On evapo- ration, the solution yields anhydrous tabular crystals of a bitter metallic taste, which fuse when heated, and if cast into small cylinders, form the lunar caustic of pharmacy. When some of the solutions of silver are re- duced by certain essential oils, or by grape- sugar, a brilliant film of the metal may be so thrown down upon glass as to furnish a sub- stitute for the amalgam of tin usually employed for mirrors. This coating is not to be depended upon for durability, but it has the advantage 456 I of being applicable to curved surfaces and the ' interior of spherical vessels. Nitrate of silver is employed for writing upon linen, under the name of indelible or marking ink : and it is an ingredient in some of the liquids sold for changing the colour of hair. When taken internally, a discoloration of the skin often ensues, so that the surface of the body, and especially the parts exposed to light, acquire a leaden-grey colour. Solution of nitrate of silver is a valuable test of the presence of chlorine, hydrochloric acid, and the soluble chlorides, with which it forms a white cloud when very dilute, but a flaky precipitate when more concentrated ; the precipitate is soluble in ammonia, but insoluble in nitric acid. Silver is dissolved by boiling sulphuric acid, and the resulting sidphate of silver is a diffi- cultly soluble white salt. Upon the large scale, small portions of gold are separated from large quantities of silver, by heating the finely granulated alloy in sulphuric acid : the gold remains in the form of a black powder, and the sulphate of silver may be decomposed by the action of metallic copper, which precipitates metallic silver, and forms sulphate of copper. Some of the cyanides of silver are used in the process of electro-plating. Of the alloys of silver, the most important is that with copper ; it constitutes plate and coin. By the addition of a small proportion of copper to silver, the metal is rendered harder and more sonorous, while its colour is scarcely im- paired. When the two metals are in equal weights the compound is white : the maximum of hardness is obtained when the copper amounts to one-fifth of the silver. The standard silver of this country is composed of 92"5 silver + 7'5 copper ; that of France of 90 silver + 10 copper ; and in that of Prussia the alloy amounts to 25 per cent. The specific gravity of British standard silver is 10\3. The silver coins of the ancients, and many Oriental silver coins, are nearly pure ; they only contain traces of copper and of gold. ■ When silver alloyed by copper, such as standard silver, is exposed to a red heat in the air, it becomes black from the formation of a super- ficial film of oxide of copper; this may be re- moved by immersion in hot diluted sulphuric acid, and a film of pure silver then remains, of a beautiful whiteness ; this is called blanched, dead, or frosted silver. The blanks for coin are treated in this way before they are struck, whence the whiteness of new coin, and the darker appearance of the projecting portions occasioned by wear, in consequence of the alloy showing itself beneath the pure surface ; ar- ticles of plate are often deadened, matted,, or frosted by boiling in bisulphate of potash (sal enixum), which acts in the same way as dilute sulphuric acid. Lead and silver form a very brittle dull-coloured alloy, from which the lead is easily separated by cupellation. When fused lead containing silver is suffered to cool slowly, the lead, which first concretes, forms granular crystals, and is nearly pure, while almost the SILVER whole of the silver is contained in the liquid portion ; in this way the separation of the two metals may to a certain extent be effected, especially upon the large scale. Silver amal- gamates easily with mercury, when red-hot silver is thrown into heated mercury it dissolves, and when 8 parts of mercury and 1 of silver are thus combined, a granular crystalline soft amalgam is obtained. This amalgam is some- times employed for 'plating ; it is applied to the surface of copper, and the mercury being evaporated by heat, the remaining silver is burnished. The better kind of plating, how- ever, is performed by the application of a plate of silver to the surface of the copper, which is afterwards extended by rolling. A mixture of chloride of silver, chalk, and pearlash, is em- ployed for silvering brass : the metal is rendered very clean, and the above mixture, moistened with water, rubbed upon its surface. Plating by metallic precipitation from ammonio-chloride of silver is also frequently resorted to, but electro-plating with cyanide of silver now super- sedes the other, methods. Assay of Silver. — The analysis of alloyed silver is in continual practice by refiners and assayers. It may be performed in the humid way by dissolving the alloy in nitric acid, pre- cipitating with hydrochloric acid or chloride of sodium, and either reducing the chloride, or estimating the quantity of silver which it con- tains ; every 100 parts of the carefully dried chloride indicating 75*33 of silver. But a modification of this method is now generally resorted to, especially applicable in cases where the quality of the alloy is approxi- mately known : it depends upon the precipita- tion of the silver by a standard solution of common salt, each 1,000 grains of which con- tain a sufficient quantity of salt to precipitate 10 grains of silver; so that, supposing the silver and the salt to be pure, 10 grains of silver dissolved in nitric acid, would be entirely precipitated by 1,000 grains of the standard solution. This process of humid assaying was introduced into the French Mint by Gay-Lussac, who has described it in detail. A descrip- tion of this method by Mulder will also be found in the Chemical Niws, 1861, vol. ii. pp. 137-204. Assayers generally determine the value of silver bars by the process of cupellation. Of the useful metals, three resist the action of air at high temperatures — namely, silver, gold, and platinum ; the others, under the same circum- stances, become oxidised ; it might, therefore, be supposed, that alloys of the first three metals [ would suffer decomposition by mere exposure to heat and air, and that the oxidisable metal I would burn into oxide. This, however, is not the case ; for if the proportion of the latter be small, it is protected by the former ; or, in | other cases, a film of infusible oxide coats the fused globule, and prevents the further action I of the air. These difficulties are overcome by j adding to the alloy some easily oxidisable metal, the oxide of which is fusible. Lead 457 1 SILVERING is usually selected for this purpose. Sup- posing, therefore, that an alloy of silver and copper is to be assayed or analysed by cupella- tion, the following is the mode of proceeding: A clean piece of the metal (about 20 grains) is laminated, and accurately weighed. It is then wrapped in the requisite quantity of pure sheet lead, apportioned by weight to the quality of the alloy, and placed upon a small cupel, or porous shallow crucible, made of bone-earth. The whole is then placed within a muffle, heated to bright redness ; the metals melt, and, by the action of the air which plays over the hot surface, the lead and copper are oxidised, and their fused oxides are absorbed by the cupel, and, if the operation has been skilfully conducted, a button of pure silver ultimately remains, the completion of the process being judged of by the cessation of the oxidation and motion upon the surface of the globule, and by the brilliant appearance assumed by the silver when the oxidation of its alloy ceases. The button of pure silver is then suffered to cool gradually, and its loss of weight will be equivalent to the weight of the alloy which has been separated by oxidation, a certain allowance being made for a small loss of silver, which always occurs, partly by evaporation, and partly by absorption in the cupel. Silver Black. An earthy form of Silver Glance, of a dark bluish-black colour, found in several Saxon and Hungarian mines. Silver Glance. A valuable ore of silver ; composed of 87*1 per cent, of silver, and 12*9 sulphur. It is of a blackish-grey colour, but acquires a superficial iridescent tarnish on ex- posure ; opaque, with a metallic lustre ; flexible but difficultly frangible ; malleable and sectile, yielding easily to the knife and cutting like lead. It is found in various cubical forms ; also dendritic, stalactitic, and amorphous, in seve- ral Cornish mines. Silver or Glass Speculum. A speculum of glass silvered in the manner described in art. Silvering-, and used in reflecting telescopes in- stead of a metallic reflector. [Telescope.] Silver Grain. The glittering plates ob- served in the wood of many Exogens, and caused by the division of the medullary plates. Silvering-. The art of fixing thin films of silver on various surfaces. Copper may be coated with silver by first amalgamating the latter with mercury, rubbing the compound over the cleaned copper, and then volatilising the mercury by heat. Glass surfaces may be silvered by covering with an alkaline solution of oxide of silver, and then adding a reducing agent such as milk-sugar ; this process gives a very brilliant surface. Ordinary mirrors, or looking-glasses as they are generally termed, owe their reflecting powers to a surface of tin and mercury, and not to pure silver; hence the process may, in this case, be called quick- silvering rather than silvering, though the latter name is generally adopted. Quicksilver- ing consists in placing on a flat table a sheet of tin-foil, adding some mercury, and rubbing SILVIC ACID SIMILAR it gently over the tin till amalgamation is effected, then sliding on the sheet of glass, and applying considerable pressure for two or three days ; excess of quicksilver is thereby removed, and the residual amalgam adheres firmly to the glass. Silvic Acid. A name applied to that portion of common resin or colophony which is most readily soluble in cold alcohol. Its combinations with salifiable bases have been termed silvates. It is crystallisable, and its alcoholic solution reddens litmus. Silybum (Gr. , 1 bear). A name given by Escholtz to an order of Acalephes, to which he refers those species that have no central digestive cavity, but simply isolated tubes. Sipbonostomes (Gr. o-'upoov, and arSfia, a mouth). The name of a family of Crustaceans, comprehending those which have a siphon- shaped mouth for suction. By M. de Blain- ville the term is applied to those Gastropods which have the opening of the shell prolonged into a siphon. Sipborbinians (Gr. (ris, a hero, a word which reappears in such names as Hera and Heracles. Siraballi. A valuable and fragrant timber of Demerara, supposed to be the produce of a species of Oreodajphne. Siren. The generic name of certain Perenni- branchiate reptiles which have only one pair of feet, and retain the external gills ; they are peculiar to the southern provinces of the United States. Sirens. [Seirens.] Sirene. In Acoustics, an instrument for determining the velocity of aerial vibration, corresponding to the different pitches of mu- sical sounds. 'In this elegant instrument the wind of a bellows is emitted through a small aperture, before which revolves a circular disc pierced with a certain number of holes, arranged in a circle concentric with the axis of rotation, exactly equidistant from each other, and of the same size, &c. The orifice through which the air passes is so situated that each of these holes, during the rotation of the disc, shall pass over it, and let through the air; but the disc is made to revolve so near the orifice that in the intervals between the holes it shall act as a cover, and intercept the air. If the holes be placed obliquely, the action of the current of air alone will set the disc in motion: if per- pendicular to the surface, the disc must be moved by wheel-work, by means of which its velocity of rotation is easily regulated, and the number of impulses may be exactly counted. The sound produced is clear and sweet, like the human voice. If, instead of a single aper- ture for transmitting the air, there be several, so disposed in a circle of equal dimensions with that in which the holes of the disc are situated that each shall be opposite one corre- sponding hole when at rest, these will all form sounds of one pitch, and being heard together will reinforce each other. The sirene sounds equally when plunged in water and fed by a current of that fluid as in air ; thus proving that it is the number of impulses only, and nothing depending on the nature of the me- dium in which the sound is excited, that in- fluences our appreciation of its pitch.' (Sir J. Herschel's. 'Treatise on Sound,' Encyclopedia Metropolitana.) The sirene, as thus described, was invented by Baron Cagniard de la Tour. An instru- ment on the same principle, and for the same purpose, had formerly been devised by Pro- fessor Robison ; but the construction was much less elegant and commodious. A current of air passing through a pipe was alternately in- Vol. III. 465 S1TTA tercepted and permitted to pass by the shutting and opening of a stop-cock. Sirenia (Gr. ^ipriv). An order of Mam- malia in which the teeth are of different kinds, the incisors preceded by milk-teeth, and molars with flattened or ridged crowns, adapted for vegetable food. The nostrils are two, situated at the upper part of the snout ; the lips are beset with stiff bristles ; the mammae are pec- toral. The Sirenia exist near coasts or ascend large rivers ; browsing on fuci, water-plants, or the grass of the shore. The order which includes the dugongs {Halicore) and the mana- tees (Manatus) has existed since the miocene period. Sirius (Gr. %dpios, called also Canicula, or Canis Candens, the Dog-star). A star of the first magnitude in the constellation of Canis Major, or the Great Dog, and the brightest in the heavens. The Egyptians, observing that the Nile begins to swell at a particular rising of this star, paid it divine honours. [Pyramid.] Sirocco (Ital.). A soft relaxing wind, chiefly experienced in the south of Italy, Malta, and Sicily. It blows from the south-east or south ; and having been heated over the sandy deserts of Libya, it becomes occasionally moist in its passage across the Mediterranean, and oppresses the inhabitants of the above-named countries with excessive languor and a sinking of the mental energies. The setting in of the sirocco is followed by a considerable rise of the thermometer, and is attended with a haze which obscures the atmosphere. [Simoom.] Sirvente. In the Literature of the Middle Ages, a species of poem in common use among the Troubadours, usually satirical, and divided into strophes of a peculiar construction. Sismondine. A foliated variety of Chlori- toid of a dark-green colour, found at St. Marcel, in Piedmont. Named after Professor Si smonda. Sisserskite. A variety of Iridosmine, from Sissersk, in the Ural. Sister Keelson. The same as Side Keel- son. Sistrum (Gr. creiffrpav, from (reUiv, to shake). A kind of timbrel,, which the Egyptian priests of Isis used to shake with their hands at the festivals of that goddess. Sisyphus (Gr. cicrvepos). In Mythology, a descendant of iEolus. By some he is said to have lived at Ephyra, in the Peloponnesus ; while others allege that he was a robber, slain by Theseus. His punishment in Tartaru,s for his crimes committed on earth, consisted in rolling a huge stone to the top of a, high hill, which constantly recoiled, and thus rendered his labour incessant. The term Sisyphus is supposed to be a reduplicated form of oor of bore at j e, inches r of grooves i r e or Uniform ; in inchei *Z B. ' Iteniaiks Weight Length Weight Length beyond muzzle If s 6 S i H || lb oz. ft. lb. oz. ft, in. 6 11 3 Of 11$ n, If 2 5P 1 in 48 600 6 8 2 •451 8U lin 20 800 25,000 ordered to be adopt- ed in place of above '61 pattern. Issued to cavalry in India and depots at home. Issued to 10th Hussars. 7 7 2 •551 3U lin 48 600 (] 3 •539 5U lin 36 500 2 101 1 •577 5P lin 48 100 For Lancers, and troop serjeant - majors and trumpeters of all regi- 7 8 3 41 1 12 1 10J •577 5P lin 48 600 7 61 3 111 1 10J 2 0 •577 Oval Vari- 1000 8 8 S 14£ 2i 8£ 4 4 4 6 oh 04 0 1 1 134, 12 114 1 x -j. 1 1 1 «i 101 10 v •577 •577 •577 3P 3P 5P 1 in 78 lin 78 lin 48 1000 1100 1250 For infantry generally. 1 For all Serjeants, and j rank and file of Rifle ( Brigade and 60th Rifles. 9 131 4 H 0 134. 1 51 •451 6U I in 20 1250 1,000 issued for experi- ment. 9 14 4 oh 1 1 101 •451 6U 1 in 20 1350 8,000 issued to Rifle Brigade and 60th Rifles for expe- riment. 8 8 4 oh 2 6 2 n •577 5P 1 in 48 1250 For all sailors, with a cutlass sword-bayonet j and for marine artillery with artillery sword- bayonet. 2 Gi H n 1 8 •434 3TT 1 in 20 No Sight do. j- Issued to ships. 2 4 1 If Hf •358 7P 1 in 36 1 •470 3U lin 18 do. For Coast Guard only. 2 3£ 0 111 •570 do. is as follows : about two inches of the Enfield barrel are cut away at the breech, and a solid breech-stopper, A, working sideways on a hinge, is placed in the opening thus made. Through this stopper passes a piston, one end of which, B, when the breech is closed, receives the blow from the hammer, while the other communicates it to the centre of the cartridge, thus firing the latter. There is an arrangement for withdrawing the old cartridge case after each discharge, by means of sliding back the stopper on the bar on which it hinges, when a mere tilting action of the hand throws out the old case, and the new one can be inserted. With the cartridge described in Small-arm Ammunition there is no escape of gas, and the accuracy of the arm is about 33 per cent, greater than that of the muzzle-loading Enfield with its ordinary service cartridge. As many as 15 rounds have been fired from it in a minute, showing a rapidity of fire more than five times as great as that of the unconverted 479 arm. It is remarkably free from fouling, and little liable to deterioration by bad weather. On comparing it with the Prussian needle- gun, its advantages are at once apparent. It is much simpler in construction, and lighter, weighing only 9 lbs. 5| oz., while the needle- gun weighs 10 lbs. 11 oz. ; the latter arm also cannot be fired so rapidly. The success of the needle-gun in the cam- paign of Bohemia is not to be attributed to any peculiar advantages of that form of breech- loader, but to the vast superiority of any safe breech-loading small arm with cartridges con- taining their own principle of ignition over any muzzle-loading arm requiring to be capped. The construction is complicated, but may be thus roughly stated. At the breech end of the barrel is an open channel A, in which slides an iron tube B, with a handle C. This tube is pierced in front with a small hole, through which the needle passes to ignite the cartridge. The needle is a thin steel wire about ^ inch SMALL WARES in diameter, bluntly pointed, and is carried in a small tube D in the rear part of the iron tube B. The tube B is capable of being moved backwards and forwards by means of its handle C, which passes through a perfora- tion in the barrel like a bayonet notch. When the tube is drawn back as far as it can go, an open chamber is left between it and the barrel (as in fig. 3). The needle is drawn back Closed. Prussian Needle-gun. with and by the tube D, forces back a spring, and becomes fixed by the trigger catch. The cartridge is now introduced into the chamber, and the tube B is pressed forward till its end is in contact with the rear of the barrel ; the handle is turned round in the notch, and the breech is closed (as in fig. 4), the needle remaining fixed behind. When the trigger is pulled, the needle is released, and the spring drives it forward into the cartridge, igniting the detonating composition. The barrel is rifled with four grooves, having a uniform twist of one turn in forty- two inches. The cartridge is described in Small-arm Ammunition. Swords, lances, cutlasses, boarding pikes, and boarding axes, are sometimes called small arms. Small Wares. A commercial term applied to tape, bindings, braid, and other textile arti- cles of that kind. Small-arm Ammunition. The most im- portant bullets used in our service are : 1. The general service Enfield rifle bullet. [Bullet.] 2. The Whitworth bullet, used with the Whit- worth rifle ; its length is 1-292 inches, diameter •442 inches, weight 480 grains ; it has a hollow in the base without cap or plug. 3. The Westley Kichards bullet, made of lead with five per cent, of tin ; it has no hollow in the base, but a belt round the hinder part. 4. Metford's per- cussion bullet ; this is merely an ordinary Enfield bullet, having a chamber down its longer axis, to within one-fifth of an inch of the hollow ; this chamber contains four and a half grains of detonating composition ; and the 480 SMALL-ARM AMMUNITION bottom is closed with wax. It is intended to explode ammunition waggons. The cartridges for the Enfield rifle are made in two ways, and called either rolled or bag cartridges; the former is made of four pieces of paper, the first two forming the powder cylinder ; in the bag-cartridge the powder cylinder is made from the pulp ; the third paper contains the bullet, and laps over the powder cylinder ; the fourth paper joins bullet and powder cylinders together. These cartridges are white. Blank cartridges are made of purple paper, and contain powder only. Percussion caps have already been described. [Percussion Cap.] In most breech-loading arms, the detonating composition which ignites the cartridges is contained in the cartridge itself. Side-fire car- tridges are those in which this is ignited by a blow on the side of the cartridge. Central- fire cartridges are ignited by a blow on the centre, and to this class belong the Prussian needle-gun and Snider's converted Enfield, which latter is now adopted in the British army. Fig. l. Fig. 2. Cartridge for Needle- gun. A. Compressed paper cylinder. B. Bullet. C. Cavity containing detonating com- position. D. Charge of powder. Cartridge for Snider's Converted Enfield. A. Cartridge-case (thin rolled brass sheeting). B. Bullet. C. Cap. D. Wooden plug. E. Clay plug. F. Papier mache. G. Anvil. K. Cotton wool. In the cartridge of the Prussian needle-gun, the bullet B is separated from the powder D by a rolled and compressed paper cylinder A, which is hollowed at the end next the bullet. It has a cavity at C, in which is lodged in front of the powder the fulminating composition to be exploded by the thrust of the needle, which pierces through the powder. The bullet is ogival in form, weighs 487 grains, and is fired with a charge of 75 grains of powder ; it has no hollow at the base, and does not expand into the grooves of the piece when fired, but the paper cylinder enters the grooves and im- parts the requisite rotation to the bullet. The cartridge for Snider's converted Enfield, as designed by Colonel Boxer, appears to be the best yet produced. The case A is made of thin sheet brass, rolled into a hollow cylinder, one end of which receives the bullet B, the SMALLPICA other end fitting into the metallic cap C, which contains the porcussionor ignition arrangement of the ordinary central-lire nature. The brass case, which is covored with thin paper, uncoils on discharge, and contracts to a slight extent when rolieved from the internal pressure of the gas, thus guarding against splitting and escape of gas in the first instance, and facilitating withdrawal in the second. The bullet is ex- ternally similar to the Enfield bullet, but has a chamber, as in Metford's bullet, down the axis. This is filled by a wooden plug D ; the bullet being thus made lighter than the ordi- nary Enfield bullet, and the centre of gravity being thrown further back, which improves the shooting. The bullet has also some grooves or cannelures round its base end, which contain the lubricating bees-wax. There is the usual clay plug E, and some cotton wool K, between the powder and the bullet. These cartridges have been most severely tested ; they resist damp to an extraordinary extent, far beyond any probable requirements of a campaign ; they are remarkably safe against premature or accidental explosion, while there were only three misfires out of several thousand trial rounds, and those from causes which can be guarded against, while the ex- pense is not much greater than that of the old Enfield cartridge. [Small Arms.] Smallpica. In Printing, the name of a kind of type three sizes larger than that used in this work. There are at the present day a greater number of books printed in this type than in any other. [Type.] Smallpox. Called also Variola, because it changes and disfigures the skin. There are two forms of this disease, generally called by medi- cal men the distinct and the confluent ; in the former the pustules are separate, in the latter they coalesce. Distinct smallpox begins with the usual symptoms of inflammatory fever ; i.e. pains in the back and loins, sickness, drow- siness, headache, pain upon pressure about the region of the stomach, and in infants one or more epileptic fits. About the end of the third day little red spots, much resembling flea-bites, make their appearance upon the face and head, which spread during the fourth day over the breast, body, and limbs ; about the fifth day a circular vesicle forms upon each little point, depressed in the centre, surrounded by an in- flamed margin, and containing a colourless fluid, and at this time the eruptive fever dis- appears ; about the sixth day the throat becomes sore, and the saliva viscid; and about the eighth day the face is swollen, and the pustules round, prominent, and prevalent; about the eleventh day the pustules attain their full size (about that of a pea), and the matter which they contain becomes opaque and yellow, and a dark central spot appears on each; the swelling of the face subsides, and is transferred to the hands and feet, and more or less secondary fever now ensues. After this, the pustules become rough, break, and scab over, and a dark brown spot remains for some davs ; and if Vol. III. 481 SMALT the pustules havo been large an indentation is left; the remaining symptoms gradually sub- side, and about the seventeenth or eighteenth day the secondary fever disappears. Confluent smallpox is ushered in by a fever of a far more violent and threatening character ; all the incipient symptoms are aggravated ; delirium or coma may attend them : and in infants there is diarrhoea, and in adults sali- vation. The eruption is very irregular in its progress and appearance, and usually preceded by red patches upon the face, from which the pustules emerge on the second day in the form of clusters somewhat resembling measles. Their progress is rapid ; but instead of being circular and well defined, they are flat and irregular in shape, and contain a brownish fluid quite unlike pus : the intermediate species between the clusters are generally pale and flaccid. The tumefaction of the face and running of saliva are greater than in the distinct spaces ; and the fever does not cease upon the appearance of the eruption, but about the ninth day it gene- rally becomes aggravated, the eruption livid and accompanied by the petechiae or purple spots ; and about the eleventh day from the commencement of the disease it often termi- nates fatally. This disease is the effect of a specific con- tagion, and is produced either by inoculation, or by exposure to the effluvia from persons suffering under it : in the latter case it is usually called the natural smallpox. When the distinct smallpox goes regularly through the stages above described it is rarely dangerous, except from mismanagement ; but it often leaves a tendency to inflammatory disorders, and in a scrofulous habit it excites that disorder into activity. Any of the symptoms which have just been described as characterising confluent smallpox are alarming ; so is a sudden dis- appearance of the eruption, or change in its appearance, followed by depression or delirium. In treating the distinct smallpox, the febrile symptoms are to be moderated by cool air, saline and mild acid diluting drinks, and very gentle aperients. Bleeding and purging are in almost all cases to be decidedly avoided. Great irritability may occasionally be allayed by small doses of opium and camphor, or, what is pre- ferable, by muriate of morphia : this will also check diarrhoea, should it supervene. The con- fluent form generally requires more or less of the treatment which is adopted in low or putrid fever. Obstinate vomiting, which is sometimes not only a troublesome but alarming symptom, is best encountered by the saline draught in the act of effervescence, with a few grains of aromatic confection, and a few drops of tincture of opium. Smalt (Dutch smelten). A fine blue colour used in painting and printing upon earthenware, and applied to several other purposes in the arts. The finest smalt is made by fusing glass with oxide of cobalt, by which a very deep blue compound is obtained, which when finely powdered acquires a beautiful azure colour. I I SMALTINE Common smalts are prepared by fusing mixtures of zaffre, sand, and pearlash. Smaltine. One of the most important ores of cobalt, being (with Cobaltine) that from which most of the smalts of commerce is manu- factured ; whence the name. It is an arsenide of Cobalt, composed of 72 per cent, of arsenic, 95 cobalt, 9 iron, and 95 nickel. It is found in Cornwall and Cumberland ; in Scotland, &c. The arsenides of cobalt only are, strictly speaking, included under the term Smaltine ; those varieties which contain Nickel being called Chloanthite. [Chathamite.] Smaragd (Gr. afxdpaydos). In modern times this word is used as a synonym of eme- rald ; but it was applied by the ancients to va- rious other precious stones, such as fluor spar, green vitrified lava, green jasper, and green glass. The passage of Pliny {Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 5), in which Nero is said to have been in the habit of viewing the gladiatorial com- bats in a smaragd, is generally understood to signify a smooth polished mirror made of some of the above substances ; but it has been main- tained that the emperor was short-sighted, and used a concave eyeglass formed of the smaragd. The smaragd is found in various parts of Europe, Asia, and America ; but particularly in the Ural mountains, and in the mines of Chili and Mexico. [Emerald.] Smaragdite (Gr. ffjxdpayZos). A peculiar laminated form of Augite or Hornblende, of a bright emerald-green colour. It is found in Switzerland, at Monte Nova and near Geneva ; also in Corsica, in Felspar. Smart IVToney. The Military term for the fine to be paid, in order to escape prosecution, by a recruit who has accepted enlisting money, but refuses to be attested. Smart Ticket. A certificate of a sea- man's having received a wound or hurt. Smectite (Gr. afxr]KT6s, smeared). A green- ish kind of Halloysite from Conde in Erance. Smectymnuus. A work against episco- pacy, in reply to Bishop Hall, was published shortly after the assembling of the Long Par- liament under this title, which was obtained by clubbing together the initials of the names of the five authors, Stephen Marshall, Edward Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow. This book was fol- lowed by a long and vehement controversy, in which Milton took part in reply to the re- joinders of Archbishop Usher. Smelite (Gr. (r/x^Ki], soap). A kind of Kaolin (China Clay), found near Telkebanya in Hungary. Smell. This sense resides in the mucous or pituitary membrane which lines the nostrils, and the surface of which is more or less con- voluted or extended in various orders of animals. In the human subject this membrane is highly vascular, and largely supplied, especially in its upper parts, with nervous filaments, or ramifi- cations of the olfactory trunk, which has its origin, by three distinct roots, from the poste- rior, inferior, and internal parts of the anterior 482 SMILAX lobe of the brain, and proceeding towards the perforated plate of the ethmoid bone, divides into the small threads just mentioned. The physiology of odours is a curious and intricate subject, requiring much more experi- mental investigation than it has hitherto re- ceived. The air is the great vehicle by which their various influences are transmitted in the act of inspiring to the olfactory surfaces, and for the diffusion of most odours a certain degree of humidity in the air appears absolutely essen- tial. There is scarcely any sense the degree of perfection of which varies so much in different individuals as that of smell, some being pain- fully alive to those odorous influences which are not even perceived by others. An obtuse- ness of this sense is also very frequent, and its almost entire absence by no means uncommon ; this is especially the case in certain catarrhal complaints, and in some other affections of the lining membrane of the nose. Smelt (A.-Sax.). A delicate small fish, of the Salmonoid family (Salmo eperlanus, Linn.), se- parated as a genus ( Osmerus, Cuv.) by having a transverse row of vomerine teeth, and a row of conical teeth along the palatine and pterygoid bones. The tongue has strong teeth anteriorly and longitudinal rows of small teeth behind. Scales of moderate size ; pseudo-branchiae ru- dimental; pyloric appendages few and short. The Osmerus eperlanus frequents the coasts and numerous fresh waters of Northern and Central Europe. Smew. The name of the diver called Mer- gus albellus by Linnaeus. [Mergus.] Smilacese (Smilax, one of the genera). A small natural order of Endogenous plants with weak or twining stems and reticulated leaves, not distinguishable from those of Exo- gens. Lindley refers them to a class which he calls Dictyogens, and distinguishes them by their bisexual or polygamous hexapetaloideous flowers, their several consolidated carpels, and their axile placentae. The drug called Sarsapa- rilla, or Sarza, is the root of various species inhabiting South America, and is held in high esteem for its diuretic, demulcent, alterative qualities. They are found especially in the temperate and tropical parts of Asia and America. Smilacine (Gr. (Tfx7\a^). A crystalline prin- ciple obtained from Sarsaparilla root. Smilax (Gr.). An extensive genus of Dic- tyogens, giving its name to the order Smilacece, and consisting of climbing shrubs, natives of the warmer, temperate, and tropical regions of both hemispheres. Some of the species fur- nish the drug known as Sarsaparilla, so called from the Spanish sarza, bramble, and parilla, a vine, in reference to the thorny stems of the plants. The Sarsaparilla of the shops consi<*ts of the roots, to which are attached portions of the rootstocks, of various species of this genus. It is by no means clearly ascertained what are the exact species yielding the varieties of this drug met with in commerce, but it is sup- SMITHSONITE Posed to be the produce of 8. officinalis, 8. medica, and S. papyraeea, whilo other species are mentioned as occasionally used^ The spe- cies named S. Sarsaparilla, which is common in the United States, does not appear to he used medicinally, notwithstanding its name. In commerce, the various kinds of Sarsaparilla are divided into two principal groups, accord- ing to the quantity of starchy material which they contain. The mealy Sarsaparillas contain an abundance of farinaceous matter in the inner part of the rind. To this group belong Caraccas Sarsaparilla, the produce probably of 8. o fficinalis or 8. syphilitica ; Brazilian Sarsa- parilla, which is imported in cylindrical bundles, and is considered to consist of the roots of 8. papyraeea and S. officinalis; and Honduras Sarsaparilla, the botanical origin of which is quite unknown. The non-mealy Sarsaparillas are known as Jamaica or Red-bearded Sarsa- parilla, which is imported into Jamaica from Columbia, and is probably the produce of 8. officinalis; Lima Sarsaparilla, which consists of roots, imported not only from Lima but from Costa Rica, and of which 8. officinalis is supposed likewise to be the source ; and Vera Cruz Sarsaparilla, the produce of S. medica. Smithsonite. Hydrated silicate of zinc, composed of 67"4 per cent, of oxide of zinc, 25*1 silica, and 7 '5 water. It occurs in colour- less rhombic prisms ; also stalactitic, botryoidal, granular, and compact ; sometimes it-is of grey, blue, yellow, green or brown shades, and varies from transparent to opaque. It has a vitreous lustre, is brittle, and becomes phosphorescent when rubbed, and electric by heat. It is found in Cumberland, Derbyshire, and in the Men- dip Hills in Somersetshire. Named after the chemist Smithson, by whom it was analysed. The name Smithsonite has also been applied by some mineralogists to Calamine or Carbonate of Zinc. Smoke ( A.-Sax. smoca, Ger. schmauch, akin to Gr. o-fJLvxv, (T/jluxou). Smoke has been defined as the visible effluvium or sensible exhalation of anything burning. The term is commonly ap- plied to those results of the combustion or ig- nition of pit-coal which escape from chimneys, and which constitute a serious and well-known evil and nuisance in large towns, manufacturing districts, and almost everywhere where large quantities of coal are consumed. Coal is often a very complex substance ; but putting aside its occasional and adventitious ingredients, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen may be regarded as its ordinary and essential con- stituents ; and the results of its perfect com- bustion would therefore be carbonic acid steam and nitrogen. These substances would consti- tute invisible and incombustible gases and vapour, and would therefore escape from the chimney top, and blend with the atmosphere, without being perceived. But it unfortunately happens that from the way in which coal is burnt its combustion is far from being perfect, and that besides the above-mentioned products inflammable gases and vapours, together with 483 SMOKE large quantities of very finely divided carbon, constituting soot, and black and brown smoke, are vomited forth from the chimney shaft, not only contaminating the air, but also occasioning loss of fuel. There are many practical difficulties in the way of burning smoke, but experience has shown that none of these are of such a nature or magnitude that they may not be overcome by perseverance and skill. They all merge into one common principle, that of mixing air with the combustible vapours and gases gene- rated by the action of heat on pit-coal, so that by virtue of a due supply of oxygen they may be made to burn with flame, and become en- tirely converted into incombustible and trans- parent invisible vapours and gases, instead of being, as they now are, only partially burned, their carbon being precipitated, and escaping, together with the other imperfectly consumed matters, into the air. But to carry out that object a high tempera- ture must be maintained within the furnace ; and it is consequently easier to burn the smoke in metallurgic furnaces where it comes into contact with red hot surfaces, than in the furnaces of steam boilers where it is rapidly cooled by the surrounding water. And not only is air and heat necessary to burn smoke, but an adequate time for the operation must be afforded. To this end, combustion chambers are now gene- rally constructed behind the furnace, and fire tiles are interposed either at the bridge of the furnace or at some other suitable part, where they will be intensely heated so as to compel the mix- ture of smoke and air to encounter hot surfaces before it is cooled very much by entering the flues. The nuisance of smoke has been mate- rially aggravated of late years by the use of coal instead of coke in locomotives, and most of the expedients employed in them to burn the smoke are quite ineffectual. In common land boilers, where slow combustion can be main- tained, the smoke will be effectually burnt if the coal is first placed on a dead plate at the mouth of the furnace, where it will be coked, and the gases will be burned by passing over the fire. This, however, involves two opera- tions in stoking, viz. that of pushing back the coked coal upon the fire and of refilling the dead plate with a fresh supply of raw coal. By the use of the revolving grate, however, this labour may be saved, as in that arrangement the coal is constantly precipitated by suitable apparatus on the part of the grate near the door, and the smoke passing from it over the incandescent fuel on the bars is burnt, while by the time the gases have been all expelled, the revolution of the grate will have carried it ■to the part of the furnace farthest removed from the door, where it will in its turn promote the combustion of the gases proceeding from the coal last introduced. These plans, however, are hardly applicable to marine, and not at all applicable to locomotive boilers. But in all furnaces in which there is a good draught (and in locomo- tive furnaces the draught is very great) the I i 2 SMOKE BALL SMUGGLING smoke may be effectually burnt by making it pass through the fire. This may be accom- plished by placing the fire between vertical bars through which the air enters, and vertical tubes through which water circulates, and past and among which the smoke has to proceed in its way to the chimney. By keeping the out- side solid bars sufficiently long, and the inside tubular bars sufficiently short, the smoke will have to descend for a certain distance through the fire before it can escape ; and it will thereby be completely consumed. The smoke from houses may be entirely avoided by the \ise of coke or Welsh coal instead of bitumi- nous coal; such fuels occasion a little more trouble in the lighting of fires, but they are otherwise much better adapted for domestic purposes than bituminous coal. The laws against smoking furnaces should be rigidly enforced, and effectual means for obviating the nuisance will then be quickly adopted. Smoke Ball. In Artillery, a paper shell filled with a composition which, when ignited, emits volumes of smoke. It is thrown into mines or other confined situations to suffocate an enemy's working parties ; and has been used as a signal in the arctic regions. Smoke Quartz or Smoky Quartz. A variety of Rock Crystal with a smoke-brown coloured tint, found in Scotland, Bohemia, Nova Scotia, &c. The transparent wine-yellow and clove-brown crystals which are the true Cairngorm, are included under this variety, as are also the False Topaz, Morion, Topazine Quartz, &c. Smoke Sail. A small sail hoisted before the funnel of the galley, when the ship is at anchor head to wind, to screen the quarter deck from the smoke. Smoke Stack. In a steam-vessel, the funnels and steam -pipes rising from the flues and boilers above the deck. In ships of war. they are commonly telescopic, to be drawn down out of shot in time of action. Smorzato (ItaL extinguished). In Music, a term denoting that the violin bow is to be drawn to its full extent, but gradually lighter till the sound is nearly lost. Smuggling (Dutch smokkelen). The of- fence of privately importing or exporting goods, the importation or exportation of which is either prohibited or loaded with heavy duties. Thus, before the Bank Act of 1819, the ex- portation of British gold coin was an offence against numerous statutes and the received canons of monetary policy ; and at all times when the legislature has imposed a tax on articles of foreign produce, the attempt to introduce privately such articles either for con- sumption or sale, is an offence against the revenue, by which the honest consumer, who has half paid the tax, is defrauded. Such acts are called smuggling. Analogous to them are frauds on the excise, i.e. on internal taxes, as contrasted with those which are levied at the ports, or in the act of taking goods out of bonded warehouses. For obvious reasons, frauds 484 on the excise are far less common than frauds on the customs ; except in the case of illicit distil- lation, and perhaps in the manufacture of malt. The tendency to smuggle foreign goods on which duties are ordinarily and legally payable is generally to be traced to the folly of govern- ments, to the demand for articles on which ex- cessive customs duties are levied, and to the sympathy and co-operation of such as are debarred from the use of these articles with the persons by whom their needs are unlawfully supplied. It is not the case, it may be con- fidently asserted, that high duties levied for the intelligible needs of government are neces- sarily provocative of smuggling, for very heavy taxes may be and are payable from many articles without this consequence; thus, the tax on tobacco is far in excess of its value, and if the community were bent on enjoying this luxury by unlawful means, it does not seem likely that any preventive service could ef- fectually check its illegal importation ; but the community acquiesces in the tax, and public opinion is, on the whole, hostile to those who attempt to evade the legal obligation of paying a customs debt. The decline of the practice, once common enough, of smuggling tobacco, is, we may be convinced, due quite as much to the force of a judgment on the part of the people, endorsing the equity of the law, as it is to any regulations and precautions on the part of the custom house and of its officers. The case is very different when a tax is levied either to sustain a particular interest in the community, or when government attempts to en- force certain sumptuary laws on the public, or when there is a general impression that the tax is levied in defiance of equity or expediency. Thus, in the old days of the East India Company's trading monopoly, the smuggling of tea was a regular and acknowledged branch of business; during the existence of the Gin Act, when an attempt was made to force abstinence on the people by means of a prohibitory excise and customs duty, private stills were universal, and smuggling excessively common ; and when the law forbad the exportation of coin, the most respectable houses were engaged in an illicit trade in melted sovereigns or guineas. An abolition of restrictions on trade in the first case, an abandonment of the affectation on the part of government of inculcating per- sonal morality by the machinery of a police force, and such a course of fiscal arrangements as induces the public to recognise in the im- positions of customs and excise duties a mere intention of procuring a necessary revenue in the easiest and least oppressive way, are fatal to the practice of smuggling, not so much, probably, because the temptation to smuggle is taken away, but because sympathy with and encouragement of the smuggler cease. The smuggler is no longer the agent by whom op- pressive laws may be evaded, and impertinent interference avoided, but a mere rogue who commits at once a fraud on the public purse and a wrong on the honest dealer. SMUGGLING SNAKE WEED Tho tendency towards smuggling has been indirectly stimulated in no slight degree by the policy of government. While all adminis- trations attempt to coerce by very energetic t measures any frauds on their own revenue by means of illicit trade or illicit productions, they have been by no means equally sensitive to the duty of checking frauds on the revenue of neighbouring nations, and in many cases have treated such frauds as a matter of the highest public policy. Thus, the Spanish govern- ment, either from falling into the common delusion of the protectionist theory, or in retaliation for the action of our government, having put prohibitive duties on English goods, the British government recognised that the chief value of Gibraltar lay in the convenience which it afforded for a smuggling trade, and diligently furthered this trade. So, again, during the time in which the first Napoleon attempted, by his insane and suicidal Berlin and Milan decrees, to check or even destroy the exportation of British produce to all parts of the Continent over which his authority or influence extended, and enforced his decrees by inflicting the most sanguinary punishments on offenders against these regulations, the British government encouraged smuggling by every means in its power, and occupied several islands in which to store its produce, and from which to evade the decrees in question. It is very hard, however, for a government to in- duce a belief in the immorality of an action which it treats as a high crime and mis- demeanour under one set of circumstances, and recognises as a true course of policy under another. We do not doubt that the most obvious way in which smuggling could be put down is to render it unprofitable, but we cannct also doubt that an equally effective and a more enduring check is to render it unpopular : and that no better means can be found for this result than those which lead the public to understand that the policy of the government in the imposition of taxes is purely fiscal, and that therefore any fraud on the revenue is a robbery of honest tax-payers. It is by these means that the practice of smuggling has been, as all admit, checked. For although the tariff of duty-paying commodities has been much simplified, there is still a number of articles the duty on which is many times more than the prime cost, and which, therefore, on the ordinary hypothesis that smuggling is the inevitable consequent of high customs duties, should be smuggled largely. Public morality is not much furthered by the regulations of government, but it may be, and often is, very seriously injured by an impression that the action of government is unfair, capricious, or interested, or that the proceeds of the public revenue are squandered. It is possible that smuggling has been to some extent discouraged by the provisions of 16 & 17 Vict. cap. 107, by which armed combinations for smuggling purposes are made 485 felonies. But it is certain that such an Act would be inoperative, if the growth of public morality had not prepared the nation to treat smuggling as a social and not merely as a political crime. Smut (A.-Sax. smitta). A disease inci- dental to corn crops, by which the farina of the grain in the whole body of the seed is converted into a black soot-like powder. It is to be regarded as a fungxis growth and receives its name from the sooty, dusty mass into which the substance of the seed and seed- vessel is converted under its influence. Mr. Berkeley tells us that means used in preparing seed-corn against bunt may be effectual against smut ; but this can scarcely be the case, as the spores of the latter are so much more freely dispersed. Smyrnium (Gr. a/xupu^ myrrh). The name of a genus of Umbelliferce, one species of which, 8. Olusatrum., not uncommon in some parts of Britain, was formerly used as a pot- herb. This plant, commonly called Alisander or Alexanders, is a biennial, usually met with near the sea, as well as in the vicinity of old houses, where it might have been formerly cultivated. Before the introduction of celery, the leafstalks, which are the edible parts, were blanched, and used either as a salad or pot- herb. The flavour somewhat resembles that of celery, but it is stronger and not so agreeable, on which account it has been neglected, and has almost entirely gone out of cultivation. Snail (A.-Sax. snsegel). The name given to the common shell-bearing molluscous animal of this country, applicable to all the various kinds of terrestrial and arboreal species of pulmonated or air-breathing testaceous gastropods. It is properly restricted to those of the genus Helix, in which the aperture of the shell is lunate, wider than it is deep, with the margin com- monly thickened and reverted. The common snail of this country is the Helix nemoralis. In the localities where the Roman colonists dwelt, a larger Italian species, Helix pomaria, has become acclimated; it is susceptible of great increase of size by artificial feeding, and was esteemed a dainty by the Romans. Snail Plant. The popular garden name for the Medicago scutellata, the fruit of which resembles snails. Snake (A.-Sax. snaca). The common term applied to all ophidian reptiles. The British harmless snake is the Coluber natrix, Linn. Snake Root. This term is applied to the root of the Aristolochia serpentaria, a native of Virginia : it is a fibrous, aromatic, and bitterish root. The infusion is occasionally used as a tonic and diaphoretic: in typhoid fevers it is a good adjunct to Peruvian bark, and to quinia. Snake Weed. The great Bistort, Poly- gonum bistorta. The root is twice bent on itself, hence the name. This root contains starch, which renders it nutritive; hence, in Siberia, it is roasted and eaten. SNAKE WOOD SNOW Snake Wood. The wood of the Strychnos colubrina. Supposed to be an antidote to the poison of certain snakes. Snapdragon. The well-known garden flower, Antirrhinum majus. Snaped Timber. In Shipbuilding, a timber so cut away, that one face is narrower than that opposite to it. Snatch Block. On Shipboard, a block with a single sheave, and a notch through one side above the pulley, to enable the rope to be lifted in or out, without the necessity of an end being passed through. It is of use where pressure from the side is required to be applied to a rope already in a state of tension, without diminishing that tension. Sneezing (A.-Sax. niesan, Ger. niesen). A convulsive action of the respiratory organs, brought on by irritation of the nostrils. Violent fits of sneezing are even said, in some instances, to have proved fatal; recourse must in such cases be had to soothing the nasal membrane by the application of warm milk and water, or decoction of poppies. Snif ting Valve. The valve through which the air and water are expelled from a conden- sing steam engine when the engine is blown through. In starting a condensing engine, the first operation is to produce a vacuum within the condenser, which is accomplished by opening a valve called the blow-through valve, which permits the steam from the boiler to pass through the engine, filling all its vacant spaces, and finally escaping through the snifting valve, which is of the spindle construction, like a safety valve, and which is lifted by the steam. The steam expels all the air and water within the engine ; and when this has been done, the blow- through valve is shut,. the snifting valve shuts of its own accord, and the steam within the engine speedily condenses from the escape of heat from the surfaces of the engine, and a vacuum is consequently formed, which enables the engine to be readily started. Snipe (Dutch snip). The common naniiL of the Scolopax gallinago, Linn. This bird is a plentiful species in most parts of Great Britain. In wet seasons it resorts to the hills and higher grounds ; in ordinary seasons it frequents marshes. Its principal food is worms, in quest of which it penetrates the soft earth with its long and slender bill, which is especially or- ganised for that purpose. Snow (Ger. schnee, Fr. neige, Lat. nix, nivis, Gr. vi 'iKoifxriv, \ interpreted it to foretell his own death within ! three days, by a play on the word Phthia. 1 Among the Komans, Virgil was chiefly con- sulted, and many celebrated instances are : preserved. Hadrian, when desirous to know on what terms he stood with his patron, the emperor Trajan, consulting the JEndd, opened I at the verses respecting Numa, ' Nosco crines incanaque menta Regis Romani,' &c. ; and thence drew the augury of his future elevation ! to the empire. Alexander Severus, according to Lampridius, obtained a similar presage from the lines ' Excudant alii spirantia mollius eera,' &c. The anecdote of the ominous passages j discovered by Charles I. and Lord Faulkland, j when opening Virgil in the public library at ! Oxford, is well known. (Welwood's Memoirs.) In Christian times, the Sortes Sanctorum came in fashion. They were obtained by consulting the Biblical writings in the manner before described; sometimes, also, the enquirer went into a church while service was performing, and drew a prognostic from the first words he heard. In this way, St. Anthony was directed to adopt a life of solitary devotion. These practices became the occasion of much super- stition. They are condemned by St. Augustine in his Epistle to Januarius ; but are, neverthe- less, continually mentioned, with evident cre- dulity and approbation, by early ecclesiastical writers. Gregory of Tours, among other similar stories, has one of the French prince Meroveus, which shows the ceremonious man- ner in which they were sometimes performed. That prince having fled to the basilica of St. Martin, placed separately on the saint's tomb the Psalms, the Book of Kings, and the Gospels, and, spending three days and nights at the tomb in fasting and devotions, on the fourth day he opened these sacred books ; from each of which he drew a discouraging prediction. Elections to the episcopal offices, and other solemn proceedings, seem to have been some- times decided in the same manner in the dark ages. And after this abuse had ceased, it was long a common practice, on the consecration of a bishop, after the book of the Gospels had been laid on his head, to consider the first verse which offered itself as a prognostic of his behaviour and the fortunes of his episcopacy. The Sortes Sanctorum had been, however, for- bidden by the council of Vannes in the fifth century, and that anathema was repeated on many later occasions, in which this method of consulting the Scriptures is classed with other profane and magical modes of divination. There is an essay on Sortes in the Mem. de V Acad, des Inscr. vol. xix. [Stichomancy.] Sortie (Fr.). In Military language, a sudden attack made by the garrison of a be- sieged place upon the besiegers. Sortilege (Lat. sors, lot; lego, I collect). Divination by lots. The different modes in 508 ROUL which sortilege has been practised will be found detailed under that word, in a learned article in the Ency. Metropolitana. [Magic ; Sortes ; Witchcraft.] Sospiro (Ital. a sigh). In Music, the same as Rest. Sostenuto (Ital. sustained). In Music, a term which, affixed to a note, indicates that it is to be held out in an equal and steady manner. Sothiac Period. In the artificial Chrono- logy of the Egyptians, a period of 1,461 years, based on the observation that the movable year of 365 days, and the fixed year of 3655- day s could not, after starting from the same point, again coincide, until a cycle of 4 x 365, i.e. of 1,460, years had been completed. This period is also termed Canicular, Sothis being the Egyptian name for the dog star. A passage of an ancient chronicle, cited by Syncellus, speaks of a great cosmical period of 36,525 years, made up of twenty-five Sothiac periods. The later chronology was constructed on the same principle. Theon of Alexandria reckons an era of Menophres as beginning in the year 1322 b. c, which corresponds with the first year of the Canicular period, whose termination is mentioned by Censorinus (1322 + 139 = 1461); and therefore it may be inferred that the era of Menophres was a period of 1,461 years, calculated backwards from a. d. 139, in which the first of Thoth (the first month) in the Egyptian movable year, occupied its proper place at the rising of the dogstar. This period is not mentioned by Herodotus, or by any other writer before the Christian era. (Sir G. C. Lewis, Astronomy of the Ancients, ch. v. § 9 ; Grote's History of Greece, part ii. appendix to ch. xx.) Sotliic Year. The Egyptian year of 365 days was so called from Sothis, the dog star, at whose heliacal rising it was supposed to commence. [Sothiac Period.] Sotto (Ital. below). In Music, a term frequently used for description; as sotto il soggetto, below the subject ; nclla parte di sottu, in a lower part. Sou (Lat. solidus, sc. nummus, a solid coin). A French coin, the twentieth part of a franc. Souari Wood. A valuable Demerara timber, the wood of Caryocar tomentosum. Soujee. A species of Semolina; it is a granular preparation of wheat deprived of bran. Soul. This word, which is still used in many senses, is more distinctively employed to denote the spiritual, or immaterial, or immortal, portion of human nature. ; but even in this sense it has not attained, and is perhaps incapable of receiving, a precise philosophical meaning. Like all other words which have been used to convey purely intellectual ideas, the term soul has a strictly sensuous origin. As the words which we now use to signify the spirit of God meant originally only the breath of the air or sky, so the word soul, as applied to the thinking faculty in man, is a metaphor derived from the heaving and restless sea. 'Soul,' says Professor Max SOU \i Miiller, 'is the Gothic saivala, and t his is clearly j related to another Gothic word, saivs, which means the sea. The sea was called saivs from ! a root si or siv, the Greek aelu), to shake ; it j meant the tossed-about water in contradistinc- tion to stagnant or running water. The soul being called saivala, we see that it was ori- j ginally conceived by the Teutonic nations as a sea within, heaving up and down with every breath, and reflecting heaven and earth on the mirror of the deep.' (Lectures on Language, first series, ix.) To the objection made to this j derivation, on the ground that poetry is thus j made to do duty for logic, it is sufficient to reply in the words of Locke, that in all lan- guages the names which stand for things not falling under our senses have had their first rise from sensible ideas. This proposition, as put forth by Locke, was in part a conjecture, grounded on an examination of certain words; but the progress of philology has fully es- tablished the fact. [Language ; Metaphor.] The metaphorical character of this name for the thinking faculty of man, is further shown by the unconscious instinct with which poets resort to the idea embodied in it. ( Quarterly Review, April 1866, p. 412.) In this its original meaning, the word denoted simply a present fact, or the impression con- veyed to the speaker by certain phenomena which he was contemplating. It had now no reference either to the source of this faculty or life, or to its ultimate duration, whether here or in any other state of existence. The soul was the heaving sea within man, during the whole of that period in which the words Dyaus, Zevs, 0eo9, Deus, signified simply the heaven to which men looked up from the earth. The history of language carries us back to a time during which men existed without any conscious- ness of kinship, marriage, or law, or of their relation to a Being who was their maker. The first formation of the ideas of father, mother, wife, and brethren, the growth of the numerals, of words like duty, right, love, of the idea of a Creator, Euler, and Father of men, mark seve- rally, in Professor Max Muller's judgment, a stage in the revelations made to mankind. How soon these words began to convey ideas similar to those which we now attach to them, it is impossible to say. But it is quite certain that the word soul assumed gradually the meaning of a living, thinking, or conscious power, and equally certain also that while some held this power to be indestructible, others either denied this conclusion, or rested content without any conclusions on the subject. In other words, the belief in the inherent immor- tality of the human soul, although affirmed by some to be an innate conviction in the human mind, has not been accepted at all times or in all countries. From the Buddhist theories of Nirvana it may perhaps be rash to draw any inference [Upadana] ; but in the western world the denial of this doctrine has been formalised in philosophical systems, more especially in the later phases of that of Epicurus. A treatise of 509 Philodemus, On Den///, found among the Her> culanean papyri, attests (if any evidence were needed) a condition of thought in which the mind calmly accepted the grave as the limit of its destiny, and ' acquiesced without an effort in the contented consciousness of annihilation.' It has been further remarked that this is no passing allusion to the sleep of death. ' Philo- demus coolly discusses all the circumstances of death, and calmly puts aside all the terrors which they involve, by the single consideration that since man, by the enjoyment of life, has attained the chief good, he is not to concern himself with what may afterwards befal. The children, therefore, whom we may leave behind us, are no more to us than they are to those who were born to King Phoroneus.' In the Aristotelian philosophy, the idea of a future or continued existence after death can scarcely be said to have a place. His system of ethics is simply a part of his great theory of politics, and his morality is confined, therefore, essentially to present conditions. The passing reference made to the subject in the first book of the Ethics, shows a singular indifference to a question on which the philosopher was con- tent to balance one conjecture against another. He will not take upon himself to assert, like Philodemus, that the fortunes of the children can in no way affect their ancestors; but he thinks that the impressions conveyed are like those with which we may regard those incidents in a play which are supposed to be enacted behind the scenes, and which do not therefore pass before our eyes. Thus the continued existence of men after death was with Aristotle an open question, for which he did not greatly care to have an answer. The Platonic philosophy, or the Socratic (if we may suppose that on this subject the disciple faithfully represented the master), introduces us to a wholly different phase of thought. The idea of duty, as based on responsibility, to an unseen but absolutely impartial judge, runs through the great dialogue entitled the Gorgias. The belief, if grounded in part on metaphy- sical arguments, rests chiefly on a profound internal conviction. After death comes the judgment, and as the tree falls so it lies. As the corpse retains the features seen in life, with any marks or scars which may have been made in the body, so the soul retains its spiritual features, with the wounds or scars which may have been caused by unjust actions. The souls, dismissed from the body, are brought before Rhadamanthus the judge, who knows not to whom they belong, and whose impartiality can- not therefore be called into question ; and the souls of kings, rulers, and statesmen, are thus submitted to a trial, at the end of which sentence is passed according to the condition in which they are found. Those which are found un- scarred go to the islands of the blessed ; while all who are wounded and distorted from the effects of tyranny, intemperance, sloth, or lying, are dismissed to the prison-house where they are to receive due punishment. SOUL The souls so dismissed are divided into two classes, the curable and the incurable, for punishment must be either for the reformation of the offender or as a warning to others. For all, therefore, who have not sinned incurably, the punishments of Hades become a purgatorial process, and in this class are placed the souls of private citizens who have never been in- vested with great power or responsibility. Ac- cording to the Platonic Socrates, it is impos- sible for such insignificant persons to commit incurable sins, this terrible privilege being re- served for despots, unjust kings, and iniquitous rulers of whatever kind. Thus, for the vast mass of men, the punishments of the unseen world issue in reformation and final happiness. The Platonic belief was adopted by Cicero, who sums up in his treatise, Be Senectute, the metaphysical arguments on which belief in the immortality of the soul has been based. Not only will the soul exist hereafter, but it has existed before the birth of the body. [Remi- niscence.] It is a portion of the universal Divine Mind, and its power of remembering the past, its foresight, and its achievements in science and art furnish conclusive evidence that the nature which can do all this is im- mortal. The mind, again, is never at rest, and its motion, as not being caused from without, originates with itself, and can, therefore, have no end, as the soul cannot abandon itself. It is, again, simple and indivisible, and that which is indivisible is also indestructible. His belief in a conscious personal existence after death Cicero expresses rather incidentally than in positive propositions ; but his own convictions may be seen in the words in which Cato is represented as expressing his longing to be again with his own son, and with great and good men whom he had never seen on the earth. But neither in the time of Cicero, nor at any other period of Roman history, can it be said that there was a general belief in the inherent immortality of the soul. So far as Tacitus can be adduced as having a settled belief, he had come to the conclusion that man, as such, was not immortal, but that immortality might be conferred as a special reward on great souls {Agncola, 46), and Tacitus represents probably the better aspect of Roman thought. The arguments urged by Bishop Butler {Analogy, part i. ch. i.) agree generally with those which Cicero derived from the Platonic philosophy, while in some points they extend the field of enquiry, and introduce new con- siderations which may materially affect the question at issue. Of death in itself we know nothing, but only some of its effects, as the dissolution of flesh, skin, and bones ; hence the reason of the theory fails to connect death with the destruction of living agents, and thus there is no presumption that any ' animals ever lose their living powers.' The body is, therefore, defined by Butler to be a living power, which makes use of the limbs as instruments ; and as only these instruments are subject to the change 510 called death, it follows that the body (as being a living power) never dies. This conclusion only presents in another form the Platonic argument of the indiscerptibility of the human soul ; and thus from Butler's position it follows, apparently, that man is one indivisible living power, and therefore that the distinction be- tween body and soul has no foundation in fact. Butler likewise saw that his argument was capable of application to the life or soul of brute animals, and he did not shrink from so applying it. The raising of a difficulty on this account he regards as both invidious and weak, for we know not with what latent powers and capacities they may be endowed, and, secondly, ' the natural immortality of brutes does not in the least imply that they are endued with any latent capacities of a rational or moral nature ; and the economy of the universe might require that there should be living creatures without any capacity of this kind.' But while it has become a habit with many to appeal to the universal consent of mankind as evidence for the inherent immortality of man, both this appeal and the metaphysical arguments on which this belief is maintained are confronted by a system of philosophy, sometimes called materialistic, which sees in human life the expression of forces dependent on certain material combinations, and which, asserting that consciousness is the result of that combination, affirms that, with the dis- solution of that combination, the conscious life will also be at an end. Into the vast field of discussion thus opened it is unnecessary to enter in an article which is designed simply to sketch the chief theories or convictions which have been propounded on the subject. It may, however, be remarked that, in the system of Bishop Butler, the soul seems to be identified with the principle of reflection or conscience, which he holds to be supreme in authority, as it ought to be supreme in power, and that here, again, the subject branches off into many com- plicated enquiries. According to Butler, the conscience is a substantive innate faculty or power, the voice of God speaking within us ; according to the 1 Association ' psychology, that which we call conscience is the result of experience, varying indefinitely with the civili- sation in which man may find himself, and with the particular circumstances of his life. (Bain, The Senses and the Intellect : The Emo- tions and the Will.) And, finally, it may be noted that, while the idea of inherent immortality is generally main- tained by Christian theologians, the consent is by no means universal. There are many who share the belief of Archbishop Whately ( Scrip- ture Revelations of a Future State) that im- mortality is a gift reserved only for those who shall be found worthy of it ; the eternal death spoken of in the New Testament being the final extinction of the sinner, and not his continued existence in a state of endless tor- ment. Professor Bain gives the following classifi- SOU LAME A . cation of views held by different schools of philosophy on the subject of the Soul. I. Two Substances. 1. Both material: most of the ancients; the early fathers. 2. An immaterial and a material : com- mencement in Plato and Aristotle ; tho later fathers ; the schoolmen ; Descartes ; prevalent opinion. II. One Substance. 1. Mind and matter the same : the cruder forms of materialism ; the pantheistic idealism of Fichte. 2. Contrast of mind and matter saved: guarded or qualified materialism, held by many physiologists and me- taphysicians ; the growing opinion. For a sketch of the Hindu philosophy on , the subject, the reader is referred to the Intro- ( duction to Professor Max Midler's History of Sanskrit Literature. See also Alger's Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, with a complete Bibliography of the Subject, Phila- delphia 1864 ; Bain, ' Historical View of the Theores of the Soul,' Fortnightly Beview, No. xxv., May 15, 1866. Soulamea. A genus of the Simartibacece, peculiar to the Moluccas and the Feejee Islands. S. amara, the only species, is a tree with sim- ple alternate obovate leaves, and small green flowers in short axillary spikes. Like the Quassia and most others of the family, this plant is excessively bitter in all its parts. The root and bark, bruised and macerated in water, are used in India, Java, the Moluccas, &c, as emetics and tonics, in pleurisy, asthma, cholera, snake-bites, epilepsy, &c. Sound (Fr. son, Lat. sonitus). The sensa- tion produced by the vibrations of the air or other medium with which the organ of hearing is in contact. The doctrine of sound is usually treated under the head acoustics ; a branch of physics which has for its object the deter- mination of the laws by which the peculiar motions which give rise to the sensation of sound are produced in bodies and conveyed to our ears, and the manner in which they act on those organs ; in other words, to explain the origin, propagation, and perception of sound. Although, strictly speaking, sound is only a sensation excited in the auditory organ, yet in treating of the subject it is usual to transfer the name from the sensatiou to the motion which gives rise to it. We shall therefore speak of sound as if it proceeded from the sounding body ; and speak of a body as sounding when its particles are in that state of vibration which is requisite for making an impression on the ear, either immediately or through the medium of some other elastic substance. Transmission of Sound. — In order that a body may produce sound, it is necessary that its pai"ticles be in a state of rapid vibration ; and in order that these vibrations may be commu- nicated to the auditory organ, it is necessary 5*11 SOUND that air or some elastic medium be interposed between the vibrating body and the ear. Hawksbee having suspended a bell under the receiver of an air-pump, found the sound become feebler in proportion as the air was removed, and again become stronger as the air was readmitted -; and also that when the bell was suspended in a vessel full of air, and placed under the receiver, no sound was transmitted when the air between the vessel and the receiver was exhausted. This ex- periment has been repeated by Biot, with a more perfect apparatus, and with every at- tention to the circumstances by which it is influenced ; and it was found that when the exhaustion was complete no sound was per- ceptible, even when the ear was brought close to the receiver. Hence it appears that sound cannot be communicated through a perfectly void space. But although air is the medium through which sound is usually communicated, this happens only because it is the medium with which the ear is usually in contact ; and many other media are found by experiment to perform the office even more perfectly. Frank- lin having plunged his head under water, caused a person to strike two stones together beneath the surface, and at more than half a mile distance heard the blows distinctly. Colladon, in 1827, by plunging into the water a spoon-shaped trumpet closed at the lower end, but having the upper — to which the ear was applied — open to the air, was by this means enabled to hear the sound of a bell struck under water at the distance of 12,000 metres, or about nine miles. The experiment was made across the whole breadth of the lake of Geneva, from Rolle to Thonon. The conducting power of wood along the fibres is very remarkable. Let a person bring his ear close to the end of a fir deal, however long, and he will distinctly hear the slightest scratch made with the point of a pin at the other end, although the sound may be so feeble as to be inaudible to the person who makes it. Miners at work in one shaft often hear the sound of the pickaxe in another through the solid rock ; and in general all solids tolerably compact are good conductors of sound. Sounds are propagated to great distances and with remarkable distinctness over a surface of water, or ice, or frozen snow. In the account of Parry's third polar expedition, it is stated that two persons could hold a conversation across the harbour of Port Bowen, a distance of 6,696 feet, or about a mile and a quarter. Instances are also recorded of sounds pro- pagated to almost incredible distances over land. Derham relates the following : Guns fired at Carlscrona were heard across the southern extremity of Sweden, as far as Denmark, a distance of 120 miles. Dr. Hearn, a Swedish physician, relates that he heard guns fired at Stockholm at the distance of 30 Swedish or 180 English miles. The cannonade of a sea-fight between the English and Dutch, in 1672, was heard across England as far as SOUND Shrewsbury, and even in Wales, a distance of upwards of 200 miles from the scene of action. The firing at Waterloo, it is said, was heard at Dover; and the report of a volcano is said to have been heard 300 miles off. The diminution of the intensity of sound in rarefied air is rendered manifest not only by experiments with the air-pump, but also by i the phenomena observed at great altitudes in the atmosphere. Saussure relates, that at the ( summit of Mont Blanc the report of a pistol ; was not louder than that of a small cracker in the plain below ; and Gay-Lussae, having ascended in a balloon to an altitude of nearly 23,000 feet, observed the intensity of the sound of his voice to be greatly enfeebled. Velocity of Sound in Air. — It is a familiar observation that sounds are not propagated through the air instantaneously, but occupy a sensible portion of time in passing from one station to another, greater in proportion as the stations are more remote. The blow of a hammer on an anvil is not heard by an observer at some distance, until a sensible time has elapsed after the hammer has been seen to descend; and the flash of a gun fired a mile off is seen several seconds before the report is heard. But all sounds, whatever be their loudness or pitch, are propagated with the same velocity through the same medium. In listening to the music of a concert, the sounds follow each other in the same order and at the same intervals ; and the same measure and harmony are perceived, at whatever distance the hearer may be from the orchestra. Biot caused several airs to be played on a flute at the end of a pipe 3,120 feet long, which were distinctly heard at the other end without the slightest derangement in the order or intervals of sequence of the notes. This could not have been the case if there had been the smallest difference in the velocity of their propagation. Numerous experiments have been made for the purpose of determining the actual velocity of sound through the atmosphere. The usual mode of making the experiment is to observe I the interval between the flash and the report of | a cannon fired at a known distance. In this manner the Florentine academicians, in 1660, | found the velocity to be 1,148 English feet per j second. These experiments were repeated in i France in 1698, by Cassini, Huygens, Picard, | and Poemer, who found 1,172 feet ; and Flam- steed and Halley at the Poyal Observatory of Greenwich, from experiments made at the distance of three miles, found the velocity to be 1,142 feet per second. This result was con- firmed by Derham {Phil. Trans. 1708), who found the same velocity by a mean of ob- servations made at more remote distances. In 1737, the Academy of Sciences of Paris directed further experiments to be made by Cassini de Thury, Maraldi, and Lacaille ; and on this occasion the experiments were for the first time made so as to eliminate the effect of the wind by reciprocal observations, j 512 i.e. by firing cannon at both ends of the line, either simultaneously or at short intervals. They also appear to have been the first who observed and recorded the temperature of the air at the time of the experiment — a very es- sential element, as -will presently be seen. 'The result at which they arrived gave the velocity equal to 1,106 English feet per second, at a temperature between 4° and 6° of Peaumur, or between 41° and 44;p of Fahrenheit. When the proper reduction is made for temperature, this agrees very nearly with the best modern observations. Since the beginning of the present century, the velocity of sound has been measured by numerous observers with great care. The following table contains a summary of these and other results : — Date of Observation Observer Distance of Stations in Feet Velocity per Se- cond in English Feet at the Tem- perature of Freezing Water 1809 1821 1822 1822 1823 1823 Benzenberg Goldinghain . | Myrbach . Aiago, Matliicu, &c. Moll and Vaubeck . Dr. Gregory . | Mean o 29764 20547 13952 52615 610M4 57839 from 2700 to 15460 r the whole 1093 } 1086-7 1092-1 1086 1 108942 } 1088-05 1089-2 These results agree remarkably well with each other, the greatest deviation from the mean being less than four feet, and the mean of the whole being almost identical with the determination of Moll and Vanbeck. ' We may, therefore,' says Sir John Herschel, ' adopt 1,090 feet without hesitation (as a whole number), as no doubt within a yard of the truth, and probably within a foot.' This is the velocity with which sound travels in dry air, at the temperature of freezing water. But the velocity increases with the temperature (as will be shown presently) at the rate of T14 foot, very nearly, for each degree of Fahren- heit's scale. Hence at the average temperature, say 60°, the velocity of sound is about 1,120 feet per second. Theoretical Determination of the Velocity of Sound. — The investigation of the velocity of sound through the atmosphere (or any gaseous medium) is based upon this fundamental pro- position of dynamics, viz. that the velocity of the pulses in an elastic medium is as the square root of the elasticity divided by the density of the medium. Let v = the velocity, e=rthe elasticity, c? = the density; and the proposition gives v= y/(e + d). Make <7 = the measure of gravity (386-29 inches per second), w = weight of the unit of volume of air, h = height of the homogeneous atmosphere (i.e. of a column of air of the same density through- out, and whose weight exercises on the base a pressure = e); we have then e = hwd,=w-±g\ and the above equation becomes w= *S{g 'h). But this is the velocity which a heavy body acquires by falling in vacuo from a height = \h ; therefore, the velocity with which sound is propagated through the air is the same as SOUND that which a heavy body would acquire by falling through half the height of the homo- geneous atmosphere. This proposition was given by Newton in the Principia (lib. ii. prop. 47), but from a theory wholly inapplicable. The correct demonstration was given by Lagrange. In order to convert this formula into numbers, it is necessary to determine h. Let 6 = the standard height of mercury in the barometer, and w = the ratio of the density of mercury to the density of atmospheric air under the same pressure; then h=mb, and the velo- city becomes V= V (gmb). At the tempera- ture of freezing water (32° Fahr.), and under a barometric pressure of 29-927 inches, the value of m is found by experiment to be 10,466. But we have also g = 386-29 inches ; whence at that temperature v — 10,998 inches, or 916 feet. Since the velocity, as above stated, is pro- portional to tho square root of the elasticity divided by the density, an alteration in the height of the barometer, while the temperature remains the same, will produce no change in the velocity ; for an increase of pressure, and consequently of elasticity, is accompanied by a proportional increase of density. An increase of temperature, however, by increasing the elasticity without changing the density, is ac- companied by an augmentation of velocity. The correction for a difference of temperature is found as follows : Let t denote the number of degrees of temperature on Fahrenheit's scale above 32°, and a a constant coefficient ; then the elasticity at the freezing temperature being e, the elasticity at the temperature t will be e (1 + at). But the value of a is found by ex- periment = -00208; therefore the elasticity is e(l + -00208 £); and the formula for the velo- city becomes v= -/gmb (1 + -00208 t) ; or in- troducing the above value of gmb, v = 916 (1 + -00104 t). The velocity of 916 feet at the freezing tem- perature, thus deduced from theory, falls short of the experimental velocity (which has been shown above to be 1,089 feet) by 173 feet, or about a sixth part of the whole quantity. This discrepancy was remarked by Newton, who attempted to account for it by supposing the spherical molecules of air to be perfectly elastic solids, through which sound is propa- gated instantaneously; but the true solution of the difficulty was reserved for Laplace. The explanation given by Laplace is, that the com- pression of the air which takes place in the vibration disengages a portion of latent heat, which thus becomes sensible, and modifies the law of the elasticity, thus accelerating the ve- locity. On submitting this to calculation, he found that the formula for the velocity of sound must be multiplied by a certain factor, viz. the square root of the quotient which is found by dividing the number which expresses the specific heat of the air (or other gas) under a constant pressure by that which expresses its specific heat under a constant volume. Let Vol. III. 513 k =a this factor ; then Laplaco's formula for the velocity of sound is V— Vgmb (1 + -00208 t) k. Tho value of k for atmospheric air, as deter- mined by Dulong, is 1-421 ; hence V 7c = ri92, and the formula in numbers is y = 916 x 1-192 (1 + '00104 *) = 1092 + 1-14 t, which is almost identical with the experimental determination. Velocity of Sounds through Liquids and Solids. — The following general formula for the velocity with which sound is propagated through any elastic compressible body, whether liquid or solid, was found by Laplace : Let b denote (as before) the standard height of the baro- meter, D the density of mercury at the freezing temperature, d the density of the medium, and c the compressibility of the medium, i. e. the diminution of bulk caused by an additional pressure equal to one atmosphere; then the formula is - V cd or (since # = 386-29 inches, 6 = 29-927 inches, D = 13-568), -y=396'04 V (1 4- cd) inches, or 33 V (\+cd) feet per second. Applying this to the case of water, we have c = -000049589 (Herschel, Ency. Metrop.), and d=l ; whence y = 4, 687 feet per second. This result agrees very nearly with the velocity determined by Colladon and Sturm by direct experiment on the propagation of sound through the lake of Geneva, the velocity actually observed by them being 1,435 metres, or 4,708 English feet, a second, which differs from the theoretical velo- city only by 21 feet — a space described by the aqueous pulse in the 200th part of a second. By the above formula the velocity of sound through any medium of which the compressibility is known is readily computed. According to Chladni, the velocities of sounds in different solids, that of air being taken as unity, are as follow: Tin = 7£, silver = 9, copper = 12, iron = 17, glass = 17, baked clay = 10-12, woods of different kinds = 11-17. But the velocity of propagation through cast-iron tubes was deter- mined experimentally by Biot, and found to be only about 10^ times its velocity in air, (Herschel's Treatise on Sound ; Chladni, Traite d 'Acoustique ; Biot, Traite de Physique.) It has already been stated that sound is produced by the vibrations of the molecules of any substance communicated to the atmosphere or other elastic medium, and conveyed by it to the ear. The physical theory of sound, therefore, is resolved into two parts: 1st, the state or condition of the vibrating body ; and 2nd, the mode in which this mechanical action is propagated through the medium to the organ of sense. State of Sonorous Body. — In order that a body may emit a musical sound, its particles must be put into a state of rapid and regular vibration. If the frequency of the vibrations is under a certain limit, no sound will be pra- LL SOUND duced ; above that limiting velocity of vibration, sound is produced ; and experience shows that the pitch of the sound becomes more and more acute as the vibrations are more rapid, until a second limit of velocity is attained, beyond which the human ear is affected with no sensa- tion of sound. To prove this experimentally, let a strip of tempered steel have one of its ends firmly fixed in a vice, and let the other end be drawn aside from the position of rest. As soon as the force by which the strip is bent is removed, the steel commences a series of vibrations, which become smaller and smaller until the position of rest is again attained. But the vibrations are all performed in equal times, and if sufficient length is given to the strip, they take place so slowly as to admit of being accurately counted. On shortening the strip, they become more rapid ; and at a certain length a low sound is emitted. If the strip be still further shortened, a fiddle-bow drawn over its upper edge will be necessary to throw it into vibration, and a higher note will now be heard. By continuing to reduce the length of the strip, the pitch of the note will correspond- ingly rise; for the excursion of the steel to and fro is augmented in rapidity, and the 'pitch of a note depends on the rate of vibration. It might perhaps be possible so far to shorten the strip, and still to throw it into vibration, that its* last shrill note shall be followed by no audible sound. Long before the vibrations of the strip attain that degree of rapidity which is neces- sary for the production of sound, it becomes impossible to count them directly. But it is demonstrable that when a strip of metal of equal thickness throughout is made to vibrate in the manner now supposed, the time of a vibration is directly proportional to the square of the length of the strip, and consequently the number of vibrations in a given time is inversely as this square; so that if the number in a second corresponding to any length of the strip has been counted, the number corresponding to any other given length can be readily com- puted. In this manner it has been found that a metallic strip or plate begins to sound when the number of complete vibrations in a second is 16 ; and at this velocity of vibration, the sound which it gives is of the same pitch as that of an organ pipe 32 feet in length, open at both ends. This appears to be the minimum velocity of vibration capable of producing sound. The other limit, or maximum velocity at which sound ceases to be appreciable, has also been determined. Until recently it has been usual to fix it at 8,200 vibrations in a second; but Savart has discovered that by increasing the amplitude of the vibrations, acute sounds may be distinguished at a velocity of 24,000 whole vibrations in a second ; and more recently Despretz has fixed the upper limit of audible sounds at 36,800 whole vibrations per second. The number of vibrations producing a sound of any given pitch can be determined with great ease and exactness in various ways. Savart employed for this purpose a cog wheel which was made to revolve, and in doing so the teeth were caused to strike a piece of card. A musical sound of any pitch could thus be pro- duced by regulating the velocity of the wheel. The number of revolutions being indicated by machinery, the number of vibrations made by the card could be at once found by multiplying the revolutions of the wheel by the number of teeth it contained. Still more perfectly may the rate of vibration be determined by means of an ingenious instrument, invented by Cagniard Latour, called the syren. [Syren.] Some of the most acute sounds, or highest tones which the ear can distinguish, are given by the wings of insects; and they correspond to the astonishing rapidity of 12,000 or 15,000 vibrations in a second. When we reflect how extremely probable it is that the tympanum of the ear vibrates in unison with the sounds that affect it, we cannot fail to be struck with the wonderfully delicate organisation of a sub- stance which possesses the power of adapt- ing itself to all velocities of vibration, from 16 times in a second up to 30,000, or even higher. The limits,, however, at which very acute sounds cease to be audible appear to vary considerably in different individuals, some being altogether insensible to sounds which painfully affect others. For example, the piercing chirp of the grasshopper is quite un- heard by some persons. (See a very interesting paper on sounds inaudible to certain ears by Dr. Wollastonin the Phil. Trans, for 1820.) Propagation of Sound. — In order to convey an idea of the manner in which the vibratory motions of a sonorous body are communicated to the atmosphere or other elastic medium, let us conceive a tube, T T', of an indefinite length, Fig. 1. T C P R A V 1 U I » y S B and open at both ends, to be filled with air of a uniform temperature and density throughout. Let us also suppose a piston, P Q, which closely fits the tube, and is movable within it along the direction of the axis, to be propelled suddenly from the position P Q to R S ; and to simplify the consideration, let the distance P R be supposed one foot, and the time in which the piston moves from P Q to E S to be one second. Now, assuming the air within the tube to have been in a state of rest before the piston began to move, let us consider what will be its state at the instant when the piston arrives at R S. If the air in the tube were acted upon as a perfectly hard body, any motion communi- cated to the particles at one extremity would be instantaneously conveyed to the other ; and when the piston arrived at R S a quantity of air, equal to that which was contained between P Q and R S, would be expelled at T', and all the particles within the tube would come to rest at the same time with the piston. But in SOUND consequence of the compressibility of the air the motion is not communicated to the distant particles instantaneously, but only after a , sensible interval of time ; and we may conceive , the tube to be so long that when the piston has J arrived at K S no air has yet been propelled from the tube at T'. In fact, the disturbance or compression of the particles, which takes place at the instant the piston begins to move, is propagated along the tube with a certain determinate volocity, depending on the elasticity of the air, and when the piston reaches E S will only have reached to a certain determinate I distance. Let A B be the section of the tube which the first compression has reached at the instant the piston comes to E S ; then, at the j instant of time on which we have to fix our j attention, the column of air between E S and j A B will be in a state of compression, and betwen A B and the end of the tube at T" it will still remain in its natural state. The column of air between E S and A B, which is thus modified by the stroke of the piston, is called a condensed wave. On attending to the state of the molecules in the column E A, it will readily be seen that they are not subjected to the same degree of compression through its whole length. Conceive the wave to be divided into a very great number of thin layers by sections parallel to E S or A B, and that the piston, in passing from the position P Q, to E S, has produced the effect, not instantaneously, but by a great number of successive small impulses. At the instant the piston comes to E S the disturbance has by hypothesis been propagated only to A B, and consequently the particles in the infinitely thin layer next to A B have suffered only the slightest degree of compression, or that caused by the first impulse of the piston. In the second layer next to A B the molecules of air are in a state of greater compression ; inasmuch as they have sustained not only the compression due to the first impulse of the piston, but also that which is due to the second, the effect of which is propagated to them at the same instant at which the effect of the first is propagated to A B. In like manner, the compression in the third layer preceding A B is greater than in the second ; and so on to the middle of the wave. If we now attend to the state of the molecules at the other extremity E S of the wave, a similar effect will be manifest. The instant after the piston stops, the layer next to Fig. 2. E S has communicated all its velocity to the one preceding it, and remains at rest ; or, at the moment of the arrival of the piston at E S, sustains only the compression due to the last impulse. The next layer in succession sustains the compression due to two impulses of the piston— the last, and last but one. By follow- 515 ing out this mode of reasoning it will readily appear that the particles in the state of great- est compression are those towards the middle of the wavo; and that if upon S B, as an axis (fig. 2), we raise a great number of perpen- diculars, a a, b b, c c, &c, each proportional to the compression at the corresponding point of the column, the curve drawn through the summits of these perpendiculars will represent the law of compression, and hence is of the form represented in the annexed diagram, the parts on each side of the middle ordinate b b being perfectly symmetrical. If we now attend to the motions developed on the other side of the piston, it will be easily seen that similar phenomena must take place ; but in a reverse order, inasmuch as the air within the tube on that side must be rarefied instead of being compressed by the motion of the piston from PQtoES. Let C D (fig. 1) be a section of the tube, so that the column C E is equal to E A ; then, as the velocity of pro- pagation depends only on the nature of the medium, it is obvious that at the instant in which the piston arrives at E S the disturbance of the molecules will have extended only to C D. The whole column between C D and E S will be rarefied by the withdrawal of the piston of air between P Q, and E S ; but the rarefaction will be greatest at the middle of the column, for the Tig. 3. very same reasons which render the condensa- tion greatest at the middle of the column be- tween E S and A B. Hence the column of air between E S and C D is called a rarefied wave. If, now, as in fig. 3, we represent the rare- faction by negative ordinates, a' a', b' b', d d, and the condensation, as before, by the positive or- dinates a a, b b, c c, the state of the column of air between A B and C J) (fig. 1) — and this is all which is modified by the passage of the pis- ton from P Q, to E S — will be represented by the double curve D b' S b B (fig. 3), the small part between P Q, and E S being neglected as insen- sible. The first part of this curve, from D to S, constitutes a rarefied wave; and the second part, from S to B, a condensed wave. Now, as both the rarefied and condensed waves have been produced simultaneously by one motion of the piston, the whole curve from D to B constitutes a single wave or undulation. The length of a wave is, therefore, the distance between the points D and B, or the distance between the centre of one condensation or rarefaction to the centre of the next. As every thin stratum of air in the tube, by reason of its elasticity, communicates to the stratum before it the impulse which it has received from the one behind it, all the par- ticles will successively be affected in the same manner; and at the end of a second interval, L L 2 SOUND equal to that in which the piston has passed from P to Q, the motion will be communicated over another space equal to R A, or the wave will have moved forward its whole length, re- taining always the same form ; and, supposing the piston to have in this second interval remained at rest at R S, all the particles in the space R A will have returned to their original state of quiescence. If, instead of supposing the piston to remain at rest at R S, we suppose it to be drawn back, in the second interval of time, to its original position at P Q, then all the phenomena now described will be repeated in the reverse order ; i. e. the compressed wave will be to the left of the piston, and the rarefied wave to the right ; and the state of the particles within the tube, with respect to their compression, as modified by the advance and subsequent retreat of the piston (a complete vibration), will be represented as under (fig. 4). Fig. 4. We have now only to suppose this forward and backward motion of the piston to be per- formed with the same rapidity as the vibrations of an elastic plate or stretched cord, and the phenomena now described will give an idea of the mode in which sound is transmitted through the atmosphere. From this illustration (imperfect as it is) of the nature of the motions communicated to the air by the vibrating body, it is easy to see that the particles of air in the tube do not change their places inter se, but acquire a vibratory motion, backwards and forwards, along the length of the tube. It is also obvious that the vibrations of the air through which sound is transmitted must be precisely equal in number to those of the sounding body ; and as soon as the vibrations cease, those of the air cease likewise. But so long as the body vi- brates, or the reciprocal motion of the piston is continued with the same velocity, a continued musical sound will be heard ; and this will be precisely the same at whatever part of the tube the ear is situated, all the waves being perfectly similar. If the production and propagation of a sonorous pulse through a tube has been made clear, it will not be difficult to understand the transmission of sound through an un- bounded space of air. Air being equally elastic in all directions, the origin of a sound is a centre from which sonorous waves are pro- pagated in every direction. A sounding body thus produces a spherical wave, which rapidly recedes from its source, and, expanding as it does so, its intensity must diminish as the square of its distance from the source increases. As the motion of the sounding body continues, the alternate condensations and rarefactions of the air give rise to a series of concentric spherical waves ; a notion of which in section SOUTH can be derived from rapidly dropping water on one spot on the surface of a quiet lake: the vibrations are here, however, transversal. Sounds differ from one another in three re- spects— pitch, intensity, and quality. The pitch, or height of the note, depends on the length of the wave, or (which comes to the same thing) on the number of vibrations in a given time. The length of a sonorous wave can therefore be found by dividing the space passed over by sound in one second, in other words the velocity of sound, by the number of vibrations executed in that time ; the qxiotient is the length of the wave produced by that particular note. The gravest tone which the ear can distinguish corresponds to a wave of about seventy feet in length, and the most acute to one of about half an inch. The intensity or loudness does not depend on the length of the wave, but on the degree of compression which the air re- ceives ; i.e. on the violence of the impulses, or the length of the stroke of the piston in the above illustration. This more forcible stroke causes the particles of air to vibrate through wider spaces ; increasing, that is, the height of the ordinates in fig. 3. Hence the intensity of a sound depends on the amplitude of the vibra- tion, and is proportional to the square of that amplitude. The quality of sound (the timbre of the French authors) is less readily explained. It depends in part on the greater or less abrupt- ness of the impulses, and gives rise to the variety in the sounds emitted from different musical instruments. A fuller explanation will be found under the word Timbre. Like light, sonorous waves can be reflected and brought to a foeus by a concave mirror ; striking on a smooth plane surface, they are reflected to the source, and when this is suffi- ciently distant the reflected sound gives rise to an echo. Sound can also be refracted, and the waves converged to a focus by a suitable lens. Sound. In Geography, a strait or inlet of the sea. The name is specially applied to the strait which connects the German Sea with the Baltic. Sounding 1 . The process of discovering the depth of water beneath a given point, ordina- rily on a ship or boat. It may be resorted to merely for a permanent survey, or more com- monly for the guidance of the navigator in passing through dangerous seas. The instru- ment used is a long lead at the end of a light line. In comparatively shallow water the hand-lead line is used ; its length not ex- ceeding thirty fathoms. In greater depths, resort is had to the deep-sea line, which is of unlimited length. The depth is marked by knots on the lines. It is of course important that the plunge of the lead should be as vertical as possible. Sounding Itead. [Lead fob Sounding.] South (A. -Sax. suth, Ger. siid). One of the four cardinal points of the compass; the direction in which the sun always appears at noon to the inhabitants of the northern hemi- sphere without the tropic. SOUTH SEA COMPANY SouttL Sea Company. In 1711, the proprietors of certain government debts were formed into a joint-stock company, which, in consideration of certain exclusive privileges of trading to the South Seas, offered the govern- ment easier terms for the advance or negotia- tion of loans than could be obtained from the general public. The charter dated from the first of August. The financial expedient of a system by which public debts should be firmed by a company was frequent and to some extent advantageous, and the doctrine that parliament could or should give monopolies of foreign trade was generally accepted. In the present case, it seems that the scheme was intended to rival that of the bank of England. It was favoured by Harley and the Tories, and it was stipulated in the charter that no person should be at once a director of this company and that of the Bank or the East India Company. It was provided that even if the public debt were re- deemed, the monopoly of trade should be per- petual. At the time when the company was formed, its stock stood at 77 h per cent., East India being 124£, Bank IH3-; and for some time the price of the stock did not rise materially; nor did the company regularly enter on its trading schemes till 1717, when its first annual ship was sent to Vera Cruz. The origin of the famous bubble of 1720 was the proposal on the part of the directors of the South Sea Company to negotiate all the public debts, at certain rates, and the rivalry which this excited on the part of the bank of England. So keen was this rivalry, that the general pub- lic anticipated enormous advantages from the plan, and the stock rose rapidly. It was 126 in Dec. 1719, and reached 319 in the spring of 1720. By the 1st of May it was 400 ; by June 2, 890. On June 3, it ranged between 640 and 770. On the 6th it was 820, on the 14th 710. By Midsummer it reached 1,000, and other stocks, as that of the East India Com- pany and the bank of England, were similarly exalted. It was said that the advanced prices of all three stocks were computed at 500 millions sterling, and that this sum repre- sented five times all the cash in Europe, and double the value of the lands and houses in England. In order to keep up the price of the security, the South Sea Company, now high in favour with the government, procured a scire facias against the numerous schemes then afloat. The infatuation, however, was universal. The newspapers were crowded with advertise- ments of new companies, subscriptions were eagerly paid, and the projectors decamped with the spoils. ' So great was the wild confusion in 'Change Alley, that the same project or bubble was known to be sold at the same instant of time ten per cent, higher at one end of the alley than it was at the other.' One projector actually advertised for a subscription of two millions on a certain promising and pro- fitable design, which would hereafter be pro- mulgated. Pieces of playing-card, called globe SOUTHCOTTIANS permits, because they had the impression of a globe in wax, which purported to be a security that the possessor would hereafter be entitled to subscribe into a new sail-cloth manufactory, were sold for sixty and seventy guineas. A list of bubbles is given in Macpherson's History of Commerce, some of them being hardly less absurd than the satirical suggestion of a com- pany, with a subscription of two millions, for the invention of melting down sawdust and chips, and casting them into clean deal boards without cracks or knots. The South Sea Company discovered its error in suing out a suit of scire facias against some of these bubbles, and foresaw that, unless they adopted some expedient, their own ruin was involved in that of their competitors. To defer it, they issued a notice on August 30 that the half-year's dividend should bo at the rate of 60 per cent, and that for the next twelve years it should be 50. But these magnificent promises were discredited. The stock sank from 810 on the 1st of September to' 410 on the 20th, and to 130 by the last day of the month. The fraudulent directors of the company, among whom was Mr. Aislabie, the chancellor of the exchequer, were prosecuted and fined, and some small assistance was given out of their estates to a few persons who had been swindled by these officials. But of course a vast mass of misery and ruin remained pitied but unassisted, and long afterwards the most prominent among the great speculations of the year 1720 was known as the Bubble. For thirty years afterwards the South Sea Company continued their trade, though with very imperfect success, and up to almost the present time the capital subscribed to govern- ment, which was the plea of their exclusive privileges, was treated as a separate debt, under the name of South Sea Stock. Southcottians. In Beligious History, the followers of Joanna Southcott, who was born at Gittisham, in Devonshire, in 1750, and seems to have first persuaded herself of her miraculous calling in 1792. From that time she traversed the west of England, preach- ing and prophesying, with a select body of followers, and gradually collected about her a considerable number of disciples. She came to London about 1803, when she announced a meeting for the purpose of satisfying the world of the reality of her mission. Several such meetings took place, the last in 1804; and many persons, including several clergy- men, attested their belief in her pretensions. At last, in 1814, she announced her super- natural pregnancy ; and this strange announce- ment took great hold on the public imagina- tion, Dr. Beeve and other medical men having declared their belief that she was actually pregnant in her sixty-fifth year. Her death, in December of that year, did not undeceive her disciples: even when her body was opened, and no trace discovered to verify her assertions, many of them continued to proclaim their SOUTHERNWOOD belief in her future reappearance. Her sect continued to exist for many years, nor is it yet altogether extinct. Southernwood (said to be corrupted from Suddenwood, which name arose from the ra- 1 pidity with which slips of this plant become suffruticose). A fragrant cottage-garden shrub, the Artemisia Abrotanum of botanists. Sovereign (Fr. souverain ; Ital. sovrano ; , Lat. supernus, on high). In Politics, a person, 1 or body of persons, in whom the legislative j authority rests in ever}'' state. A sovereign state is one in which the jurisdiction of that ' person or body, within the limits of the state, is absolute and uncontrolled by any foreign authority. The states which composed the | German empire were termed, in the language of politics, mi-soitveraines, because their sove- reignty was qualified by their subordination, in some respects, to the imperial authority. The same term should seem applicable to the several states in the American Union, which are commonly, but improperly, termed sove- reign ; as, on some definite subjects, the power of their legislative bodies is subordinate to that of congress, or the sovereign body in the federal government. [State Eights.] Sovereign. An English coin of the value of twenty shillings, the standard weight of which is 5 pennyweights and 327 grains, or 123-374 troy grains. [Numismatics.] Sow. A movable shed, intended to protect the miners or party using the battering ram in a siege of the middle ages. It corresponds to the ancient vinea. Sow. [Sus.] Sowans or Sowins. The husk and some adhering starch separated from oats in the manufacture of oatmeal are sold, says Dr. Christison, under the inconsistent name of seeds ; these, if infused in hot water and al- lowed to become sourish, yield, on expres- sion, a mucilaginous liquid, which, on being sufficiently concentrated, forms a firm jelly, known by the name of Sowins. A similar preparation from groats or oatmeal is called flummery. Sowbread. The common name for Cycla- men europceum. Sowing. In Agriculture and Horticulture, the process of depositing seed in the soil for the purpose of producing plants. The opera- tion of sowing is generally performed in spring, in order that the plants may have the advan- tage of the coming summer. The seed is either scattered abroad, or deposited in rows or drills; on a small scale by the hand, and on a large scale by a sowing machine. Some seeds which are of large size are planted singly. The covering of seeds is greater or less, according to their size and the texture of the soil. Where the soil is somewhat firm, and the seed is pressed into it by a roller, or by other means, and where the climate is moist, very little covering is necessary ; but where the soil is loose, and the climate dry and warm, the co- vering should be twice or thrice the thickness 518 SPACE of the seeds. As the seeds of plants are the natural food of birds, insects, and vermin, in a state of culture artificial protection is required from their natural enemies. Sowing IVEachine. A machine for de- positing seeds in the soil, either by scattering broadcast, or by dibbling individually, or by placing them in rows, at a greater or less dis- tance asunder. Machines for sowing seeds in rows are termed drills. [Drills.] Soy (Japanese sooja). A sauce originally prepared in the East, and said to be produced from the beans of Soja hispida. Soymida (its name among the Telingas). The Rohuna of Hindustan, 8. febrifuga, is the sole representative of a genus of Cidrelacea, peculiar to the East Indies. On the Coro- mandel coast it is known as the Redwood- tree. It is, in fact, a kind of mahogany, and its dull red hard heavy wood is very durable. The bark is a useful tonic in intermittent fevers ; but in too large doses it is apt to derange the nervous system, occasioning vertigo and sub- sequent stupor. It has also been employed successfully in India in bad cases of gangrene, and in Great Britain in typhus fever, and as an astringent. It is a tall tree, with a very bitter astringent bark. Spa. A place celebrated for its mineral waters, about seven leagues from Aix-la- Chapelle. The term is now generally applied to places at which there are mineral springs. Space (Lat. spatium). This word signifies generally extension in all directions. Some- times it has a less general signification ; for we speak of distances and areas as spaces of one and two dimensions. Space. In Geometry. Space is not the mere notion of room in which a material object does or may exist, but it is the room in which an object, actual or imaginary, determinate necessarily as to its form and possibly as to its magnitude and its position, does exist. Form is the position of all the points of an object as determined by the angular distances between each of them and all the others, and necessitates that a point in or without the ob- ject be given. Magnitude is determined by the linear distances between any one point in an object, and all other points in it, and requires as given a certain fixed length — a unit of mea- surement. The form of an object being deter- mined, if the distance between any two points in it be given, the magnitude is determined. Position is determined by the linear and angu- lar distances of all the points in an object from at least two points in another object whose posi- tion is given. If the form and magnitude of the first object be already determined, the linear distances between any two points in it and any two points in the second object will determine the position of the former, provided that these four points be not all in the same plane. The most generally convenient and common method of determining the form and position of an object is to assume three infinite planes, supposed to be fixed in physical space, at right angles to SPACE each other. Thoso planes will intersect in throe lines perpondicular to each othor, called the axes of co-ordinates. These have a point of common intersection, called the origin of co- ordinates^ or more commonly the origin. Three pianos parallel to these planes passing through any point in the object, whose form, &c, are to be determined, will cut the axes in three points, and thus by the portions of the axes cut off between these points and the origin determine the position of that point of the object. These portions of tho axes are called the ordinates of that point. If the complete set of the ordinates of all the points of the object be given, its form and position are determined. In certain cases, these can be all given in one or two algebraical formulas which are called the equations to the object. Whenever a unit of distance is given, explicitly or implicitly, in connection with the ordinates of the various points of an object, then not only its form and position, but also its magnitude, is de- termined. The angular measurement between any two points of an object whose form and position are required is implicitly involved in the system of rectangular co-ordinates, and may be found explicitly from the relations of the sets of ordinates by which these points are determined. It is the assumed perpendicularity of the co-ordinate planes which gives the neces- sary data for this. These planes need not be assumed to be perpendicular to each other, but then the angles which they make with one another must be known. All material objects possess length, breadth, and thickness, or exten- sion in three dimensions; and if purely geome- trical objects, all solids, curved surfaces, and curves of double curvature, must be determined similarly according to their extension in three directions, or they are, as it is commonly ex- pressed, of three dimensions; but certain geome- trical figures — viz. plane surfaces, plane curves, and straight lines— have the first only two dimensions, and the two latter properly speak- ing only one, though the form of plane curves cannot be determined without two dimensions, which are similarly requisite to determine the position of straight lines. "We therefore as- sume, as we have said, three co-ordinate planes for the determination of material objects, &c. ; but one plane and two lines in it, at right angles to each other, representing the intersections of the two other planes, are all that is necessary for plane surfaces, curves, and straight lines. For purely geometrical objects whose position in physical space we do not require to deter- mine, the co-ordinate planes are not assumed as having any fixed position in that space. [Coordinates.] Space. In Music, the void between the lines in a musical staff. The spaces are four in number, and the lines five. Space, Number, and Time. In Meta- physics. Matter as known to us, i.e. as it exists in so far as we are concerned, has always parts. We only know it either as a number of objects, forming parts of a great existing whole 519 — the material universe — or as an object, one of these parts, itself the aggregate of a number of parts. As a whole, also, it is always known to us in a continual variation of state, in a constant change of condition and relation among its constituent parts. Our knowledge of it thus involves three distinct notions— space, number, and time. In their most ele- mentary forms : space is the room in which more than one material object, or more than one part of a material object, exist, or, in other words, the room in which matter neces- sarily (i. e. only known to us as) extended does exist ; number is the plurality or more-than- oneness of two or more material objects or two or more parts of a material object ; time is the consecution or non-simultaneity of two states — conditions or relations of a material object. These are not definitions of space, number, and time ; they add no clearness to our ideas of them ; they are only verbal limitations of them to their elementary and primary forms as notions in the human mind. As such notions they are intuitive and cannot be defined, for that what is intuitive cannot be defined is a maxim in logic. Similarly in spiritual existence, as known to us, an intelligence can exist only as an aggregate of consecutive states, and this knowledge, apart from any knowledge of matter, involves the notions of number and time. Space, number, and time, then, are not existences per se ; apart from material and spiritual existence we can form no notion of them. To us extension is a necessary qua- lity of matter, and it underlies every notion of space, even in its primary form, while those secondary notions of it which we have, as a boundless void, as the distance between two material objects, &c, are, properly speaking, not notions of space, but of real or possible extension. Similar remarks apply to our secondary notions of number and time, which are respectively endless modifications of degrees of plurality, and of the number of changes of state or consecutions in any existence, the sum of which constitutes the duration of that ex- istence. But whilst we cannot conceive the existence of space, number, or time, apart from the existence of matter or spirit, it is equally impossible for us to conceive the latter without the former ; the two are indissolubly yoked together — though distinguishable, they are inseparable — we shall, therefore, call 6pace a conjugate of material existence, and number and time conjugates of all existence both mate- rial and spiritual. The question now naturally arises, Are the notions of space, number, and time, derived from our knowledge of existence, the re- sults of our experience, or, far from being derived from that knowledge, are they not a, priori necessary to its existence — elements of that knowledge supplied by the mind in which they are innate ? The former is the doctrine of the empirical, the latter of the transcendental school, in behalf of which it has been maintained that, although we cannot prove directly that SPACE these notions are innate, it is, on the other hand, absolutely impossible to prove that they are derived from experience without assuming in the proof the fact of their existence, the very proposition that we propose to prove — or without, as it is commonly called, begging the question. The error of the empiricists, it is urged, has arisen from their not attending to the difference between the elementary and primary notions of space, number, and time, which, and which alone, can be assumed to be innate, and the matured, complicated, and secondary notions - the elaborations of the primary by innumerable inductions and deductions — which we all have long before we are able to reason philosophically on the subject. One form of this error is the employment of the word space in its popular meaning of possible extension. Space not being an existence per se, but only a conjugate of material existence, cannot be said to be either finite or infinite, to have length or breadth, or depth, and for such a phrase as infinite space to be strictly and metaphysically correct, we should say ' the possibility of in- finite extension,' or ' the possibility of infinite material existence.' But while this distinction should always be borne in mind in reasoning as to the notion of space being innate or em- pirical, it would be inconvenient and unneces- sary to introduce such nicety into our arguments on what is generally called the infinity of space, and other similar subjects ; while, in the cases of number and time, from the want of other terms to express their various meanings, we must simply be content with laying, and care- ful to lay, down their limitations when am- biguity would be likely to lead to error. Sir W. Hamilton and his school, founding on Locke and Kant, have denied the possibility of our forming positive notions of the in- finitudes of space, number, and time ; but the incorrectness of this doctrine has been de- monstrated by several recent authors, and the reader is referred to Mr. J. S. Mill's Exa- mination of Sir W. Hamilton's Philosophy for a refutation of it. Space, Physical. Physical space is the room in which the material universe (the cosmos) exists, or the measure of its extension. The ques- tion, therefore, of the existence of infinite physical space, is in reality that of the infinite extension of material existence, and cannot be solved directly, but only by analogy. The question whether, if the cosmos have only finite exten- sion, space be still infinite, is not a physical but a metaphysical question ; space meaning in this case not the measure of actual material extension, but the possibility of that extension. That portion of material extension with which we are immediately connected is, we have learned to know, continuous; i.e. there is no part of its containing space devoid of matter ; the atmosphere which envelopes the earth and fills all the intervals between the objects on it having visible extension, being material, and capable, as such, of being felt, analysed, weighed, and even, though it is generally spoken of as 520 invisible, seen under certain conditions. But the laws of the pressure of an elastic fluid, which it is, and of the action of the earth's attraction on it, have led many philosophers to the conclusion that at a certain distance from the earth's surface, about a hundredth part of its diameter, or nearly eighty miles, the at- mosphere, entirely ceases, and the question remains, Are the intervals between those apparently detached points of material exist- ence, which we can perceive only by the sense of sight, absolutely void, or filled by a form of matter which we cannot so perceive? There are some reasons why we should suppose that they are so filled. The first is solely applicable to that portion of space which is occupied by the solar system. The bodies revolving round the sun are of two kinds : planets, whose densit} 7 (i. e. whose mass in proportion to their magnitude) is considerable ; and comets, whose density is often very small, i. e. whose magni- tude is great, but whose mass is inconsiderable. Hence comets afford a more delicate test, as it were, of any possible resistance, than planets do ; and Encke, from an elaborate discussion of the movements of a particular comet, an- nounced that the acceleration of its motion was due to a resistance in space, the resist- ance of course increasing the sun's power over its mass. Such a medium must necessarily be of extreme tenuity. Another reason for supposing space to be full of matter is not limited in actual deduction to the solar system only, and left to be applied ana- logically to the remainder— the immeasurably greater remainder — of the universe, but applies to all the universe that is known to us. It is this : All philosophers are now agreed that light is not a material substance, but an af- fection of matter ; i. e. that without material existence light could not exist — without con- tinuous material existence light could not be transmitted; a vacuum, a break in the conti- nuity, would be an impermeable screen of dark- ness between aluminous object and an observer. A necessary inference from this is, that all space between the earth and the most remote star that has ever been observed from it, must be filled by a material medium by which the light of that star has been transmitted — that all the universe known to us is filled by such a medium. What is the nature, then, of this material packing of the universe? Is it one already known to us, or one that we must imagine only ? One opinion is, that it is a peculiar substance called ether, specially adapted for the transmission of light, which not only pervades all the regions of space not occupied by any other material object, but also, in different degrees, other material objects, such as the atmosphere, glass, &c, producing the phenomena of transparency, translucency, and the like; and that it, and it alone, has the power of transmitting luminous undulations. Another opinion is, that the atmosphere which surrounds our globe is merely the condensation, due to the earth's SPACE LINES attraction, of a universal atmosphere which fills space and transmits the undulations of light without the assistance of any supple- mentary ether, as many other forms of matter transmit and otherwise deal with them. Of course, if this latter opinion be held, the opinion that the atmosphere entirely ceases at eighty miles from the earth's surface must be erroneous ; and though the most delicate means that we possess would fail to detect any air at all above that height, it may still exist, just as well as an ether the existence of which we are as little able to ascertain experiment ally. It has been objected to the theory of a universal atmosphere, that if it were true there would be a sensible atmosphere sur- rounding the moon, which, if it amounted only to the thousandth part of the density of the atmosphere of the earth, would be detected by certain astronomical observations. How- ever, the atmosphere which would, on this hypothesis, be due to the moon's attraction, would be only of the density of the earth's atmosphere some six thousand odd miles above its surface, or nearly six thousand miles above the point at which it becomes utterly impos- sible for us to detect the existence of air by any means in our power. The question of sensible atmospheres, i.e. atmospheres whose existence we can observe from the earth, surrounding the moon and the planets, on the supposition of a universal atmosphere, is so dependent on conditions, such as the temperature of the body, the nature of the matter of which it is composed, &c, of which we are and must always be ignorant, that no satisfactory answer to it can now be arrived at. As to the infinity of physical space, or the infinity of actual material existence, all that we can say is, that however far we advance (and we have advanced a great deal) in the power of discerning distant objects, we have uniformly found new objects to discern, and we have, therefore, good analogical reason for supposing that no limit can be assigned to their still further existence. This view of what is commonly called the infinity of space is further supported by the fact that meta- physical space, as a conjugate of material exist- ence, in no way precludes the possibility of its infinite extension. Space Xiinea. In Printing, thin pieces of type metal, cast to various thicknesses and different lengths, and not so high as type, to put between and increase the width between the lines. They are generally called leads. Space Rules. In Printing, fine lines, cast type high, generally cast to a 4-to-pica lead in thickness, and to any length required. They are used in setting up tabular matter. Spacing-. In Printing, the adjustment of the distance between the words in a line, so that there shall not be any glaring dispro- portion. Spadaite. A hydrated silicate of magne- sia, found in red translucent masses at Capo 521 SPAR, ICELAND di Bove, noar Home. Named after Signor Spada. Spadix. In Botany, a form of inflo- rescence in which the flowers are arranged around a fleshy rachis, and enclosed within a kind of bract called a spathe, as in Palms and Araceous plants. Spatais or Sipahis. A part of the Turk- ish cavalry were so called. The word has the same derivation with Sepoy. Spalacotherium (Gr. ottoAc*!, a mole, and driplov, a beast). In the Purbeck beds at Swan- age have been found remains of a small in- sectivorous mammalian, which exhibits the character of having each of the teeth divided into three pointed cusps adapted for crushing the elytra (wing-covers) of the Coleoptera or beetles which abounded in the upper oolitic beds. The dentition offers most affinity to the extinct Amphitherium and Dromatherium, and the existing Chrysochloris. Span (Ger. spanne). In ordinary language, this word signifies a measure taken from the space between the thumb and the middle finger, both being extended. In Architecture and Engineering, it is applied to the extent or spread of an arch between its piers or abut- ments. Spanaemics (Gr. airavSs, poor, and ofwet, blood). Medicines which are supposed by long- continued use to impoverish the blood. Spandril (Ital. spandere, to spread). In Architecture, the space above the flanks, or the haunches of an arch, or vault, above the intrados, and not higher than the crown of the arch. Spaniolite. A name given to the Grey Copper-ore containing quicksilver. Spanish Chalk. A variety of Steatite or silicate of magnesia. It is also called French Chalk. Spanisn Juice. The extract of the root of the Liquorice, Glycyrrhiza glabra. Spanker or Driver. The name of the gaff sail set on the mizen mast of a ship of three masts, or on the mainmast of a smaller vessel. Spanner. An iron instrument used in the manner of a lever to tighten the nuts upon screws. There is usually a notch at either end of the spanner, to suit nuts and screw-heads of different sizes. Spar (Ger. spath). A Mineralogical term ap- plied to certain crystallised substances which easily break into cubic, or prismatic, or other fragments with polished surfaces ; hence, also, the term spathose, applied generally to minerals of a sparry fracture. The term spar is com- monly used by miners to denote crystalline quartz ; by quarrymen it is applied indif- ferently to quartz and calcareous spar. Spar, Fluor, or Derby shire. Fluoride of calcium. [Pluor Spar.] Spar, Heavy. Sulphate of Baryta. [Ba- RYTES.l Spar, Iceland. Transparent rhombohe- dral carbonate of lime. [Iceland Spar.] SPARS Spars. In Architecture, a term, now al- most obsolete, denoting the common rafters of a roof, as distinguished from the principal rafters or other timbers. Sparable Tin. A name given in Corn- wall to small crystals of Tin-stone, from their imaginary resemblance to the particular kind of nail called a sparable. They are found at Huel Harris, Huel Ovvles, and elsewhere, near Camborne. Sparoids. The name of a tribe of Aean- thopterygian fishes, of which the genus Sparus is the type. The palate is edentulous, but the jaws are generally well armed with teeth : sometimes these are all of a conical form, adapted for killing and lacerating : sometimes they are all rounded and obtuse, fitted for bruising. In some species, the anterior teeth are shaped according to the laniary type, and the posterior ones are grinders ; in others, the anterior teeth resemble the human incisors. The genera of Sparoid fishes are founded chiefly on these dental modifications. Sparrow (A.-Sax. speara). The name commonly applied to the species of Passer, Linn. (Pyrgita, Cuv.), which nestles upon buildings, and is termed house-sparrow (Pyr- gita domestical). Sparrow Hawk (A.-Sax. spearhafoc). The name of the Falco nisus of Linnaeus, Accipittr fringillarius of Kay; which latter name is retained in modern ornithology for the sub- generic denomination of this small Kaptorial bird. Sparry Iron-ore or Sparry Iron-stone. Native carbonate of iron, composed (when pure) of 3793 per cent, of carbonic acid and 62 - 07 protoxide of iron ; but often containing ad- mixtures of oxide of manganese, lime, mag- nesia, &c. This variety of iron-ore occurs in this country chiefly in Cornwall, and in the north-western parts of Devonshire and So- mersetshire, where it is frequently associated with Copper Pyrites. A variety of crystalline forms may be noted at Fowey Consols, and at Buckler's Mine near St. Austell. In Styria, Carinthia, and the adjoining countries, Sparry Iron-ore forms extensive tracts, extending along the chain of the Alps into Austria on one side and into Salzburg on the other. Most of the Styrian steel is manufactured from the immense bed of ore which occurs at Erzberg between Eisenez and Vorclernberg. At Samorostro in Spain, a hill, altogether composed of this ore, has been worked for ages. Spartium (G-r. ) sin (s - c) 2 cos 2 % cos 2 * cos'l 2 2 2 tan 2 5 = tan s tan tan s JzA tan f=£ 4 2 2 2 2 As usual, a, b, and c here denote the sides 531 SPHERICS of the spherical triangle, i.e. the angles which the arcs subtend at the centre of the sphere, and s denotes half their sum. Spherical Xndicatrix. [Indicatrix, Spherical.] Spherics. In Geometry, the doctrine of the properties of a sphere considered as a geometrical surface. The section of a sphere by any plane is a circle which receives the name of great circle or small circle, as its plane passes or does not pass through the centre of the sphere. The diameter of the sphere which is perpendicular to a great circle is called the axis of the latter, as well as of all the parallel small circles ; the extremities of this axis are the poles of the series of circles, and any great circle through these poles is called a secondary circle ; the latter cuts the original or primary great circle and all its parallels at right angles. The angle between any two secondaries (some- times called a spherical angle, though there ap- pears to be no necessity for the distinction) is measured by the arc which they intercept upon the primary. The poles of these second- aries lie on the primary, and the inclination of the former circles may also be measured by the arc of the latter circle between two of their poles. The shortest line on the sphere by which two given points can be joined is the arc of the great circle which passes through those points, and is less than a semicircle. Three points on the sphere form a spherical triangle whose sides are the shortest lines (great circles) which join the points; these sides are propor- tional to the angles which they subtend at the sphere's centre. The three poles of the sides of a spherical triangle which lie in the same hemisphere as the triangle itself, form the 'polar triangle. The latter and the original are also called supplemental triangles, since a side of the one is the supplement of the cor- responding angle of the other. Spherical tri- angles have many properties in common with plane triangles ; for instance, the greater angle always subtends the greater side, and if two angles are equal, so are the opposite sides, and the triangle is isosceles. The angles of a spherical triangle, however, are together greater than two right angles ; the excess is a measure of the superficial area of the triangle. A right- angled spherical triangle is one which has a right angle ; the supplemental triangle in this case has one of its sides equal to a quadrant, and is termed quadrantal. There are also bi- rectangular and bi-quadrantal triangles, as also tri-quadrantal ones, the sides of which are all quadrants and the angles all right angles. The spherical surface enclosed between two great semicircles is called a lune ; its area clearly bears the same ratio to that of the whole sphere which the angle of the lune bears to four right angles. From this is deduced the important theorem that the surface of a spherical triangle has to that of the hemisphere the same ratio which the spherical excess has to four right angles. For m m 2 SPHERO-CONIC further properties of the sphere, see Sphere and Trigonometry. Sphero-conic. The section of a sphere by a quadric cone having its vertex at the centre. Such a section obviously consists of two closed and perfectly symmetrical curves in the opposite hemispheres determined by one of the principal planes of the cone. Either of these closed curves may be regarded as a spherical ellipse. The same sphero-conic, however, may be regarded as a spherical hyperbola in either of the hemispheres into which the sphere is divided by one of the principal planes which cut the cone. The cyclic planes of the cone cut the sphere in the cyclic arcs of the sphero-conic, which latter are the analogues of the asymptotes of a plane conic. The focal lines of the cone determine on the sphere the foci of the sphero-conic. The great circles of which the several points of a sphero-conic are the poles, envelope the reciprocal sphero-conic; of which latter the foci and cyclic arcs are respectively the poles and polars of the cyclic arcs and foci of the original sphero-conic. The properties of sphero-conics are in many respects precisely similar to those of plane conies. For instance, the sum (or difference) of the arcs (of great circles) joining the foci to any point of a sphero-conic is constant, and the two tangents from any point to a sphero-conic are equally inclined to the arcs which join that point to the two foci. The reciprocals of these theorems show that every tangent to a sphero- conic forms with the cyclic arcs a triangle of constant area, and that the segments are equal which a sphero-conic and its cyclic arcs intercept upon any secant. An elaborate me- moir on sphero-conics, by Chasles, will be found in the Irans. of the Boy al Acad, of Brussels, vol. vi. ; it was translated (with additions) by Dr. Graves of Dublin, and published in 1837. A resume of this memoir, but with original de- monstrations, is given by Dr. Salmon in his An. Geom. of Three Dimensions. Sphero-polar Reciprocal. [Polar Re- ciprocal.] Spherograph. An instrument invented for the practical application of spherics to navi- gation. By its aid any possible spherical tri- angle can be constructed without dividers or scales. Spheroid (Gr. o-cupoei8^s). In Geometry, a solid generated by the revolution of an ellip se about one of its axes. If the generating ellipse revolves about its major axis, the spheroid is prolate, or oblong ; if about its minor axis, the spheroid is oblate. Let 2 a be the axis of revolution, and 2 b the diameter of the generating ellipse perpen- dicular to the axis ; then the origin of the co-ordinates being at the centre, and x being taken on the semi-axis a, the equation of the surface of the spheroid is * 2 , f + * = t a 2 b 2 532 SPHEROIDAL CONDITION Let h 2 denote the ratio of the difference of the squares of a and b to the square of a ; i. e. make a 2 k 2 = a 2 — b'\ and put it = 3*14159 : then the whole surface S of the spheroid is expressed by the following series, in which the upper signs are to be used if the spheroid is oblong (i. e. if a is greater than b), and the under signs if the spheroid is oblate : viz. 1 S = ab 2.4.6.7 The volume of the spheroid, expressed by 7r a b 2 , is two-thirds of that of the circum- scribing cylinder. An oblate spheroid being approximately the figure of the earth, its properties are of great importance. Referring the reader desirous of full information on the subject to Airy's article in the Ency. Metrop. or to the published account of the Ordnance Survey, we will here merely add three formulae, relative to the curvature of the earth, which are sometimes useful. Let a be half the polar axis, b the radius of the equator, e the ellipticity, or a number such that b ~ a (1 + e) [Ellipticity], and I the given latitude. Also, let r be the radius of curvature in the direction of the meridian, r the radius of curvature in the direction per- pendicular to the meridian, and R the radius of curvature of a normal section, making with the meridian an angle = 6 ; then r = a (1 — e + 3 e sin 2 /) ... (1) }"' = a(l + e + e sin 2 /) .... (2) B = — . , r f, .... (3) r sm-0 + r cos 2 0 Spheroidal Condition of "Liquids, When a few drops of a liquid are allowed to fall on a highly heated smooth surface, they are not at once converted into vapour, but, rebounding, roll over the hot surface without moistening it, in the shape of flattened spheroids. This, at first sight, extraordinary and anomalous phenomenon has been called the spheroidal condition of a liquid. After the temperature of the heated body has sunk below 300° Fahr., in the case of water the liquid will no longer remain in the spheroidal state, but boils and disappears in the ordinary way. This phe- nomenon was first described by Eller at the Academy of Berlin in 1746; ten years later it was studied by Leidenfrost, by whose name it is frequently called ; since then many other experiments have been made upon it, but most of our knowledge of this curious property of liquids was derived about twenty years ago from the investigations of M. Boutigny, who first gave to it the name by which it is now known. When in the spheroidal condition, the liquid is not in contact with the hot surface, but is lifted up and sustained by the vapour which is rapidly gene- rated from that portion of the drop nearest the heated body. From this cause, if a disb SPHEROMETER perforated with fine holes be used, the liquid I will not run through so long as it remains in the spheroidal- state. M. Boutigny and others believe that the space, which can easily be seen to exist, between the liquid and the hot plate, is due to the repulsive force of heat ; but it is probable that this repulsion would not be exercised at sensible distances. More- over, in order to assume the spheroidal state it is necessary that the substance be volatile, and if this be the case solids as well as liquids can become spheroidal. The cause of the phe- nomenon is, therefore, to be found mainly in the developement of vapour from the under surface of the spheroid: cushioned on this vapour, it is moulded by the resultant action of gravity and cohesion. The best way to obtain the spheroidal state is to heat a little metal dish or spoon to redness, and then to pour in a little water ; no ebullition occurs, but the water skips about in little globules or gathers into a »ass with a beautifully crimped border; it is evidently out of contact with the vessel, and from the bad conducting power of the vapour only slowly evaporates, unless, however, the heat be withdrawn, and then it instantly flashes^ into steam. The temperature of the spheroid is a little below the boiling point of the liquid ; with water it is about 206° Fahr. The passage of a large body of water from the spheroidal into the ordinary condition, and the consequent sudden copious generation of steam, has been assigned as a probable cause of the explosion of over-heated steam boilers. A red-hot dish thrown on water is lifted out of contact with the latter, until it has cooled down so far that the tension of the vapour generated is insufficient to sustain the dish. By roughening the surface, or, better, coating it with certain oxides, the conversion of a liquid into the spheroidal state may partially or wholly be prevented. Owing to the separa- tion from the hot surface, due to the spheroidal condition, water or even mercury may be frozen in a red-hot crucible by a bath of solid car- bonic acid and ether. From the same cause laundresses know when their irons are hot enough, by the saliva rolling off them, or their wetted finger being unburnt when the iron is touched. It is owing to the protective influence of the vapour shell surrounding a liquid in the sphe- roidal state, that a moistened hand can be plunged into molten lead or iron with perfect impunity. Some of the escapes from the fiery ordeal may thus be explained. To repeat the experiment, the molten lead should be as hot as possible, and the finger or hand should be dipped in liquid ammonia before it is plunged in the red-hot mass. Spherometer (Gr. crtycupa, and fxirpov, measure). In Physics, an instrument for mea- suring with great precision the thickness of small bodies, the curvature of optical glasses, &c. Spherosiderite. A variety of spathose iron -ore. [Sphjekosidbrite.] 533 SPHINX Spberulite. A variety of Pcarlstone. [Sphjebulite.] Sphex (Gr. with the Latin flgo, and thus to bring before us the same idea which is presented in the Sanscrit Ahi and Vritra. The derivation of the name Phix from the Boeotian Mount Phikion must be classed with the de- rivations of Apollo Lykios from the country Lycia, or of Ortygia, as an epithet of Artemis, from an islet off the eastern coast of Sicily. Thus, then, like Vritra, the Sphinx is a monster who chokes up the rain-clouds and prevents them from refreshing the earth in the time of drought, and, like Vritra, she can be overcome only by the power of the sun, signi- fied in the Theban legend by GSdipus. A few mythical phrases serve to explain the tale. The first, (Edipi'.s is the slayer of the Sphinx, reproduces the struggle of Zeus against Typhon, of Apollo with the Delphian dragon ; the second, (Edipus has smitten the Sphinx, as it sits like the storm-cloud on the brow of the hill overhanging the city, brings before us the spear of Indra when it falls on Vritra, the demon who lurks behind the masses of thunderclouds piled above the plain. In the riddle of the Sphinx we have the old saying that man cannot comprehend the language of the thunder ; while in the solution of the enigma by G3dipus, we see the wisdom of Apollo which even Hermes longs in vain to acquire, and which knows the secret things of the highest heavens and the unfathomable sea. The discovery of the secret is followed by the death of the Sphinx, who precipitates herself from the cliff on which she has been seated, precisely as the smiting of Vritra is followed by torrents of rain from the clouds which he had made his hiding-place. The form of the so-called Egyptian Sphinx is that of a winged lion with a human head and bust, always in a lying attitude, whereas the Greek Sphinx is represented in any attitude which might suit the fancy of the poet. The Egyptian figures seem to have been set up in avenues, forming approaches to the great temples. The statue disinterred by Belzoni near the Pyramids of Ghizeh has again been nearly covered with sand. It is stated by Pliny that the Sphinx represented the Nile in a state of flood, as this event occurred regularly under the signs of the Virgin and the Lion. Figures of lions have also been found with the heads of rams and hawks. The Egyptian 534 Sphinx had no wings, and thus presents another point of difference to the monster of Aryan mythology. Sphragistics (Gr. Iwaranensa of Roxburgh. Spiking 1 Guns. Rendering guns unser- viceable either (1) temporarily, by pushing into the vent a spring spike which can be removed when the spring is compressed by a rammer pushed down the bore from the muzzle; or (2) more permanently, by driving an iron nail hard into the vent, which must be drilled out before the gun can be used. Spilanthes (Gr. a-ntKos, a spot, and &v9os, a flower). A large genus of composite tropical weeds, the leaves of many of which have a singularly pungent taste, which is especially noticeable in the Para Cress, S. oleracea. This plant is cultivated as a salad and potherb in tropical countries, and, like many cultivated plants, its native country is uncertain. The Japanese call the plant Hoko So. Spinach (Ital. spinacce, from Lat. spina, a thorn). A well-known potherb, the Spinacia oleracea of botanists. The common Spinach is a SPINAL CHORD hardy annual, whoso native country is unknown, j though generally supposed to he Western Asia. It has been cultivated in this country for more than 300 years, and is noticed in Turners Herbal of 1568 as 'an herb lately found and not much in use.' The plant has large thick succulent deep-green leaves, for the sake of which alone it is cultivated, and which are considered wholesome ; when properly dressed, and thoroughly deprived of all moisture before being mashed with butter or rich gravy, they make an excellent dish, which may be eaten with any kind of meat. The seeds of one of the species are spiny, whence it is commonly called, tautologically, Prickly Spinach. It is a singular fact that the water drained from Spinach after being boiled is capable of making as good match-paper as that made by a solution of nitre. Spinal Chord or Spinal Marrow. The name given in Anthropotomy to the portion of the great axis of the nervous system lodged in the vertebral column. It was originally suggested by the analogy of the part in tex- ture, colour, and position in the neural canal, to the marrow in the long bone of the limbs. [Myelon.] Spindle (A.-Sax. spindel). In Geometry, a solid generated by the revolution of the arc of a curve line about its chord. The solid generated by the revolution of a curve about its axis is called a conoid. In Mechanics, the term spindle sometimes denotes the axis of a wheel or roller. Spikdle. [Weaving.] Spindle-tree. The common name for Eu- onymus europaus. Spine. [Vertebrae.] Spines (Lat. spinse). Branches which, being imperfectly formed, lose their power of extension, become unusually hard, and ac- quire a sharp point. They are very different from aculei, or prickles, which are a kind of hardened hairs. In leaves, they are processes formed either by an elongation of the woody tissue of the veins, or by a contraction of the parenchyma ; in the former case, they project beyond the surface or margin of the leaf, as in the holly ; in the latter case, they are the veins themselves become indurated, as in the pal- mated spines of Berberis vulgaris. Spinel (Fr. spinelle). An anhydrous alu- minate of magnesia, consisting (when pure) of 71 - 99 per cent, of alumina and 28 01 magnesia; but part of the magnesia is often replaced by lime and the protoxides of zinc, manganese, and iron, and the alumina sometimes by per- oxide of iron. It is of various tints of red, violet, and yellow, sometimes black, as at the copper mine, Migi- andone, in the valley of Toce in Piedmont ; occasionally nearly white. It occurs in octa- hedrons, the edges of which are occasionally replaced, and sometimes in rhombic dodecahe- drons ; also in macles. It is found in Wicklow in small rounded grains, in the sands of mountain streams ; but the finest specimens are brought SPINOZISM from Ceylon, Siam, Pegu, and other eastern countries. Spinel constitutes a beautiful gem, which is often sold for Oriental Ruby. The Scarlet Spinel is called Spinel Ruby by lapi- daries; the rose-red, Balass Ruby; the yellow or orange-red, Rubicelle; the violet-coloured, Almandine Ruby. Spinellane or Spinelline. A name given to the variety of Sphene {Semcline) found at Lake Laach, near Andernach, on the Rhine. Spinelle. [Spinel.] Spinelle Ruby. The name given by lapidaries to the scarlet varieties of Spinel. Spinet (Ital. spinetta). A musical stringed instrument with a key-board, &c, similar in construction to a harpsichord, from which, indeed, it little differs, except in being much smaller ; but like that, it is now superseded by the pianoforte. Spinners or Spinnerets. In Entomo- logy, organs with which insects form their silk or webs. In spiders they consist of two retractile pieces issuing from anal protuber- ances, and giving out the threads. Spinning-. [Cotton Manufacture.] Spinning- Jenny. [Cotton Manufacture.] Spinozism. This name is sometimes used to denote the ethical system of Benedict Spinoza, a Jew of Amsterdam, born in 1634. This system was called ethical, because, although founded on a speculative view of nature, it had freedom and duty for its object. From a few axioms he deduced mathematically the prin- ciple that ' there can be no substance but God : whatever is, is in God, and nothing can be con- ceived without God.' His system has been pronounced immoral, in so far as it ' prostrates the energies of the soul before a cold and sterile synthesis of the All, considered as a mere mechanism of causation.' This system is closely connected with the critical method by which, in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, he examined the several books of the Old Testament for the purpose of showing that any theory of biblical infallibility was untenable, and of protesting against the position which ' submitted the di- vine light of reason, heaven's best and noblest gift, to the dead letter of a book exposed during so many ages to all the hazards of malice, mutilation, and neglect.' With this purpose he entered into a detailed examination of the several books, the circumstances of the writers, and the occasion of their composition, and thus sought to show that all the documents illus- trated the psychological conditions of their literary origin, like any other human records. He thus separated religion from theology, mak- ing the former to consist in a spirit which harmonised with this scientific method, and was prepared to accept all conclusions estab- lished as facts, without regard to consequences. This distinction led him to claim the right of free enquiry only for the religion of phi- losophy as distinguished from the religion based on traditionary theology. (Hallam's Literary History ; Brucker, History of Philo* SPINSTER soph/ ; Mack ay, The Tubingen School and its Antecedents.) Spinster. Literally, a woman who spins ; but in Law the word is the common title of un- married women. Spinthere (Gr. oinvQ-qp, a spark). A greenish variety of Sphene, occurring crystal- lised in very irregular four-sided pyramids, which are obliquely truncated, in Dauphiny, adhering to crystals of Calc Spar. Spiracles (Lat. spiraculum, a breathing hole). In Entomology, the breathing pores of insects are so called. Spiraea (Lat. ; Gr. aireipala). A genus of Eosaceous plants, consisting of shrubs or perennial herbs. Among the latter is the fragrant -blossomed Meadow Sweet, S. VI- maria. The essential oil of this plant has been produced artificially by the oxidisement of salicine, and has been termed spiroylous acid. Its chemical formula is C 14 H 5 0 3 + HO. Spiral. In Geometry, the name given to a large class of curves which, in general, have the property of circulating round a point or pole. They receive different names according to their properties or their discoverers. Some of the principal spirals are noticed under the titles, Spiral of Archimedes, Hyperbolic Spiral, Logarithmic Spiral, Parabolic Spi- ral, &c. For the investigation of the properties of spirals, see Leslie's Geometrical Analysis ; Peacock's Examples of the Differential and In- tegral Calculus; Maclaurin's Fluxions, &c. Spiral of Archimedes. The curve traced by a point moving with uniform velocity along a line (radius my "v. vector) which >v rotates with / \ \ uniform velocity / \h \ around a point. / /^\) Its equation is r o ~pC~Z obviously r = ad- \ \ / it starts at the \ P°^ e °> an< ^ eyer y \ two consecutive convolutions in- tercept a constant length 2ir« = w 1 m 2 upon all radii vectores. It is sometimes called the equable spiral, and was proposed by Conon to Archimedes, who in his treatise On Spirals investigates many of its properties. It is the pedal of the involute of the circle, and has for its inverse the hyperbolic spiral r = ~, or reci- procal of the involute. [Pedal.] These spirals belong to the family whose general equation is f = flfl°, a characteristic property of which is, that the radius vector as it rotates is cut less and less obliquely by the curve ; it is only after an infinite number of rotations, however, that the radius vector cuts the curve perpendicularly. Spiral Vessels. In Vegetable Anatomy, spiral vessels are membranous tubes with conical extremities, lined in the inside by a fibre twisted spirally, and capable of unrolling with elasticity. Their function is that of the conveyance of air. They are found in almost 536 SPIRITS any part of the plant except the bark ; but are most abundant in leaves and flowers, and least common in the stem and root, except in the medullary sheath of the former. Spire (Lat. spira). In Architecture, amongst the ancients, the base of a column, also the astragal or torus of the base. In modern architecture, however, the term is applied to the erection above the tower of a church, which diminishes gradually as it rises, sometimes as- suming the form of a plain slender pyramid, polygonal on plan, rising from the square base formed by the tower from which it springs. Spirifer. The name of a genus of extinct Palliobranchiate molluscs, characterised by the shell having two internal calcareous spiral ap- pendages. Spirit. [Soul.] Spirit Level. A glass tube nearly filled with spirit of wine, and hermetically sealed at both ends. The exact horizontal position of its axis is ascertained by the air bubble being at equal distances from the middle point in the length of the tube. The level is used for de- termining the relative heights of ground at two or more stations, and also for determining the horizontal position of any surface. Spirit Room. A department in the hold of a ship, which serves as the vessel's wine- cellar. Its precise locality depends on the cir- cumstances of stowage. Spirit of Wine. [Alcohol ; Fermenta- tion.] Spirits. Fluids containing more than half their bulk of absolute alcohol are known by this name — that in which equal parts of water and alcohol are combined being known as proof spirits ; and the increased proportion of the latter ingredient being designated as so many degrees over proof. The word is also em- ployed for wood alcohol, the common naph- tha ; and in the language of certain trades, as, for instance, the dyers, certain chemical compounds, as chloride of tin, are also called spirits. Generally, however, spirits are understood to signify such alcoholic drinks as are intended for drinking. Of these there are three principal kinds: brandy, which is distilled from wine; rum, from fermented molasses ; whisky and gin or geneva, from malted grain. Large quantities of spirits are distilled from potatoes, the starch of which is fermented. The flavours of spirits are derived from certain essential oils or ethers developed in the process of distillation, or gradually evolved as the spirit is kept, or, in the case of grain spirits, added as flavouring to the distilled fluid. As the intrinsic price of spirits, owing to the heavy customs and excise duties wdiieh are levied on them, is far less than the selling price, spirits are stored in bond, even when manu- factured at home, the duty being payable only when the fluids are taken out in parcels for consumption. The following are the prices of proof spirits (in bond) by the gallon, for four years : — SPIRITS 18G1 1802 1863 1864 s. d. 2 6| 9 1 *. d. 2 2 9 1 *. d. 1 Hf 7 4 «. d. 2 3| 6 2| The excise duty paid on British spirits for the five years ending with 1865, amounts, on in average, to 9,500,000^. per annum. Imports of Foreign Spirits for the Five Years ending 1865. Other foreign and colonial spirits . Total . 1861 18G2 1863 1804 1865 gallons 8,114,823 2,097,934 6G6,245 gallons 7,765,099 2,375,835 417,481 gallons 7,194,738 3,132,293 858,999 gallons 5,499,872 4,907,771 1,328,802 gallons 6,898,599 3,122,576 1,700,407 10,879,002 10,558,415 11,186,030 11,736,445 11,729,582 The importations show little aggregate va- riation, the increase of foreign spirits being due to the equalisation of duties. Spirit-rapping. [Clairvoyance.] Spirito, Spiritoso (Ital. spirit, with spirit). In Music, denotes, when affixed to a movement, that is to be performed in a spirited manner. Spiritualism. That system according to which all that is real is spirit, soul, or self ; that which is called the external world being regarded as either a succession of notions im- pressed on the mind by the Deity, or else the mere educt of the mind itself. The first is the spiritualism of Berkeley ; the second, which may be called pure egoism, is that of Fichte. [Materialism.] Spiritus Asper (Lat.). In Grammar, the rough breathing, marked thus placed before Greek words beginning with a vowel, which should be pronounced like words beginning with k in English. It is also placed before all words beginning with the letter p. Spiritus Zienis (Lat.). In Grammar, the soft breathing, marked thus placed before all Greek words beginning with a vowel, which have not the rough breathing. It thus denotes merely the absence of the spiritus asper. Spirkettingr. That part of the inner planking of a ship which lies between the ports and the next lower water-way. It serves to keep the water-way fixed, which, in its turn, holding down the beam ends, gives solidity to the entire structure. Spirous iLcid. [Salicylotjs Acid.] Spirulidee. The name of a family of Di- branehiate Cephalopods, of which the genus Spirula is the type. They are characterised chiefly by having a spiral discoid chambered shell developed in the substance of the mantle, instead of a calcareous or horny plate. Spittle. [Saliva.] Spiza (Gr.). The Spiza of Aristotle is supposed to be the same as the Chaffinch, or Fringilla ccelebs, of Linnaeus. The chaffinch is permanent in the South of Europe, and a regu- lar bird of passage in the northern countries. Its notes are susceptible of a greater range of modulation than in the other members of the 537 genus. The colours of the male are far more brilliant than those of the female. Splanchnology (Gr. pa). A disease of the eyeball, in which the cornea becomes opaque and tumid, forming a white projection, sometimes resembling a grape in shape; it occasionally increases to a great extent, and requires to be removed by an operation. Staple (Low Lat. stapulum, said to be de- rived from an old French word estape, signify- ing a mart for wine, wine being the principal STAR product of France). In mediaeval times, certain products in the supply of which this country possessed peculiar advantages, were called sta- ples, and the market for such kinds of pro- duce was carefully regulated. Thus, wool and hides were staple agricultural produce, the sale and exportation of which were put under various limitations and conditions, the prices being fixed by statute or proclamation. So, again, tin was a staple in Cornwall, lead in Derbyshire ; and on many occasions an exact control was exercised over these goods, sales being restricted to particular localities, and oc- casionally prohibited. Such prohibitions were, up to a comparatively late period, laid on the export of wool, and extreme penalties inflicted on those who evaded or broke the law. In order to give importance to Calais, Edward III. fixed the staple of wool at this town ; i. e. the price at which the article could be purchased by foreign buyers, espe- cially by the weavers of the Low Countries, was determined by the rates prevailing in the Calais market. Of course there were many qualities of wool, and therefore very various prices ; but the rate at which sales were effected at Calais regulated, either directly or indirectly, the market value of all wool at other marts. The mayor of the staple was an important officer, intrusted with the maintenance of the regulations laid on staple trades. He was also empowered to take the recognisance known under the name of Statute Staple, by which a merchant, when ordinary conveyance of land was illegal, was enabled to pledge his estate for the payment of debts, and so to raise funds for carrying on bis trade. Star (Gr. aari]p, &o-Tpoi>, Lat. astrum, Ger. stern : for some remarks on the history of the word, see Eishis). In a popular sense, the word star is used to designate any celestial body whatever, including the planets ; but in Astronomy it is applied to those self-shining bodies, constituted like the sun, situated at al- most infinite distances from us, and doubtless, like our sun, the centres of systems similar to our own. One of thefirstresults of the observation of the heavens was thediscovery thatthe stars maintain always the same positions relatively to each other. Hence, they were called fixed stars, in distinc- tion to theplanets or wandering stars, which are constantly changing their places in the firma- ment. The fixity of the stars is, indeed, not absolute, for modern observations have detected changes of relative position among them ; but these changes are so minute, that in general they become sensible only after the lapse of a number of years, by a comparison of position determined with the most perfect instruments at the beginning and end of the interval. They are consequently altogether inappreciable to unassisted vision, and the discovery of their existence has not rendered a change of language necessary : astronomers still speak of the fixed stars. Apparent Magnitude of the Stars. — The first 550 circumstance which arrests the attention of the observer of the stars, is the great difference in their apparent magnitudes or their relative brightness. In order to establish a gradation in this respect, and for the convenience of descrip- tion and reference, astronomers divide them into classes or orders, which are called magnitudes. A few of the most brilliant are denominated stars of the first magnitude ; those of an inferior de- gree of brightness are of the second magnitude ; and so on down to the 6th or 7th, which, accord- ing to the established convention, comprehend the stars visible to the naked eye. The gra- dation is, however, still continued among those which are visible in the telescope, and magni- tudes from the 8th to the 16th are familiar to those who are in the practice of using powerful instruments. It is, however, to be remarked, that this classification is not based on any pho- tometrical determination, but is entirely arbi^ trary. ' Of a multitude of bright objects,' says Sir John Herschel, ' differing, probably, intrin- sically, both in size and splendour, and ar- ranged at unequal distances from us, one must of necessity appear the brightest, one next below it, and so on. An order of succession must exist ; and it is a matter of absolute in- difference where, in that infinite progression downwards from the brightest to the invisible, we choose to draw a line of demarcation. All this is matter of pure convention. Usage has, however, established such a convention ; and although it is impossible to determine exactly, or a, priori, where one magnitude ends and another begins, and although different observers have differed in their magnitudes, yet, on the whole, astronomers have restricted their first magnitudes to about 15 or 20 principal stars, their second to 50 or 60 next inferior, their third to about 200 yet smaller, and so on ; the numbers increasing very rapidly as we descend in the scale of brightness, the whole number of stars already registered, down to the 7th mag- nitude inclusive, amountingto 15,000 or 20,000.' ( ' Astronomy,' Cabinet Cyclopedia, p. 374.) The method of estimating the apparent magnitudes, therefore, usually adopted is by a scale of brightnesses decreasing in geometrical progression, each term being half of the pre- ceeding, or at least having a fixed ratio to it. Sir J. Herschel proposes and recommends the adoption of a scale decreasing as the squares of the terms of an harmonic progression, viz. the series 1, |, \, ~, &c. This scale is not a purely photometric one, like the former, but involves the physical idea of supposing the scale of magnitudes to correspond to the ap- pearance of a first-magnitude star removed successively to twice, three times, four times, &c. its original or standard distance: so that upon the supposition of an equality among the real lights of the stars, the nominal mag- nitude would be a sort of index to the pre- sumable distance. Arrangement and Nomenclature of the Stars. — In order to indicate the quarter of the heavens in which any star is situated, astronomers, in STAR the earliest ages of the science, had recourse to the method of forming them into groups, to which they gave the name of constellations or asterisms [Constellation], and distinguished the dif- 1 ferent groups one from another by appellations borrowed in general from mythology, and sng- j gested by vague resemblances or fanciful ana- j logics, the origin of which it is now difficult or impossible to trace. A. few of the brightest stars received particular names ; some of which, conferred by the Greeks and Arabs, have been preserved, asSirius, Kigel, Aldebaran, Arcturus, Capella, &c. ; but it is obvious that this no- menclature could not be carried to any great extent. The system which has prevailed in modern times, and been generally adopted by i astronomers in their charts and catalogues, was I invented by Bayer, whose Uranometria, con- taining charts of all the constellations, was first pxiblished at Augsburg in 1603. It consists in j distinguishing the stars belonging to each con- stellation by the letters of the alphabet, be- ginning with the brightest, which is called a. The next brightest is called /3, the next in order of brightness 7, and so on; and when the letters of the Greek alphabet were exhausted, Bayer had recourse to the Roman, and then to the Italian. It is to be observed, that the order of the letters indicates only the relative brightness of stars in the same constellation, without re- ference to other parts of the heavens. Admit- ting the principle, it might have been simpler to have employed the ordinal numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. for distinguishing individual stars. But great perplexity is caused by the irregular forms of the constellations, whose numerous contor- tions and interlacings with each other baffle the efforts of memory, and which seem, as Sir J. Herschel remarks, ' to have been purposely named and delineated to cause as much con- fusion as possible.' Distribution of the Stars. — The stars are very irregularly distributed over the celestial sphere. In some regions spaces of consi- derable magnitude occur in which scarcely a single star is to be seen, while in others they are crowded together, so as to present to the unassisted eye the appearance of a confused mass of light. A great and rapid in- crease of number is in general perceptible as we approach the borders of the Milky Way, where they appear, when viewed through a powerful telescope, to be crowded almost be- yond imagination. Besides the general increase which takes place towards this region, there are in several parts of the heavens patches or clusters of stars, where great numbers are con- densed into a very narrow space. A telescope turned upon the Pleiades shows fifty or sixty large stars crowded together within a small area, and comparatively insulated from the rest of the heavens. Another occurs in the constel- lation Cancer, and is called Prsesepe, or the Beehive, from the great number of stars which it presents in the telescope. In the sword- handle of Perseus and in Hercules there are also groups of the same kind, perhaps the most 551 glorious of such objects, in which the individual stars can be distinguished in a telescope of mo- derate power; and in various parts of the heavens there are found luminous spots in which no slur can be distinguished with ordinary telescopes, but which, when viewed through very power- ful instruments, are found to consist of stars crowded together so as to occupy almost a definite outline. Many of them, says Sir J. Herschel, ' are of an exactly round figure, and convey the complete idea of a globular space filled full of stars, insulated in the heavens, and constituting in itself a family or society apart from the rest, and subject to its own internal laws. It would be a vain task to count the stars in one of these globular clusters. They are not to be reckoned by hundreds ; and on a rough calculation, grounded on the apparent intervals between them at the borders (where they are not seen projected on each other) and the angular diameter of the whole group, it would appear that many clusters of this de- scription must contain at least ten or twenty thousand stars compressed and wedged together in a round space, whose angular diameter does not exceed 8 or 10 minutes; i.e. in an area not exceeding the tenth part of that covered by the moon.' {Astronomy, p. 400.) Number of Visible Stars. — As no limit can be set to the distance to which the stars may extend in space, the number of visible stars is limited only by the powers of the telescope. But the direct enumeration is beyond human power ; and in order to obtain an approximation, it is necessary to have recourse to hypothetical considerations. By a very ingenious investi- gation, founded on the numbers ascertained by Sir W. Herschel to exist within certain limited spaces, Struve has attempted to compute the whole number in the heavens within the range of the twenty-foot reflector. He first establishes a law of diminution depending on the angular distance from the plane of the galactic circle [Galaxy], and having ascertained the mean number visible in the field of the telescope in that plane, he finds, by a process of integration, the whole number in the celestial vault to be upwards of twenty millions. Whether this number be near or far from the truth, it must be taken as the most probable estimate yet made. M. Chacornac, however, estimates at 77,000,000 the stars comprised in the first thirteen magnitudes. If we confine our attention to stars visible to the naked eye, the number may be estimated with greater precision. The number of stars of the several magnitudes, in the northern hemisphere, contained in Argelander's cata- logue, is as under : — Magnitudes .1 2 3 4 5 6 Stars in each . 9 34 96 214 550 1,439 Sums . . 9 43 139 353 903 2,342 Assuming the density to be the same in the southern hemisphere as in the northern, the catalogue should contain 4,684 stars. It is estimated by Struve, that the number entered STAR in the catalogue is to the whole number existing (and visible to the naked eye) within a giveu space, in the ratio of 8,136 to 10,000. Hence the whole number of stars which can be seen with the naked eye is 5,757, i. e. less than 6,000. The number of stars down to the ninth mag- nitude already registered and mapped amounts to nearly 300,000. Distance. — Although it is a very improbable supposition that all the stars are of the same size, it is equally improbable that their real magnitudes are in any way dependent on their distance; but unless this latter supposition be made, we must conclude that, on the average. (putting individual cases out of view), the most distant will be those which have the smallest apparent magnitude. Argelander, of Bonn, has given a catalogue of the stars visible to the naked eye, in which they are divided into six orders of magnitude ; the faintest stars, or those just perceptible by the naked eye, being considered as the smallest, or the sixth magnitude. If we suppose six concentric spheres to be described about the sun, with radii such that the first contains all the stars of the first magnitude, the second all those of the first and second magnitude, the third all those of the first three magnitudes, and so on ; and if we also suppose the mean distance of the stars of the first magnitude to be unity, then, according to the computation of Struve (founded necessarily on certain hypothetical assumptions respecting the distribution of the stars in space), the mean distance of the stars of the different orders of magnitude, and the radii of the spheres • circumscribing them, as above supposed, are as follow : — Magnitudes Mean Distance Radius of Sphere 1 1-0000 1-2638 2 1-8031 2-1408 3 2-7639 3-1961 4 3-9057 4-4374 5 5-4545 6-2093 6 77258 8-8726 For stars of the next three magnitudes, the data for compiiting the relative distances have been furnished by Bessel's zone observations. Struve finds the radii of the circumscribing spheres to be as follow : For those of the seventh magnitude, 14 4365 units; for those of the eighth 24-8445 ; of the ninth 37*7364 ; and, lastly, he concludes that the smallest stars observed by Sir William Herschel with his twenty-foot reflector are at an average distance of 227-8 units, or 25*67 times more distant than the smallest stars visible to the naked eye. ( Etudes dAstronomie Stellaire, p. 8 1 . ) So much for estimation. The element from which the distance can be actually deduced is the annual parallax, or the angle subtended by the dia- meter of the earth's orbit at the distance of the star [Paraixax] ; this distance is so great that, except in a few instances, all the attempts of astronomers to determine it have hitherto been fruitless ; in other words, at the distance of the star, the diameter of the earth's orbit, a line some 180,000,000 miles long, is not of sen- ' 552 sible dimensions. We know, for instance, that from a Centauri the radius of the earth's orbit would be hidden by a thread ^ 0 f an inch in diameter, held at a distance of 650 feet from the eye. We give below a table of the principal dis- tances already determined, expressed in radii of the earth's orbit ; they can be converted into miles by multiplying them by the length of that radius. The number of years required by light to travel the different distances is also shown : — Radii of Earth's Orbit Years a Centauri . . 211,330 36 61 Cygni . . 550,920 9-4 . 1,330,700 21-0 22-0 t Ursse Majoris . 1,550,800 25-0 Arcturus . . 1,622,800 26-0 Polaris . . . 3,078,600 50-0 Capella . . . 4,484,000 72-0 The distances of other stars are also known, but with less precision. None, however, are less than the distance of a Centauri. It is no extra- vagant supposition that there may be others still visible which are a thousand times more remote. If, therefore, one of these were anni- hilated, some ten thousand years would elapse before its extinction could be perceived at the distance of the earth. Real Magnitudes. — The only means formerly possessed of obtaining any indication respect- ing the real magnitudes of the stars was by means of the quantity of light received from them. Sir J. Herschel compared the light of a Centauri directly with the moon, and from several experiments, made with attention to all the circumstances required to be taken account of, found that the mean quantity of light radiated to the earth by a full moon exceeds that sent by o Centauri in the proportion of 27,408 to 1. Dr. Wollaston {Phil. Trans. 1829) found the proportion of the sun's light to that of the full moon to be that of 801,072 to 1. Combining these results, it appears that the light sent to us by the sun is to that sent by o Centauri as 21,955,000,000, or about twenty- two thousand millions to one. A knowledge of the distances of the stars does not help us to determine their real di- mensions, as has been done in the case of the planets and the sun, for the apparent dia- meter of the most brilliant stars is so small that it defies all measurement. If, however, we suppose that the intrinsic intensity of the light be the same for Sirius (for example) as for the sun of our system, we shall arrive at pretty clear, if only conjectural, views on the dimensions of this magnificent star. On this hypothesis, the diameter of Sirius would be fifteen times that of our sun ; so that, even in granting to its light an intrinsic brightness triple that of the sun, the dimensions of Sirius would still be five times greater, and its volume would be 125 times that of the sun. Proper Motions of the Stars. — On comparing STAR the places of the stars determined by recent observations with the positions assigned to them in the older catalogues, it is found that many of them have undergone a very sensible displacement. Within the last fifty years the double star 61 Cygni, above mentioned > has moved through 4' 23" of right ascension ; and as the motion appears to be uniform, its rate is therefore about 53" annually. Another star (ft Cassiopeia?) has an annual proper motion of 3' 7 4". The number of stars in which such motion has been detected, though of smaller amount than in the above instances, is very considerable. Out of 2,959 stars in the cata- logues of Bradley and Piazzi, Bessel found 425 having a proper motion of not less than 0-2". The discovery of the existence of such changes in the places of the stars gives rise to some interesting speculations relative to the constitution of the universe. That the stars gravitate to each other like the bodies of the solar system is rendered certain from the phenomena of binary stars ; and when we ad- mit the prevalence of this force among them, we are led to suppose a centrifugal force to be necessary to counteract the tendency to a general collapse produced by their mutual gravitation. Hence, we conclude that the proper motions must be performed in circular or elliptic orbits round some very remote centre ; and as every appearance leads us to suppose the stars to be bodies of the same nature as our own sun, it becomes extremely probable that the sun with its attendant system is transported through space with a similar motion. Now, the transla- tion of the solar system would necessarily give rise to an apparent change of the positions of the stars ; for in consequence of the diminution of distance, they must appear to recede from that point of the heavens towards which the sun's motion is directed, and to converge and become more condensed in the region diametri- cally opposite. Sir William Herschel was of opinion that this is what actually takes place, and that a general recess of the principal stars from the point occupied by CHerculis is already indicated by the catalogues, and consequently that the solar system is carried forward in the direction of that star. It seems, however, to be the opinion of astronomers at present, that the observations are not yet sufficient to establish the certainty of this motion ; but whether the supposition shall be confirmed or not, it would appear that all the proper motions which have been remarked cannot be accounted for in this way. It is a curious circumstance, and was first noticed by Bessel, that a large proportion of the stars which have a proper motion are double stars. The most decided case of proper motion lately recorded is that of Sirius, which is now known to have one or more companions. Arcturus in a century traverses the eighth part of the diameter of the moon, a Centauri, in the same interval of time, is displaced a quantity measured by the fifth of this diameter. To determine the real velocity of a star from the proper motion, the distances of the stars of 553 1 which the proper motion is measured must be known. We give a table of some velocities which have been thus determined : — Miles per second Arcturus 54 61 Cygni 40 Capella 30 Sirius ......... 14 a Centauri 13 Vega . 13 Polaris l£ Variable and Periodic Stars. — Proper motion is not the only indication of the existence of active forces in the stellar regions. Many stars have been observed whose light appears to undergo a regular periodic increase and dimi- nution of brightness, amounting in some in- stances to a complete extinction and revival. Of this kind one of the most remarkable is the star Omicron in the constellation Cetus, or the Whale, which has a period of about 334 days. At its greatest brightness it is a star of the second or third magnitude, and continues in this state about a fortnight, when its light begins to wane, and at the end of three months it becomes for some time invisible to the naked eye. Algol, in the constellation Per- seus, appears for about 62 hours as a star of the second magnitude ; its light then suddenly diminishes, and in about 3| hours it is reduced to the fifth magnitude : it then begins to revive, and in the space of 3| hours more it is restored to its original state, thus accomplishing its period in about 69 hours. The star 5 Cephei has a period of about 5 days 8| hours, and j8 Lyras one of 6 days 9 hours. A star in the breast of the Swan has a period of about 15 years, during five of which it is invisible. Various other similar instances have been remarked; and the variable stars already catalogued amount to a large number. Temporary Stars. — On examining ancient catalogues, it is found that some stars formerly distinguished by their splendour have entirely disappeared, no stars being now found in the places which they are set down as having occupied. Others have suddenly shone forth with extraordinary brilliancy, and after a longer or shorter period have gradually died away, and become extinct. A phenomenon of this kind, about 125 years B.C., induced Hip- parchus to undertake the formation of his catalogue. In the year 389 of our era a star suddenly blazed forth near a Aquilse, and re- mained for three weeks as bright as Venus, and then disappeared. But one of the most re- markable instances is that of the star which appeared in 1572, and was observed by the astronomer Tycho Brahe. It suddenly shone forth in the constellation Cassiopeia, attained a splendour equal to that of Jupiter and Venus when nearest the earth, and could be seen by the naked eye at mid-day. Its brightness gradually diminished, and at the end of sixteen months it disappeared, and has never been seen since. During the time of its visibility, its STAR apparent place remained unchanged. All the phenomena attending it are fully described by Tycho in his work entitled De Nova Stella Anni 1572. A similar phenomenon occurred in the year 1604, in the constellation Serpentarius, of which an account is given by Kepler (De Stella Nova in Pede Serpentarii, Pragse 1600). For various other instances of a similar kind, and also of stars set down in the catalogues, but which cannot now be found, the reader is referred to Lalande's Astronomie, tome i. p. 259. There is reason to believe that the so-called new and temporary stars are nothing but vari- able stars viewed at the period of their greatest brilliancy. Tycho Brahe's star, discovered in 1572, has been recently paralleled by a new star which made its appearence in Corona Borcalis. In a few days its light was reduced from the 3rd to the 9th magnitude ; and the application of the spectroscope, that most powerful instru- ment of research of modern times, showed it with a spectrum resembling that of our sim and the other stellar bodies, but with the difference that in addition to this, a gaseous spectrum, overlying the other, as it were, seemed to in- dicate the existence of an atmosphere of hy- drogen in a state of incandescence enveloping the star. Double and Multiple Stars. — Many of the stars which appear to the naked eye, or telescopes of feeble power, merely as bright points, are found, when observed with high magnifying powers, to be composed of two, and some of them of three or more stars, in close juxtaposition. This appearance may arise from the circumstance of two stars being situated in nearly the same line of view ; for it is evident that two stars thus placed would appear as a double star, however great the real distance between them may be. It was sug- gested by Galileo that the variations (if sen- sible) of the apparent distance between two contiguous stars would furnish a good method of determining the annual parallax; and a series of observations on double stars was undertaken by Sir William Herschel with a view to this question. The result, however, was a discovery of a very different kind ; for instead of finding an alternate increase and decrease of the apparent distance between the two stars, which would be the consequence of an annual parallax, he observed in some in- stances a regular progressive change from year to year in one direction. By reason of the slowness of the apparent motion, a considerable interval elapsed before he was able to deter- mine its laws ; but it was explicitly announced by him in 1803 that there exist sidereal systems composed of two stars, one revolving round the other, or both about a common centre. Subse- quent observations have fully confirmed this discovery; and in some instances even the ellipticity of the orbits and the periods of revolution have been determined. Some of these binary systems, as they are called, have periods of great length ; but in such cases the periods, being computed from observations ex- 554 J tending over only a small part of the orbit, and liable besides to considerable uncertainty, can- not be held to be determined with much pre- cision. Thus, the period of Castor has been computed by Sir J. Herschel to be 252 years, and by Mr. Hind to be 632 years. A period of 629 years was assigned to y Virginis, but Sir J. Herschel has found that the observa- tions are better represented by an orbit in which the time of revolution is 182 years. The period of 61 Cygni is supposed to be about 500 years. There are others, however, having much shorter periods, and which have already been observed through their entire orbits. The star 7j Coronse, for example, has a period of little more than 43 years, and has consequently completed nearly two revolutions since its dis- covery as a double star by Sir William Herschel in 1761. C Ursa Majoris has a period of about 58£ years, and 70 Ophiuchi one of about 80 years. Since the time of Sir William Herschel the observations of double stars has been a subject of much interest in astronomy, and catalogues containing some thousands of them have been published, giving the apparent dis- tances of the two bodies, and their angles of position, or the direction of the straight line which joins them, by comparing which with future observations their orbits and periods will become known. (Herschel and South, Phil. Trans. 1826; Herschel, Memoirs of the Eoyal Astronomical Society, vol. iii. ; Struve, Catalogus Stellarum Duplicium et Multipli- cium, Petropoli 1837 ; Herschel, Outlines of Astronomy, 1864.) Some of the binary systems afford curious instances of contrasted colours, the colour of the smaller star being frequently complementary to that of the larger. In such instances the larger star is usually of a ruddy or orange hue, and the smaller one blue or green. Sir J. Herschel thinks it probable that the colour of the small star is the effect of the brighter light of the large one ; for it is a general law of optics that when the retina is under the excitement of any bright-coloured light, feebler lights for the time appear coloured with the complementary tints. This opinion seems strengthened by the fact that though insulated stars of a red colour, almost as deep as that of blood, appear in many parts of the heavens, no green or blue star (of any decided hue) has been noticed unassociated with a companion brighter than itself ; but, on the other hand, several instances are known in which a blue or green star retains its colour in an undiminished degree when its more brilliant neighbour is concealed from the field of view of the telescope. The application of the spec- troscope has further taught us that absorption varies very largely in these bodies. On this account the celestial scenery in the various multiple systems composed of coloured stars must be of the most gorgeous description. In an extremely remarkable group, situated in the Southern Cross, near the star Kappa, among the principal stars two are red and ruddy, one is of a greenish blue, two are STAR ANISE green, and three others are of a pale green. ' The stars which compose it, seen in a tele- scope of diameter large enough to enable the colours to be distinguished, have the effect,' says Herschel, 'of a casket of variously coloured precious stones.' Sir John Herschel remarks on this subject : 1 It may be easier suggested in words than con- ceived in imagination what variety of illumina- tion two suns — a red and a green, or a yellow and a blue one — must afford a planet circulating round either ; and what charming contrasts and "grateful vicissitudes" — a red and a green day, for instance, alternating with a white one and with darkness — might arise from the presence or absence of one or other, or both, above the horizon.' For the structure of the sidereal universe of which our sun forms a part, the reader is re- ferred to the article Galaxy. Star Anise. The fruit of Illicium anisatum, an evergreen growing in Japan and Cochin China. The seeds have the odour of common anise, and yield, when distilled with water, an oil sometimes called Oleum badiani, which is used by liqueur makers. Star of Bethlehem. The popular name for Ornithogalum umbellatum. Star Chamber, Court of (Curia Camerse Stellatae ; from the ornaments of the ceiling of the room in which at one period it sate). This court was originally the privy council itself, ' sitting in the Star Chamber,' and there exercising important criminal jurisdiction, and administering equitable relief. It is mentioned as early as the reign of Edward III. In the third year of Henry VII. an Act was passed giving to the Court of Star Chamber deter- minate criminal powers, extending chiefly to state offences and misdemeanours of a public kind. The judges were four high officers of state, with power to add to their number a bishop and a temporal lord of the council, and two justices of the courts of Westminster. They proceeded by bill and information without the assistance of a jury. The sittings of the privy council itself, as a criminal court, were after this gradually abandoned, and its powers transferred to the Star Chamber. This court continued to exercise very extensive jurisdic- tion, both in political matters and in private concerns, during the reigns of Henry VIII. and his successors, until it was finally dissolved by 16 Ch. I. c. 10, together with what remained of its cognate jurisdictions. [Council, Privy.] Star Fort. A fort with several salient angles, in shape something like a star. [For- tification.] Star of India. An order of knighthood instituted by Queen Victoria in 1861. for the purpose of rendering honour to conspicuous loyalty and merit in the princes, chiefs, and people of her Indian empire. It consists of the sovereign, a grand master (who is always to be the governor-general of India), and twenty- five knights, with such honorary knights as the crown may appoint, the knights to include 555 STARLING military, naval, and civil officers, and natives of India. The insignia of the order arc, a collar, investment badge, and star, with the motto, 'Heaven's Light our Guide.' (Boutell'd Heraldry.) Starboard. The right-hand side of a ship, looking forwards. Starch (akin to stark, stiff or strong). Starch is one of the commonest proximate principles of vegetables. It is characterised by its insipidity, and by insolubility in cold water, in alcohol, and in ether. It dissolves in, or at least forms a gelatinous compound with, water heated to 175° ; and this solution, even when much diluted, is rendered blue by iodine. This admirable test of the presence of starch is not effective in hot solutions ; and by boiling the blue colour disappears, but returns in strong solutions as they cool. The term starch is commercially applied to that obtained from wheat, which for this manufacture is ground and diffused through vats of water, where it undergoes a slight fermentation, and acquires a peculiar sour smell. A part of the gluten and albumen of the grain is thus separated in the form of a viscid scum. The starch, being in the form of a finely divided white powder, is gradually further separated by washing in large quantities of water, from which it is ulti- mately allowed to settle, and put into wicker baskets lined with linen to drain. It is then cut into squares, which are dried first in airy chambers upon porous bricks, and after- wards rolled up in papers and stove dried. In this latter operation the starch acquires that peculiar columnar texture and fracture which is well exhibited in opening a paper parcel as it comes from the stove. A little smalt is generally added to the starch, by which it acquires a very pale blue tint, and is better adapted to conceal or cover the yellow tint acquired by worn linen. Starch may be ob- tained from many other grains, and from potatoes and several other esculent vegetables. Arrowroot is the starch of the Mar ant a arun- dinacea; sago, of the Sagus farinifera, an East Indian palm-tree ; and tapioca and cassava of the Manihotutilissima. Viewed underthe micro- scope, the varieties of starch exhibit a more or less distinct globular appearance, and are said to be made up of little spherical particles of soluble starch, enveloped in an insoluble mem- brane, which protects the interior from the action of cold water, but which is broken or burst by hot water. In the progress of germi- nation, and by various chemical agents, starch may be converted into gummy and saccharine matters. [Dextrine; Diastase; Glucose.] Starkey's Soap. A compound of turpen- tine, or oil of turpentine, and alkali. Starling. A small social species of the conirostral tribe of perching birds (Insessores), allied to the crows. Our common starling (Sturnus vulgaris, Linn.) is mainly insecti- vorous, collects in large flocks in autumn, is readily tamed, and taught to warble and imitate human speech. STAROST Starost. A title under the Polish republic enjoyed by noblemen who were in possession of certain castles and. domains called starosties. These were grants of the crown, and conferred only for life, but generally renewed after the demise of a possessor to his heirs. Starstone. A variety of sapphire, which, when cut and viewed in a direction perpendicu- lar to the axis, presents a peculiar reflection of light in the form of a star. It is found in Cey- lon, and is usually cut en cabochon, or in a hemispherical form. It is the Asteria of Pliny and the ancients. Starting- Gear of an Engine. The mechanism by which the motion of an en- gine is begun, and which is of a very different kind in different classes of engines. Many large engines are provided with a small steam engine to start them, and some are provided with starting valves. In every species of starting gear, the indication to be fulfilled is to enable the steam to press upon one side of the piston, while the other side is open to the atmosphere or condenser. [Steam Engine.] State Rights. The various plantations or settlements which were ultimately conso- lidated into the American Union, in 1782, or which were afterwards added to it by conquest, purchase, or occupation, had at the outbreak of the War of Independence, or as from time to time they were made to form part of the Union, a great variety of laws and constitutions, not a few discrepant political and commercial interests, and very well marked social differences. The harmonising of these laws, interests, and differences, was part of the work of those who first established the Union ; a work which required infinite tact, sagacity, patience, and perseverance. Por in- stance, so slight (in the opinion of those who formed the federal constitution) was the bond which was to form the basis of the political and diplomatic unity between the different states, that Franklin concealed his discovery of the Gulf Stream till some year3 after the acknow- ledgment of American independence, lest the possible diversion of European trade from Charlestown to New York might render the inhabitants of Carolina disaffected towards the national cause. Thus, again, although before the commencement of the War of Independence the Quakers of Pennsylvania had determined on excommunicating all members of the Society of Friends who kept slaves in their possession, and although Wesley had denounced slavery in the American plantations as ' the sum of hu- man villanies,' and had called into existence among his followers a strong abolition party, slavery was permitted as a state institution, to be maintained or annulled according to the pleasure of the local legislature. On the other hand, the slaveholding states, in order to effect a compromise, were obliged in turn to accede to the protectionist theories of the North, and to copy the republican principles of equality which were far from the practice 556 STATE RIGHTS and habits of the early planters of Virginia and the Carolinas. The Act of Independence declared the Union to be one and indivisible, while it recognised the internal legislation and self-government of the_ several states. Thus, for instance, all tariffs from which customs duties were to be collected, the right of declaring peace and war, the election of the chief officers of state, the management of the public debt, the occu- pation of forts and arsenals, the adminis- tration of the army and navy, the supervision of harbours and lighthouses, remained in the hands of the federal government, and of the congress and senate assembled in Washington (i.e. the legislative and political capital of the Union), a city which, with the district of Columbia surrounding it, formed, as it were, a sort of administrative metropolis. On the other hand, the internal organisation of the several states was left to the conduct of the local legislatures. These states had each its parliament or congress and its governor. These parliaments could impose taxes, to be applied solely to state purposes ; could legislate on a variety of subjects, such as the tenure of land, the right of succession, marriage, and divorce,_ religious and educational endowments, the social status of the various persons who formed the electoral body ; could borrow money for roads and canals ; and, whether small or great, contributed an equal number of representatives to the senate. In time of peace, and when the Union was not burdened by debt, the functions of the congress and senate were comparatively unimportant. The executive was almost entirely in the hands of the president and his cabinet. The minis- ters do not, as in England, depend on the good will of parliament, but are nominated and re- tained in office solely at the will of the presi- dent. Hence the congress and senate (though they had together important powers) were, in effect, more a debating club than a legis- lature, and exercised but little influence on the foreign policy or the public law of the states ; and conversely, the local legislature in the several states occupied a very important position, and was becoming increasingly inde- pendent of the central authority. The divergence of interests, economical and social, which characterised the northern and southern portions of the Union, and the jea- lousies constantly developed from such a di- vergence, continually threatened a rupture between political parties, and with it a dis- location of the Union. The several states were constantly^ disposed to treat the authority of the Washington government and parliament with contempt, and, under the name of nulli- fication, to render themselves all but inde- pendent of the central authority. There cannot, indeed, be a doubt that the Union was at first voluntary, and that there was, from the ex- cessive devotion of the people to what were called in very early time state rights, no slight colour in the assertion, that the s^pa- STATE RIGHTS ration between the two sections of the Union, which was often threatened, was the inherent right of all the states which had formed the original pact. It might, of course, be objected, that such a theory would justify a still fur- ther subdivision ; that all social contracts are in their beginning voluntary, or at least are admitted so to be in a republic ; but that the development of this principle would be the dis- solution of society altogether. It might further j be urged, that the federal constitution pro- j claimed the Union to be indissoluble, and that j it by no means follows that nations who are ! dissatisfied with the results of a voluntary act, can quit themselves of the obligation, anymore than a private person can disclaim a formal and legally executed deed. The administration of the states was by no means faultless. This was shown strikingly in the various acts of repudiation committed by many of the wealthiest states. Ten of these repudiated obligations incurred to state creditors, most of these debts having been contracted for manifest, and on the whole enduring, public benefits. The forcible appeal of Sydney Smith to the congress of Washington is well known. But the temptation to repu- diation was very strong. States, like individuals, need that their conscience should be stimulated by the risk of discovery and punishment ; and in general, communities having -diplomatic re- lations with other countries find it necessary to be honest, in order that they may have any place in the world's markets. The several states of the Union, however, were under no such control ; they stood in no diplomatic rela- tion to any but the Washington government. The doctrine of state rights culminated in secession. It is well known that opinions were strongly divided in Europe, and even in the United States, as to the justification of this act. It should be noted, however, that imme- diately on the commencement of the civil war, the question was distinctly settled, and the main- tenance of the Union, at any risk, loss, or cost, became, for very obvious reasons, a passion among the great mass of the American people. The success of secession, to the mind of most American statesmen, implied the maintenance of vast standing armies, and ultimately of po- litical retrogression. Any sacrifice, it was felt, was trivial compared with the enormous evils of maintaining an imaginary frontier extending for thousands of miles, and separating by no natural barriers two states, or two aggregates of states, whose disunited interests were and would be intensely irreconcilable. At present (1866), the contest, happily only political, which is raging in the United States, bears testimony to the tenacity with which the several commu- nities composing the Union cling to the right of domestic legislation, even when the exercise of this right would imperil all the results of the war, by stereotyping distinctions of race. It can scarcely be doubted that state rights, in so far as they are aggressive, or antagonistic to the general interests of the 557 STATICS American people, will be modified. The memory of past sacrifices, losses, expenses, and debts, will effect much ; the increasing im- portance of congress will effect far more. At present, congress has on its hands the manage- ment of an enormous debt. The charges of this debt, in part met by direct taxation, are in great measure liquidated by customs and ex- cise duties; the former being, in accordance with the protectionist theory, to which recent events have given temporary strength, by far the most onerous and inconvenient to the mass of the community. But no one can doubt that before long protection will be assailed in congress, and that this body, whose functions have up to the war been comparatively unimportant, will have to devote much attention to these national questions, and will become a field for the exer- cise of great financial and political skill. In such a case the local legislatures will occupy a very inferior position. Stater (Gr. arari]p). An ancient Greek measure of value. It was undoubtedly a coined piece of money at an early period. The com- mon gold currency in the republican times of Greece consisted of staters. The Attic golden stater weighed two drachms, and is estimated at twenty silver drachms ; but the value of the coin struck by different states with this denomination varied greatly. States or Estates (Fr. etats, Ger. stande). In modern European History, those divisions of society, professions, or classes of men, which have partaken, either directly or by representa- tion, in the government of their country. Their number has varied in different countries. In France, and most other feudal kingdoms, there have been three estates (nobles, clergy, com- monalty), members of the ancient national assemblies. Hence the well-known appellation tiers Hat (third estate) for the last. In Sweden there are at this day four : nobility, clergy, citizens, peasants. In most countries the ancient system of assemblies convoked from separate estates disappeared by the progress of absolute government in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; and in modern monarchical consti- tutions the English system of government, by king, lords, and commons, or analogous powers, j has for the most part prevailed. States-General. In French History, as- ' semblies which were first called a.d. 1302, and were held occasionally from that period to the j year 1614, when they were discontinued, till j they were summoned again in the year 1789. j These states-general, however, were very dif- j ferent from the ancient assemblies of the French J nation under the kings of the first and second I race. (Hallam's Middle Ages, ch. ii. part ii.) There is no point with respect to which the j French antiquaries are more generally agreed j than in maintaining that the states-general I had no suffrage in the passing of laws, and I possessed no proper jurisdiction. The whole j tenor of French history confirms this opinion. ([Assembly; Directory.] j Statics (Gr. rj arariK-i], sc. iiriffTiifxr], the STATICS science of weight). The branch of Mechanics which has for its object the investigation of the | conditions of equilibrating forces, or the con- ditions under which several forces applied to a rigid body mutually destroy each other. There are three general principles on which j the theory of equilibrium may be grounded ; i these are : 1. The principle of the lever ; 2. The principle of the composition of forces ; and 3. I The principle of virtual velocities. Principle of the Lever. — The equilibrium of a straight horizontal lever, loaded at its extre- mities with weights which are reciprocally pro- portioned to their distances from the fulcrum, was demonstrated by Archimedes [Lever] ; and it is easy to extend this principle to the bent lever, when the fulcrum is at the angular point, and to show that if the two arms be urged in opposite directions by two forces per- pendicular to the arms and reciprocally pro- portioned to their lengths, there will be equi- librium. Now, it is an axiom in statics that a force may be regarded as acting at any point whatever in the line of its direction ; and hence it follows that any two forces, applied at any points whatever in a plane which is only mov- able round a fixed point, and having any direc- tions whatever in that plane, will be in equili- brium when they are to each other reciprocally as perpendiculars drawn from the fixed point to their lines of action ; for the perpendiculars may be regarded as the arms of a bent lever having the fixed point for its fulcrum. This general principle, which is also called the prin- ciple of moments, suffices for the resolution of all the problems of statics, and is indeed the only one which was rigorously demonstrated before the discovery of the composition of forces, i. e. before the publication of the Prin- cipia in 1687. Composition of Forces. — The second general principle consists in this, that any two forces acting together upon the same point of a body are equivalent to a single force represented in intensity and direction by the diagonal of a parallelogram, the sides of which represent the two given forces. This equivalent of the two forces is called their resultant ; and as the resultant may be combined with a third force acting on the same point, and the resultant of this composition with a fourth, and so on, it follows that any number of forces applied to the same point have a single resultant, or may be replaced by a single force. [Force.] This principle was not known to the ancients. G-a- lileo demonstrated that a body moved by two uniform velocities, the one vertical and the other horizontal, must acquire the velocity re- presented by the hypothenuse of the right- angled triangle, whose sides represent respec- tively the two velocities. This is a particular case of the principle. Newton proved it to be true generally, and substituted the composition of forces for that of motions ; and in the second corollary to the third law of motion, he shows how the laws of equilibrium may easily be deduced from it. The Nouvelle Mecanique of 558 STATION Varignon, published in 1725, contains the first complete theory of the equilibrium of forces in different machines, deduced solely from the principle of the composition of forces. The simplicity of the principle, and the facility of its application to all questions connected with equilibrium, caused it to be almost immediately adopted ; and it is the basis of all the modern treatises on statics. Virtual Velocities. — If we conceive the body to which a system of forces is applied to be slightly displaced, and multiply each force by the velocity of its point of application, esti- mated in the direction of that force, the alge- braical sum of the 'products thus formed will vanish if the forces be in equilibrium; and con- versely, if the sum vanish the forces will be in equilibrium. This is the third, general princi- ple on which the conditions of equilibrium may be made to depend. It applies almost self- evidently to the conditions of equilibrium of the lever, pulley, and other simple machines. Its generality was first remarked by John Bernoulli. It has been adopted by Lagrange, as the basis of his Mecanique Analytique ; and it has the advan- tage over the others of being capable of represen- tation in a single general formula, which includes the solution of every question that can be proposed relative to the equilibrium of forces. Lagrange, however, remarks that it is not sufficiently self-evident to be erected into a primitive principle ; but it may be regarded as a general expression of the laws of equi- librium deduced from the two former principles. [Virtual Velocity.] The general problem of statics consists, as above remarked, in the determination of the conditions of equilibrium of a body under the action of a given system of forces or pressures. These conditions are expressed by the fol- lowing six equations of equilibrium, which may be at once deduced from the principle of the Composition and Kesolution of Forces and Couples. 2Pi cos «i = 0, 2 Pi cos ft = 0, 2 Pi cos 7i = 0, 2 Pi (#i cos 7i - Zi cos ft) = 0, 2 Pi {z- x cos a x — x x cos 7i) = 0, 2 Pi {x- x cos A— Vi cosai) = 0. Herein P 1? P 2 , &c. denote the given forces, a b A» 7i the direction cosines of any one of them, say P it with respect to any rectangular co-ordinate axes, and x x , y x , e- x the co-ordinates of any point in the line of action of Pi ; the summation is, of course, to be extended to all values of i corresponding to the given forces. The application of these equations to special problems is explained in all treatises on me- chanics. The classical work on the subject is Poinsot's Eiemens de Statique ; Mobius's Statik is also a most instructive work ; the principal contents of both, however, are collected in every good English text-book, of which a few have been already cited in the article Mechanics. Station (Lat. statio). In Astronomy, a STATION planet is said to be at its station, or to be stationary, when its motion in right ascension ceases, or its apparent place in the ecliptic remains for a few days unaltered. The real motions of the planets are always in the same direction from west to east; but owing to the motion of the earth from which they are seen, their apparent motions, though generally from west to east, or direct, are sometimes from east j to west, or retrograde, and in changing from : one of these directions to the other tbe planet j appears for some short time to stand still. The distance of the earth and of a planet j from the sun being given, and also their periodic times, the determination of the arc of retrogradation, or the times at which the planet will appear stationary, is an easy problem ; i but to the ancient astronomers, who were unacquainted with the relative distances of the planets, and who, moreover, supposed the earth to be the centre of motion, the pheno- J mena of the stations and retrogradations occa- ! sioned great embarrassment, and the principal object of the various systems which were pro- pounded previous to that of Copernicus was : to give a satisfactory explanation of them. : [Epicycle ; Planet.] Station. In Shipbuilding, the same as Room j and Space. Station. In Surveying, the place selected j for planting the instrument with which an angle is to be measured. Station Pointer. An instrument used in maritime surveying, for expeditiously laying down on a chart the position of a place from which the angles subtended by three distant objects, whose positions are known, have been observed. It consists of three scales, which move about a common centre. Two of these carry divided circular arcs, and the third is provided with two verniers adapted to the arcs, by means of which the scales can be opened so as to form any two angles. If we suppose the angles of the scales to be made equal to the two measured angles, and the instrument to be laid on the chart, so that the edges of the three scales coincide with the positions of the observed objects, the centre will mark the position of the spot from which the objects were observed. (Simms' Treatise on Mathe- matical Instruments, p. 98.) Stations (Lat. statio, an outpost). In Ecclesiastical Antiquities, the weekly fasts of "Wednesdays and Eridays. These were omitted between Easter and Whitsuntide. They ter- minated at three in the afternoon ; hence some- times called semijejunia. Saturday was made a station day by the council of Elvira ; and this, it is said, led to the gradual neglect of the Wednesday station in the Western church. The term station is also applied to certain points in the narrative of the passage of Christ from the judgment-seat to the cross, which are selected by the Roman Church as subjects for meditation, and are well known through the pictorial representations common in Roman Catholic churches. 559 STATIONS, RAILWAY Stations, Railway. Buildings erected for the reception of the passengers and goods in- tended to bo transported by railways. These stations are cither terminal stations or side- stations. The terminal or main stations fre- quently divide their business into two parts, and one portion of the station is devoted to the reception of passengers, and the other portion to the accommodation of goods ; or sometimes there are two different terminal stations, one for goods and the other for passengers. Terminal or main stations are often of great extent, and of a complex character, as, in addition to the structures required for the reception of goods and passengers, carriage depots and locomotive workshops are compre- hended in the general design. In such stations there must be provided booking offices, where the several classes of passengers take their tickets ; waiting-rooms for the first, second, and third class ; refreshment-rooms, luggage office, and various other requisite accommodations. Generally, too, the chief offices of the rail- way company, with proper apartments for the secretary and clerks, and a board room for the directors, are situated at the principal terminal station of a railway. There are also plat- forms both for the arriving and departing trains, and platforms for loading and un- loading luggage, with proper hoisting gear driven by steam. There are also lamp rooms and rooms for the accommodation of the attendant porters ; and there is always a system of turn-tables, or other analogous arrangements, for transferring the engines and carriages from one line to the other. The most remarkable feature of railway stations is the roof, which covers the platforms where the trains are received and despatched, the area covered being often very great, and the roofs being sometimes of very large span. These roofs are generally formed with wrought iron ribs or rafters properly trussed, but sometimes they are made of timber. In the new station at St. Pancras, designed by Mr. Barlow for the Midland Railway the area covered is 690 feet by 240 feet.' The main ribs are 29 feet 4 inches from cen're to centre, with three intermediate ribs at eq.ial distances between them, carried at every 18 feet 6 inches by trussed purlins between the main ribs. The ribs spring directly from the ground, and are firmly connected to massive brick piers below the floor level. The curve of the ribs is formed with two radii of 160 feet and 57 feet meeting in an angle at the centre 100 feet above the level of the rails. The ribs are 6 feet deep, and are formed with open box flanges 10| inches deep, the flanges being braced together by diagonal channel iron, and radial struts forming the purlins. The purlins are braced beams, so constructed as to stiffen the main ribs laterally. The whole of the roof is braced horizontally, to resist any strain that may be caused by the pressure of the wind either on the gable or on the side. The apex of the roof is covered with glass ridge and STATIONS, furrow skylight, 152 feet wide, extending 1 nearly the entire length of the roof, and each j gutter of the skylight has a snow grating along its whole length, with cross strips to enable the workmen to repair and. paint the skylight, when required. The part of the roof below the skylight is covered with boarding and slates. To take off the thrust of the ribs, they are connected across below the rails by wrought-iron beams resting on pillars. The weight of iron in this roof is about 1,100 tons. The roof of the Great Nor- thern Railway station is formed with a circular plank arch on Colonel Emy's plan. [Roof.] That of the Charing Cross station is also cir- cular, but iron of 180 feet span. The roof of the Lime Street station at Liverpool is of iron of 152 feet span, and that of the station at Birmingham is 864 feet long, and at one end 212 feet span, the width at the other end being slightly less. The Broad Street station of the North London Railway is one of the most successful examples of stations in this country. In roofs constructed with trussed principals, provision is usually made to allow of the ex- pansion of the metal. But in arched roofs this is not so necessary, although rollers, or other expedients for permitting expansion, are usually introduced. In the Cannon Street station of the Metropo- litan District Railway, designed by Mr. Hawk- shaw, the total length is 675 feet, and the breadth 201 feet 8 inches, covered by an arched roof of a single span. There are 20 trussed principals, placed 33 feet 6 inches apart, except where the station crosses Thames Street, where they are 35 feet apart. The clear span between the bed plates on the opposite walls is 190 feet 4|- inches. The height from the rails to the springing is 46 feet ; from springing to upper side of rib 60 feet ; and from upper side of rib to ridge of central skylight 9 feet ; making a total height of 115 feet. Each principal is 1 foot 9 inches deep, and 1 foot 2 inches across the bottom flanges. The web is | thick, and the connecting angle irons are 3 inches by 3 inches by ^ inch. The rib is curved with a radius of 108 feet | inch, which gives a versed sine of 60 feet. It is trussed at eight points, with vertical struts tied together at the bottom, and braced diagonally. The struts are made of two wrought-iron plates, 10 inches by ^ inch each, stiffened on the outside by T irons 6 inches by 3 inches by £ inch, and kept asunder by cast-iron distance pieces. The diagonal bra- cing consists of flat bars 6 inches by | inch at the centre, and 6 inches by 1 inch at the spring- ing. The ends of the main ribs rest on cast-iron bed plates, one bearing being fixed and the other moving on rollers, so as to permit expansion and contraction, and thus take all strain off the walls. For a width of 10 inches from each end, the rib is made double, and the inter- mediate space is filled with a casting, which stiffens the rib and gives greater area of bearing surface. Wrought-iron purlins 1 foot 8 inches deep, with upper and lower flanges, formed of 560 RAILWAY angle iron 5 inches by 3 inches by £ inch, extend along the whole length of the roof, at intervals of 11 feet. Louvres on each side of the skylight provide for ventilation. The roof for 22 feet on each side of the louvre frames is formed of corrugated zinc sheets, laid on plank 1^ inches thick, below which for about 50 feet the roof is of glass, and below that it is covered with slates. The length of the longest vertical strut in the roof is about 27 feet, and of the shortest about 15 feet. It would exceed the limits of this article to enter into any description of the railway work- shops commonly introduced at important termi- nal stations. But it may be stated generally that the circular form of workshops at one time employed has now been abandoned, and the workshops for the repair and construction of locomotives are now very much like common engine factories. In the Crewe workshops great improvements have been introduced by Mr. Ramsbottom, togetherwith many new machines, among which may be enumerated the rolling mill for rolling the tires of railway wheels out of a perforated disc without a seam, and the duplex steam hammer, in which two hammers are made to move simultaneously in a hori- zontal plane, so that the. mass of iron on the anvil is struck by a hammer on each side at the same time. Most of the woodwork of rail- way carriages is now made by proper shaping machines to the form required. No good arrangement of sheds has yet been introduced for keeping engines under when the steam is up, and the smoke emitted from the engines rapidly corrodes the iron work of the roof in which such engines are usually placed, while the smoke vo- mited forth from the doors and other apertures near the ground constitutes a nuisance to the neighbourhood. For getting the steam up in locomotives and for keeping it up, swivelling pipes of sheet iron, like water cranes, should be set at convenient distances apart on each line of rails, which pipes should communicate with a great flue running beneath the floor of the shed from end to end, and communicating with a chimney, in which the velocity of the current of smoke might be maintained by the introduc- tion of a steam jet. Each engine when the fire was kindled would have the swivelling pipe brought over the funnel, so as to take the smoke and transmit it to the great chim- ney, by which it would be conducted high into the atmosphere, and there dispersed. In some cases the locomotive running sheds, instead of beingrectangular, are fan-shaped and sometimes semicircular, with a turn-table for directing the engine upon any one of the radiating lines, but the turn-table is not usually covered. With this arrangement any injury to the turn- table locks all the engines up. The arrangement of the booking offices in a railway station is an object of considerable importance where a large passenger traffic has to be conducted. Two plans are in common use. In one the offices are set upon the de- parture platforms, and in the other they are STATIONARY CONTACT STATIONARY TANGENT FLANE placed across tho ends of the platforms at right angles to the lines of rail. At the Victoria station in Pimlico both plans arc in nse, the former being adopted for tho London, Chatham, and Dover, and the latter for the Brighton traffic. Goods stations should be so placed as to be easily accessible from the neighbouring high roads, and should be so arranged that the goods trains may be run into them direct without uncoupling. The mineral and general goods traffic should be kept distinct, and goods yards should bo placed upon a level, and arrange- ments for shunting without the use of engines should be provided. At the Camden station small capstans driven by shafting are erected at suitable points, and by passing a rope round one of these revolving capstans a train may be moved in any required direction. Hy- draulic machinery, for hoists and otherwise, is employed at some stations with satisfac- tory results. The Great Northern goods shed, which is nearly in the centre of the yard, covers fourteen lines of rails. Suspension roofs for large spans were advo- cated by Mr. Hansom about 1840, and more recently by MM. Lehaitre and de Mouldesir in a paper read before the Society of Civil Engineers of France in 1866. They estimate that a roof of this character for a circus 100 metres or 328 feet in diameter with a central column of cast iron, and the covering of zinc No. 14 wire gauge, would not exceed 3/. 6s. 8d. per square yard, or without the central column 31. 2s. 6d. Eor rectangular buildings it is proposed to carry the chains by columns placed upon the side bearing walls, those parts of the rafters which are nearest the sides being slung from the chains, while the central portions are supported by struts. The suspension may be effected by steel wire ropes. Stationary Contact. The curve of inter- section of two surfaces which touch each other has in general a double point at the point of contact, the tangents at which are distinct. When these tangents coincide, there is a cusp or stationary point on the curve of intersection, and the contact of the surfaces is then said to be stationary. (Salmon's Analytical Geometry of Three Dimensions, Dublin 1862.) Stationary Engine. A form of steam engine for drawing carriages on railways by means of a rope, so called to distinguish it from the locomotive engine, which runs along the railway, drawing the carriages after it. Kail- way propulsion by means of stationary engines placed along the line for the purpose of drawing the carriages from stage to stage, was at one time contemplated as an alternative system to locomotive propulsion. But the improvements carried out about 1830 in the locomotive re- moved the chief inducements to the adoption of stationary engines, which are not now employed except as an expedient for enabling a train to ascend very steep inclines. The Ghauts in India, the Soemmering Alps, and many other mountainous ascents up which railways have Vol. III. 561 been carried, are surmounted by powerful loco- motives ; and a locomotive has been enabled to pass over Mont Cenis, by constructing the line with a high central rail, the opposite sides of which are bitten by friction wheels driven by the engine. But the railway recently carried over a part of the Andes to Santiago makes use of stationary engines, which draw up the train from stage to stage by ropes. Such ropes should be made of steel wire, and should have numerous swivels in their length to obviate the risk of kinks. There is nothing peculiar in the stationary engine employed for this purpose. Stationary Point. If a plane curve be conceived to be generated by the motion of a point in a line (the tangent) which itself turns around that point, then a stationary point on the curve will be produced whenever the de- scribing point comes to rest momentarily, pre- vious to changing the direction of its motion in the tangent. A stationary point is some- times called a cusp. It may also be regarded as a double point at which the two tangents to the curve coincide. The tangent at a station- ary point, therefore, meets the curve in three coincident points ; it is termed a cuspidal tangent. Stationary State. A phrase employed by some economists to denote that condition of society which neither progresses nor retrogrades, and in which the accumulation of capital only keeps pace with its destruction or consumption. Such a condition is of course hypothetical ; but the expression is intended to indicate that when the rate of profit is low, the disposition to accumulate is weakened ; when the rate is high, saving is encouraged. These facts will, however, be exhibited concurrently with the disposition of a community, provided the advance of capital is secured to the lender ; for it may be the case that rates of profit are high, while the disposition to accumulate may be neutralised by indifference or by insecurity, or the rate of profit may be very low, while the instincts of the people lead them to economy. The last case may be illustrated by the low rate of profit and the saving habits of the Dutch in the last century. Stationary Tangent of a Curve. A double tangent at which the points of contact coincide. It meets the curve, therefore, in three consecutive points. The curve being regarded as the envelope of a movable line, the latter will be a stationary tangent whenever, previous to its rotation being reversed, its motion is mo- mentarily arrested. The point of contact of a stationary tangent is called a point of inflexion, since the curve there passes from one to the other side of the tangent. The points of in- flexion of a curve (together with its double points) all lie on its Hessian. Stationary Tangent Plane of a Surface. A tangent plane which has sta- tionary contact with the surface. Such a plane may be regarded as a double tangent plane whose points of contact coincide. The point of contact of a stationary tangent plane is called: O 0 STATIONERY a parabolic point. [Indicatrix ; Parabolic Point.] Through any point in space there can in general be drawn 4n (n - 1) (n - 2) stationary tangent planes. (Salmon's Analytical Geometry of Three Dimensions.) Stationery. The name given to all the materials employed in the art of writing, but more especially to pens, ink, and paper. The term stationery is derived from the business of booksellers having been anciently carried on entirely in stalls, or stations. The Stationery Office in London is the medium through which all government offices, both at home and abroad, are supplied with writing materials ; and at the same time it contracts for the printing of all reports and other matters laid before the House of Commons, &c. It consists of a comptroller, a storekeeper, and about thirty clerks and other subordinate officers, and has a branch esta- blishment at Dublin. Statistics. This modern term, which has finally superseded its ancient equivalent political arithmetic, is held to include all collections of facts which bear upon social life, and such inferences from these facts as rest on numerical calculations, in special contrast to those which are derived from a real or supposed analysis of the moral nature, or the sympathies, the anti- pathies, the reason, and the feelings of mankind. The fundamental law in such inferences is, that in particular domains of enquiry comprising these social phenomena, the uncertainty which attaches itself to all induction on the individual action of mankind, and their individual tenden- cies and liabilities, is eliminated when an aggre- gate is taken. Thus, for instance, we cannot state certainly that any particular individual will apply himself to the satisfaction of any eco- nomical demand, but we may be quite certain that, in a general estimate of society, parties will be found who will engage themselves in such occupations ; we cannot assert that any particular individual will die of disease in a given number of years, but we may be certain, if a sufficiently wide basis for inference be taken, and all the facts which might disturb the average be accounted for, that a given number of lives will fall annually out of a thousand inhabitants of all ages, and so on. The essential feature, then, of all statistical in- ductions is that they are derived from averages, and the necessary caution in all such averages is that they are at the best approximations to physical certainty, for every statistical product is always guarded by a margin of variation. If it were possible to analyse completely the physical, mental, and moral constitution of man, we might be able to deal with individual men as accurately as we can determine the constitution and predict the phenomena of inorganic bodies. But at present organic existence, and in particular those forms of organic existence which are endowed with spontaneity, are not so susceptible of such a scientific analysis as would result in a scientific induction. Statistical methods of inference, 562 STATISTICS therefore, are strictly relative to such pheno- mena as defy exact analysis, and are provisional, or at least imperfect. Similarly, statistical enquiry is directed to such physical phenomena as, being relative to man's several instincts and interests, are not yet collected within the verge of exact analysis. For instance, the course of the seasons, and in particular their effects on the supply of food, are matters of most interesting statistical enquiry. The utmost powers which meteorolo- gical observations have conferred on mankind in variable climates seem to be the capacity for a somewhat vague prediction as to what the wea- ther will be for the next twenty -four hours, and this in particular when considerable atmospheric changes are imminent. There has yet been no approximation even of the rudest kind to the dis- covery of a cycle of the seasons. We have not the least means of guessing, with even a shadow of precision, in the month of January what will be the weather in August. But as the gross amount of corn grown on the soil is relative to the amount and distribution of direct solar heat and moisture in the three summer months, and the amount of corn grown has an immediate effect on prices, and an indirect effect on the re- lations in which this country stands to foreign corn-producing regions, evidence as to the annual crop, and averages over a series of years, are of considerable importance to the trade and resources of a community, and are said to be statistical. A similar obscurity attends any attempt to determine precisely the constitution of the atmosphere, and its freedom from or im- pregnation by those mysterious molecules by which endemic, epidemic, and sporadic diseases are generated and perpetuated. But statistical enquiry during the local and general prevalence of such phenomena is exceedingly important, generally highly suggestive, and occasionally susceptible of being put into the shape of a rule. Logically, then, the inference of the statistician is the calculus of probability, in which the probability is heightened by the width of the area, and the plurality of the instances or ex- amples from which the inference is attempted. The earliest statistical calculations — apart from some vague and uncertain guesses as to the currency and population — were made for certain practical purposes, for the grafting annuities and effecting insurances, i.e. the first statistics were what is called vital statistics. Such calculations illustrate better than anything else the nature of a statistical induction. No one would ever venture to insure only one life at a vast sum, or grant one annuity only, the payment of which would occupy the whole income of the individual or company making the grant. A number — the largest number possible — of small or comparatively small in- surances or annuities are negotiated and ef- fected, in order that the element of risk may be eliminated as much as possible. The or- dinary duration of human life, as calculated from enquiries, is not, however, adopted in either case ; a margin is always left wherewith STATISTICS to cover risks and avoid such exceptional cir- cumstances as might disturb the probability. But even with this margin, no small nicety is required in making the calculation. In the early days of the actuary's craft, the duration of human life was considerably underrated. As a consequence, a loss was generally incurred on annuities, a gain on insurances. Physical laws are vory seldom developed from statistics, but they are occasionally sug- gested by them. An excellent illustration of this distinction is to be found in the laws which govern prices. In the very early days of statistical enquiry, Gregory King came to the conclusion that a scarcity in any commo- dity for which there is a great and permanent demand, raised the price of what was at hand to satisfy demand to a far greater height than the whole quantity would have reached had the demand and supply been in equilibrio. Thus, for instance, if 20 million quarters of wheat are needed as food for a nation, and the price when in equilibrio is 505. the quarter, a scarcity of ten per cent, will not raise the remaining 18 millions to the price of the 20, i.e. to 50 million pounds, but to 60 or more. Here we have a law, depending upon the urgency of a demand for the necessaries of life, suggested no doubt in the first instance by statistical data, but depending on certain facts in the moral and physical nature of man. Statistical influences are exceedingly liable to fallacy. This contingency is embodied in the cynical maxim that ' there is only one thing falser than facts, that is figures.' Fallacies in statistics, real and apparent, arise from several causes. In the first place, there is, as Bacon observes, an eager tendency of the human mind towards generalities (gestit mens humana exsilire ad magis generalia), and no- where so constantly as on social and political phenomena. Concurrent with this tendency, if not identical with it. is that of referring phe- nomena to simple causes when, in fact, they are the products of a complex causation. A dominant cause, or even a dominant point of view, is taken to explain and account for all the facts. But the chief risk which statistical inferences run, is that of admission as to their scientific, or quasi-scientific sufficiency, but of resistance on the ground that qualifying cir- cumstances, or inveterate and repugnant habits, or compensating forces render it necessary that they should be postponed, modified, or dis- claimed. No fuller statistical proof could have been given of any rule, than that in vindication of free trade in corn ; it was resisted, not from hesitation as to its abstract truth, but because it was averred that the state of society was artificial, one in which existing interests, originally per- haps indefensible, but now vested, had to be maintained, and in which political and social expediency should override economical laws. Much discredit has fallen on statistics in consequence of the extravagant and undue exaltation which, in the hands of some persons, has been accorded to certain averages. Thus, 563 tho attempt to discover a physical law in the annual proportion of suicides is, it can scarcely bo doubted, an absurd and illogical dream, an induction as unreal as those ancient acts of simple enumeration which Bacon exposed. The world, so far as has yet been discovered, is not governed or constituted by these numerical quantities, which are at tho best fractions more or less precise and determinate, indicating ten- dencies which, if they were traced or traceable, would forthwith drop the guise of a numerical quantity, because in all natural laws number goes for nothing, one instance being equal in value to a thousand. In general, too, we may apply the canon of utility to all statistical enquiries. Those calculations which tend neither to direct nor to remedial action are merely curious speculations. Some statistical inferences are of the highest practical value, as, for instance, those which are called sanitary. It has been found, for example, that, under ordinary conditions of health, the annual rate of mortality is about seventeen in the thousand. Any considerable excess over this number suggests that there is something wrong, while any slight deficiency indicates the materials for a contrast. So absolute and yet so practical is the rule derived from this simple numerical statement, that it is not too much to ascribe to it all those improvements in lighting, airing, and draining dwelling-houses, which have so characterised the civilisation, and improved the condition of the people in our times. Similar, and not much less im- portant, is the connection which has been traced between high prices of food and pau- perism, crime, and bastardy. The co-ordinate rise and fall of averages such as these, though not absolutely conclusive, are very important aids to that inductive method which Bacon called the rule of travelling instances, and Mr. Mill has represented under the term of concomitant variations. [Logic] Statistics in foreign countries are generally supplied from the various administrative bu- reaux, and are, as a rule, exact and exhaustive. In England the collection of statistics is partly the function of government boards (and as far as these can enquire are as good as can be), and, in part, the action of individual observation or re- search. Thus the customs returns of exports and imports, of shipping, of trade, of railways, are supplied from the Board of Trade ; that of the banks and circulation, from the Treasury ; that of pauperism, from the Poor Law Board, &c. But some statistics of great importance are as yet withheld, or only grudgingly accorded. Among those which are desiderated are agricultural statistics, the value of which, though overrated perhaps by some economists, has been, on the other hand, underrated by others. It has been said, for instance, that a knowledge of the breadth of corn sown would be of little inte- rest in determining prices or the exigencies of supply, since no one from year to year can decide from such and such an average what is the yield, and still less what is the average o o 2 STATUARY quality of the grain. This, indeed, may be admitted, but the value of the information if procured would yet be great. As we have stated, the value of statistics consists not so much in their announcing facts, as in their supplying the premisses for calculating an average. But information as to the amount of corn sown, or breadth of arable land in given years, has this value, that it de- termines the proportion of home growth to the need of foreign importation, and, within certain limits, suggests the extent of the demand for foreign supply. Much more striking, however, is the significance of the evidence which has recently been given as to the amount of cattle, sheep, and pigs kept in England and Wales, and the immediate explanation which this evidence supplies as to the high price of meat. Of almost all countries, England has the lowest amount of animals used for food in proportion to population. Within the last thirty years, the collection and arrangement of statistics has formed the business of a very important society in London, and of similar societies elsewhere. The Sta- tistical Society of London has made a most important collection of facts bearing upon every branch of social science, and has re- gularly tabulated the most important objects of trade and finance. Much of the political economy of foreign countries is in effect sta- tistical in character, and has been supported and furthered by government. An exceedingly important international congress is held trien- nially in some one of the European capitals, the origin of which was suggested by M. Quetelet of Brussels, in which city the first congress was held. The meeting in London (1860) divided statistical research into six sections : judicial, sanitary, industrial, com- mercial, census, with military and naval statis- tics; and, lastly, statistical methods and signs. See the report for the fourth session of the In- ternational Statistical Congress, and in parti- cular the excellent introduction by Dr. Farr, and the speech of the late Prince Consort; also Lettres sur la Theorie des Probability appliquee aux Sciences Morales et Politiques, par A. Quetelet. Statuary. [Sculpture.] Statue (Lat. statua). In Sculpture, a re- presentation in relief in some solid substance — as marble or bronze — or in some apparently solid substance, of a man or other animal. There are various species of statues : 1. Those smaller than nature, or statuettes. 2. Those of the same size as nature. 3. Those larger than nature, called heroic figures. 4. Those that are several times larger than nature, and are called colossal. The first were by the ancients made to represent men and gods generally. The second represented men cele- brated for their learning and talents, who had rendered service to the state, and were executed at the public expense. The third were confined to kings, emperors, and heroes. The fourth species consisted of statues of the 564 STATUTE gods, or of kings and emperors represented under the form of gods. Equestrian statues are those in which the figure is seated on a horse. The Hermce, or terminal figures, were pillars surmounted by a head or a bust, ac- cording to the deity represented, though the name is derived from that of the god Hermes. Various examples of these figures may be seen in the British Museum. [Chri selephantine ; Hermes: ; Sculpture.] Status Quo (Lat.). In Politics, a treaty between two or more belligerents, which leaves each party in possession of the territories, for- tresses, &c, which it occupied before hostilities broke out, is said to leave them in static quo ante helium — in the same state as before the war. Statute (Lat. statutus, part, of statuo, 1 establish). An Act of Parliament made by the sovereign, by and with the advice of the lords and commons. But some ancient statutes are in the form of charters or ordinances, proceed- ing from the crown, and in these the consent of the lords and commons is not expressed. Statutes are divided into public and private ; public Acts being usually defined to be those universal rules which regard the whole commu- nity, while private Acts only operate upon par- ticular persons and private concerns. Of pri- vate Acts, some are local, as affecting particular places only ; others personal, as confined to par- ticular persons. Formerly the courts of law were not bound to takejudicial notice of a private Act unless it were specially pleaded ; and to evade this rule, it became the practice to insert in private Acts a clause declaring them to be public, and binding the courts to take notice of them. It has, however, been provided by stat. 13 & 14 Vict. c. 21, that every new Act is to be taken to be a public Act, and judicially noticed as such, unless the contrary be expressly declared. There is, accordingly, a large class of railway and other local Acts, which, though classed with private bills, become, when passed, public Acts. In private Acts expressly declared not to be public Acts, a clause binding the courts to take judicial notice of them is still usually inserted. It will have been seen, however, that the di- vision of statutes into public and private is now chiefly of a formal nature, although in parliamentary practice there are important dif- ferences in the manner of passing public and private bills, the latter being usually sent as of course for enquiry before a select committee, and being subjected to heavy fees and other expenses, from which the former are exempt. Statutes are also said to be declaratory of the law as it stood at their passing ; remedial, to correct defects in the common law, subdivided into enlarging and restraining ; and penal, im- posing prohibitions and penalties. But these, again, are rather distinctions of an arbitrary character than of any legal effect, although some legal maxims have been founded on them : e. g. that penal statutes, or clauses in statutes, are to be construed strictly, remedial statutes liberally, &c. The courts, however, are not, at the present STATUTE OF DROGIIEDA day, much influenced by general maxims of this j nature, except as affording some slight aid to construction in very doubtful cases. Statutes are divided in the statute book, for convenience of reference, into Public General Acts, Local and Personal Acts declared Public, Private Acts Printed, and Private Acts not Printed. All the Acts of one session of parliament taken together are said to form properly but one statute, and for this reason an Act of Parlia- ment is always cited as the chapter of a par- ticular statute, e.g. stat. 29 & 30 Vict. c. 1. Statutes now operate (by stat. 33 Geo. III. c. 13) from the time when they receive the royal assent, unless some other time be fixed for that purpose : the ancient rule was that, in default of any special provision to the contrary, they operated retrospectively from the first day of the session in which they were passed. Every I public general Act passed at the present time extends (in the absence of any special provision to the contrary) to the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, exclusive of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. With respect to the colonies, the rule is that, in a colony acquired by occupancy, Acts passed before its acquisition come into force immediately upon that event as part of the general law of England, as to all provisions at least not unsuitable to its social circumstances ; though it is otherwise in the case of a colony won by conquest or cession, which remains subject to its own pre-existing laws. (1 Steph. Comm. 107.) No colony of either class is, in the absence of express provision or neces- sary implication, affected by Acts of Parliament passed after its acquisition. The sovereign is not bound by any statute, unless named therein. The growing inconvenience caused by the confusion and multiplicity of the statutes has excited considerable attention of late years. Lord Chancellor Cranworth issued commis- sions in 1853 and 1854 successively, for the purpose of consolidating the statute law, but these commissions produced little practical re- sult ; and the commission of 1854, after sitting for several years, was discontinued abruptly in 1859, owing to the refusal of the House of Commons to vote any further funds for its maintenance. A considerable part of the criminal law was, however, consolidated by a series of statutes passed in 1861. (24 & 25 Vict.) Several statutes, moreover, have been passed of late years for the purpose of expur- gating the statute book by the repeal of obsolete Acts, with a view to facilitating the work of a general consolidation. (Stats. 19 & 20 Vict. c. 64 ; 24 & 25 Vict. c. 101 ; 26 & 27 Vict. c. 125.) Statute of Srogheda. [Poyning's Law.] Statute Merchant and Statute Staple. These statutes were special forms of bonds or securities for debts, now obsolete. They gave the creditors taking them extraordinary reme- dies against the body, goods, and lands of the debtor, and were originally permitted only among traders for the benefit of commerce. (Stats. 13 Edw. L; 27 Edw. III. c. 9; 23 Hen. VIII. c. 6.) 565 STEAM Staurolitc (Gr. ic inch ; let the piston be counter- balanced by a weight W acting over a pulley, which shall be sufficient to counterpoise the weight of the piston and its friction in the cy- linder ; and let the weight W be so arranged that from time to time its amount may be diminished to any required extent. Under the circumstances here supposed, the piston being in contact with the water, and all air being excluded from beneath it, it will be pressed down by the weight of the atmo- sphere, which we shall assume to be 14| lbs. Let it be also supposed that a thermometer is placed in the water under the piston, and that the tube A B is transparent, so that the indi- cations of the thermometer may be observed. The temperature of the water under the piston being reduced to that of melting ice, which is 32° Fahr., let the flame of a lamp be applied under the tube, and let the time of its ap- plication be noted. If the thermometer be now observed, it will be seen slowly and gradually to indicate an increasing tempera- ture of the water, the piston maintaining its position in contact with the water unchanged. This augmentation of temperature will con- tinue until the thermometer indicates the temperature of 212°. Let the time be then noted. It will be found that after that epoch, the water will cease to increase in temperature, notwithstanding the continued application of the lamp, the thermometer not rising above 212°. But another effect will begin to be manilested ; the piston P will be observed gradually to rise, leaving a space apparently vacant between it and the water. The depth of the water will, however, be at the same time gradually diminished, and the diminution of its depth will be found to bear constantly the same proportion to the ascent of the piston. This proportion will, under the circumstances here supposed, be that of about 1,700 to 1. If the application of the lamp be continued, and the tube have sufficient length, the water will, after the lapse of a certain time, altogether dis- appear from the bottom of the tube ; and when that occurs, the piston will have risen to the height of 1,700 inches, being 1,700 times the original depth of the water. The tube will now, to all appearance, be empty ; but if the apparatus were weighed, it would be found to have the same weight as at the commencement of the experiment. The water, therefore, must still be contained in the 566 j tube, though it has assumed an invisible form. I To demonstrate its presence, let the lamp be ; f removed ; immediately the piston will begin to descend, and the inner surface of the tube will be covered with a dew, which, speedily in- ' creasing, will fall to the bottom in drops of j water. The piston meanwhile will continue to | move downwards, sweeping before it the water | from the sides of the tube ; and at length will ! recover its first position, having under it, as at the beginning, a cubic inch of water. In the above process, the elevation of the piston is produced by the elastic force of the steam into which the water was gradually con- verted by the lamp. The space between the piston and the water during its ascent, though apparently empty, was filled with steam, which, like air and most other gases, is a colourless and invisible fluid. The proportion of the elevation of the piston to the diminution of the depth of the water being 1,700 to 1, proves that the water in passing into steam increases its volume in that proportion. When the water altogether disappeared, the height of the piston from the bottom of the tube was 1,700 inches; and as the tube under the piston Was then filled with the steam into which the water had been converted, it is apparent that the cubic inch of water, in this ease, was converted into 1,700 cubic inches of steam. The pressure of the atmosphere above the piston was, in this instance, overcome by the elastic force of the steam, and the piston, bearing that pressure upon it, was raised to a height of 1,700 inches. In the evaporation, therefore, of this cubic inch of water, a mechanical force has been evolved equivalent to 14f lbs. raised to the height of 1,700 inches, or, more exactly, 1,669 inches, according to M. Regnault's de- termination of the relative volume of steam and water at the atmospheric pressure of 15 lbs. per square inch. From the moment at which the water began to be converted into steam, the thermometer, having then attained 212°, ceased to rise. Never- theless, the application of the lamp was con- tinued, and therefore the same quantity of heat per minute was still supplied to the water. Since the water did not increase in temperature, it may be asked what became of this continual supply of heat received from the lamp? It may be said that it was imparted to the steam into which the water was converted ; but if the thermometer were raised out of the water, and held in the steam between the water and the piston, it would still indicate the same tempera- ture of 212°. We thus arrive at the fact, that, notwithstanding a large supply of heat im- parted to water during its evaporation, heat is sensible neither in the water itself nor in the vapour into which the water is converted. The quantity of heat which is thus absorbed in converting water into steam is easily deter- mined, the interval of time being noted which elapsed between the first application of the lamp and the moment at which the thermo- meter ceased to rise. Let us suppose that STEAM interval to be an hour ; the interval between the moment when the thermometer ceases to rise and the process of evaporation be- gins, and the moment at which the last par- ticle of water disappears from the bottom of the tubo and tho evaporation is com- pleted, will be found to be 5^ hours ; and in general, whatever may be the length of time necessary to raise the temperature of the water from 32° to 212°, 5| times that in- terval will be necessary for the same source of heat to evaporate the same quantity of water. It follows, therefore, that to evaporate water under a pressure of 14§ pounds per square inch requires 5£ times as much heat as is necessary and sufficient to raise the same water from 32° to 212 b . Since the difference between 212° and 32° is 180°, and since 5£ times 180° is 990°, it follows that to convert the water into steam after it has attained the temperature of 212°, as much heat must be supplied to it as would suffice, if it were not evaporated, to raise it 990° higher. The heat thus absorbed in evapo- ration, and not sensible to the thermometer, is said to be latent in the steam; and the phenomena which have been just described form the foundation of the whole theory of latent heat. That this large quantity of heat is actually contained in the steam, though not sensible to the thermometer, admits of easy demonstration, by showing that it may be re- produced by converting the steam into water. If a cubic inch of water, in the form of steam at the temperature of 212°, be introduced into the same vessel with 5^ cubic inches of water at the temperature of "32°, the steam will be immediately converted into water ; the tempe- rature of the 5£ inches of ice-cold water will be raised to 212°, and there will be found in the vessel 6^ cubic inches of water at 212°. Thus, while the steam, in reassuming the liquid form, has lost none of its temperature, it has nevertheless given up as much heat as has raised 5^ cubic inches of water from 32° to 212°. It is therefore demonstrated that this quantity of heat was actually in the steam, and that its presence there in the latent state conferred upon the water in the vaporous form the property of elasticity. We have here supposed that the pressure under which the water in the tube was evaporated was the mean pressure of the atmosphere, or 14f lbs. per square inch. Let us now suppose that the piston resting on the water is loaded with a force of 14| lbs., besides the pressure of the atmosphere, which may be done by taking 14f lbs. from the counterpoise W. If the same process be followed as before, it will now be found that the thermometer will not cease to rise when it has attained 212°; nor will the piston then begin to ascend. The thermometer will, on the other hand, continue to rise until it has attained 250°. It will then, as in the former case, cease to rise ; the piston will ascend, and the water will begin to be converted into steam. The proportion, however, between 567 the ascent of the piston and the diminished depth of the water, or, in other words, between the volume of steam producod and the volume of water producing it, instead of being 1,700 to 1, will now be about 900 to 1, being little moro than half the former proportion. The force against which the elasticity of the steam, in tho present case, acts, is 29^ lbs. ; and this force is raised 900 inches by the evaporation of a cubic inch of water. In the former case a force of 14f lbs., being half the present force, was raised to 1,700 inches by the evaporation of the same quantity of water, so that in each case the mechanical effect produced is very nearly the same. If the pressure under which the evaporation is carried on were varied, it would be found that with every increase of pressure the tempera- ture at which the evaporation would commence would be augmented, and that with every dimi- nution of pressure that temperature would be diminished. It would be also found that the volume of steam produced by a cubic inch of water would be less with every increase of pressure under which the evaporation is made ; and that the diminution of volume would be nearly, but not in quite so great a proportion, as the increase of pressure. In like manner, if the pressure be diminished, the volume of steam produced by a cubic inch of water will be augmented in nearly, but not quite so great a proportion, as that of the diminution of pressure. From all this, it obviously follows that the mechanical effect evolved by the eva- poration of a given volume of water under different pressures is very nearly the same ; greater pressures, however, having a slight advantage over lesser ones. It has been seen that 14f lbs. are raised to a height of 1,700 inches by the evaporation of a cubic inch of water under the pressure of 14| lbs. per square inch. Now, 1,700 inches are nearly equal to 142 feet; and 14f lbs. raised 142 feet is equivalent to 142 times 14| lbs. raised one foot, which is equal to very nearly 2,100 lbs. raised one foot. To use round numbers, it may then be stated, that by the evaporation of a cubic inch of water a mechanical force is pro- duced equivalent to a ton weight raised a foot high ; and that this force is very nearly the same whatever be the temperature or pressure under which the evaporation takes place. From what has been above explained, it is apparent that the quantity of sensible heat in steam is augmented with every increase of pressure under which the evaporation is carried on ; but if the interval of time be observed which elapses between the first application of the lamp to the ice-cold water in the experi- ment above described, and the moment at which the last particle of water disappears by evapo- ration from the bottom of the tube, it will be found that this interval is nearly the same, whatever be the temperature or pressure under which the evaporation takes place. It follows that the actual quantity of heat necessary to convert ice-cold water into steam is nearly the STEAM same, whatever be the pressure of the steam ; but as the temperature of steam increases and diminishes as the pressure is increased or dimi- nished, it follows that this given quantity of heat is differently distributed between sensible and latent heat in steam of different pressures. As the pressure is increased the sensible heat is augmented, and the latent heat undergoes a corresponding diminution, and vice versa. The sum of the sensible and latent heats is, in fact, a constant quantity, or nearly so, the one being always increased at the expense of the other. It has been shown that in converting water at 32° of temperature, and under a pressure of 14| lbs. per square inch,, into steam, it was necessary first to give it 180° additional sen- sible heat, and afterwards 990° of latent heat, the total heat imparted to it being 1,170°. The actual temperature to which water would be raised by the heat necessary to evaporate it, if its evaporation coidd be prevented by con- fining it in a close vessel, will be found by adding 32° to 1,170°. It may, therefore, be stated that the heat necessary for the evapora- tion of ice-cold water is as much as would raise it to the temperature of 1,202°, if its evaporation were prevented. If the tempera- ture of red-hot iron be, as is supposed, about 1,200°, and if all bodies become incandescent at the same temperature, it follows that to evaporate water it is necessary to impart to it as much heat as would be sufficient to render it red hot if its evaporation were prevented. Since water, in passing into steam, undergoes a great enlargement of volume, steam, on the other hand, in being converted into water, undergoes a corresponding diminution of vo- lume. It has been seen that a cubic inch of water, evaporated at the temperature of 212°, swells into 1,700 cubic inches of steam. It follows, therefore, that if a close vessel, con- taining 1,700 cubic inches of such steam, be exposed to cold sufficient to take from the steam all its latent heat, the steam will be reconverted into water, will shrink into its original dimensions, and will leave the re- mainder of the vessel a vacuum. This pro- perty of steam has supplied the means, in practical mechanics, of obtaining that amount of mechanical power which the properties of the atmosphere confer upon a vacuum. If by any means whatever the space in a cylinder under the piston be rendered a vacuum, the atmospheric pressure will take effect above the piston, and will urge the piston downwards with a force amounting to about 15 lbs. on each square inch on the surface of the piston. To render steam available for this purpose, it is only necessary to inject it into the cylinder until it expels from the cylinder all the atmo- spheric air or other uncondensable gases which the cylinder contains ; and when that is effected, the pure steam which remains in the cylinder being suddenly condensed by the application of cold, leaves the cylinder a vacuum, and gives effect to the atmospheric pressure above the piston, as before explained. This is, in fact, 568 1 ! the principle of the atmospheric engine, which is the species of engine which remained in u.se I up to the time of Watt. In the mechanical operation of steam, which has been already explained, the pressure, density, and temperature of the steam are supposed to remain the same during its action, and the mechanical effect is produced by the continual increase of the quantity of steam pro- duced by evaporation. Thus, the piston in the apparatus represented in the figure is moved upwards, not by any change in the temperature, density, or pressure, but by the increased volume acquired by the continual production of steam. It has been proved that by this process alone the evaporation of a cubic inch of water what- ever be the pressure under which it takes place, evolves a mechanical force equivalent to a ton weight raised a foot high. But if, after this evaporation has been completed, the steam be separated from the water which produced it, and the load on the piston be gradually diminished, the steam will expand by moving the piston upwards in virtue of its excess of pressure, and this expansion will continue until the pressure of the steam shall be reduced to equality with the load on the piston. All mechanical effect developed in this process is due to the steam itself, independently of any further evaporation. To make this important quality of the ex- pansive action of steam understood, let us suppose the piston loaded with a pressure amounting to four times that of tho atmo- sphere, including that of the atmosphere itself. If the water under the piston be evaporated under this pressure, it will have a temperature of about 292°, and by its evaporation the pis- ton will be raised 40 feet. This will, therefore, be the whole mechanical effect arising from the immediate evaporation of the water. But when the evaporation has been completed, and the piston, with its load of four atmospheres, stands suspended at 40 feet above the bottom of the tube, let a pressure equal to that of one at- mosphere be removed from the piston. The remaining pressure of three atmospheres being less than that of the steam below the piston, the piston will be raised, and will continue to rise until it has attained a height of about 50 feet, and the temperature of the steam thus ex- panded will fall to about 275° ; and its pressure being reduced to that of three atmospheres, it will cease to rise. By this process, therefore, a mechanical force has been obtained from the steam equal to the weight of three atmospheres raised 10 feet in addition to the effect obtained by immediate evaporation ; but the expansive action does not stop here. Let it be supposed that the piston is again relieved from the pressure of another atmosphere, the superior pressure of three atmospheres below will cause it to rise, and it will ascend to the height of about 75 feet, the temperature of the steam falling to about 250°, and its pressure being reduced to two atmospheres. A further me- chanical effect equivalent to the weight of two atmospheres raised to about 25 feet has STEAM thus boon obtained; and it is evident that by constantly and gradually diminishing the load on tho piston, an additional offect may be always obtained from a given amount of evaporation, to an extent which is only limited by practical circumstances which restrain the application of this expansive principle. Since the cost of producing steam as a mechanical agent depends chiefly on the quantity of fuel necessary to effect the evaporation of a given volume of water, it follows that all the mechanical effect obtained by this principle of expansion is so much power added to the steam without further expense. Its importance, therefore, will be obvious in the economy of steam power. For the manner of rendering it available in steam machinery, see Steam Engine. The temperature and pressure of steam pro- duced by immediate evaporation, when it has received no heat, save that which it takes from the water, have a fixed relation one to the other. If this relation were known, and expressed by a mathematical formula, the temperature might always be inferred from the pressure, or vice versa. But physical science has not yet supplied principles by which such a formula can be deduced from any known properties of liquids. In the absence, therefore, of any general relation established by direct reason- ing, empirical formulae have been proposed, which express, with more or less precision, this relation in different parts of the thermometric scale. These formula? have been so constructed as to give results which nearly agree with the results obtained by experiment. One set of experiments to ascertain the relative bulks of steam and water was made by Watt at an early period of his career, and these experiments were subsequently repeated by his assistant Southern, with great care and skill. Southern's formula for determining the pressure of steam of any given temperature is probably more widely identified than any other with engineer- ing practice, and it gives results sufficiently accurate for engineering purposes. This for- mula is as follows : If F represent the elastic force of the steam in inches of mercury, and t its corresponding temperature in degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, then F={l±^) 5I3 + 0-l. I 135-767 J The numerical process indicated by this formula being somewhat complicated, it may for greater convenience be performed by lo- garithms, as follows: — ■ To find the elastic force of steam in inches of mercury by Southern 's formula. Rule. — To the given temperature in degrees of Fahrenheit s thermometer add 51 -3 degrees : then from the logarithm of the sum subtract 2-1327910, the logarithm of 135767. Mtdtiply the remainder by the index 5-13, and to the natural number answering to the sum add the constant fraction \-\§th. The result will be the clastic force of the steam in inches of mercury. 569 One of the most important courses of ex- periments which have been made upon this subject is that undertaken by a committee of the French Institute, consisting of MM. Prony, Arago, Gerard, and Dulong, in conse- quence of an application from the French government to the Academy to point out the best means of preventing accidents from the bursting of the boilers of steam engines. The experiments were conducted chiefly by Arago and Dulong, and were certainly not only ex- tremely delicate as to their management, but the most hazardous which science and art owe to the courage and zeal of philosophers. Steam was produced of a sufficient pressure to force a column of mercury up a glass tube to the height of nearly 43 feet ; an atmosphere being measured by a column of mercury measuring 29-922 inches. The following table exhibits the temperatures and corresponding pressures of steam, as determined by these ex- periments, up to fifty atmospheres. Pressure in Atmospheres Temperature Pressure in Atmospheres Temperature 1 212° 13 380-66° li 234 14 386-94 2 250-5 15 392-86 263-8 16 398-48 3 275-2 17 403-83 3£ 285 18 408-92 4 293-7 19 413-78 4£ 300-3 20 418-46 5 307-5 21 422-96 314-24 22 427-28 6 320-36 23 431-42 326-26 24 435-56 7 331-7 25 439-34 n 336-86 30 457-16 8 341-78 35 472-73 9 350-78 40 486-59 10 358-88 45 499-14 11 366-85 50 510-6 12 374 The last six temperatures in the above table are deduced by calculation from the formula e = (l+0-71530 5 , in which e expresses the elasticity in atmo- spheres, and t the temperature in centieme degrees, beginning from 100°, and proceeding upwards. The methods employed in this magnificent course of experiments will be found detailed in the Annales de Chimie et cle Physique, tome xliii. p. 74. The most recent and trustworthy experi- ments upon the heat and pressure of steam have been made by M. Regnault in France. M. Regnault has shown that the total amount of heat existing in a given weight of steam increases with the pressure. Thus, in steam with a pressure of 14*7 lbs. upon the square inch, the sensible heat of the steam is 212°, the latent heat 966' 6°, and the sum of the latent and sensible heats 1,178-6°; whereas, in steam of 90 lbs. upon the square inch the sensible heat is 320-2°, the latent heat 891-4°, and the sum of the latent and sensible heats 1,211-6°. There is, therefore, a difference of 33° in the total heat of a pound of water STEAM raised into steaTii of 147 lbs. pressure and that of a pound of water raised into steam of 90 lbs. pressure ; so that the high steam if expanded into low will have an excess of temperature beyond that necessary for the maintenance of the vaporous form, or, in other words, will be in the state of surcharged steam. Sur- charged steam, or steam to which more heat is imparted than is necessary for the mainte- nance of the vaporous form, comes under the same physical laws as air and other permanent gases. And with all gases, when the tempera- ture is constant, the pressure varies simply as the density, or inversely as the volume. When the pressure is constant, the dilatation is uniform with uniform additions of heat, and is at the rate of ~ of the volume at 32° for every additional degree of temperature. When the volume is constant, the increase of pressure is ~ of the pressure, at 32° for each additional degree of temperature. In the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for July 1849, a formula is given by Mr. Rankine, which educes results very nearly corresponding with those which M. Regnault obtained by experi- ment ; and from this formula, therefore, the most material of M. Regnault's results may be obtained. Mr. Rankine assumes a point of temperature t, which is 462-28° of Fahren- heit's scale below the ordinary zero of that scale, as a new absolute zero, and he supposes the boiling point of the water to have been ad- justed under a pressure of 29*922 inches of mercury; so that 180° of Fahrenheit may be exactly equal to 100° of the centigrade thermometer. The formula is applicable for finding the elasticity of other vapours besides that of water ; but three constants, a, /3, y, have to be determined for each fluid by experiment. If P be the pressure of the steam and t the point of absolute zero, as explained above, then the formula for calculating the pressure from the temperature is — t i 2 ' and the inverse formula for calculating the temperature from the pressure is — loo: P logP 4 T 2 0 •V t v 7 The values of the constants have been derived from M. Regnault's experiments, and they are as follow : — log j8 = 3-4403816 ; log y = 5-5926244 ; A= 0-0035189; = 0-000012364. 27 47 2 The value of a, other things being the same, depends upon the measure of elasticity adopted. If it be inches of mercury, the value of a will be 6*426421 ; if it be pounds avoirdupois on the square inch, the value of o will be 6-117817. The following table is derived from M. Regnault's experiments, with the addition of a column showing the volume of the steam rela- tively with the volume of the water from which 570 it is generated, computed by Mr. D. K. Clark, and given in his work on Railway Macliinery. In this table we have the total pressure of the steam in lbs. per square inch, its relative volume as compared with that of the water from which it is produced, its temperature, its total heat, or, in other words, the sum of its latent and sensible heats, and finally the weight of a cubic foot of the steam at the several pressures or densities enumerated. The steam is supposed in every case to be saturated with water. Total Pressure per Squar Inch Relative 1 Volume Tempera- ture Total Heal 1 Weight of One Cubic Foot lbs. Fahr. Fahr. lbs. 15 1069 213*1 1178*9 '0373 16 216*3 1179*9 "0397 17 1487 219-5 1180*9 "0419 18 222'5 1181*8 "0442 19 225-4 1182*7 "0465 20 1280 228'0 1183*5 '0487 21 1224 230*6 1184*3 *0510 22 1172 233*1 1185*0 •0532 23 235*5 1185*7 •0554 24 -1082 237*9 1186*5 "0576 25 1042 240*2 1187*2 •0598 26 1005 242'3 1187*9 •0620 27 971 244*4 1188*5 •0642 28 939 246*4 1189*1 •0664 29 909 248*4 1189*7 "0686 30 881 250*4 1190*3 '0707 31 855 252*2 1190*8 •0729 32 830 254*1 1191*4 '0751 33 807 255*9 1192*0 '0772 34 785 257*6 1192*5 •0794 35 765 1 193*0 •0815 36 745 260*9 1193*5 '0837 37 727 262*6 1194*0 *0858 38 709 1194*5 "0879 39 693 265*8 1195*0 "0900 40 677 267'3 1195*4 •0921 41 661 268*7 1195*9 '0942 42 647 1196*3 634 271*6 1196*8 '0983 44 621 273*0 1197*2 "1004 608 07/1 -A 1197*6 46 595 275*8 1198*0 "1046 47 584 277*1 1198*4 -tub 1 48 573 11 94*8 "1087 49 562 279*7 1199*2 •1108 50 552 1199*6 •1129 51 542 1200*0 •1150 52 532 283*5 1200*4 •1171 53 523 284'7 1200*8 •1192 54 514 285*9 1201*1 55 506 1201*5 "1232 56 498 1201*8 •1252 57 490 289*3 1202*2 •1272 58 482 290*4 1202*5 •1292 59 474 291*6 1202*9 •1314 60 467 292*7 1203*2 •1335 61 460 293*8 1203*6 •1356 62 453 294*8 1203*9 •1376 63 447 295*9 1204*2 •1396 64 440 296*9 1204*5 •1416 65 434 298*0 1204*8 •1436 66 428 299*0 1205*1 •1456 67 422 300*0 1205*4 •1477 68 417 300*9 1205*7 •1497 69 411 301*9 1206*0 •1516 70 406 302*9 1206*3 •1535 71 401 303*9 1206*6 •1555 72 396 304*8 1206-9 •1574 73 391 305*7 1207-2 •1595 74 386 306*6 1207-5 •1616 75 381 307*5 1207-8 •1636 76 377 308*4 1208-0 •1656 77 372 309*3 1208*3 •1675 78 368 310*2 1208-6 •1696 79 364 311*1 1208*9 •1716 80 359 312*0 1209*1 •1736 STEAM BOILER Total Presnure per Squar 0 Relative ) Volume Tomprra- turo Total Heat Weight of Foot lbs Fahr. Fahr. lbs. 81 355 312-8 1209*4 •1756 82 351 313-6 1209-7 •1776 83 348 314-5 1209-9 •1795 84 344 315-3 1210-1 •1814 8.5 340 316-1 1210-4 •1833 86 337 316-9 1210-7 •1852 87 333 317-8 1210-9 •1871 8S 330 318-6 1211-1 •1891 89 326 319-4 1211-4 •1910 90 323 320-2 1211-6 •1929 91 320 321-0 1211-8 •1950 92 317 321-7 1212-0 •1970 93 313 322-5 1212-3 •1990 94 310 323-3 1212-5 •2010 95 307 324-1 1212-8 •2030 96 305 324-8 1213-0 •2050 97 302 325-6 1213-3 •2070 98 299 326-3 1213-5 •2089 99 296 327-1 1213-7 •2108 100 293 327-8 1213-9 •2127 101 290 328-5 1214-2 •2149 102 288 329-1 1214-4 •2167 103 285 329-9 1214*6 •21 S4 104 283 330-6 1214*8 "2201 105 281 331-3 1215-0 •2218 106 278 331-9 1215-2 •2230 • 107 276 332-6 1215-4 •2258 108 273 333-3 1215-6 •2278 109 271 334-0 1215-8 •2298 110 269 334-6 1216-0 •2317 111 267 335-3 1216-2 '2334 112 265 336-0 1216-4 •2351 113 263 336-7 1216-6 •2370 114 261 337-4 1216-8 •2388 11S 259 338-0 1217-0 •2406 116 257 338-6 1217-2 •2426 117 255 339-3 1217-4 "2446 118 253 339-9 1217*6 •2465 119 251 340-5 1217-8 •2484 120 249 341-1 1218*0 •2503 121 247 341-8 1218*2 •2524 122 245 342-4 1218-4 •2545 123 243 343-0 1218-6 •2566 124 241 343-6 1218-7 '2587 125 239 344-2 1218-9 '2608 126 238 344-8 1219-1 *2626 127 236 345-4 1219-3 "2644 128 234 346-0 1219-4 "2662 129 232 346-6 1219-6 "2680 130 231 347-2 1219-8 *2698 132 228 348-3 1220-2 '2735 134 225 349-5 1220-6 •2771 136 222 350-6 1220-9 '2807 138 219 351-8 1221-2 '2846 140 216 352-9 1221-5 •2885 142 213 354-0 1221-9 "2922 144 210 355-0 1222-2 •2959 146 208 356-1 1222-5 •2296 148 205 1222-9 •3033 150 203 358-3 1223-2 •3070 160 191 363-4 1224-8 •3263 170 181 368-2 1225*1 •3443 180 172 372-9 1227*7 •3623 190 164 377-5 1229-1 •3800 200 157 381-7 1230-3 •3970 Steam Boiler. A vessel in which water is converted into steam for the purpose of\ supplying steam engines, or for any other j purposes for which steam is used in the arts, I or in domestic economy. Waggon Boiler. — One of the oldest forms of boiler used for land engines, is that called the waggon boiler, an isometric view of which is given in fig. 1 ; but this boiler has now almost | entirely disappeared, owing to its small evapo- I rative power compared with the consumption of fuel, and to its incapacity to resist the j 571 pressure of steam which recent discoveries have shown to be necessary for the economical working of the steam engine. Fig. 1. The proper level of the water within this boiler is maintained by means of a balanced buoy or float communicating with the rod N, which is attached to a lever set on the top of the stand-pipe P. The top part of this pipe is widened out so as to form a small cistern into which the water for replenishing the boiler is pumped by the engine ; and a valve in the bottom of the cistern, when opened by the lever communicating with the rod N as the float subsides from the falling of the water- level, admits a sufficiency of feed water to re- place the water removed by evaporation. When there is already a sufficiency of water in the boiler the valve in the feeding cistern remains closed, and the excess of water in such a cas^e runs to waste through an overflow pipe provided " for that purpose. In marine and locomotive boilers the use of a float for regulating the admission of the feed water is inapplicable, and there the attendant has from time to time to adjust a cock in the feed-pipe, so as to admit the proper quantity of water. To enable him to know at what level the water stands within the boiler a succession of cocks, called gauge-cocks, is attached to the boiler, rising one above the other ; and the highest of these cocks when turned should always let out steam, and the lowest water. A glass tube is also affixed perpendicularly to the outside of the boiler in such a manner, that its upper extremity communicates with the steam within the boiler, and its lower extremity with the water. The water con- sequently stands in the tube at the same level as in the boiler, and the height of the water in the boiler is thus rendered visible. Cocks are provided at the top and bottom of the tube, so that if the tube happens to be STEAM BOILER broken, the issue of the steam or water may- be prevented. The draught through the iurnace of land boilers is regulated by a plate of metal or damper, as it is called, ■which closes, to a greater or less extent, the opening of the flue, in the manner of a sluice. A damper of this kind is seen at 0, and it is counterpoised by a weight in the stand-pipe P, by means of a chain passing over pulleys. When the pressure of the steam in the boiler rises beyond the desired point, the water is forced up by it into the pipe P to a more than usual height. The weight in P being thus floated up, the damper at 0 preponderates, and partly closes the flue, whereby the intensity of the draught through the furnace is diminished, and less steam is raised. To provide an escape for the super- fluous steam, which if suffered to accumulate would burst the boiler, one or more valves, opening upwards and loaded by a weight or spring to a sufficient degree to balance the pressure of the steam, must be applied. This species of yalve is called the safety-valve, and a valve of this kind is seen in the figure affixed to the top of the boiler near N : a pipe proceeds from the safety-valve, which conducts the waste steam into the atmosphere. Cylindrical Boilers. — The usual pressure of steam employed in waggon boilers is from 3 to 5 lbs. per square inch. In many engines, however, and especially in those which work expansively, it is found expedient to use steam of a higher pressure. To sustain this pressure waggon boilers are not well adapted, and hence a new class of boilers has been introduced of a cylindrical form, and which are therefore termed cylindrical boilers. These boilers can withstand a considerable pressure without dan- ger. Their construction in the subordinate fea- tures is very various, but a form much approved is that known as the Cornish boiler. Cornish Boiler. — The boilers used at the .mines in Cornwall, have long been celebrated for great economy of fuel and other distinguish- ing circumstances. Fig. 2. A very good example of a Cornish boiler is represented in figs. 2 and 3 ; fig. 2 being a longitudinal section of a Cornish boiler, and fig. 3 a transverse sec- tion. The furnace is placed, not beneath the boiler, but within it, and the flame and hot air pass through a cen- tral flue to the end of the boiler. They next pass along the boiler sides, and finally beneath the 572 boiler bottom, before they escape to the chim- ney. A brick wall is built at the back end of the fire bars, to form the termination of the furnace. This wall is called the furnace bridge. Behind the bridge in some Cornish boilers a pipe containing water extends hori- zontally within the flue, communicating at the one end with the bottom part of the boiler, and at the other end with the top part of the boiler. The hot air impinging upon this pipe causes the water within it to boil, aud a constant circulation of the water is maintained within it. In modern boilers, however, this pipe is omitted. This boiler, like the waggon boiler, is set in brickwork, and it is also covered over with a brick arch, for the purpose of retaining the heat. But a vacant space is left between this brick arch and the top of the boiler for the purpose of enabling the boiler to expand without disturbing the brickwork. One of the most remarkable peculiarities of the Cornish boilers is the slowness of the com- bustion in the furnaces, and the large amount of heating surface allowed for the evaporation of the water. Thus, in certain experiments upon Cornish, waggon, and locomotive boilers, recorded in Mr. Bourne's work upon the steam engine, it was found that the number of pounds of fuel burned upon each square foot of fire-grate in the hour was, in the Cornish boiler, 3--16 lbs.; in the waggon boiler, 1075 lbs. ; and in the locomotive boiler, 79*33 lbs. The number of square feet of heating surface of the boiler em- ployed to evaporate a cubic foot of water in the hour was, in the Cornish boiler, 69 - 58 square feet; in the waggon boiler. 9 - 96 square feet; and in the locomotive boiler, 6 - 06 square feet. The number of cubic feet of water eva- porated by 112 lbs. of fuel was, in the Cornish boiler, 18 87 lbs.; in the waggon boiler, 1391 lbs.; and in the locomotive boiler, 11 '14 lbs. Marine Boilers. — Boilers set in brickwork being ineligible in steam vessels, a distinct class Fig. 4. on in .ODD DOB ODD. of boilers has been called into existence to meet the exigencies of steam navigation. In these boilers the fire and smoke come into contact only with metallic surfaces surrounded by water. Marine boilers consist of a series of large iron vessels, in which are set a number of metallic furnace chambers, connected with metallic flues winding within the boiler, or with a number of short metallic tubes of small diameter which deliver into the chimney. Boilers with large flues winding within them are termed jlue boilers, and boilers in which the heat is communicated by means of a faggot of small tubular flues passing through the water are called tubular boilers. In figs. 4, 5, Fig. 5. STEAM BOILER chimney in the centre of the boiler, represented by the dotted circle in fig. 5. Fig. 8. 5, 7, and 8, representations are given of a flue boiler. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of this boiler ; fig. 5 a horizontal section through the line A B, seen in fig. 6, and fig. 7 a horizontal section through the line C D, seen in fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a perpendicular section through the line Gr H, seen in fig. 7- It will be obvious from these figures, that the boiler consists of two portions placed side by side, and each containing three furnaces. The smoke from each group of three furnaces passes into one flue, which winds until it reaches the corner of the boiler, as shown in Fig. 7. M ( ;, .11 fig. 7. The flue then ascends perpendicularly upwards, and winds in a similar manner through an upper tier of flues until it finally reaches the 573 9. Figs. 8 and 9 are representations of a tubular boiler ; fig. 8 being a longitudinal section made perpendicularly through the boiler, and fig. 9 an end view, with one half cut transversely through the furnace and boiler. There are two furnaces in the boiler, and the smoke and flame, after passing over the furnace bridge, ascend into a bundle of small brass tubes, and pass through them on their way to the chimney. Upon the top of the boiler a chest is placed to serve as a receptacle for the steam, which there de- posits any particles of water that may happen to be mixed with it. Iron rods pass perpen- dicularly and horizon- tally within the boiler to strengthen it, and to enable it to withstand a considerable pressure. Nearly all marine tubular boilers are formed on this general type. Sometimes the boiler shell is square instead of waggon-formed, and has more furnaces set within it; but these differences are not very material. Tubular boilers are now very largely employed in steam vessels. They were patented by Mr. Bourne in 1838, but first came into general use about 1844. They are lighter than flue boilers, and occupy less space ; and if they are properly constructed they are not difficult to keep in repair. The consumption of fuel per horse-power in marine boilers is very extravagant, and attempts have recently been made to economise STEAM BOILER it by the construction of tubular boilers, . in I which the water and steam occupy the interior of the tubes, whilst the fire and heated pro- , ducts of combustion are applied to the ex- terior. By this construction, together with superheating and expansion, the hourly con- j sumption of fuel per actual horse-power has been reduced from 6 lbs. or 7 lbs. to 2 lbs. , but practical difficulties arise in the use of these boilers which have not hitherto been , entirely overcome. Proportions of Marine Boilers. — Marine' boilers are commonly proportioned according to the nominal power of the engines which they are employed to drive. But this is not a proper practice. Their dimensions should be deter- | mined by the number of cubic feet of water which they are required to evaporate in the hour, and not by the nominal power. To evaporate a cubic foot of water per hour in flue boilers, the following are the proper proportions : heating surface, 8 square feet; fire grate, 70 square inches ; sectional area of flue, 13 square inches ; sectional area of chimney, 6 square inches ; area over furnace bridges, 14 square inches ; area of flue to area of fire grate, as 1 to 54 ; total heating-surface in feet, divided by the area of flue in feet, To evaporate a cubic foot of water per hour in tubular boilers, the following are the proper propor- tions : heating surface, 9 square feet ; fire grate, 70 square inches ; sectional area of tubes, 10 square inches ; sectional area of. back uptake, 12 square inches ; sectional area of front uptake, 10 square inches ; sectional area of chimney, 7 square inches ; ratio of length of tube to diameter, ~§ to ~ ; ratio of length of tube to area of tube, ^ to yg- ; cubical content of boiler, exclusive of steam chest, 65 cubic feet; cubical content of steam chest, 1*5 cubic foot. The amount of mechanical power producible by a cubic foot of water evaporated per hour by the boiler, depends very much upon the manner in which the steam is used in the engine. In the original engines of Watt, a cubic foot of water evaporated in the hour produced only steam sufficient for one horse- power ; but in modern marine engines, which work to some extent on the expansive prin- ciple, from l£ to 2 horse-power are produced by the evaporation of a cubic foot of water per hour — a horse-power being reckoned as equivalent to 33,000 lbs. raised one foot high in the minute. Incrustation of Marine Boilers. — One of the greatest inconveniences attending the original application of the steam engine to the naviga- tion of the ocean, arose from the gradual accu- mulation of salt within the boiler in conse- quence of the necessity of feeding the boiler with salt water from the sea. Sea-water contains about ~ of its weight of saline ingredients ; and it is found that when the density of water is increased by evaporation until it contains ~ of its weight of saline J ingredients, some of those ingredients begin 574 to be deposited upon the flues, forming upon them a stony crust which retards the trans- mission of the heat. It is hence very impor- tant that the water in marine boilers should never contain more than ^ of salt, and it is easy to keep the water below this point of concentration by blowing out a sufficiency of the over- salted water, and filling up the boiler with the fresher water of the hot well or the sea. Hydrometers are now very gene- rally provided in steam vessels, to enable the engineer to determine the density of the water ; and in every case it is right to practise blow- ing out to such an extent as will prevent the formation of saline or stony incrustations upon the flues. In the case of pressures above 40 lbs., however, sulphate of lime is precipitated from sea water, without any concentration at all, by the mere effect of the high temperature ; and surface condensers, which supply fresh water for feeding the boiler, are now very generally employed. Boiler Explosions. — The explosion of a boiler generally arises from one of two causes : either from the strength of the boiler being inade- quate to bear the pressure accidentally or perhaps habitually put upon it, so that it at last gives way; or from the flues having been suffered by an improper subsidence of the water to become red hot, when they cease to be able to stistain the pressure to which they are exposed. A marine boiler may also burst if the water within it be suffered to attain such a point of saturation that salt is deposited to a great thickness upon the flues; for the metal composing the flues, being in such a case unable to transmit the heat to the water with sufficient rapidity, may become red hot, and may thereby lose the strength necessary to withstand the pressure of the steam. Nearly all explosions, however, are traceable either to an undue pressure in the boiler or to a defi- ciency of water. Sometimes the safety valve becomes deranged when the steam is unable to escape from the boiler. This occurrence will always become discoverable by a reference to the steam gauge, which shows by the position of the mercury the pressure of the steam. And all the gauge cocks should then be opened, and the blow-through valve of the engine should also be opened, so as to let the steam escape in that direction. If the flues have become red hot from a deficiency of water, on no account must more water be added ; but the pressure of the steam must be gradually reduced, and the fires should be immediately raked out. To reduce the pressure of the steam suddenly, would cause a sudden ebullition, which might carry the water over the red-hot flues, and perhaps cause the boiler to explode. Proper Method of Feeding Furnaces. — The coals should be broken up into small pieces, and sprinkled thinly and evenly over the fire, a little at a time. The fire should be without any holes or uncovered places in it, as the efficacy of the fuel would be greatly diminished STEAM CARRIAGE STEAM COAL by the cooling effect of the cold air which would thus enter. The absolute thickness of the stratum of incandescent fuel should be regulated to a considerable extent by the quality of the draught through the furnace. If the stratum of coal be thick while the draught is sluggish, the carbonic acid resulting from combustion combines with an additional atom of carbon in passing through the fire, and is converted into carbonic oxide, which carries off a portion of the fuel to waste ; whereas if the stratum of coal is thin, while the draught is very rapid, an injurious refrigera- tion is occasioned by the large excess of air, beyond that necessary for combustion, which passes through the fire. For further informa- tion about steam boilers, see A Treatise on the Steam Engine, by the Artizan Club ; A Treatise on Steam Boilers, by R. Armstrong, C.E. ; A . Catechism of the Steam Engine, by J. Bourne, C.E. ; and A Handbook oj the Steam Engine, by J. Bourne, C.E. Steam Carriage. A carriage, propelled by steam, intended to run on common roads at a considerable rate of speed. Before the great expansion of the railway system had taken place in the ten years succeeding the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, many projects were propounded for running steam carriages on common roads, to supersede coaches drawn by horses ; and various steam coaches having this object in view were constructed by different persons, of which the coaches of Grurney, Hancock, Ogle and Summers, and Scott Russell, obtained the greatest no- toriety. But as it could not be hoped that a steam coach on a common road could run as fast, or draw such heavy loads, as a loco- motive on a railway, and as railways were now extending throughout the country, the induce- ment for the adoption of steam coaches was taken away, and they were consequently aban- doned. This result, however, is merely accidental to the simultaneous extension of the railway system, and constitutes no reason why steam coaches on the common road should not be adopted in countries where railways do not exist, or have received but little developement. The mechanical features of the steam carriages of different constructors were very different, especially in the construction of the boiler. Gurnoy's boiler was composed of circuits of tubes, placed side by side and filled with wafer, and the tubes opened into a vessel called the separator, where the steam was disengaged from the water. This boiler was very bad. Hancock's boiler consisted of an arrangement of narrow vertical water spaces, alternated by narrow vertieal flues through which the heat ascended; and Ogle and Summers' boilers consisted of a number of vertical tubes, which were heated by the fire, and within each of which there was an internal tube to permit the water to descend while the water and steam ascended through the intervening annulus, as in the boiler known as Field's boiler. [Steam Fire Engine.] In most cases, the cylinders of the steam carriages were horizontal, and the connecting rod turned round the wheel as in locomotives. The only species of steam vehicle now used on common roads, is a kind of steam waggon called a Traction Engine. Steam Chest. A chest or box placed on the top of marine boilers to serve as a receptacle or reservoir for the steam. Steam Coal. A variety of coal inter- mediate between bituminous coal and anthracite, burning with a good flame and lasting for a long time without being consumed. Excellent steam coals are obtained both from the New- castle coal field, chiefly the northern beds, and from South Wales, and enormous quantities are consumed and exported from both localities. It is essential for ocean-bound steamers that they should have a coal of this kind which is free from pyrites. Such coals are found generally in certain parts of a coal-field, and are not characteristic of an entire district. The powder and dust of some kinds of coal are capable of being worked up into an admirable artificial fuel of this kind, which possesses the advantage of packing more closely. Hitherto, however, it has not been found possible to make a good artificial fuel that shall stand exposure to the tropics without risk of spontaneous com- bustion. [Coal.] Average Value of Coals for the Generation of Steam. — The following table, taken from Eeports on Coals suited to the Steam Isavy, by Sir H. de la Beche and Dr. Lyon Playfair, shows the average value of coals from different localities: — Locality Evaporating Power, or Number of Lbs. of Water evaporated from 212° by 1 Lb. of Coal Rate of Evaporation, or Number of Lbs. evaporated per Hour Weight in Lbs. of one Cubic Foot of Coal as used for Euel Space occu- pied by one Ton in Cubic Feet Cohesive Power of Coals, or Per-centage of large Coals after loading andunloading Per-centage Amount of Sulphur in Coals Wales .... 905 448-2 53-1 42-71 60-9 1-42 Newcastle . . . 8-37 411-1 49-8 45-3 675 0-94 Lancashire . . . 7-94 447-6 49-7 45-15 73-5 1-42 Scotland . . . 7-70 431-4 50-0 49-99 73-4 1-45 Derbyshire . . 7-58 432-7 47-2 47-45 80-9 1-01 575 STEAM CULTIVATION Steam Cultivation. After years of ex- pensive labour and experiment, steam power lias been successfully applied to the cultivation of land. The two principal methods in vogue are those of William Smith of Woolstone, Buckinghamshire, who has for many years cultivated his own farm by steam power, and the late John Fowler of Leeds, whose untime- ly death occurred just as he had perfected his machinery and seen it in successful operation all over the country. Mr. Smith's plan, which has been adopted by Messrs. Howard of Bed- ford, and several other manufacturers of agri- cultural machinery, requires the use of one of the ordinary locomotive agricultural steam engines. This is planted in a corner of the field to be cultivated, and there works a double windlass, off one cylinder of which a wire rope is delivered while its farther end is being coiled upon the other. This rope is taken round the field guided by snatch-block pulleys at the angles, and lies along the furrow in which the cultivating tool, placed as it were a link in it, is working. The tool, whether a grubber or a plough, is thus drawn to and fro across the field from one side of it to the other, and the pulleys anchored at each end of the furrow are shifted backwards step by step as the work proceeds. As the tool gets over the tin tilled land lying between it and the engine, the shortening rope is coiled upon the windlass, only so much being at any time let out and used as is required'. The cost of labour is rather greater on this plan than on the other; two men being con- stantly required at the ends of the working furrow in shifting the anchored pulley blocks around which the rope works. In Mr. Fowler's plan, these men are not needed. The engine travels along the headland, and a self-travelling anchor works along the other headland, while the wire rope employed to draw the tool to and fro between them works around the large hori- zontal pulleys carried by each. The tool is either a framework of ploughs turning three or four furrow slices together, or a large cultivator, and instead of turning at the land's end as Smith's cultivator needs to do, a double tool is balanced over a pair of wheels, and the two ends come into operation alternately. Messrs. Howard em- ploy both ploughs and cultivators, in which a similar result is obtained in a somewhat different manner. Fowler's method is modified in some cases by the employment of double engines, one at each end of the furrow along which the tool is drawn ; and a single rope being wound up alternately on the windlasses beneath these engines draws the plough or cultivator to and fro as each engine in its turn is set agoing. The advantage of steam cultivation over that by horses lies mainly in the avoidance of that trampling by draught animals which to a great extent destroys the tillage. A cultivator is drawn to and fro on large wheels, and the tilth effected by it is obtained with hardly any drawback. There is, further, the 576 1 STEAM ENGINE power of accomplishing large quantities of work while the soil is in the fittest condition. In ordinary horse-power cultivation of clay lands, expensive teams have to be kept throughout the year for the sake of their services during the two or three months when alone clay land is in the right state for cultivation. On such land, there- fore, a steam engine, which is inexpensive ex- cept when actually at work, is on every ground preferable to horse-power for the accomplishment of all tillage operations. Steam Engine. A machine in which the mechanical power developed in the evaporation of water is rendered available as a moving power. Steam engines vary much in magnitude, form, and proportions, as well as in the details of the machinery by which the power of the steam is adapted as a prime mover. The forms .of steam engine, and the mode of its application to transport by land and water, have been consigned to separate articles. [Locomotive Engine ; Kailroads ; Steam Navigation ; Traction Engine.] History of the Steam Engine. — Various at- tempts at the mechanical application of steam on a small scale were made at very early periods in the history of mechanical science. Hero of Alexandria has left a description of a small machine, in which a motion of continued rotation was imparted to an axis by the reaction of steam issuing from lateral orifices in arms placed at right angles to the revolving axis. The date of this invention is about a century before the birth of Christ. Branca, an Italian en- gineer, about the beginning of the seventeenth century, proposed to give motion to a wheel by a blast of steam blown tangentially against it ; and about the same period, De Cans, a French engineer, described a machine by which a column of water might be raised by the pres- sure of steam confined in a vessel above the water to be elevated. But in the descriptions developements which these projectors have left, there is nothing to demonstrate that they were acquainted with those physical proper- ties of elasticity and condensation [Steam] on which all the power of steam, as a mechanical agent, depends. In the middle of the seven- teenth century, or somewhat later, the celebrated marquis of Worcester published, in his work called A Century of Inventions, a description of a steam engine to be worked by steam of high pressure, which, though not minute and explicit in its details, is still such as it is difficult to conceive being written by anyone unacquainted with the elastic force of steam. Towards the close of that century, Papin, a French engineer who was professor of mathematics at Marbourg, directed his attention to the properties of steam, and conceived the idea of obtaining a moving power by introducing a piston into a cylinder and producing a vacuum under it by the gradual condensation of steam by cold. But the steam was also to be generated in the cylinder by the application of a fire ; and it was not to be condensed by the application of cold substances to the cylinder, but was to cool gradually of STEAM its own accord. The details of the project were altogether so imperfect as to render it useless in practice. There is no- evidence of Papin having carried his idea even so far as the construction of a model until after machines worked by steam had been constructed else- where, and ho then relinquished his own project in favour of that of Savery. The first actual working steam engine of winch there is any detailed account was con- structed by Thomas Savery, an Englishman, to whom a patent was granted for it in the year 1698. Savery reproduced the method of form- ing a vacuum by the condensation of steam, apparently without being aware of the paper written by Papin. He combined this with the elastic pressure of steam as proposed by Lord Worcester, and constructed an engine, which, for a time, was used to a considerable extent for raising water. Savery's steam engine con- sisted of a strong copper vessel formed in the shape of an egg, having a tube or pipe at the bottom, which descended to the place from which the water was to be drawn, and another at the top which ascended to the place to which it was to be elevated, and which descended within the oval vessel nearly to the bottom. This oval vessel was filled with steam supplied from a boiler, by which the atmospheric air by which it was previously filled was first blown out of it. When the atmospheric air was thus expelled, and nothing but pure steam was left in the vessel, the communication with the boiler was cut off, and cold water was poured on the external surface of the vessel. The steam within it was thus condensed and a vacuum produced, and the water was drawn up from below in the usual way by suction. The oval steam vessel was thus filled with water; a cock at the top of the lower pipe was then closed, and steam was introduced from the boiler into the oval vessel above the surface of the water. This steam, being of high pressure, forced the water up the ascending tube, from the top of which it was discharged ; and the oval vessel being thus again filled with steam, the vacuum was again produced by condensation, and the same process was repeated. By using two oval steam vessels which would act alter- nately, one drawing water from below, while the other was forcing it upwards, an unin- terrupted discharge of water was produced. Owing to the danger of explosion, from the high pressure of the steam which was used, and from the enormous waste of heat by unneces- sary condensation, these engines soon fell into disuse, and an engine was introduced consisting of a cylinder and piston — the piston being con- nected to one of the ends of a great beam, hung like the beam of a pair of scales, while to the other end of the beam the pump rods of the mine were attached. The cylinder was close at the bottom and open at the top, and when the steam from the boiler was introduced beneath the piston, the pump rods, being heavier than the piston, preponderated, and the piston as- cended to the top of the cylinder. The ingress Vol. III. 577 ENGINE [ of steam from the boiler was then stopped, and the steam within the cylinder being gradually condensed, the piston descended and made a stroke. This machine was invented by New- comen, a blacksmith, and Cawloy, a glazier, at Dartmouth, in Devonshire. In the first engine constructed by them, the condensation was effected by the affusion of cold water upon the external surface of the cylinder, which was introduced into a hollow casing by which it was surrounded. The discovery of condensa- tion by jet within the cylinder, one of the most important steps in the improvement of the steam engine, was accidental. It happened that a small hole occurred in the bottom of the cylinder of an engine, by which the water let in to cool its external surface oozed in, forming a little jet. The effect was a much more rapid and perfect condensation than ever was or could be effected by external cold. Thenceforward, the method of condensation by jet was adopted, and has ever since been used. In the early atmospheric engines, the cocks by which the steam was admitted and con- densed, and by which the injected water and condensed steam were drawn off, were worked by hand ; and as the labour was light and mo- notonous, and required no skill, boys were employed for the purpose, called cock boys. It happened that a cock boy, named Potter, having an itch for play, and endowed with more ingenuity than industry, imagined that by tying strings to the cocks, and connecting them with the working beam above the cylinder, regulating the action by carrying them under or over certain pipes, he could make the beam, as it ascended and descended, open and close the cocks more regularly and effectually than he found himself able to do. This he accordingly accomplished, and was habitually absent from the engine-house, enjoying himself with his playfellows, when his employers were giving him credit for extraordinary industry and re- gularity in the discharge of his duties. The engine, in fact, by this expedient, nearly tripled its work. Thus, by the ingenuity of a child, the steam engine was first endowed with those qualities of an automaton which have ever since rendered it an object of admiration and interest. The engine, thus endowed with new powers, was subsequently greatly improved in its details by Beighton and by Smeaton. As thus improved, it held its place as the great instrument for the drainage of mines until the epoch which was rendered memorable by the inventions and discoveries of Watt ; and it may even still be seen in use at coal mines, and in other situations where coal is cheap. In these early engines the cylinder was open at the top, and the piston was pressed down by the weight of the atmosphere. They were therefore called atmospheric engines. Watt was a mathematical instrument maker in Glasgow. About the year 1763, it happened that the model of an atmospheric engine used at the lectures of Dr. Black, professor of natural philosophy in the university, required some PP STEAM ENGINE repairs, and it was accordingly placed in the hands of Watt. In the experiments which it became his duty to make with this model, he was struck with the fact that the quantity of steam consumed for each stroke of the piston was many times more than the contents of the cylinder. The large quantity of water necessary to be injected in order to complete the conden- sation also excited his surprise. This led him to make experiments, by which he soon arrived at the discovery of some of the most important phenomena connected with the evaporation of -water. He made a near approximation to the proportion of the volume of steam to that of water. He ascertained with great precision the latent heat of steam, and consequently de- termined the quantity of water necessary to condense any given quantity of steam. Filled with astonishment at these results, and more particularly at the nature of latent heat, and at the great amount of the latent heat of steam, he repaired to Dr. Black, and communicated to him the results of his discoveries. He then, for the first time, learned Black's celebrated theory of latent heat, and found that he had himself thus accidentally discovered one of the most striking facts on which that theory rested. Considering the atmospheric engine in an economical point of view, Watt was forcibly impressed with the waste and expense which appeared to arise in the unnecessary consump- tion of steam involved in its operation. In the theory of that engine, one cylinderful of steam ought to be sufficient for each stroke of the piston. Watt, on the other hand, found that the actual consumption was at the rate of four or five cylinderfuls per stroke. On examination, he discovered the source of this waste to arise from the fact that, in order to make the piston ascend, it was necessary not only to condense the steam, but to cool the whole mass of the cylinder down to 100°, while to make the piston descend, it was necessary not only to fill the cylinder with steam, but to raise the temperature of the cylinder and piston from 100° to 212°. He soon perceived that this enormous waste of fuel was the inevitable consequence of con- densing the steam in the cylinder. Keflection on these circumstances happily led him to the idea of condensing the steam in a separate vessel, which should be kept immersed in a cistern of cold water, and in which a jet of cold water might be kept constantly playing, with the addition of a pump to draw off the in- jected water and condensed steam from such vessel. In fact, all the details of the steam engine, as already described, were soon carried into practical effect, and engines constructed according to these principles. Instead of causing the piston to descend by the pressure of the atmosphere, as in the old atmospheric engine, it was forced down in Watt's engines by means of steam, and a lid was applied to the top of the cylinder through a steam-tight hole in which the piston rod passed to connect itself with the working beam. Single-acting Condensing Steam Engine. — 578 When the steam engine is applied to the pur- pose of pumping water, which in the first periods of its invention was its only practical application, the force which it exerts is re- quired only in raising the pump rods with their load of water, their own weight being more than sufficient for their descent. As the pump rods are attached to the end of a working beam hung upon an axis, the force of the steam is required to draw up that end by drawing down the end at which the steam piston is attached. The steam, therefore, being required only to press the piston downwards, is admitted above the piston, while the space in the cylinder below the piston is kept in free communication with the condenser. The operation of the valves by which the steam is admitted and withdrawn is precisely the same as in the double-acting engine, which will presently be described, and to which reference may be made for a fuller explanation of the action of the machine. When the piston has reached the bottom of the cylinder, the valves for admitting and with- drawing the steam being closed, a valve called the equilibrium valve is open, by which a free communication is made between the top and bottom of the cylinder: by this means the steam which fills the upper part of the cylinder, being allowed to flow equally to the lower part, will press with the same force on both sides of the piston, and will therefore have no tendency whatever to move it. Under these circum- stances the preponderating weight of the pump rods suspended from the other end of the beam will draw the piston to the top of the cylinder. While it is ascending, the steam which was above will pass through the equilibrium valve below it ; and when the piston has reached the top of the cylinder, the cylinder under the piston will be filled with the same steam which previously had driven the piston down. In order to ac- complish the next down stroke, the equilibrium valve is closed, and the upper inlet valve and lower outlet valve are opened ; the steam pres- sure acts above the piston, while a vacuum is produced below it, and the piston consequently descends. Double-acting Condensing Steam Engine. — This species of engine, under some form or other, is that which is almost invariably used as a moving power in all manufactures in this country. One form of it, called a beam engine, represented in fig. 1, consists of a cylinder shown in section at C, in which a movable piston P is driven upwards and downwards by the force of steam supplied by a boiler placed near the engine. [Steam Boiler.] This piston gives motion to a working beam H /, which by means of a heavy bar 0, called a connecting rod, moves a crank and fly- wheel, from which the machinery to be worked directly receives its motion. Steam is sup- plied from the boiler to the cylinder by the steam pipe S. The throttle valve T in that pipe, near the cylinder, is regulated by a system of levers connected with the governor Q. This governor is an apparatus consisting STEAM of two heavy balls, attached to the ends of rods, which are kept revolving on a vertical shaft by a cord or band, or by a train of cogged Fig. l. wheels connected with the fly-wheel. The ve- locity with which the balls of the governor re- volve is therefore always proportional to that of the fly-wheel, and of the machinery driven by it If, by reason of too rapid a supply of steam, an undue speed be imparted to the fly- wheel, the balls are whirled round with a cor- responding velocity; and by reason of their centrifugal force they recede from the vertical spindle round which they turn, and acting thereby on the system of levers which connect them with the throttle valve T, they partially close the latter, check or diminish the supply of steam to the cylinder, and moderate the velocity of the machine. If, on the other hand, the motion of the engine be slower than is re- quisite, owing to a deficient supply of steam through S, then the balls, not being sufficiently affected by centrifugal force, fall towards the vertical spindle, and acting on the system of levers in the contrary way, turn the throttle valve T more fully open, admitting a more ample supply of steam to the cylinder, so as to increase the speed of the engine to the requisite extent. The piston P is accurately fitted to the cy- linder, and made to move in it steam tight by packing, with which it is surrounded. This piston divides the cylinder into two compart- ments, between which there is no communica- tion by which steam or any other elastic fluid can pass. _ A case BB' placed beside the cylin- der contains the valves by means of which the steam which impels the piston is admitted and withdrawn as the piston commences its motion in each direction. The upper steam box B is divided into three compartments by two valves ; above the upper steam valve Vis a compartment communicating with the steam pipe S. Below the exhausting valve E is another compartment 579 ENGINE communicating with a pipe called the eduction pipe, which leads downwards from the cylinder to a vessel called the condenser, which wo shall, presently describe. By this eduction pipe the steam is withdrawn from the cylinder after it has driven the piston. By the valve V a com- munication may be opened or closed between the boiler and the top of the cylinder, so as to admit or intercept the supply of steam from the one to the other. By the valve E a com- munication may be opened or closed between the top of the cylinder and the condenser, so that the steam in the top of the cylinder may either be permitted to escape into the condenser or confined in the cylinder. The continuation & of the steam pipe leads to the lower steam box B', which like the upper is divided into three compartments by two valves V and E'. The upper compartment communicates with the steam pipe S', and the lower with the eduction pipe. By means of the valve V steam may be admitted from the steam pipe S' to the bottom of the cylinder, and by means of the valve E' this steam may be permitted to escape to the condenser. The four valves V, E, V, and E' are in the engine represented in the figure connected by a system of levers with a single handle or spanner, m, which being pressed upwards or downwards opens and closes the valves in pairs. Thus, when it is pressed down, the levers con- nected with it raise the upper exhausting valve E and the lower steam valve V, and close the upper steam valve V and the lower exhaust' ing valve E'. On the other hand, when the spanner m is pressed up, it opens the upper steam valve V and the lower exhausting valve E', at the same time closing the upper exhaust- ing valve E and the lower steam valve V. The cylinder is closed at the top, and the piston rod P, being accurately turned, runs in a steam-tight collar furnished with a stuffing box, by means of which it is surrounded by a packing of hemp, and constantly lubricated with melted tallow, A funnel is screwed on the top of the cylinder, through which, by opening a stop-cock, melted tallow is per- mitted to fall from time to time on the piston, so as to lubricate it. The condenser D is submerged in a cistern of cold water : at its side there enters a tube I', governed by a cock I, which being opened or closed to any required extent, a jet of cold water may be allowed to play in the condenser. This jet throws the water upwards towards the lower orifice of the eduction pipe L'. Prom the bottom of the condenser J) proceeds a tubo having a valve M in it opening outwards ; this tube leads to the air pump K7, which is a pump submerged in the same cistern with the con- denser, worked by a piston having a valve in it opening upwards. The piston rod R of tho air pump is carried upwards, and attached at d to a system of jointed rods called the parallel motion, to which is also attached at g the great steam piston-rod. On the rod of the air pump are placed projecting pins, which, as it alter- p p 2 STEAM ENGINE nately ascends and descends, strike the spanner m, and thereby open and close the valves V, V, E, E', in pairs, as already described. The upper part of the air-pump cylinder communicates by a valve opening outwards with a small cistern K, called the hot well, for a reason which will presently appear. A pump L, called the -hot-water pump, descends into the hot well, and is worked by the great working beam to which its rod is attached. If the machine thus arranged were worked for any great length of time, the cistern of water in which the condenser and air pump are immersed would become warm, and the condenser would be rendered incapable of doing that for which it is alone useful, viz. of reducing the steam to water by cold. To prevent this, a pump N is provided, called the cold-water pump, by which a supply of cold water is constantly kept flowing into the cistern, the heated water being at the same time allowed to escape by a waste pipe. The temperature of the water in the cold cistern is thus kept so low as to be capable of effectually condensing the steam. The piston being supposed to be at the top of the cylinder, the spanner m will be raised by the lower pin on the air-pump rod, and the valves V and E' will be opened, and at the same time the other pair of valves V and E will be closed. Steam will therefore be ad- mitted above the piston, and the steam which had previously filled the cylinder below the piston will be drawn off to the condenser. It will there encounter the jet of cold water, which is kept constantly playing there by keeping the cock I sufficiently open. It will thus be immediately reduced to water, or con- densed [Steam], and the cylinder below the piston will remain a vacuum. The steam, therefore, admitted from the steam pipe through the open valve V to the top of the cylinder will press the piston to the bottom of the cylinder. As it approaches that position, the spanner m will be struck downwards by the upper pin on the air-pump rod, and the valves V and E', pre- viously open, will be closed, while the valves V and E, previously closed, will be opened. The steam which has just pressed down the piston, and which now fills the cylinder above the pis- ton, will then flow off through the open valve E by the eduction pipe to the condenser, where it will be immediately condensed by the jet of cold water which constantly plays there ; and steam from the boiler, admitted through the open valve V, will fill the cylinder below the piston, and press the piston upwards. When the piston has reached the top of the cylinder, the lower pin on the air-pump rod will have struck the spanner m tip wards, and will there- by have closed the valves V and E, and opened the valves V and E'. The piston will then be in the same situation as at the commencement, and will again descend, and so will continue to be driven upwards and downwards by the Steam. While this process is going on in the cylinder, 580 ! a quantity of warm water is formed in the con- I denser, by the mixture of condensed steam with the cold water admitted through the condensing jet I'. It has been shown [Steam] that any quantity of water in the state of steam, being condensed by cold water, will raise nearly six times its own weight of cold water from the freezing to the boiling point by the latent heat which is rendered sensible in the process of condensation. But since the jet of cold water, instead of being at the temperature of melting ice, is at the common temperature of the atmo- sphere, say 50°, and it is necessary to reduce the temperature of the condenser to at least 100° (otherwise steam would be produced by it, which would seriously resist the motion of the piston), and to reduce water from 212° to 100° by mixture with water at 50 c Lid quire of the latter a quantity equal to about twice the former, it follows that the quantity admitted through the jet must be more than twenty times greater than that which passes through the cylinder in the form of steam. The warm water thus formed in the con- denser, if allowed to accumulate there, would soon choke it up and stop the action of the machine. To prevent this, the air pump is provided; when the air-pump piston as- cends, it leaves below it a vacuum, and the foot valve M being relieved from all pressure, the weight of the water in the condenser forces it open, and the warm water flows from the condenser into the lower part of the air pump, from which its return to the condenser is prevented by the closed valve. When the air- pump piston descends, its pressure on the liquid under it will force open the valve, through which the warm water will pass ; and when the piston descends to the bottom of the pump barrel, the warm water which was below it will pass above it, and cannot return, as the valves which open upwards will be kept closed by its weight. When the piston next ascends, it will raise the water thus collected above it, and will throw it through the valve into the hot well K. The hot-water pump L is usually a suction and forcing pump, and draws up the warm water from the hot well, driving it through a pipe called the feed pipe to a cistern placed over the boiler, from which the boiler derives its feed of water. [Steam Boiler.] The system of jointed rods c d ef g, called the parallel motion, has for its object the maintenance of the rods of the steam piston and air pump in a truly vertical position. The steam piston-rod imparts motion to the beam, and the air-pump rod receives motion from it. But as the baam moves alternately upwards and downwards on an axis, every point on it must move alternately in the arc of a circle whose centre is in the axis of the beam. If, then, the ends of the rods of the steam piston and air pump were attached im- mediately to the beam, they would move not in truly vertical straight lines, but in the arcs of circles, and by reason of the curvature of such STEAM arcs they would bo alternately reflected to the right and to the, left. Such an effect would be quite incompatible with that smoothness and precision which aro essential to the effective action of the steam engine. By the parallel motion the ends of these piston rods are not immediately attached to the working beam ; a rod c d called the radius rod moves on a fixed centre c attached to the framing of the engine ; a bar d b connects the other end of this radius rod with a pivot b on the beam, so that as the. beam ascends and de- scends the pivots b and d each move in an arc of a circle, and these pivots are thereby drawn aside, but always in contrary directions. These deflections of the ends of the bar d b are neutralised at its middle point e, which deviates neither to the right nor to the left, but moves in a vertical straight line. To this point e the end of the air-pump piston is attached. At the end of the beam to another joint/ is attached a bar f g, equal to b d, connected by pivots with another bar d g equal in length to b f, so as to form the jointed parallelogram b d g f. By this arrangement, as the beam ascends and descends, the point g is moved in a manner altogether similar to the point e, only that it moves through a greater space in the proportion of the distance of g from the axis of the beam to that of e from the same point. The point g, therefore, to which the steam piston is attached, is moved upwards and downwards in a truly vertical straight line, while the end / of the beam with which it is connected is moved upwards and down- wards in the arc of a circle. When the piston is at the top of the cylinder the crank Gr placed on the axis of the fly- wheel F is at its lowest position, and when the piston is at the bottom of the cylinder it is in its highest position. In each of these positions the action of the steam on the piston could not impart any motion to the crank; for the connecting rod 0 being then in line with the crank, any force given to it, being necessarily exerted in the direction of its length, woidd only produce a pressure or strain on the crank pin without the least tendency to turn the crank round the axis of the fly-wheel. In these positions the ma- chine is therefore placed in a dilemma, in which the moving power ceases to have any influence on the object which it is intended to move. The machine is extricated from this dilemma by the inertia of the fly-wheel. That wheel is a large mass of matter, which, having once received a certain velocity of rotation on its axis, has a tendency to retain such motion, and will, in fact, retain it until it has been deprived of it by the continued resistance of friction and the air. When, therefore, the crank arrives at either of the positions above mentioned, and the moving power ceases to be effective, the inertia of the fly-wheel causes it to continue its motion, and the crank is immediately turned out of the extreme posi- 581 ENGINE tion which it had assumed, and thrown into a position iu which the power of the piston on it becomes effective. The functions of the fly-wheel are, however, not confined to carrying the machine thus through the dead points by the energy of the force received from the piston when the crank was in a more favourable position ; it likewise equalises by the same property the unequal effect of the crank. It is only when the crank forms a right angle with the connect- ing rod that it is fully effective, and as that angle changes, its leverage changes, until at length it is reduced to nothing at those extreme positions just mentioned. When the crank is in and near the position in which it is rectangular to the connecting rod, its action is shared between the fly-wheel and the machinery driven by the engine, a part being engaged in accele- rating and therefore giving momentum to the fly-wheel. As it passes towards the dead point, this momentum taken up by the fly- wheel is given back to the crank in aid of the moving power, at those positions of the crank where the effect of the moving power upon it becomes enfeebled. In this manner the fly-wheel in the steam engine becomes a perfect equaliser of the mechanical action of the machine. To the working end H of the beam is at- tached the connecting rod O, formed of cast iron, the lower end of which is attached to the crank Gr by a pin. On the axis of the crank is placed the fly-wheel, and connected with its axle is the governor Q, already described. The manner in which the crank affects the connecting rod at the dead points produces an effect of great importance in the operation of the engine. When the crank approaches the lowest point of its play, and at the same time the piston is approaching the top of the cylinder, the motion of the crank pin becomes nearly horizontal, and consequently its effect in drawing the con- necting rod and the end of the beam down- wards, and the piston upwards, is extremely small. The consequence of this is, that as the piston reaches the to]? of the cylinder its motion becomes very rapidly retarded ; and as the motion of the crank pin at its lowest point is actually horizontal, the piston is brought to a state of rest by this gradually retarded motion. A similar effect is produced at the other dead point. The motion of the engine is consequently very smooth, and free from shocks and jerks, the occurrence of which would materially impair its durability and its eligibility as a prime mover. Such, then, is the engine of Watt. Not- withstanding the manifest advantages at- tending these improvements, the mining and manufacturing interests were slow and re- luctant in adopting them; and, at the end of twenty years from the date of his first improvement, Watt and his partners found that the manufacture of the steam engine, far from being a source of commercial profit, STEAM ENGINE had entailed upon them a loss of capital to the amount of about 50,000^. An applica- tion was made to parliament, on this ground, for an extension of the patent, which, after much opposition, was granted till the year 1800. Various improvements in the more mi- nute details of the machinery of the engine succeeded this ; and Watt lived to reap an ample reward for his ingenuity and perse- verance, and to be acknowledged as one of the greatest benefactors of the human race. The engine, as applied to drainage and to manufactures, has received no important improvement in its principle since it was dismissed from the hands of Watt. Those principles which he suggested and applied have been carried out to their fullest extent, and the efficiency of the engine has been thus proportionally increased. Modern en- gines, it is true, as applied to manufacturing purposes, are very different in some of their details from the form of engine just described. For example, the valves, instead of being moved by means of pins or tappets upon the air-pump rod, are now moved by an ec- centric ; and sliding or sluice valves are now very generally used. Sometimes the beam is discarded altogether, and in the construction of the parts malleable iron is now much more largely employed. But all these modifications merely affect the detail ; and anyone who per- fectly xmderstands the operation of Watt's engine will have no difficulty in understand- ing the mode of action of any other variety of engine that has been introduced since his time. Expansive Engine. — As the operation of the steam engine has been explained, we need only remark that the power which moves the piston is the immediate force with which vapour is produced in the boiler. Each quantity of water which is successively evaporated obtains the space requisite for it in the form of steam, by pressing towards the cylinder an equal quantity of steam previously contained in the boiler; and it is the force with which the steam is thus pressed forward that impels the piston. But it has been shown [Steam] that great ad- ditional mechanical power will be obtained from the steam, if, besides this moving force, which results from immediate evaporation, the expan- sive power of the steam separated from the water be used. This is accomplished by closing the valve through which steam flows from the boiler to the cylinder before the piston has completed its stroke. Thus, let us suppose that when the piston has advanced through half its stroke the steam valve be closed. The steam which is then acting upon the piston will still urge it forward; but as the piston advances, this steam, assuming a pro- portionally augmented volume, will acquire a gradually diminished pressure, so that through the remaining half of the stroke the piston will be urged by a pressure progressively decreasing, and at the termination of the stroke it will be a little less than half the 1 force with which the piston was impelled while the steam valve was open. Since the force of the steam from the moment the steam valve is closed is thus continually diminished, its moving power might be so much : attenuated that it would be incapable of over- coming the resistance so as to complete the stroke ; this would happen if the steam were cut off when only a small fraction of the stroke has been made, unless the pressure of the i steam while the valve is open exceeds the resistance in a proportionate degree. It is for this reason that the expansive principle cannot j be brought into operation to any considerable extent, unless steam be used of a greater ! pressure than is commonly adopted in low- ! pressure engines. It is also apparent that ! to produce the same power either a greater j volume of cylinder, or greater velocity of motion, must be given when the expansive I principle is used. The mechanism by which the expansive principle is brought into practical operation ' consists merely in the adaptation of valves or slides which shall stop the admission of steam 1 when the required fraction of the stroke has been made by the piston, but which shall leave the communication with the condenser open till j the stroke is completed. If separate valves be used, this is accomplished by adapting the pins or other mechanism by which they are worked to open and close them independently of each other at the proper times. If slides be used, it is effected by regulating the form and movement of the slide, so as to cover and uncover the passages to the cylinder at the proper times. Each species of valve, and each form of slide or cock, has its own peculiar provisions for accomplishing this. At the time of this invention the steam en- gine had never been used, except for the pur- pose of raising water. It became a substitute for horse-power in working pumps. Although Watt perceived, in the first instance, the ease with which it might be adapted as a general moving power, his first efforts were to get it adopted in the mining districts for drainage. His first engines were, accordingly, single-acting or pumping engines; and it was not until the year 1782 that he took a patent for the double-acting engine, the structure and mode of action of which have now been described. Cornish Engines. — The Cornish pumping engines are for the most part single-action engines. They are constructed of enormous power, and carry out the expansive principle to a great extent. In Cornwall, engines are used for the drainage of mines with cylinders from 7 to 8 feet in diameter, and from 10 to 12 feet stroke. Steam having a pressure of from 20 to 50 lbs. per square inch, and upwards, is used for impelling them, and is cut off at a third, a fourth, and sometimes even at a twelfth, of the stroke. A system of careful inspection has been for some years established by the mining companies, with a view to improving the efficiency of the engines, and STEAM ENGINE monthly reports of tho performance of the engines have been regularly printed. The effect of this has been to stimulate the activity and skill of all concerned in the manufacture and working of these machines, and a marked improvement in them has taken place. The efficiency of these engines is estimated by the number of pounds weight of water which they are capable of elevating one foot high by the combustion of a bushel of coals. This has been termed the duty of the engine. In 1769, when Watt first directed his attention to the steam engine, Smeaton computed that the average duty of the engines then in use was about 5j millions ; from that time to the year 1800, a period of thirty years, the duty, owing to the improvements made by Watt, was gradually increased to 20 mil- lions, or very nearly quadrupled. In 1813, the system of inspection just mentioned was commenced, and the average duty was the same as in 1800. From this time to 1826, the engines underwent a progression of slow but steady improvement, and the duty was increased to 30 millions. In 1828, the average duty had risen to nearly 37 millions. The increase since that time has been slower : the average duty for the last few years has been from 60 to 70 millions ; but in one well- conducted experiment it was found that by the combustion of a bushel of coals an amount of mechanical power was produced which raised the inconceivable load of 125 million pounds weight one foot high. Thus, by the improve- ments of Watt and their immediate conse- quences, the power of the steam engine was, within the space of seventy years, increased about 25 fold. Even this large performance, however, does not exhaust the power resident in the heat produced by the combustion of the coal burnt, and it is now known [Thermo- dynamics] that even in the best Cornish engines about nine-tenths of the heat is lost without producing any useful effect. Non-condensing Steam Engines. — The form and structure of non-condensing engines differ from those of double-acting condensing engines only in the absence of the condensing apparatus; i.e. the condenser, the air pump, and the cold- water pump. The steam, after it has impelled the piston, instead of being conducted to a cold vessel to be condensed, is simply allowed to escape into the atmosphere, and is commonly ejected into the chimney of the furnace. The operation of such a machine is extremely simple. The valves by which the steam is admitted to, and allowed to escape from, the cylinder, are exactly similar to those of the double-acting engine. In the down stroke of the piston, the upper steam valve being open admits steam from the boiler above the piston, and the lower exhausting valve allows the steam below it to escape through a tube into the atmosphere. It is evident that, in sxich a machine, the piston is always resisted by the pressure of the escaping steam. As such escape cannot be effected except by steam of greater 583 pressure than that of the atmosphere, it follows that the piston is always resisted by a force somewhat greater than the atmospheric pres- sure. The steam which urges the piston is therefore effective only by the excess of its pressure above that of the escaping steam ; and hence the more economical course in non- condensing engines is to employ steam of as high a pressure as may be convenient — the counteracting pressure of the atmosphere being relatively smaller in such a case. All loco- motive engines are non-condensing, and the waste steam is invariably projected up the chimney, thus greatly increasing the intensity of the draught. As the steam used in non-condensing engines must, of necessity, have a pressure considerably exceeding that of the atmosphere, such machines have been generally called high-pressure en- gines; while those which condense the steam liave, on the other hand, been called low- pressure engines. These terms fail, however, to express correctly the nature of these en- gines respectively. Many engines in which condensation is used, especially those in which the expansive principle is applied with much effect, are worked with steam of a high pressure, not unfrequently with a pressure amounting to from two to three atmospheres. It is therefore not correct to call such machines low-pressure engines. It is, however, true that engines worked without condensation must, of neces- sity, be worked by steam of a pressure which is generally called high pressure. Rotatory Steam Engine. — This term is ap- plied to an engine in which a motion of rotation is produced immediately by the action of the steam, without the intervention of such me- chanism as the working beam, crank, and fly- wheel. This is usually effected by a piston which, instead of moving longitudinally in the cylinder, revolves within the cylinder on an axis which coincides with the geometrical axis of the cylinder itself. The mechanism is so con- trived that this piston shall revolve in steam- tight contact with the sides and ends of the cylinder; and that while steam from the boiler constantly presses it on one side, the steam on the other side shall continually escape to the condenser if it be a condensing engine, or to the chimney if it be a non- condensing engine — a movable division of some kind or other being necessarily interposed be- tween the steam and vacuum to enable this to be done. Most of the contrivances for rotatory engines which have been suggested differ one from the other only in the mechanical expedients by which these ends are attained. Such machines are very numerous and various ; but as none of them have yet been found sufficiently advantageous to force them into any use beyond the experimental trials of their inventors, iHis sufficient here to have indicated the general principle of their structure. Marine Engines. — The manner in which the steam engine is rendered an instrument for the propulsion of vessels must, in its general STEAM ENGINE features, be so familiar to everyone as to re- quire but short explanation. In the case of paddle vessels, a shaft is carried across the vessel, being continued on either side beyond the sides ; to the extremities of this shaft, on the outside of the vessel, are attached a pair of wheels, constructed like under-shot water wheels, having a number of fiat boards called paddle boards fixed upon their rims. As the wheels revolve, these paddle boards strike the water, driving it in a direction contrary to that in which it is intended that the vessel shall be propelled. The moving force imparted to the water thus driven backwards, by reaction on the vessel propels it. On the paddle shaft are fixed two cranks, placed at right angles one to tho other, so that whenever one of them is thrown into the highest or lowest position the other is horizontal. These cranks are worked by strong iron rods called connecting rods, which are themselves either driven directly by the pistons of two steam engines, or are worked by beams moved by those* pistons. Thus the medium of working becomes similar to that used in the ordinary land engines. The two cranks being placed at right angles, it follows that when one piston is at top or bottom of its stroke, and the crank is driven by it into the highest or lowest position, the other will be at the middle of its stroke, and the crank driven by it will be in the horizontal position. One of the pistons is therefore always in a position to produce the most advantageous effect on the crank at the moment that the other piston loses all power over the crank driven by it ; and in the same manner it may be seen that while the power of one piston is augmented from zero to its great- est effect, the power of the other is decreasing from its greatest effect to zero. Thus the com- bined action of the two pistons is nearly uniform in its efficiency. If one engine only were used the motion of the wheels would be unequal, being most rapid when the piston is at the middle of the stroke, and slowest at the ex- tremities. Nevertheless, single engines are sometimes used in paddle vessels with good effect. In the case of screw vessels, the action of the engines is similar, but the propelling shaft runs fore and aft above the keel, and protrudes at the stern, where a great screw pro- peller is hung upon it. [Screw Propeller.] The steam engines used for navigation may be either condensing engines or non-condensing engines. If the latter are employed, steam must be used having a pressure above the atmosphere of from 50 to 80 lbs. per square inch. Boilers in which steam is produced under this pressure are considered in Europe so un- safe, that non-condensing engines with low- pressure boilers are almost universally used for navigation. In America, however, high- pressure boilers with non-condensing engines are extensively used on some of thf rivers. The arrangement of the parts of marine engines is different in several respects from land engines. Steam vessels being generally employed to navigate the open seas, and being, 584 therefore, subject to the vicissitudes of tempes- tuous weather, the machinery must be protected by being placed below the deck. The space al- lotted to it being thus limited, great compact- ness is necessary. In paddle vessels, the paddle shaft being very little below the deck, the working beam and connecting rod could not be placed so conveniently above it. If a beam engine, therefore, be employed, two beams are so placed that one comes on each side of the cylinder, and is driven by the piston by means of a cross head attached to the piston rod, from the ends of which rods, called side rods, are carried downwards to the ends of the beams. From the other ends of the beams the connecting rod is presented upwards towards the crank. In screw vessels the engines are mostly made wit h the cylinders horizontal, or if vertical they are usually inverted, and work down to cranks on the screw shaft. [Screw Propeller.] Side-Lever Engines. — One form of marine engine formerly in the most extensive use, and still employed in many paddle vessels, is the side-lever engine. But the oscillating engine has nearly superseded it. The general ar- rangement of the parts of a side-lever engine will be easily understood by reference to fig. 2, in which is represented in section a side-lever marine engine with a flue boiler, as placed in a steam vessel. The sleepers supporting the engine are represented at X, and the base of the engine is secured to these by bolts passing through them. S is the steam pipe leading from the steam chest in the boiler to the slides c, by which it is admitted to the top and bottom of the cylinder. The condenser is represented at B, and the air pump at E. The hot well is seen at F, from which the feed is taken from the boiler. L is the piston rod connected with the beam H, working on a centre K, near the base of the engine. The other end of the beam H drives the connecting rod M, which extends upwards to the crank, which it works upon the paddle shaft 0 ; a a are the rods of the parallel motion. The framing by which the engine is supported is represented at Q, R. The beam exhibited in the figure is shown in dotted lines, as being on the farther side of the engine. A similar beam, similarly placed, and moving on the same centre, must be understood to be at this side, connected with the cross head of the piston in like manner by a parallel motion, and with a cross tail attached to the lower end of the. connecting rod and to the opposite beam. The eccentric which works the slides is placed upon the paddle shaft 0 ; and the connecting arm which drives the slides may be easily detached when the engine requires to be stopped. The section of the boiler grate and flues is represented at W U. The safety valve y is enclosed beneath a pipe carried up beside the chimney, and is inaccessible to the engine-man. The cocks for blowing out the salt water from the boiler (a process explained under the head Steam Boiler) are represented at h, and the feed pipe at I. The nature and operation of the several parts STEAM just mentioned will be understood by reference to the explanation of the structure and operation of the double-acting land engine, for, in fact, the marine engine, as here represented, is no- thing more than a double-acting condensing steam engine, adapted in its form to the cir- cumstances in which it is used in navigation. Since, however, the double-acting land engine, which has been described, is not provided with a slide valve worked by an eccentric, it will be ENGINE proper to explain the form and mode of action of those important parts of the machine. An eccentric is a disc of metal perforated with a hole for the reception of the crank shaft ; but this hole is not in the middle of the disc. The edge of the disc is encircled by a ring of brass, from which a rod proceeds to the con- nections of the slide valve, and it will be obvious that by the revolution of the shaft this rod will be drawn backwards and forwards, in Fig. 2. the same manner as if it were connected with a crank in the shaft. An eccentric, indeed, is virtually a short crank with a very large crank pin ; and a crank of the same length as the dis- tance from the centre of the shaft to the centre of the disc which constitutes the eccentric would give precisely the motion im- parted by the eccentric itself. One form of ec- centric employed in steam vessels is represented' in fig. 3. A balance-weight is applied opposite to the heavy part of the eccentric, in order that the eccentric may stand in any position on the shaft ; and a projecting piece of metal is fixed upon the shaft, which, when it comes in contact with a similar piece of metal upon the eccentric, carries the eccentric round with the shaft. If it should be necessary to reverse the engine, there is another piece of metal upon the op- posite side of the shaft, which also comes into contact with the stop upon the eccentric, and the projecting side of the eccentric then stands upon the opposite side of the shaft, as it must in order to communicate a reverse motion to the valve. In modern engines two eccentrics with a link connecting the ends of the two eccentric rods are commonly used for giving motion to each valve. One of these eccentrics is set for moving ahead and the other 585 Fig. 4. for moving astern, and by moving the link endways the valve is made to partake of the motion of that eccentric which is contiguous to it. By this apparatus the engine may be started, stopped, or reversed merely by shift- ing the position of the link with reference to the valve rod. The species of valve usually employed in side-lever marine engines is the D valve, so called because it is half a cylinder, and its cross section therefore resembles the letter D. Of this species of valve there are two varieties, the long I) and the short D. In the long D the waste steam escapes from one of the ports of the cylinder through the centre of the valve. In the short D there is no central passage in the valve, but the valve con- sists of two short and closed por- tions connected together by one or more rods. The long D valve has been most generally adopted. A valve of this kind is represented in fig. 4. The fiat projecting part of the valve moves upon similar flat parts on the front of the cylinder, and when the valve is in the middle of its stroke the flat projecting portions accu- rately close the ports or passages by which the steam enters and leaves the cylinder. The round part of the valve opposite to each cylinder port is made tight by the application of a hemp packing, placed in the STEAM ENGINE casing by which the valve is surrounded ; and between the upper and lower packing steam is admitted to circulate round the valve — the steam pipe from the boiler having its de- bouche in the valve casing. If now the valve be in its middle position, so as to cover ac- curately both of the cylinder ports, it will be clear that if it be drawn upwards steam will be allowed to enter from the valve casing above the piston ; and at the same time any steam or vapour will be allowed to escape from beneath the piston into the central part of the valve, which communicates with the condenser by means of a pipe penetrating the valve casing, either above the upper packing or beneath the lower packing. If the valve be forced below its middle position, the contrary operation will be produced. By moving the valve up and down, therefore, which is done by the eccentric, the piston is pressed up and down in the cylinder in the manner required. Oscillating Engine— Side-lever engines oc- cupy an inconvenient amount of space in steam vessels, and also exhibit a needless complica- tion of parts. The strain has to be transmitted not merely through the piston rod and crank shaft, but also through the cross head and cross tail, side rods and connecting rod, and the side levers or beams. This multiplication of the moving parts obviously increases the risk of fracture, and the side levers themselves are peculiarly susceptible of accident from this cause, since by the properties of a lever of this class, the stress or strain upon the beam at the main centre or pivot is twice as great as the strain upon the piston. These defects of the side lever engine have caused a new species of engine to be introduced, called the oscillating engine, because the cylinder vibrates or oscil- lates somewhat in the manner of a pendulum. In this engine the top of the piston rod is coupled immediately with the crank pin, and as the piston rod moves up and down in a line coincident with the axis of the cylinder, while the crank pin revolves in a circle, it is neces- sary that the cylinder should be able to vibrate Fig. 5. laterally, to enable the motions of the piston rod and crank pin to be reconciled with one another. The cylinder is consequently pro- vided on each side with a short hollow pivot, or trunnion, on which it swings : and through one of these trunnions the steam enters the cylinder from the boiler, while through the other the steam escapes from the cylinder to the con- denser. The alternate introduction of the steam above and below the piston is governed by a slide valve attached to the cylinder, and swinging with it; or, in large engines, two valves may be employed for this purpose, and by their suitable attachment to the cylinder they will balance one another. In steam vessels in which oscillating engines are employed, the cylinders are set immediately beneath the cranks, and the engines occupy but 586 little more in the length of the vessel than the diameter of the cylinder. In the shaft which con- nects the engines together, and which is called the intermediate shaft, a crank is forged, and this crank in its revolution gives motion to the pistons of one or more air pumps. The gene- ral nature of the arrangements at present em- ployed in vessels of the most improved class, will be readily understood by a reference to fig. 5, which is a transverse section of the steam yacht Peterhoff, constructed for the emperor of Eussia by Messrs. Bennie; and to fig. 6, which is a side view of the engines of the same vessel. A A are the cylinders; B B are the piston rods which are connected immediately with the cranks C C ; D is a crank in the in- termediate shaft, for working the piston bucket of the air pump E ; F F are the slide valves STEAM ENGINE by which the .admission of the steam to the cylinders is regulated ; Gr Cr are double eccen- trics on the intermediate shaft, whereby the valves F F are moved. The purpose of the double eccentrics is to enable the link motion to bo employed. II is a handle by which the engines may bo stopped, started, or reversed. 1 1 are the steam pipes leading to the steam trunnions K K, on which, and on other trun- nions connected with the pipe M, the cylinders oscillate. N N are pumps, the pistons of which are attached to the trunnions, and are worked by the oscillation of the cylinders. 0 is the Fig. 6. waste-water pipe, through which the water which has accomplished the function of con- densing the steam is ejected overboard. The same letters refer to the same parts in the two figures, and the second figure shows the arrangement necessary for feathering the floats of the paddle-wheels. Link Motion. — The apparatus known as the link motion is represented in fig. 7, where A is the engine shaft on which two eccentrics are fixed ; B is a central pin by which the link D, which connects the ends of the two eccentric rods, is suspended ; and C is a brass or steel block which may be moved freely from end to end of the slot in the link D. The centre of this block carries a pin which connects with Fig. 7. Link Motion. the valve rod of the engine, and by raising or depressing the link, which is done by means of a suitable rod attached at the point B, the end either of the upper or lower eccentric rod is brought opposite to C, and imparts to the valve the motion of the eccentric to which the block 587 C is opposite. If the link be raised only enough to bring the block C to the middle of the link, there will be no motion imparted to the valve, and the engine will therefore stop; whereas if C be brought to one end of the link the engine will move ahead, and if brought to the other end the engine will move astern. By working the engine with the block C at a short distance from the end of the link, the engine, if constructed with a little overlap on the valve, will be worked more expansively ; for as the extent to which a given amount of lap on the valve influences the cutting off of the steam varies with the throw of the valve, to reduce the throw with a given lap is tantamount to an increase of the lap with the same throw. Gridiron and Equilibrium Valves. — The in- creasing size of steam engines, especially as applied to steam navigation, and the increased difficulty of moving valves of great size by hand to start the engines, together with the need of rapid motion, have pointed to the necessity of some modification of the older forms of slide valve by which these qualities would be realised. The D valve has consequently been so modified in its construction as to take the pressure of the steam off the back of it. This is accom- plished by introducing a packing opposite to the upper part of the cylinder port, and another opposite to the lower part. The pressure on the back of the valve is thus made the same as the pressure on the front, and the resistance due to the friction of the packing is the only force that has to be overcome. The form of valve em- ployed in locomotives, and hitherto much used in oscillating and other engines, is the three- ported valve, in which the upper and lower ports or passages leading to the cylinder, and a central port — communicating with the condenser in con- densing engines, and with the atmosphere in high-pressure engines — are covered by a box with its open side against the cylinder, on which it is capable of moving steam-tight. But the length of the box is not sufficient to cover the whole three ports, but only one of the end ports and the central one. The box is set in a casing, and is surrounded by steam leading from the boiler; and the effect of moving up and down the box within the casing is to place each end of the cylinder alternately in connection with the boiler and with the atmosphere or condenser. This valve answers admirably for small engines, but the travel of the valve, which should be equal to the depth of the port, is too great to be convenient in the case of large engines moving at a high speed; and, further, the pressure of the steam against the bottom of the box is so great when acting over a large surface as to create an amount of resistance from fric- tion that is not easily overcome. To remedy these defects, the gridiron and equilibrium forms of valve have been introduced. In the grid- iron valve each port is divided into a number of narrow ports, by which the travel of the valve may be correspondingly abridged. In the equilibrium valve a ring is applied to the back of the valve, which rubs steam-tight against the STEAM back of the valve casing. The interior of this ring communicates with the atmosphere or the condenser accordingly as the engine is a high- pressure or a condensing one, and by this ex- pedient an equilibrium of pressure is established between the back and front of the valve, which discharges the friction and enables the valve to be moved with facility. In engines of large size, both of these expedients are generally introduced, as will be seen by a reference to fig. 8, which is a longitudinal section of part of one of the cylinders and of one of the valves of the screw engines of the steamer Great Eastern. Here A A are the cylinder ports, each of which is split into two narrow ports before reaching the valve face ; B is the central port or passage leading to the condenser ; C C 0 C are portions of the valve casing, which is filled with steam, and D is the valve which, as represented, is opening the upper ports to the steam, while the lower ports are open to the condenser; E is a ring fixed on the back of the valve, and moving with it, which rubs on the door which constitutes the Gridiron back of the valve-casing. A Equilibrium Valve. smaU hole ig bored fa^gh the back of the valve, so as to enable the space within the ring to communicate with the exhaust passage B, by which expedient the pressure of the steam is taken off the back, and the valve is rendered easily movable. Starting Cylinders and Valves. — In some large marine engines, small cylinders have been intro- duced to move the link motion by which the movements of the valves of the main engines are controlled. In other cases, starting valves have been introduced. Both expedients were first applied by Mr. Bourne, the first in 1836, and the second in 1852. Feathering Paddle-wheels. — In one variety of paddle-wheel, the float-boards which act upon the water are fixed in a radial position, like the buckets of an under-shot water-wheel, as has already been explained ; and this species of wheel is largely employed both in the case of river and sea going vessels. Latterly, how- ever, paddle-wheels with movable floats, of the kind represented in the preceding engravings, have obtained a marked preference, and vessels fitted with such wheels are found to realise a considerably increased speed. It will be remarked, that each float is hung upon an axis, whereby the inclination at which it enters or leaves the water may be altered ; while by means of levers which are attached to the floats, and acted upon by rods converging to a centre eccentric to the shaft, a feathering motion is imparted to the floats by the revolution of the wheel. In river vessels the use of feathering 588 ENGINE wheels enables a small diameter of wheel to be employed without loss from angular impact ; and with wheels of a small diameter, the engines may be worked with a greater speed, and will thus exert more power. In the case of sea- going vessels the diameter of the paddle-wheels cannot be materially reduced, whatever species of wheel is employed ; for if the wheels were made very small, they would be immerged to the centre, or be out of the water altogether, if the sea should become boisterous : never- theless, feathering wheels are advantageous in the case of ocean vessels also, as they act more beneficially than common radial wheels when deeply immersed, and with variable im- mersions, therefore, they maintain a greater averago efficiency. There are objections, how- ever, incident to the use of feathering wheels, which go far to balance these advantages. They are expensive both to make and to maintain. The wear and friction in such a multitude of joints is very considerable ; and if any of the arms get adrift, or break, they will be whirled round like a flail, and may perhaps cut through the paddle box or even through the vessel. If the injury be of such a nature that the wheels can- not be turned round (and this has sometimes happened), it will follow that the engines will be virtually disabled until the obstruction can be cleared away ; and if the weather be very stormy, or the vessel be in a critical situation, she may be lost in consequence of her tem- porary derangement. Nevertheless, feathering paddle-wheels have been on the increase in paddle vessels, and to diminish the risk of acci- dent they are made very strong and sometimes of steel. The bearings and pins are usually made of iron covered with brass, and the eyes of the joints are lined with brass or, better still, with lignum vitse or African oak. Proportions of Marine Engines. — In oscil- lating engines the piston rod is usually made one-ninth of the diameter of the cylinder, and the crank pin is made about one-seventh of the diameter of the cylinder. The diameter of the paddle shaft must have reference not merely to the diameter of the cylinder, but also to the length of the stroke of the piston, or, what is the same thing, to the length of the crank. If the square of the diameter of the cylinder in inches be multiplied by the length of the crank in inches, and the cube root of the product be extracted, then that root multiplied by *242 will give the diameter proper for the shaft in inches at the smallest part. The diameter of the trunnions is regulated by the diameter of the steam and eduction pipes, and these are each usually about one-fifth of the diameter of the cylinder ; but it is better to make the steam trunnion a little less, and the eduction trun- nion a little more, than this proportion. The steam and eduction pipes, where they enter their respective trunnions, are kept tight by a j packing of hemp, which is compressed by a I suitable ring or gland, tightened, by screws. ' In land engines, the air pump and condenser ' are each made about one-eighth of the capacity STEAM ENGINE of the cylinder, but in marine engines they are made somewhat larger. Proportions of Paddle-wheels. — The diameter for the paddle-wheel of a steam vessel depends mainly upon the variation of immersion which tho ship is required to undergo. In river steamers, where there is little variation of immersion, the wheels should be small in dia- meter. If a line be taken in the length of each float, so that the mean pressure of the I water against the float is the same above the line as below it, then this line will constitute a centre of pressure, and in determining the velocity of the wheel it is the velocity of the centre of pressure which should be regarded. In all cases the centre of pressure must move more rapidly through the water than the vessel, and the difference between the velocity of the wheel and the velocity of the vessel is termed the slip of the wheel. The slip which usually occurs in steam vessels is one-third or one- fourth of the velocity of the wheel ; and an imaginary circle described upon the arms of the wheel at that point at which the velocity is the same as that of the ship, is termed the rolling circle. The rolling circle should fall above the level of the water. As a general rule, the larger the paddle floats, the more efficient will be the performance of the wheel, as is more fully explained in the article on the Screw Propeller. In radial wheels, the usual prac- tice is to introduce one float for every foot of the wheel's diameter, so that the floats are about three feet apart. In feathering wheels the floats are usually set twice this distance asunder. Eelations of Power and Speed. — With any given type of vessel, and any given power of engine, it is possible to predict, with very con- siderable accuracy, the speed which a steam vessel will attain. First, a coefficient must be found, which, when introduced into the com- putation, will give a result answering to that derived from experiment, and this coefficient will vary with the shape of the vessel. In the case of sea-going vessels of good average form, the coefficient is 800 ; and in the case of very sharp river vessels it is 1,000. Multiply this coefficient by the number of actual horse- power exerted by the engine [Horse-power], and divide the product by the number of square feet in the transverse section of that part of the vessel lying beneath the water. Extract the cube root of the quotient, and this will be the speed which the vessel will attain in statute miles per hour. It is possible to make steam vessels too sharp to attain a minimum resist- ance, since the increase of length consequent upon increased sharpness involves a larger amount of rubbing surface in the bottom of the vessel, and the loss due to the increased friction may more than counterbalance the benefit accruing from the finer lines. Circumstances conducive to the Efficiency of Marine Engines. — Supposing the boiler to be properly proportioned, it is necessary to see that the flues or tubes are kept clean, that 589 blowing off be sufficiently practised if the boiler is worked with salt wator, and that the furnaces are fed with coal in a regular manner — the coal being distributed evenly over the grate without allowing any holes to exist in the fire. The boilers should be covered with felt to prevent the radiation of the heat, and over tho felt sheet lead should be spread, soldered at the corners, so as to prevent any drip of water from the deck having an injurious operation on the boiler. The steam pipes should be covered with felt, and then wrapped round with canvas. The cylinders should also be covered with felt, round which may be placed staves of wood, which should be hooped like a cask. The felt proper for this purpose is thick and soft, and is made expressly for the retention of heat. The steam should be used with a considerable pressure, and be worked expansively ; but very little advantage will be derived from working expansively in steam vessels, unless the cylin- ders be clothed very effectually, so as to prevent the dispersion of the heat. Condensers, which condense the steam without mixing the result- ing water with water from the sea, have now come into extended operation; for the only impediment to the use of steam of a consider- ably higher pressure in steam vessels, is the liability of the boiler to become incrusted with salt, when it might become red hot in some part, and perhaps burst ; and this risk the use of fresh water in the boilers would prevent. A species of condenser, called Hcdl's condenser, which operated on the principle of a still, was at one time in pretty extensive use in steam vessels ; but it was unskilfully applied in most cases, and the main benefit — the ability to use steam of a higher pressure — was not simulta- neously sought to be attained. In Hall's con- denser, the steam on escaping from the cylinder passed into a multitude of copper pipes, im- merged in a cistern of cold water, and the steam being thus reconverted into water was returned by a pump to the boiler. In another species of condenser, suggested by Symington, a jet of cold water was to be employed, as is the present practice ; but the fresh water with which the vessel started, instead of being dis- charged into the sea, was transmitted through a number of pipes which were kept cool by the sea water, and was returned to the condenser after having suffered sufficient refrigeration. The urgent demand for speed in steam vessels necessitates the employment of a large amount of power, which in its turn involves a large consumption of fuel. To reduce the consump- tion of fuel, without reducing the power, en- gines operating more expansively must be em- ployed ; but steam of a higher pressure is necessary for the satisfactory operation of such engines, and fresh water in the boilers is con- ducive to safety where a considerable pressure is employed. Becent Improvements in the Steam Engine. — Up to the end of 1866 the chief improvements introduced into the steam engine, besides surface condensation in the case of marine STEAM engines, are the use of superheated steam and the substitution of steel for iron in many of the parts. At a temperature answering to a pressure of forty pounds per square inch, salt water deposits sulphate of lime, not from concentration such as that which causes salt to Le deposited by a saline solution, but from the mere application of a high degree of heat ; and boilers working at a pressure of over forty pounds with sea water cannot be pre- served from incrustation by any amount of blowing off. The insides of boilers using surface condensers, however, have been found to be much corroded by the galvanic action of the copper pipes in the condensers unless the pipes are tinned on the side exposed to the sea water ; and all marine boilers, when new, should be worked with sea water at first, so as to de- posit a thin enamel of scale within them. The steam is usually superheated by carrying it through or among pipes exposed to the heat of the smoke escaping to the chimney, and in practice it is found that if it is heated to a higher temperature than 315° Fahr. it will burn the hemp packings of the stuffing boxes, corrode the valve faces, and hinder the proper lubrication of the piston. Tallow subjected to a high temperature within the cylinder, will sometimes carbonise the piston, and convert it into a substance resembling plumbago. The crank shafts of screw engines are now very frequently formed of steel which is of about twice the strength of common wrought iron. Many screw engines, moreover, have the momentum of the moving parts balanced by counterweights upon the cranks, an improve- ment introduced by Mr. Bourne in 1853. The counterweights enable engines to work at a high degree of speed without jolting. For further information on the steam engine, see the Treatise on the Steam Engine, by the Artizan Club ; A Catechism of the Steam Engine, by J. Bourne, C.E. ; or Handbook of the Steam Engine, by J. Bourne, C.E. Steam Engine, Agricultural. There are two forms of agricultural steam engine. The first is a vertical or horizontal engine of simple construction, resembling the smaller classes of engines used to drive factories. The second — called a portable engine — more nearly resembles a locomotive, and consists of a tubular boiler set upon wheels, to enable it to be drawn from place to place, with a cylinder and its connections usually laid on the top of the boiler and giving motion to the fly-wheel shaft, which is carried across the top of the boiler by suitable brackets. These engines have now been very widely intro- duced for agricultural and miscellaneous pur- poses, some of the principal makers turning out nearly 1,000 engines per annum, or something under twenty per week. They are used for driving thrashing machines, for pumping water, for sawing timber, &c. and in some cases also the waste steam is used for steaming food for cattle. They average from eight to ten horses power each. For the most part, agricultural portable engines have a boiler resembling that 590 ENGINE of a locomotive, but smaller; there being a fire-box and a barrel containing small horizon- tal tubes for the transmission of the smoke to the chimney. But in a few cases the barrel of the boiler is placed in a vertical position with a cylindrical fire-grate and fire-box ; and the fire-box, which is made of great height, has a number of tubes, closed at the lower ends, hanging from its top. These tubes being filled with water, and being acted upon by the flame, generate the steam. To enable a circulation of water to be maintained within these tubes, a thin tube of smaller diameter, and not reaching quite to the bottom, is introduced within each, and the water descends through the internal tube, and ascends through the surrounding annulus. In this case the cylinder is usually attached to the side of the boiler, and is in- verted so as to work down to a shaft placed beneath. The wheels of portable engines are generally of iron, and the fore wheels are con- nected to the boiler by a ball-and-socket joint at the middle of the axle, so as to prevent the engine from at any time resting on three wheels. Usually the engine is drawn from place to place by horses ; but in some cases the engine is made to move itself, by imparting motion to the wheels. Further information respecting agricultural engines of modern construction may be obtained in Bourne's Catechism of the Steam Engine, 11th edition. Steam Engine, Substitutes for tne. It would be impossible here to recapitulate the expedients which have at different times been propounded for superseding the steam engine. The most promising are electricity or galvanism and hot air. The best forms of the galvanic battery are constructed with zinc surfaces, which are gradually consumed by oxidation. But a pemnd of coal consumed in a steam engine will produce twice the power generated in an electro-motive engine ; and as the cost per pound of the coal is very much less than that of the zinc, it is most unlikely that galvanism will supersede steam, unless a carbon battery can be constructed in which coal will be consumed instead of zinc. The hot-air engine is a contrivance of greater promise ; and Ericsson, in America, has constructed many hot-air engines, or, as he calls them, caloric engines, which are working successfully in different parts of the world. But as in these engines a cy- linder and piston are employed, the tempera- ture of the air cannot be made very high, and unless high temperatures are employed the air engine will not be more economical in fuel than the steam engine, although for some purposes it will be more convenient, inas- much as the boiler is dispensed with. The most promising expedient of all at the present time is an air engine employing very high temperatures. Such an engine cannot directly employ a cylinder and piston, though it may act on some fluid, through the medium of which the power may be transmitted, or it may consist of a reaction engine, like a Barker's STEAM FIRE ENGINE mill, moving in water. In the case of steam vessels, propulsion may be effected by spouting out steam and smoke below the water at the stern. Various plans have been propounded for propelling in this manner, but none of them have yet been practically successful. That the steam engine will be superseded by a form of air engine using high temperatures, is highly probable ; but an electro- motive engine would be preferable, provided that the power could be obtained from coal instead of from zinc. Steam Fire Engine. An arrangement of pumps worked by steam for extinguishing fires, by projecting upon them a continuous stream of water from a suitable nozzle or spout-pipe. The first steam fire engine we owe, in com- mon with many other things, to the ingenuity of Ericsson, the eminent Swedish engineer, who subsequently to the completion of his loco- motive, the Novelty, in 1830, constructed the first steam fire engine which was used with good effect in the fire which destroyed the Argyll Booms about that time. In 1832, he constructed, for tho king of Prussia, the steam fire engine called the Comet, which had two horizontal cylinders of 12 inches diameter, and 14 inches stroke, and two pumps 10£ inches diameter, and of the same stroke This engine was set on wheels like those of an ordinary fire engine, and the flow of water was equalised by the aid of a great globular air vessel set behind the driver's seat. This engine weighed 4 tons. It raised its steam in from 13 to 20 minutes, and it threw 336 gallons of water per minute, or about 90 tons per hour. Notwithstanding the success of Ericsson's early engines, steam fire engines did not come into extended use in this country for more than thirty years afterwards, and then various spe- cimens of such engines came to us from Ame- rica, which were inferior in constructive excel- lence to those which Ericsson had long before produced. Latterly, numerous steam fire en- gines have been constructed by Messrs. Merry- weather and Sou, Messrs. Shand, Mason, and Co., and by various other makers ; and nume- rous competitive trials have been made to esta- Steam Fire Wish the relative efficiency of the engines of the different makers. In the engines of both Messrs. Shand, Mason, and Co., and in those of Messrs. Merryweather and Son, the boilers are vertical ; but in the former, the smoke is conducted through a number of vertical tubes to the chimney, whereas, in the latter, the form of boiler known as the Field boiler, is adopted, in which a number of tubes filled with water hang from the top of the fire-box, but terminate in close ends above the level of the fire-grate. In these tubes smaller internal tubes are in- troduced, to enable the water to circulate by descending the internal tube and ascending through the annulus left between the two. In some engines one cylinder is employed, and 591 Engine. in others two, but Messrs. Shand, Mason, and Co.'s engines are formed with a crank, whereas Messrs. Merryweather and Son's engines are made without one, and are, therefore, not rota- tive engines. On the whole, the rotative form of engine appears to be best for pumping as well as for other purposes, as it can be driven faster, and enables the piston to be brought closer to the ends of the cylinder at the ter- mination of the stroke, thereby saving steam. The form of pump commonly used is the bucket and plunger pump, first introduced by Mr. David Thomson, in the Eichmond water- works in 1845, and which resembles a common suc- tion pump, with a very thick rod, which acts as a plunger, and the pump consequently forces STEAM GAUGE both in the ascent and descent of the bucket, but draws only during the ascent of the bucket. In some cases the cylinders and pumps are vertical, and in others horizontal. The figure on p. 591 represents one of Messrs. Shand, Mason, and Co.'s horizontal engines. In an experiment made in 1864 with an engine of this kind with a single cylinder and small fly-wheel, the cylinder being 7 inches diameter and 8 inches stroke, and the pressure of steam 145 lbs. per square inch in the boiler, and 128*16 lbs. in the cylinder, a jet of water 1± inch diameter was projected under a water pressure of 125 lbs. per square inch, the engine making 165 revo- lutions per minute, with 5^ lbs. per square inch of back pressure resisting the piston. In this case the engine exerted 32^ indicated horse- power; and as the total weight of the engine was only 32 cwt., the weight was only one cwt. per indicated horse-power. In these engines a small piston, which is pressed against a spring by the water which is being forced out of the jet pipe, governs the speed of the engine by moving suitably the throttle valve in the steam pipe. In April 1866, Messrs. Shand, Mason, and Co. delivered to the Metropolitan Fire Bri- gade seven of their vertical steam fire engines, those previously in use in that force having been found to act in a most satisfactory manner. They also about the same time sent out three engines to Bombay, one of which was tested in London before being shipped. Steam of 60 lbs. pressure was raised from cold water in 8g- minutes, which threw a jet of water an inch in diameter 150 feet high, and 228 feet horizontal. In the fire brigade stations, it is usual to keep the water in the boilers of the fire engines warm by keeping a small jet of gas alight in the fur- nace, and by this simple expedient the steam is almost sure to be up before the engine can reach even the nearest fire. Steam Gauge. An instrument intended to measure the pressure of the steam in the boiler. Steam gauges are of different kinds. One that has been much employed is the mercurial steam gauge, which consists of a small U tube of iron which is filled with mercury about half-way up, and the top of one leg communicates with the boiler, while a small wooden float projects above the top of the other leg and points to the graduations on a scale divided into inches, the float pointing to 0 when the steam is not up. If, now, steam be raised in the boiler, the mercury will be de- pressed in one leg and raised in the other, and every rise of an inch on the scale indicates a pressure equal to that due to two inches of mercury, or very nearly a pound pressure per square inch. Another form of steam gauge is a conical glass tube containing air, against which mercury or some other liquid is forced by the steam ; another form, now much used, is that known as Bourdon's gauge, which con- sists substantially of a coiled flat elastic tube, into which steam enters, and the steam causes the tube to assume more nearly the cylindri- cal form, and simultaneously to uncoil. The 592 STEAM GUN amount of uncoiling, as shown by a suitable hand, indicates the amount of pressure. Steam Gun. A contrivance by which projectiles used in warlike operations may be discharged by the expansive force of steam. This invention is due to Mr. Jacob Perkins. If a strong close iron vessel, having two valves, one opening inwards and the other outwards — the latter being loaded with some definite pressure — be completely filled with water, such a vessel may be ' heated to the temperature corresponding to the pressure with which the valve is loaded without causing any portion of the water in it to be converted into steam. To render the effect more easily understood, let us suppose that the valve is loaded with a pressure of fifty atmospheres. The temperature of water evaporated under that pressure being 510° [Steam], the vessel may be raised to any temperature not ex- ceeding 500°, without having any of the water contained in it converted into steam. If the temperature to which the water is raised be 500°, and a cubic inch of water at common temperatures be forced into the vessel through the valve which opens inwards, water being sensibly incompressible, a cubic inch of water at 500° will be forced out at the valve which opens outwards. This water, being no longer subjected to the pressure which kept it in the liquid state, will suddenly expand and flash into steam, which at first will have a pressure of fifty atmospheres, but as it expands will have its pressure diminished in nearly the same proportion as the volume into which it swells shall be increased. Since, however, 500° is not sufficient heat to enable the whole of the water thus ejected to pass into steam [Steam], that part of it which will assume the vaporous form will take the requisite amount of latent heat from the sensible heat of that portion which remains in the liquid state. As this latter portion will still retain a consider- able temperature, it may be conducted to a vessel containing the feed for the heated vessel just mentioned, whence it will be again forced into that vessel. Such was the principle of Mr. Perkins' gene- rators ; by which term he denominated those close vessels in which water was raised to a high temperature without being converted into steam. Now, if the valve through which the heated water is ejected be supposed to be in commu- nication with the barrel of a gun or piece of ordnance, in the same manner as the barrel of an air gun is in communication with the hollow metallic ball in which the air is compressed, a projectile may be discharged by the expansive force of the water ejected from the valve, pre- cisely as the ball of an air gun is projected by the expansive force of the compressed air. As the water may be ejected from the valve either in a constant stream or by a rapid succes- sion of jets, the projectiles may be discharged from the barrel as rapidly as it is possible for them to be brought under the action of the STEAM HAMMER steam ; and since the heating of the barrel tends only to increase the elastic force of the steam, there appears to be no other practical limit to the action of such an engine of offence except that which may be imposed on the heating power applied to the generator. Of the abstract practicability of applying steam in this manner as an offensive engine, there can be no doubt. Both theory and experiment conspire to establish it ; but of the comparative efficacy, convenience, and economy of it, compared with gunpowder, many doubts will present themselves to all who duly reflect on the circumstances by which the innovations are surrounded. The necessity of using a steam generator of any kind obviously limits the application of such an instrument to particular cases, and even in those special cases the necessity of employ- ing a generator or boiler which shall reconcile a ready conduction of the heat to the water, with great strength and solidity in the heat- ing vessel, must continue to be regarded as a weighty difficulty. Without a very high pres- sure of steam the projectile cannot acquire an adequate velocity with any ordinary length of bore ; and the use of steam of a very high pressure is dangerous and inconvenient. By greatly increasing the length of the gun, the same effect may be obtained with a smaller pressure; but this expedient is also inad- missible. Hence the steam gun could never come into effect for any but very small cali- bres ; and the places where small guns come into use are precisely those in which it would be most difficult to employ a steam boiler, viz. in the field, in boat service, &c. Steam Hammer. A heavy hammer, moved by a steam engine, employed chiefly for forging masses of iron and steel, but also for crushing quartz in gold mining, and for other purposes in the arts. Hammers lifted by cams upon a revolving shaft, deriving its motion either from a water wheel or a steam engine, have long been used in certain processes of the iron manufacture. But in the steam hammer there is no intermediate mechanism intervening between the engine and the hammer, and the force and number of the blows are regulated by suitably governing, by a proper valve, the flow of steam to the engine. The first proposal to apply a steam engine to work a hammer direct was made by Mr. Watt in 1784, but it was not until upwards of half a century later that the problem was practically gone into and solved by Mr. James Nasmyth, then of Patricroft near Manchester. The first steam hammer actually set to work was erected by M. Bourdon in France. But M. Bourdon confessedly obtained his ideas on the subject at Mr. Nasmyth' s works, which had been visited by M. Bourdon when he was in England, and to whom the plans of the steam hammer were shown along with the plans of other tools and machines then in progress. But the completion of the steam hammer having been delayed by the progress of other work, and M. Bourdon having Vol. III. 593 begun the construction of such a hammer im- mediately on his return, it so happoned that the French hammor was at work before the English one. In Watt's proposed steam hammer the cylinderwas at one end of a wooden beam, while the hammer was at the other, and the hammer, instead of moving vertically as modern steam hammers do, moved in the arc of a circle, being fitted with a wooden shank like the old forge and tilt hammers when moved by cams upon a revolving shaft. But in Nasmyth's arrange- ment the cylinder is erected over the anvil, and the piston rod which passes through the bottom of the cylinder has the hammer fixed to its lower extremity, the hammer being directed vertically by suitable guides. In Condie's arrangement, the piston is stationary and the cylinder moves, the hammer being attached to the bottom of the cylinder ; and the piston rod, which is a stationary cylindrical pipe, serves to convey the steam to and from the Fig. l. Fig. 2. Light Steam Hammer. cylinder. Figs. 1 and 2 are a front and side view of Condie's 3^ cwt. hammer, and figs. 3 and 4 a front and side view of Condie's 6 cwt. hammer. It will be observed that in the lighter hammers the standard is single and the hammer is overhung, while in the heavier hammers the standard is double and the moving cylinder is guided between the two parts. In the early hammers the weight was raised by the pressure of the steam, and the hammer descended by gravity alone ; but in all modern hammers the steam presses the hammer down as well as raises it up. Many of the modern hammers are of great size, and of these the standards are generally formed of wrought iron. It is found that hammers of great weight are quite indis- pensable for consolidating and giving soundness to the Bessemer steel, and it is for this purpose that the very heavy hammers are chiefly em- ployed. In Neilson's radial hammer the cylinder QQ STEAM HAMMER and hammer are carried on the end of a radial arm, -which may be swivelled round a stationary- pillar, and the anvil block, which is fitted with various kinds of anvils and dies, is formed like a quadrant struck from the centre of the pillar, to the end that the hammer may by swivel- ling it be brought down on any particular die. Hammers working horizontally, so as to strike the mass of incandescent metal upon the anvil simultaneously on opposite sides, have also been introduced, and in some cases, too, such a duplex horizontal hammer has been used in conjunction with a hammer working vertically, so that the metal is compressed on four sides at once, the dross and clinker being forced out at the ends. Steam Hammer for Pile-driving. — An in- Fig. 3. genious machine invented by Mr. Nasmyth, now in general use in government and other large works. ' It consists of a steam cylinder, closed at the bottom, but with openings in the top to allow the passage of air ; a piston works in it, having its rod passing through a steam-tight aperture in the bottom. To the piston the monkey or driver, which weighs 2^ tons, is attached, and is thus suspended. The machine is worked by high-pressure steam, which being admitted at the bottom of the cylinder by the induction pipe, raises the piston, and, with it, the monkey attached to it. The instant it arrives at the height required, it closes the induction pipe, and, opening the eduction pipe (also at the bottom of the cylinder), the steam escapes, and Fig. 4. Heavy Steam Hammer. the piston, with the monkey attached to its rod, falls freely on the head of the pile. A large heavy cap of iron, with a hole to allow the head of the pile to pass through, slides between the upright standards, and guides the direction of the pile. The monkey and cylinder also follow the course of the pile, guided by the same uprights, between which they slide.' The entire weight of the steam hammer part of the apparatus, resting all the while on the shoulders of the pile and following down with it, materially assists its penetration into the soil. The saving of labour effected by this con- trivance is very great. A stage, which carries the machine, boiler, workmen, and everything necessary, moves along a railway. Having driven one pile, the machine moves onward the regulated distance ; it then picks the next pile out of the water, hoists it high in the air, drops it into its exact place, then covers it with the great cap ; the monkey immediately acts, giving blows at the rate of seventy-five in a minute. The whole operation of raising a pile 594 from the raft, putting it in its place, and driving it to the required depth, occupies generally from two to four minutes. By the old method of pile driving, a comparatively light weight (about 12 cwt.) is made to fall from a great height, and the blows succeed at intervals of about five minutes. By the new machine, a very heavy weight (about 50 cwt.) falls through a height of only three feet, and the blows fall 375 times more frequently. In a paper communicated to the British Association for 1841, Dr. Greene gave the following instance of the state of the heads of two piles, as driven by the two methods : — ' One was fifty-six feet long, driven by a monkey of 12 cwt. falling from a great height, and making only one blow in five minutes, and requiring twenty hours to drive it ; this, though protected by a hoop of iron, was so split and shattered on the head, that it would require to be reheaded to drive, it any farther. The other, though sixty feet long, was not even supported by an iron hoop, and the head is as STEAM JET smooth as if it were dressed off with a plane. It was driven with a hammer of 50 cwt. and only three feet fall, making seventy-five blows in a minute, and was put into its place and finished in four and a half minutes.' Steam Jet. A jet of steam suffered to escape from a pipe, and employed either to accelerate the flow of smoke up a chimney by being projected upwards in the manner in which the waste steam is projected through the blast pipe into the chimney of a loco- motive ; or it may be employed to cause a current of air for purposes of ventilation, as was done in the Houses of Parliament, where the ventilation was promoted by steam jets. The arrangement is suitable for ventilating steam vessels, by sucking the vitiated air from the cabins. A species of steam jet, called Delabarre's steam jet, is sometimes used, of which the peculiarity is, that the jet opens into a short piece of larger pipe, open at both ends, and that into another piece still larger in diameter, and so on ; and the air or smoke is sucked in between the successive pieces. Liquids as well as gases may be moved by a jet of steam; and one form of the steam jet, used for forcing water into boilers to feed them, is known as GiffaroVs injector. The action of this instrument appears at first sight para- doxical, as a jet of steam from any given boiler will not only force water into that boiler, but also into a boiler of a still higher pressure. It is essential to the action of the instrument that the feed water shall not be too hot to condense the steam ; and the water in the steam must be viewed as water moving with the high velocity with which the steam moves, and which consequently contains sufficient vis viva to force the water in against the pressure within the boiler. Latterly the steam jet has been tried for propelling vessels. Steam Navigation. The art of pro- pelling vessels by the instrumentality of the steam engine. Vessels so propelled are called steam vessels; and the navigation of seas or rivers by steam vessels is termed steam navi- gation. The propelling instrument, by means of which the steam engine acts upon the water, may be the paddle-wheel [Steam Engine] or the screw [Screw Propeller], or any other medium for communicating power; and the vessel is forced forward by the backward pressure of the paddle boards or screw upon the water, just as a boat is forced forward by the reaction of the oars, or as the body of an aquatic bird is propelled by the action of the feet. The pressure with which the vessel is forced forwards is in all cases the same as that with which the water is forced backwards ; and this pressure will remain unchanged whether the surface pressing the water be large or small, being dependent altogether upon the power of the engine, other things being equal. But if the propelling surface be large, the water will be moved backwards through only a small distance, while the vessel is moved forward through a great dis- 595 STEAM NAVIGATION tance, whereas if the propelling surface be small, then with only the same forward motion of the vessel there will be a larger backward motion of the water, and more steam will bo expended in producing the same result. History of Steam Navigation. — Vessels pro- pelled by paddle-wheels driven by oxen were employed by the Carthaginians, and were intro- duced by them into Sicily, from which country the Komans obtained a knowledge of that method of navigation. In 1543, Blasco Graray, a sea captain in Spain, is reported to have exhibited to Charles V. a vessel propelled by wheels of this kind which were driven by steam ; but recent investigations show this story to have been apocryphal. In 1618, and again in 1630, patents were granted in England to David Eamseye for propelling vessels by fire or steam. Various projects for propelling vessels were proposed after this time by Grent, Lin, Pord, Toogood, Chamberlaine, Bushnell, Papin, Duvivian, Savery, Duquet, Dickens, Allan, and Hulls ; but so long as the steam engine remained in the cumbrous and in- effective state in which it then existed, no power profitably commensurate with the addi- tional weight could be imparted to a vessel. In 1737, Hulls published a pamphlet describing his mode of propulsion, of which the main features were a paddle-wheel placed at the stern and driven by an atmospheric vacuum engine within the vessel. In 1787, Mr. Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton in Scotland, published a pamphlet describing a new species of vessel which was to be driven by paddle-wheels ; but these wheels were to be worked by manual labour by means of capstans. With a vessel constructed by Mr. Miller upon this plan, it was found that a considerable speed was attainable; but the operation of turning the capstan was found to be very laborious, and it occurred to Mr. Taylor, a tutor in Mr. Miller's family, that a steam engine might be applied to perform this work. Mr. Taylor, having shown that such an engine might be introduced without setting the vessel on fire, was commissioned by Mr. Miller to order an engine of an acquaintance of Taylor's, called William Symington, a young engineer of much ingenuity. This engine was made and intro- duced into a pleasure boat, which was many times tried successfully on the lake of Dal- swinton. Mr. Miller then built a vessel on a larger scale, the engine of which was made at Carron. This vessel was tried on the Forth and Clyde canal in 1789, and realised a speed of nearly seven miles an hour. Nothing further was done in the matter, however, till 1801, when Symington received an order from Lord Dundas to construct a steam vessel for the Forth and Clyde Canal Company. Watt's patent having by this time expired, the engine was made upon his plan, and, with Watt's double-action cylinder, the performance of the vessel was satisfactory in every respect. From an impression, however, that the waves which were created would injure the banks of the q q 2 STEAM NAVIGATION canal, this new method of propulsion was not further pursued. In 1801, shortly after this vessel was com- pleted, she was visited by Robert Fulton, a native of America, at whose desire Symington caused the vessel to be put in operation in order that he might witness her performance. Symington's belief was that the speed of the vessel was impaired by the narrowness of the canal, and Fulton remarked that such an objection could not have existence in the great rivers of North America, where vessels of such a character would confer important advantages. Shortly after this time, Fulton commissioned Boulton and "Watt to construct for him an engine which was to be put on board a vessel in America. This vessel was to be propelled by paddle-wheels in the manner previously practised in Scotland. The name of the vessel was the Clermont ; she was launched and tried in 1807, and performed her assigned duties in a satisfactory manner. Numerous vessels resembling the Clermont were soon after this time built in America. In 1812, Mr. Henry Bell, of Helensburgh on the Clyde, constructed the Comet, the first steam vessel employed for commercial purposes in Europe. Numerous other vessels resembling the Comet were soon after this built in the Clyde, and steam navigation before long came into general use in all parts of the kingdom. Mr. David Napier, of Glasgow, who had con- structed the boiler of the Comet, and who soon signalised himself in this department of engi- neering, was the first person who sent steam vessels to sea. He established lines of commu- nication between Greenock and Belfast, and, subsequently, between Dublin and Holyhead, and between Dover and Calais. The method of combining two engines with their cranks set at right angles with one another, so as to obviate all danger of the engine stopping at the dead point, and to make the power uniform through the revolution, was a suggestion of Mr. Watt's. When the City of Edinburgh, con- structed by Boulton and "Watt, was set to run between London and Leith, it was found that the sea water in a voyage of this length acquired, from the continual evaporation of the water without removing the salts, such a degree of concentration that it was no longer fit for the production of steam. The vessel had, therefore, to be stopped in the middle of the voyage, the water let out of the boiler into the hold, and a fresh supply of water to be introduced from the sea. To remedy this in- convenience, Boulton and Watt applied change jpumjas to the vessel, which by continually removing a portion of the super-salted water during the voyage, prevented an injurious con- centration from being attained. They after- wards superseded the change pumps by blow- off cocks, which on being turned at intervals allowed a portion of the super-salted water to escape overboard. This expedient for pre- venting an accumulation of salt in the boiler is still generally employed in vessels not em- 596 ploying external condensation, which, however, has now become very general, to enable the boiler to be fed with fresh water, and thus to render the use of steam of a higher pressure practicable with safety, and to obviate the risk of bursting from the accidental accumulation of salt upon the furnaces, when they might become red hot and collapse from the pressure of the steam. The side lever form of engine, still to some extent employed in steam vessels, was settled by Boulton and Watt at an early period in the history of steam navigation; but the oscil- lating engine invented by their foreman, Mr. Murdoch, towards the close of the last century, is now generally preferred in the case of vessels propelled by paddle-wheels. It is, however, mainly from the admirable manner in which the details of this species of engine have been carried out by Messrs. Penn and Son, that it has obtained such favourable acceptance and such wide notoriety. Tubular boilers for marine purposes were patented by Mr. Bourne in 1838, but were first practically introduced by Messrs. Penn and Son. and Messrs. Miller and Raven- hill, about 1844. Ocean Steam Navigation. — Lines of steam navigation now connect together nearly all the countries of the world. Most of the companies carrying on these lines of communication receive large yearly payments from the government for the conveyance of the mails, without which the existing measure of efficiency in the vessels could not be maintained ; and it may be taken as an axiom in steam navigation, that no line of distant communication in which a high rate of speed is necessary can be profitable unless supported by a government subvention, or un- less some other equitable payment is made for carrying the mails. Some of the vessels carrying on ocean navigation are of 800, 1,000, and even 1,200 nominal horse-power. The actual power of such vessels should be at least six times the nominal. In sea-going steam vessels from 20 to 21 miles an hour is the utmost speed that has yet been attained ; but in some cases, the actual power is as great as nine times the nominal. For screw vessels, direct acting engines, or engines without gearing, are now nearly universal. The type most generally and most justly preferred is the double piston rod or steeple engine, laid on its side. [Screw Propeeeer; Turret Ship.] River Steam Navigation. — The extent of steam navigation upon the rivers of this country is not considerable, the rivers being only in a few cases, or through an inconsider- able part of their length, of sufficient volume to enable navigation to be carried on upon them. Upon the Thames and also upon the Clyde there are many river steamers, well adapted to the functions which they have to perform ; but in no case are these vessels of large dimensions or great power. In America, however, where the rivers are of a far larger volume than in this country, and perform a far more important part in the STEAM NAVIGATION means of internal communication, there are river steamers of nearly 400 foet in length, and with paddle-wheels 50 feet in diameter, and some of these vessels are said to have attained a speed of 24 miles an hour. The engines are usually set upon the deck, and are formed in the same manner as a common land engine— the heam being poised high in the air and the connecting rod extending from the beam down to the crank. The river steamers of America more nearly resemble arks than ships, as they are built with several decks or stories resting on the hull, which is always made very sharp, so as to enable a high rate of speed to be attained. A pressure of 50 lbs. per square inch is commonly maintained in these engines, if condensing. The stroke of the piston is always very long relatively with its diameter ; the steam is of considerable pressure, and is used expansively. The engines are of rude construction compared with English en- gines, but they are cheap and answer their intended purpose. Upon the Mississippi and its tributaries most of the engines are high- pressure, with the cylinders lying horizontal as in locomotive engines, and accidents by ex- plosion and fire are of frequent occurrence. Some of these engines are worked with steam of 250 lbs. pressure upon the square inch. The muddiness of the water of the Mississippi causes it to froth very much and the boilers to prime, unless steam of a high pressure be em- ployed, which, as it occupies a less volume, oc- casions less agitation in the water as it rises to the surface. The cabins of American steamers are in nearly all cases very handsome and spacious ; the boilers are usually disposed at the sides of the vessel behind the paddle-boxes, so that the ashes fall into the river ; and the steering wheel is placed on the upper deck near the bow, and communicates with the rudder at the stern by means of iron rods or chains. Steam Navigation upon shallow Bivers. — The shallowness of many of the rivers of the continent, on which it became important to establish steam navigation, has led to the introduction of very light vessels upon them. Upon the upper part of the Ehine, and upon the Moselle, there are vessels plying which draw only 11 inches of water. Upon the Loire there are vessels plying which draw only from 8 to 10 inches of water, and upon the Red River, a tributary of the Mississippi in America, there are vessels plying which are said to draw only 7 inches of water. These vessels of course do not carry cargo, but only passengers. Mr. Bourne introduced a species of steam train for navigating the rivers of India, and especially the Indus, consisting of a steamer of light draught towing a train of shallow barges laden with cargo ; and it is reckoned that by this simple expedient ten thousand miles of river, now inaccessible, would be laid open to commercial intercourse by steam. Steam Navigation upon rapid Bivers. — A method of towing barges by steam has for 597 STEAM PLOUGHING some years past been in successful operation upon the Rhone, which appears likely to be of service in all cases where rapid rivers have to be ascended with heavy loads. Upon the pad- dle shaft a toothed drum is fixed which engages an endless chain. This chain passes round a great wheel like the fly-wheel of an engine, but armed with projecting spikes, which is placed at the lower extremity of a wooden frame hinged at its upper end, so that it can rise and fall with the irregularities of the river bed, and this wheel, being put into revolution with about one-third of the speed of the paddles, hauls the vessel up against the stream by means of the chain. The paddles are thrown out of ac- tion when this wheel is in operation, but are used in descending the river, when the great wheel, which rises through a well in the centre of the vessel, is hoisted out of the water. Steam Ploughing:. The art of cultivating land by the steam engine has now been prac- tically matured ; but as the requisite machinery would be too expensive for most farmers to pur- chase, and too powerful for them to require constantly, companies have been formed in different localities to let out steam machinery for ploughing and thrashing on hire. Various expedients for ploughing by steam have been tried, one of which was a species of digging machine in which a wheel armed with spades or diggers was rotated by an engine, and which simultaneously turned up the ground and drew forward the machine. By another method, a traction engine, made either with an endless railway like Boydell's, or very broad wheels and projecting grippers like Bray's, advanced over the ground, drawing a number of plough- shares behind it. But the method of ploughing now generally adopted consists in drawing a frame on wheels, and armed with a sufficient number of ploughs, backward and forward over the field by means of a rope of steel wire wound up by a portable agricultural steam engine. There are two systems of rope tillage, in one of which a single engine is used, and in the other two engines. In the first system, the engine is placed at one end of the field, a pulley, armed with a suitable anchor for fixing it to the ground, being placed at the other end. A wire rope, proceeding from the engine along the length of the field, passes through the pulley and returns again to the engine. This rope is then drawn backward and forward across the field, carrying the frame of ploughs with it, which frame is so poised on central wheels that when the set of cutters in front of the wheels is in the earth the other is out, and vice versa, to the end that the ploughs may act equally in whatever direction the rope is pulled. In the other system — which appears to be prefer- able — two engines are used, one being placed at each end of the field with a rope extend- ing between them, and the same species of plough is attached to the rope and is drawn alternately backward and forward by the en- gines alternately winding and unwinding — the engines being of course advanced through a STEAM PLOUGHING suitable distance along the ends of the field at each cut that is taken. This arrangement is shown in the annexed figure, which represents Savory's apparatus for steam ploughing. But there are various other forms of apparatus, such as Fowler's, Howard's, Smith's, &c. Steam ploughing companies generally charge farmers 12s. per acre for ploughing their land 12 inches deep, 105. for 9 inches, and 85. for 7 inches. The farmers, by the aid of such companies, get their stubbles and seeds broken up and crushed at two operations for 18s. per acre, and their ploughing and digging performed at from 10s. to 18s. For ploughing with short breasts for turnips or barley before sowing they are charged 12s. 6d. per acre. Fowler's tackle gets through lj acre per hour, and works without trouble or breakage. Howard's machinery is also well spoken of, and works through stony and uneven ground without injury. The engines STEAM-MADE ICE come to the ground with the steam up, and when two engines are employed there is no time lost in fixing tackle, which on the single- engine system occasions much delay. Steam Press. [Printing Machine.] Steam Riveting: IVIachine. A machine for riveting, by the pressure or percussion generated by a steam engine, the plates of metal which enter into the composition of boilers and other similar structures. For- merly, the plates of metal having been punched by a punching press, red-hot rivets were inserted, which were clinched over by hand hammers, and this mode of procedure is yet practised in situations where the riveting machine cannot be applied. But work riveted by machine is not only cheaper than that riveted by hand, but is sounder and better, while the machine forces the plates so closely together that very little caulking suffices to make the joints tight. Steam Ploughing. There are two kinds of riveting machines. In the one the die for forming the rivet is pressed against the plate in the same manner as the punch is pressed in a common punch- ing machine ; in the other, it is pressed forward by a piston urged by steam in the same way as a steam hammer. The first of these varieties is the form of riveting machine first contrived by Mr. Bourne in 1834, and subsequently adopted by Mr. Fairbairn. The second variety, which is the offspring of the steam hammer, was not contrived until the Menai tube came to be constructed. The steam hammer form of riveting machine is the most convenient, as it does not require any adjustment for the thick- ness of the plate, and it is the form now gene- rally preferred. Steam Boom. The space in a boiler appropriated to the storage of the steam, and which includes the whole content of the boiler except that occupied by the water and flues. Steam-made Ice. One of the most re- markable applications of the steam engine is to the manufacture of ice, which is accomplished by forcing the heat out of air by mechanical compression, and then by allowing the com- pressed air to expand, whereby such a demand is made for the restoration of the heat before 598 forced out as to produce a great reduction in the temperature of surrounding objects. Mr. Bourne states that in his first visit to India, in 18-47, the inconveniences caused by the heal led him to contrive a machine in which cold would be produced by the expansion of air previously compressed by a steam engine, the expanding air being at the same time used to work the punkahs or great fans which are suspended from the ceilings of the rooms to produce an agitation of the air. In the first ice- making machine constructed on this principle in America, the vapour of ether was employed instead of air, a pump being introduced to create a vacuum, when the ether evaporated rapidly, producing great cold, and this vapour being then pumped into a vessel under pres- sure it assumed the liquid form, when it was again available to be evaporated as before. Brine was made to circulate through pipes traversing the refrigerated ether, and these pipes being continued through cisterns of water, the water was so much cooled by the contact of the cold pipes that it froze and was taken out in blocks. This machine was introduced into India and some other tropical countries. But it was found that the ice made by it was opaque instead of being transparent like ordinary STEAMER ice, a peculiarity imputed to the circumstance of the freezing having been begun from beneath the water instead of from the surface. It was also found that the use of ether was objection- able and dangerous, and in the Bathgate par- affino oil works, where one of these machines was employed to separate the paraffine by re- frigeration, it was judged expedient to discard the ether and to revert to the use of air as the refrigerating agent, which accordingly was done under the direction of Mr. Kirk, the engineer of the works. The first experiments were not successful owing to conduction, the presence of moisture in the air, and the absence of a regenerator ; but by using dry air and intro- ducing a regenerator of wire gauze, like that of Stirling's air engine, a very efficient refrigerating apparatus was obtained. A still larger machine was erected by Mr. Kirk at the same works in 1864, and an account of it will be found in Engineering for January 26, 1866. This machine has two cooling cylinders of 36 inches diameter and 2f inches stroke, and one compressing cylinder of 15 inches diameter and 30 inches stroke. Pressure of air in one cylinder, 100 lbs. per square inch maximum and 52 minimum ; revolutions per minute, 66 ; indicated horse- power spent in driving, 23; quantity of cooling water per minute, 4*3 gallons ; temperature of inflow, 62° — of outflow, 94° ; quantity of brine cooled per minute, 6*7 gallons ; temperature of inflow, 32° — of outflow, 23°. Professor Eankine calculates that there are 767 units of heat generated per minute in this machine, which are equivalent to 592,124 foot pounds per minute or 18 horse-power. But the power really consumed, as shown by the indicator, is 23 horses, leaving 5 horses not accounted for, and lost by leakage of heat or otherwise. In many of the arts the power of cooling to any desired temperature is most important, and in tropical climates refrigeration by steam, or other cheap available power, may be easily effected and will be productive of the most momentous benefits, especially in hospitals, barracks, offices, churches, and in all large places of assembly. Steamer. A term vaguely used for any vessel in which the propulsion is by steam, otherwise than as an auxiliary motive power. Stearates (Gr. 6s, narrow ; ehvTpov, a sheath). The name given by Latreille to a family of Coleopterous insects, comprehending those in which the elytra become narrow at the posterior part of the body. Stenography (Gr. arevSs, and ypa, 1 write). The art of short-hand, otherwise termed tachygraphy. This art has been prac- tised from remote antiquity, and it is said to have originated in the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. Stentor. In the Iliad, a herald of the Achseans, whose voice was as loud as that of fifty men : hence the adjective Stentorian. Step. A block of wood, or in large ships a strong solid platform, upon the keelson, sup- porting the heel of the mast, and spreading the pressure. It was found that the weight of the mast, yards, &c. added to the enormous force upon the rigging, especially during strong winds, forced the keel down. Stephanite or Black Silver-ore. Native sulphide of silver and antimony, composed (when pure) of 70 per cent, of silver, 14 anti- mony, and 16 sulphur. It is a valuable ore of silver, of a dark lead-grey or iron-black colour, with shining metallic lustre, and is found associated with other silver-ores principally in Saxony, Hungary, Bohemia, and the Harz. Named after the Austrian archduke Stephen. Steppes (Kuss.). The name given to part 604 STERCULIACEiE of the low tracts of flat land in the northern parts of the Old "World, traceable from the shores of the German Ocean through Holland and North Prussia into Kussia, thence into Siberia, and so at intervals to the coast of the Pacific in Behring's Straits. The area is estimated at 4,500,000 square miles, a part of which is below the level of the ocean. The parts of the plain strictly denominated steppes begin at the river Dnieper and extend along the shores of the Black Sea, including all the country north and east of the Caspian and the low lands of Siberia. Hundreds of leagues may be traversed eastwards of the Dnieper without variation of scene, and there is a dead level of thin but luxuriant pasture, bounded only by the horizon. While vegetation lasts, there are horses and cattle without number ; but winter begins in October and the whole area is then covered with snow. Fearful storms of wind often rage when the sky is clear and bright. In June, the steppes are parched and the air is filled with dust; but at other times, and in many parts, wheat is cultivated, and the crops obtained are very large. On the whole, however, the steppes must be regarded as barren, and part of the tract is even a desert. Between the Caspian Sea and the sea of Aral there is for the most part a wide ocean of shifting sand, often driven by whirlwinds. [Araxo-Caspian Kegion.] Stercorianism (Lat. stercus, stercoris, refuse). In Ecclesiastical History, a nickname which seems to have been applied in the Western church, in the fifth and sixth centuries, to those who held the opinion that a change took place in the substance of the consecrated ele- ments, so as to render the divine body subject to the act of digestion. Stercorite (Lat. stercus). An ammonio- phosphate of soda, occurring in crystalline masses and nodules in the guano of Ichabce, on the west coast of Africa. Sterculiaceae (Sterculia, one of the genera). A large order of hypogynous Exo- gens belonging to the Malval alliance. They have the valvate calyx, contorted petals (some- times wanting), and monadelphous stamens of MalvacecB, but differ from them in their an- thers being always two-celled. They consist of tropical South African or Australian herbs, shrubs, or trees, with alternate entire lobed or digitately compound leaves, furnished with sti- pules, and produce axillary or rarely terminal flowers, which are often large and handsome. The order has been variously extended or broken up into smaller ones by different bo- tanists. Some include the Bomhacece; but others refer these latter to the Malvacea, as having always one-celled anthers, and combine the Byttniriacecs with Sterculiacece, dividing the order thus constituted into seven tribes : Stercu- liece proper — trees or shrubs, with unisexual flowers, no petals, five to fifteen anthers, adnate to the top of the column, and carpels distinct when in fruit ; Helicterece — trees or shrubs with hermaphrodite flowers, five petals, five to fifteen STERELMINTHANS STEREOSCOPE anthers, singly or by twos or threes alter- nating with the teeth or lobes of the staminal column ; Eriolaneee, Dombcyece, Lasiopetalece, Hermanniece, and JByttnericcs, the latter group being frequently separated as the order Bytt- ncrmceee. Sterelminthans (Gr. , / explore). A cylinder of cedar wood or other material, about twelve inches long, and one inch in diameter; perforated throughout its length. It is occasionally divided into two parts for the convenience of using the whole or half its length. The end of one part terminates in a funnel-shaped cavity ; the other end, which is applied to the ear during auscultation of the chest, varies in shape according to the fancy of the physician. It is usually in the form of a disc, more or less hollowed out and rounded at the edges to receive the ear conveniently. One great use of this instrument consists in its allowing the auscultator to examine over small portions of lung at a time, and so detect more correctly than by the naked ear the exact part or parts affected by disease. [Ausculta- tion.] Stevedore or Stivadore. In Merchant 608 STEWARD, LORD HIGH Shipping, the officer whose business it is to superintend the stowage of ships. Maclachlan, in his Laws of Merchant Shipping, says that the Consolato del Mare, an ancient collection of maritime laws, mentions an officer called stibador (Lat. stipator, an attendant), from which the English term is probably taken. Young's Nautical Dictionary.) Steward. In Feudal Law, the lord's deputy or seneschal in the Manor Court, who pre- sided over the business transacted in the court. Steward. On Shipboard, a petty officer charged with the details of the preparation and arrangements of the officers' mess. Steward, lord High. The Lord High Steward was anciently the first officer of the crown in England, with the Latin title of Magnus Seneschallus. The office was at one period annexed to the lordship of Hinckley, in Leicestershire, held by the family of De Montfort; but on the fall of that noble house, it was in effect abolished as a per- manent dignity, and is now only revived pro hac vice on the occasion of a coronation, or the trial of a peer. In the former case, the lord high steward's commission is to settle matters of precedence, &c. ; in the latter, to preside in the House of Lords. In accordance with the feudal theory, the whole of England, as respected the crown, was treated as one great manor, the lord of which was the king ; the great peers constituted the court baron ; the lord high steward was the seneschal. Just as in the manor court, the ini- tiative in a criminal or civil action could not be taken except on the presentment of the homage, or in the view of frankpledge, so no judgment against a peer could be instituted except by the action of the peerage. And, similarly, as in a manor court the proceeds or profits of fines and forfeitures became the right of the lord, so the offence of a peer resulted in a forfeiture to the crown. And again, as in the case of private manors, the loss of the high jurisdiction ensued from the necessity of pleading the privilege of the manor, and the ordinary police of the manor has fallen into desuetude from the same reason, so the house of peers has retained its special jurisdiction over its members, by virtue of the fact that parliament is itself a court of record of the highest kind, and therefore its jurisdiction could neither be forgotten, ignored, nor disputed. Judgment, in short, by peers did not originally mean the impanelling of a petty jury before a justice in eyre, but the right which every freeholder had, and, before long, every villein, of a legal trial before the jury of the manor in which he lived or his land was situate, or the offence with which he was charged was committed. As might be expected, the steward's judicial functions have lasted longer in corporations than in any other localities. The successor of the steward in ordinary or municipal corpora- tions appears to be the recorder ; but the two universities have still each their high steward, STEWARD, LORD who is empowered to try felonies committed by privileged persons, and probably on privi- leged persons, within the verge of the acade- mical liberties ; and as the chancellor of the university answers to the lord of the ordinary manor, so the seneschal or high steward is his deputy, and appointed by him. Steward, Lord, of the Household. An officer of the sovereign's household in England ; in Norman French, seneschal. The principal officers of the lord steward's department are the treasurer of the household, the comptroller of the household, the master of the household, and the secretary of the board of green cloth, a body composed of the above-mentioned offi- cials, who formerly exercised jurisdiction of offences committed within the verge of the court, but whose duties are now confined to the supervision of the household accounts, the government of the household servants, &c. The lord steward was the nominal head of the Court of the Marshalsea and the Palace Court until their abolition. Steward of a Manor. In Law, the lord's deputy, who transacts all legal business in con- nection with the estate, and has custody of the court rolls. [Copyhold ; Manor.] Sthenic Diseases (Gr. oOevos, strength). Those diseases which are the result of in- flammatory or increased action ; as opposed to asthenic, or diseases of debility. Stibethyl. A combination of one atom of antimony and three of ethyl. It may be regarded as ammonia in which the nitrogen is replaced by antimony and the hydrogen by ethyl. Stibiconise (Gr. (rrifii or crT'ifx/xi, and kovis, powder). A hydrated antimonious acid, which occurs in amorphous earthy masses of a yellow, grey, or browmish colour at Trewinnick, near Endellion, in Cornwall, and in various foreign localities. Stibium (Lat.). Antimony. [Stibnite.] Stiblite. [Stibiconise.] Stibnite (Lat. stibium). Native tersul- phide of antimony; composed, when pure, of 72*88 per cent, of antimony, and 27*12 sulphur. It usually occurs in long prismatic or acicular crystals, or in a fibrous form, of a lead-grey colour inclining to steel-grey, and sometimes with an iridescent tarnish. It is found in Cornwall, Cumberland, Scotland, and in several foreign localities, and is the ore from which most of the antimony of commerce is obtained. For the uses to which it was applied by the ancients, seeBristow's Glossary of Mineralogy, p. 362-3. Stichomancy (Gr. (TtIxos, a line ; fiayrela, prophecy). [Sortes.] Stick, Gold. The colonels of the two regiments of Life Guards are so called, whose duty it is to be in immediate attendance on the sovereign on all state occasions. These colonels do duty for a month alternately ; the one on duty being called the gold stick in vaiting. The field officer of the Life Guards who is on duty is called silver stick. The term Vol. III. 609 STILBITE originated in the custom of the sovereign pre- senting the colonel of the Life Guards with a gold stick on his receiving the regiment. Stig-ma(Gr. a mark). An impression such as that made by branding with a hot iron. Stigmatising was a common practice among the ancients to mark their slaves as property ; and it is pursued at the present day among slave-drivers. It was customary also to stig- matise the votaries of some of the gods with some recognised emblem of their divinity, such as the ivy of Bacchus, the trident of Poseidon, &c. ; or with the initial of their names, or some mystical number. It is supposed that reference is made to this practice in Rev. xiii. [Tattooing.] Stigma. In Botany, the upper extremity of the style without a cuticle, in consequence of which it has almost uniformly a humid and papillose surface. It is the part upon which the pollen, when it falls thereon, is stimulated into the production of the pollen tubes, which are indispensable to the act of impregnation. Stigmata (Gr.). In Theological language, the marks of the wounds of Jesus on the cross. The text at the end of the Epistle to the Gala- tians, ' From henceforth let no man trouble me : for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,' seems to have given rise to the notions promulgated in the Roman Catholic church re- specting the impression of the stigmata on favoured saints; of which the legend of St. Francis of Assisi affords the most remarkable instance. Stig-mite. [St. Stephen's Stone.] Stilaginacese (Stilago, one of the genera). A name originally proposed by Agardh for a small group of genera, including An tides ma, whose affinities had been little understood. Lindley places them as an order of Diclinous Exogens, in the Urtical alliance. By others they have been included in the large order Euphorbiacecs, an arrangement which appears to be generally adopted. Stilbacese (Stilbe, one of the genera). A small order of monopetalous perigynous Exogens, whose immediate affinities are very uncertain. The order is usually placed near VerbenaceGB and Selaginacece, but Lindley re- gards it as more nearly allied to Diapensiaceee. It consists of South African shrubs, with small crowded heath-like leaves, sessile unsymmetri- cal flowers in dense terminal spikes, a simple stigma, axile placentae, and definite erect seeds. Stilbene (Gr. (tt'iX^w, I shine). A peculiar hydrocarbon, which crystallises in scales of a pearly lustre. Stilbite. An anhydrous lime-oligoclase, com- posed of 58*2 per cent, of silica, 16*1 alumina, 8-8 lime, and 16-9 water. It generally occurs j in broad prismatic crystals, clustered into sheaf- like aggregations and diverging groups ; also massive and in fibrous aggregates. It is white, but sometimes yellow, grey, red, or. brown, with a vitreous lustre, and is translucent to trans- parent at the edges. The principal localities I in the United Kingdom are Cornwall, between 1 R R STILL Botallack and Huel Cock; Isle of Arran, in granite ; Cainpsie and Fintry, Stirlingshire, in porphyritic amygdaloid ; in Ireland, at the Giant's Causeway, in geodes ; Mourne Moun- tains in granite. Stilbite is called by the German minera- logists Dcsmine ; the mineral termed by them Stilbite being the Heulandite of English minera- logists. Still (Lat. stillare, to drop). An apparatus for the distillation of liquids upon the large scale. It includes the body, or boiler, which is usually set in brickwork over a furnace, and to which is annexed the head, forming the com- munication between the boiler and condenser or worm pipe ; from the extremity of which the distilled liquid passes in successive drops, or a small continuous stream, into the recipient. There are an infinite variety of stills adapted to particular purposes, of which the most important are the distillation of spirituous liquors. (Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Sfc.) Still Xiife. In Painting, dead game, ar- ranged fruit or flowers, silver, glass, china, and, in fact, any inanimate or still object. Stillingia (after Benjamin Stillingfleet). A genus of Euphorbiacecs, of which the Tallow- tree, S. scbifera, is the best known representative. This tree is a native of China and the ad- jacent islands, but has been introduced into and partly naturalised in India and the warm parts of America. It has rhomboid leaves with two prominent glands at the point of attachment between the stalk and leaf; and its flower- catkins are from two to four inches long. Its fruits contain three seeds thickly coated with a fatty substance which yields the tallow. This is obtained by steaming the seeds in large caldrons, and then bruising them sufficiently to loosen the fat without breaking the seeds, which are removed by sifting. The fat is afterwards made into flat circular cakes, and pressed in a wedge-press, when the pure tallow exudes in a liquid state, and soon hardens into a white brittle mass. This tallow is very extensively used for candle-making in China ; but as the candles made of it become soft in hot weather, they generally receive a coating of insect-wax. A liquid oil is obtained from the seeds by pressing. The tree yields a hard wood used by the Chinese for printing blocks, and its leaves are employed for dyeing black. Stilpnomelane (Gr. oti\ttv6s, shining, and /j.e\as, black). A hydrated silicate of alumina and protoxide of iron, which occurs in blackish- green masses, with a granular or radiating and foliated structure in the clay-slate of Zuck- mantel in Austrian Silesia. Stilpnosiderite (Gr. 2,5. r 5,267 STOCK Stock. In Finance and Political Economy, a term employed to denote capital which has been expended by the owner, in the course of his business, or subscribed to a joint fund, to be managed by directors, or lent to the government on behalf of the nation, with the view either of carrying out public works, or of serving as a fund for carrying on warlike operations. The first of these sources will be familiar to the readers of Adam Smith, with whom stock is frequently employed as a synonym for capi- tal. This usage is, however, nearly obsolete at present. The second and third are more familiar, and are related. In the beginning of those commercial adventures which were created by charters and secured by a monopoly, the parties subscribing were held to possess stock in proportion to the amount to which they pledged their names or credit, and the earliest stocks were those of the East India Company, the African and Russia Companies, and the Bank of England. In most of these cases, the "ommny was said to be regulated. vVhen public debts were created, or (to be ■:nore correct) when such debts were secured by parliamentary pledges, and were therefore guaranteed, the sum subscribed was, in imi- tation of those older arrangements, called a stock, particular sources of public income being pledged for the payment of the interest, and in many cases for the repayment of the principal. In course of time [National Debt], these separate funds were formed into one, called consolidated stock, a term which has been gradually abbreviated into consols. In later times, the word stock has been used specifically to designate any subscribed capi- tal which is divisible into optional parcels, and which is therefore contrasted with shares. "When a tradingcompany, as, for instance, a bank, railway, or any similar public undertaking, is constructed, it is, or has been, customary to raise the necessary capital by the issue of shares of greater or less amounts. These shares, as long as thoy are called by this name, are, as a ride, indivisible. When, however, as in many cases, it is more convenient to allow purchasers to choose their own quantity, the shares are converted into stock. As a rule, capital held as stock passes more freely from hand to hand, and is therefore more market- able ; but it is, on the other hand, more liable to fluctuations in value. Stock 3>ove (stock, in the sense of a tree- stem). The name of the wild species called Columba GZnas by Linnseus. It frequently breeds in leafy pollards, called stocks. Stock Exchange. The mart in which public and private securities are negotiated and bargained for. The word generally used in foreign countries as an equivalent is bourse. •Since the Revolution, and the parliamentary guarantee of public debts, dealings in the stocks, which compose the corpus of such debts, either on the dealer's behalf, as speculator, or for some other person as broker, are obvious and 612 STOCK EXCHANGE inevitable ; and as the disposition to speculate or risk, or, as some may be pleased to say, gamble, is almost innate in men, it is not re- markable that from the earliest days in which stocks were regularly saleable, there should have arisen a class of men who made it their business to watch the turns of the market and the feelings of the public, with a view to making a profit out of transactions which do not repre- sent real sales or purchases, but only the risks of the market, or, as they are technically called, time bargains. This traffic in course of time was extended to other stocks than the public funds ; and jobbers, as they were called with some tinge of disapprobation, made every con- ceivable article of value, and very often every conceivable contingency, a subject for such transactions. Thus, for instance, we are told that the life of the first Napoleon was per- petually speculated on, and that the insurance on his life for the single year 1804 was of'-en more than fifty per cent. At first these stock exchange speculations were held in the Royal Exchange ; but in 1698 the jobbers removed to Change Alley, at that time a large open space, and carried on their speculations without discrimination of persons, on the principle, in short, of a public betting ring, or of such gatherings of gamblers as used till lately to congregate in St. Bride's Passage, and afterwards on the vacant space near Earringdon Street. In a short time, the su- perior members of the fraternity took up their quarters in Jonathan's coffee-house. After- wards there was a new Jonathan's as well as an old ; and these places were the home of the stockjobber for a century. After the brokers had quitted the Royal Exchange, the corporation of the city strove to recall them, and in order to secure their return inscribed a clause in the broker's bond — brokers, in pursuance of an Act of William III., being licensed and regulated by the corporation — to the effect that they should carry on their business in the Royal Exchange. This clause, though long continued, was never operative. The occupation of a jobber was always looked on with disfavour by the general public and the stricter men of business, and discounte- nanced, in appearance at least, by the houses of parliament. We say in appearance, for some of the worst cases of dishonesty on the Stock Exchange, as, for instance, that of the South Sea Scheme in 1720, were clearly trace- able to members of the legislature. These gentlemen passed Acts perpetually against transactions in which they were deeply con- cerned, and by which they were in many cases seriously compromised. The Acts of 7 & 10 George II., commonly called Sir John Barnard's Acts, had a different origin. Sir John Barnard hoped to check the practice of time bargains by making such Stock Exchange debts irrecover- able, and for a time the author of the enact- ment was reputed to have gained his end, and certainly he earned the unmixed hatred of the stock jobbers. But they devised .a means of STOCK EXCHANGE escape through the machinery of an internal and voluntary police ; and within a very short timo after t heir passing, these Acts became wholly inoperative, and in all probability Stock Ex- change bargains were met more punctually and regularly than any other liabilities. Sir John Barnard's Act, long obsolete, was repealed a few years ago. Stock Exchange transactions were treated rigorously as debts of honour ; and defaulters, called in the grotesque language of the Exchange lame ducks, were peremptorily excluded from the alley. In 1787, in consequence, it seems, of some extraordinary irregularities, it became the custom to exhibit the names of defaulters on a black board. The members of the frater- nity were too cautious to expose themselves to the risks of libel, in case some expelled member, on whom this curious sentence was inflicted, thought proper to seek a remedy in .a court of law. Nothing, we are informed, could be more innocuous than the outer shape of a fiat of expulsion from the privileges of a broker or jobber. It was simply couched in these words : ' Any member with whom A B (the defaulter) does business is requested to communicate with C D.' The police of the Stock Exchange is vested in a committee of twenty-eight, whose power is absolute, and whose sentence is final, and no person can be deprived of his privilege by a less number than twelve members of the committee. In the new Stock Exchange, the first stone of which was laid in 1801, the mem- bers are elected by ballot, and pay an annual subscription of ten guineas. They are also required to find security to a certain amount for some years, and the most energetic mea- sures are taken against any stranger who even inadvertently enters the precinct. All important stocks are quoted on the Ex- change, and the rates at which they are bought and sold are given in the daily papers. It is understood that the quotation of a stock on the Exchange is a considerable advantage to it, and the brokers have exercised a wholesome dis- cipline not only over defaulting jobbers, but over dishonest governments, by excluding their securities from the public market. The most absolute monarch is, in these days of public debts, kept in awe by the committee of the Stock Exchange, for a sentence of exclusion from its bargains is almost fatal to any future financial projects. In ordinary commercial stocks, espe- cially in joint-stock companies for trading purposes, the privilege of quotation on the Exchange is frequently bargained for at a considerable sum with leading brokers, partly that the stock may secure the advantage of an open market, partly that it may be placed, or taken up by buyers of shares. As the committee of the Stock Exchange attempt to regulate by an internal police the commercial good faith of the brokers, so they are bound, as the society virtually possesses a monopoly of the trade in securities, to check un- fair practices against the public. On this point, however, they are less sensitive ; and it may be 613 doubted whether the real influence of the Stock Exchange, and the importance attached by the promoters of joint-stock companies to Slock Exchange quotations, have not suffered a severe shock by the intrigues of a few members of that body against joint-stock banks. During the present year (1866) it is plain that attempts have been made on the part of some persons connected with the Exchange to depreciate existing shares, and this has been carried to such an extent as to destroy property in some cases, and considerably depress its value in others. Of course such attempts spring from the practice of making time bargains, a practice coeval with a stock exchange, and inseparably connected with it ; but if the custom at a particular crisis becomes a conspiracy, and a serious public evil, the remedy should be provided at the hands of those who are in terested in the reputation, and so in the public usefulness, of the Exchange. On the whole, negotiations on the Stock Exchange, even when of a purely speculative character, subserve (like the trade of a corn dealer) a considerable public benefit. Tho eagerness with which a corn dealer watch the market for a rise or fall tends to equalise prices, and, more important still, to economist, resources in times of dearth and plenty. Simi" larly, the speculations of the stock and share broker obviate excessive fluctuations in the price of securities. "Were it not for these agencies, a slight distrust felt about any stock might induce a panic among the general public, or irrational confidence an undue exaltation in its market value. The stock broker, buying when the former case is likely to occur on insufficient grounds, arrests the fall, and by selling when the latter motive is operative, checks the rise. Ther* can be no doubt, that with so vast an amount of subscribed capital in the market, amounting certainly to not less than 2,000 millions, the variations in the value of these stocks would be infinitely greater, and the effects of confidence and panic incomparably more disastrous, if it were not for the jobbers and speculators on the Stock Exchange. The language of the Stock Exchange is eminently metaphorical. The explanation of some of these terms has been given by Mr. Francis, whose Chronicles and Anecdotes of the Stock Exchange is a very amusing and in- structive Work. The Writer of this article has been indebted to it for some of the historical facts qiioted above. Bull : a person who buys stock on account, not intending to hold it, but simply, at a date agreed on between the dealers, to pay or receive the difference between the price at which he values it, and that at which it actually stands on the day specified. Bear : a person who sells stock on account on the same terms, and with the same purpose. Lame Buck : a defaulter at the settlement of such bargains, whose name is exposed on the pillory of the Stock Exchange, the dreaded black board. STOCKS Backardation : a consideration given to keep back the delivery of stock, when the price is lower for time than for money. Continuation or contango is the premium given when the price of funds in which a person has a jobbing account open, is higher for time than for money, and the settling day is arrived, so that the stock must be taken at a disadvan- tage. In this case a per-centage is paid to put off the settlement and continue the account open. Jobber : a term applied to those who accom- modate buyers and sellers of stock with any desired quantity. For information as to the commercial history of many eminent members of the Stock Ex- change, see the work above referred to. Stocks. A well-known kind of punishment. The practice of confining men by the legs was so common as to have given the ordinary name to a chain of any kind in several languages : e. g. Gr. ir48r), Lat. compes, Eng. fetter ; all from ttovs, pes, foot. The stocks in England have been, generally speaking, used rather for restraint than punishment, constables being empowered to put disorderly persons into them ; but this penalty was likewise ordered by some statutes as a punishment on conviction. It is now disused. Stocks and X>ies. The iron handle which receives the die that cuts the path or the thread of a screw, is Known by the name of a stock. It is generally made so as to accom- modate a great variety of the dies employed in such cases. Stockade (Fr. estocade, Ital. stoccato). In Civil Engineering, stockades are some- times used in defences of the seashore against the sea, or for the banks of rivers exposed to the erosion of the current ; but the best protection against the current is brushwood with the branches pointing upwards against the stream. Stockade. In Fortification, a strong timber wall, eight or nine feet high, loopholed for musketry fire, and sometimes having a ditch in front, and banquette in rear. Stocking-. A garment for the foot and leg. Stockings were at first made of cloth or of milled strips sewn together. Silk-knit stockings seem to have been introduced from Spain in the sixteenth century. Knit stockings are wrought with needles made of polished iron or brass wire, which interweave the threads and form the meshes of which the stocking consists. Woven stockings are manufactured on a frame of polished iron, which was in- vented towards the close of the sixteenth century. Stoics. A celebrated sect of antiquity; so called from the stoa or porch in Athens, which was the scene of the discourses of their founder Zeno (b.c. 300). The Stoics are pro- verbially known for the sternness and aus- terity of their ethical doctrines, and for the influence which their tenets exercised over gome of the noblest spirits of antiquity. To 614 STOICS give a connected and systematic account of the philosophical principles on which they grounded their moral precepts is a less easy task than, from the notoriety of the latter in some of their main features, might have been anticipated. Their speculations were not confined to ethical subjects, but aimed at em- bracing the whole circle of human knowledge ; physics, theology, and logic, no less than morals and politics. Their system, as far as we can gather from the notices preserved by Cicero, Diogenes, and others, appears to be an attempt to reconcile a theological pan- theism and a materialist psychology with a logic which seeks the foundations of knowledge in sensible experience, and a morality which claims as its first principle the absolute freedom of the human will. Of the mode in which they combined dogmas apparently so incon- sistent into a philosophical whole, we have accounts sufficient to inspire us with respect for the earnestness and strength of character possessed by the leaders of their sect, and with admiration of their subtlety, ingenuity, and depth. We discern, at the same time, in all their speculations, equally a narrow and controversial spirit, very unlike the critical but comprehensive impartiality which marks the philosophical writings of their great prede- cessors — of Plato, and, in a still more eminent degree, of Aristotle. The philosophy of the Stoics was essentially polemical. On every side it presented an armed front to an op- ponent. It sought to confute the academic scepticism by the strenuous assertion of the truth of sensible perceptions, and the validity of the judgments to which they lead by a vigorous protest in favour of the common sense of mankind as opposed to the theories of the schools. Sensation, they affirmed, is not merely a passive affection of the mind ; it becomes, under certain conditions, perception or comprehension (fccn-aATj^ts), a faculty where- by the mind reaches beyond itself, and lays hold, as it were, on outward being. From the acquisitions of sensible experience are formed conceptions and judgments of successive stages of generality, which it is the province of the reason to construct into philosophical system. Such is the stoical logic, which is consequently a material, and not, as with Aristotle, a formal science. An equally con- troversial bearing is perceptible in the re- mainder of their philosophy. Their greatest enemies, the Epicureans, had adopted the mechanico-corpuscular theory of Democritus, which accounted for all physical phenomena by the varieties in size and figure of the ultimate atoms of which all substances are the aggregate. The fortuitous concretions which thus became the first cause of all things, had attracted the partialities and won the assent of a sect averse in all things equally to limitation or constraint. The Stoics espoused the opposite doctrine of a one all-pervading substance, a permeating ether, a creative fire, the source of life and law to the material STOKER universe. On this thoy built their doctrine of a universal providence, excluding chance in the least things as in the greatest, and directing all events by irresistible necessity to the promotion of perfect good. The same hypothesis furnished them with a ground for the first principle of their ethical doctrines. ' Live according to nature ' is, with the Stoics, the expression of the coincidence which ought to exist between the human will and the universal reason, which, as we have seen, they identified with the life and power of nature. This coincidence is virtue, the only good ; as vice, its opposite, is the only evil. All things else are in themselves indifferent; being approved or disapproved only by com- parison. Virtue is the perfect harmony of the soul with itself; vice is, in its essence, inconsistent and self-contradictory. The wise man, the ideal of human perfection, is ab- solutely, and without qualification, free. His actions are determined by his free will with a power as irresistible as that by which uni- versal nature is guided and animated. In the one no less than in the other, freedom and necessity are one. In these doctrines the controversial character to which we have adverted is sufficiently obvious. Much, however, that is exaggerated and paradoxical, both in the tenets of the Stoics and in those of their opponent Epicurus, is to be accounted for by a reference to the political circumstances of the age in which both lived. In the declining period of the Eoman republic, as well as in the darkest periods of the empire, we find the noblest Romans seeking for conso- lation in the doctrines of one or the other of these rival sects. Brutus, Seneca, Epictetus, and the philosophic emperor Aurelius, are among the names of the most celebrated Roman Stoics. Little, however, was done by the Romans to advance the speculative part of the stoical philosophy, which was indebted for its systematic form to Cleanthes and Chry- sippus. The chief sources of information concerning the doctrine of the earlier Stoics are the philosophical works of Cicero ; for their logic, the Academic Questions ; for their ethics, the treatise Be Finihus, and the Tusculan Questions ; and for their theology and physics, the books Be Natura Beorum and Be Fato. See also Biog. Laert. 1. vii. Plutarch, Adv. Stoicos, &c. ; Ritter, Hist, of Ancient Philos. xi. part v. Stoker. The labourer employed to re- plenish a furnace with coals. Stoking. The operation of replenishing a furnace with coal, and of keeping it in proper order, by clearing away the ashes and clinkers, so as to maintain a vigorous combustion. Much skill is needed to stoke the furnace of a steam boiler successfully ; and one stoker will often be able to keep the steam well up when another of equal strength and diligence will fail altogether. One main indication to be fulfilled is to spread the coal evenly over the 615 STOMACH bars of the grate, and to leave no holes or open places in the lire, through which the cold air will rush, and diminish the temperature of the furnace. In longfurnaces, it is necessary to be careful to throw the coals well back against the bridge, so as to keep that part of the grato covered ; and it will often be found that more steam will be generated if the furnace bars are shortened should their length exceed six feet. The large lumps of coal should be broken up with a hammer into pieces of the sizeof a hen's egg. In locomotives the coal should be fed a little at a time, and it will often be advisable to shut off the feed water temporarily in as- cending inclines. Stola (Lat. ; Gr. (TtoXt]). A dress of which the name was borrowed by the Romans from Greece, but acquired in their language a pe- culiar signification ; being the habit appro- priated to women. It was a long vest, coming down to the ankles; was worn within doors, and covered by the palla or cloak when they went out ; as described by Horace, Sat. I. ii. 99:— Ad talos stola demissa et circumdata palla. Common prostitutes, at least in the age of Horace, were not permitted to wear this distin- guishing garb of the Roman lady.» The stole, as an ecclesiastical ornament, is a long narrow band, or scarf, with fringed ends, worn in the Roman and other churches by deacons over the left shoulder, and by priests crossed over the breast to the girdle, and thence descending in front on both sides down to the knees. [Vestments.] Stole, Groom of the. An officer of the royal household in the lord chamberlain's department. He is first lord of the bed- chamber ; his title is derived from the long robe (stola) worn by the sovereign on solemn occasions. Stolon (Lat. stolo, a shoot). In Botany and Horticulture, a sucker or young shoot produced from the root or crown, which takes fresh root at intervals, and thus forms in- dependent plants. Stolzite. A name given to Tungstate of lead, after Dr. Stolz. [Scheeletine.] Stomacace (Grr. aw of. [Storm ; Winds.] Storthing:. The parliament of Norway. It is elected once in three years, and sits every year for the despatch of business. The election is double. Every qualified person (an owner or life-renter of land paying taxes in the country, and everyone possessing land or houses of 150 rix dollars value in towns) has a vote for the election of councillors, who elect out of their own body the representatives of the country. These must be from 75 to 100 in number. The storthing, when elected, divides itself into two houses ; one-fourth, chosen by the rest, joining the lagthing, or upper house, which also forms a court before which the ministers may be impeached ; the remainder the odels- thing, or lower house. The storthing has the usual powers of a legislative assembly in a constitutional country, and the king has only a suspensive veto ; which, if the storthing passes a law three times in six successive years, be- comes of no effect. This was exemplified by the law for the abolition of hereditary nobility, passed in 1821. Stove (Cer. stube, a room or chamber : in old Saxon stov, stowa, is any dwelling or enclosed place ; the Frisian stev, the Icelan- dic sto, and the Swedish sto, have the same meaning). A receptacle for the combustion of fuel for the purpose of heating houses, &c. The common fire-grate for the combustion of coal, with its various appendages, is generally called a stove ; hence register stoves, Bath stoves, &c. These are often, and indeed generally, very unscientifically constructed, and calculated to consume a large quantity of fuel, with a proportionate waste of heat. They are gene- rally intended to diffuse warmth principally or entirely by radiation, and should be placed as near the ground as possible ; while the different parts into the contact of which the burning fuel is brought should be of fire-brick, or some similar composition, which is a bad conductor but a good radiator of heat. It is manifest that in our common fire-places the enormous volume of hot air which passes up the chimney is not available as a source of heat ; hence, in colder climates, and where greater economy of fuel is studied, the fireplace is frequently closed in, and contained in an iron box which projects into the room, while the heated air before it STOVE finally enters the chimney is made to circulate through tubes or pipes, to which it communi- cates much of its excess of heat, and these again impart it to the surrounding air. What are termed German stoves are usually made upon such principles ; and in them the fuel is often introduced, and the air required for the support of its combustion admitted, on the outside of the room in which the stove with its flues and heating surfaces is placed. In Arnotfs stoves the heat is similarly but more scientifically economised. Only enough air is admitted to keep up the slow combus- tion of the fuel, and the heat is communicated to the radiating surfaces of the stove ; so that before the air which has passed through the fuel finally enters the chimney it has been deprived of the greater part of its available heat. These stoves are also so constructed as, by means of thefmometric or self-acting regis- ters, to adjust with much nicety the supply of air, so that neither more nor less may enter than is required to maintain the combustion of a given quantity of fuel. In F(etham's air-stoves the common open fire is retained; but the heat is to a certain extent economised by causing the hot air before it enters the chimney to communicate a portion of its heat to an iron box, over which a current of air passes and is sent warm into the room. It is manifest that our common open fires must act as powerful ventilators, and that the large quantity of air which is driven up the chimney must be supplied in some way or other through the apartment in which the fire is burning. This supply of air is generally left to chance, and finds its way into the room by crevices in the doorways and window sashes, or between the boards of the floor, or any similar accidental passage through which it can make its way; and as, in London at least, the air always abounds in fuliginous particles, these are carried in along with it, and show its track by the blacks which it deposits. If this supply of air is inadequate, and it generally is so in new and well-built houses, in consequence of the tightness of the doors, windows, and floors, the chimney of necessity smokes, and the door or window requires to be left open to prevent such an effect. This evil may usually be effec- tually prevented by admitting fresh air from without through some proper and adequate channel, and various ornamental or concealed apertures may be contrived for the purpose ; in the best arrangement of which, however, much practical as well as theoretical skill is often essential. When rooms are warmed by German or Arnott's stoves, the ventilating powers of which are very inferior to the open grate, ventilation requires to be strictly attended to. Where buildings are warmed by currents of hot air sent up from stoves on the basement story, great attention should also be paid to ventilation ; and in such cases the leading object should be to send in a large volume of air very moderately heated (to about 100°), rather than a small quantity of very hot air : the latter does not readily mix with the surrounding cold air, but forms a distinct and rapidly ascending column, which does not diffuse itself where most wanted ; and it is apt t« have a disagreeable and burnt odour, arising from the charring of the particles of organic dust which are carried with the air over the too highly heated siu-faees of the stove or flues. A little aqueous vapour, sent in along with the warm air by placing a saucer of water in some convenient situation, is often effectual in preventing the disagreeable sensations occa- sioned by respiring too dry an atmosphere. Stove. In Horticulture, a structure in which tropical plants, requiring a considerably higher temperature than that of the open air in Britain and similar climates, are cultivated. Stoves are adapted for various purposes ; but the principal are the dry stove and the damp stove. The dry stove is a structure the atmo- sphere of which is heated to the tempera- ture of from 55° to 60° during winter, and in which the plants chiefly cultivated are succulents, such as species of Cereus, Sta-. pelia, Euphorbia, and others having a similar habit. During winter these plants require very little water, and during summer they require intense heat, with abundance of air and water during fine weather. Dry-stove plants are less cultivated than formerly. The damp stove, sometimes also called the bark stove, re- quires a temperature of between 60° and 70° during winter, with a proportionate increase during summer; accompanied, in both seasons, with a high degree of atmospherical moisture. This moisture is produced partly by evaporation from the bark bed in which the plants are plunged, but chiefly by watering the floor of the house, and by syringing the walls and plants. During summer the plants grown in the bark stove require all the light which the at- mosphere in this country is capable of producing, though in many cases they reqiiire screening from very bright sunshine; they also need a free daily admission of fresh air, as in the dry stove. Both are heated by means of smoke flues, or of hot water or steam, circu- lated in cast-iron pipes, or in brick or wooden tanks or troughs. The plants cultivated in the moist stove are exclusively these of the tropics; and those which require the highest degree of heat are chiefly Monocotyleclonous plants, such as the ginger, the plantain, the banana, the sugar cane, palms, Orchidacea, &c. ; and such Dico- tyledonous plants as the bread fruit, the yam, the mangosteen, and other East Indian plants. The bark bed, or its substitute, the hot-water tank, is employed chiefly for insuring a uni- form degree of moisture and heat to the roots, and also as a reservoir of heat to supply the atmosphere of the house in case of any diminu- tion from the flues, water or steam pipes, or the sun. Stoves of every description require a constant degree of attention from the gardener throughout the year, more especially such as are devoted to the palms, the banana, the pine STRABISMUS apple, the vine, and tho Orchidacea, as well as thoso employed generally for tho forcing of early vegetables and fruits. Strabismus (Gr. aTpafii 260,000 Cast Brass . 18,000 10,000 Gun Metal . 36,000 Brass Wire . 50,000 Cast Copper 19,000 Copper Sheets . 1 . 30,000 Copper Bolts 38,000 Copper Wire 60,000 Silver (Cast) 40,997 Gold .... 20,490 Tin (Cast) . 4,736 Bismuth (Cast) . 3,137 Zinc .... 7,000 Antimony . 1,062 Lead (Sheet) 3,000 Woods. Ash . 17,000 9,000 Beech .... 12,000 9,300 Birch .... 15,000 6,400 20,000 10,300 Elm .... 13,000 10,300 Fir (Red Pine) . f 10,000 t 14,000 to 5,375 to ) 6,200 } Hornbeam . 20,000 7,300 Lance-wood . . 23,000 Lignum Vitae 12,000 9,900 Locust . . 16,000 Mahogany . \ 8,000 16,000 to) ) 8,200 Oak .... • 10,000 19,000 to ) 10,000 Pear .... 9,800 „ Teak .... 15,000 12,000 Stones. Granite . . [ = 5,500 to ) 11,000 j Limestone . . • ' = 4,000 to ) 5,000 j Slate .... r 10,000 12,000 to Sandstone . ■ 4,000 to ) 5,000 j" Brick (Weak) . 1 550 to ) 800 J Brick (Strong) . 1,100 Brick (Fire) 1,700 Glass .... 9,500 Mortar 50 Mr. Pole found the German steel wire used for pianofortes to bear as much as 268,800 lbs. per square inch. The above values are for dry wood. In wet wood the crushing strength is only half- as great. The transverse strength of a beam or girder is determinable by a reference to the tensile and crushing strength of the material of which it is composed. Thus, if a cast-iron girder be supported at the ends and loaded in the middle, the bottom flange will be strained by extension STRENGTH OF MATERIALS and the top flange by compression, and the flanges may be regarded as pillars, one of which must be crushed and the other torn before the beam can be broken. Now, as the crushing strength of cast iron is six times greater than its tearing strength, the lower flange of a cast- iron girder is made with six times the quantity of metal contained in the top flange, in order that the breaking forces may be in equilibrium, and so that one flange may not begin to tear before the other begins to crush. By this configuration the utmost strength will be ob- tained with the least material in the case of cast-iron beams. But as the crushing and tearing strengths of wrought-iron do not follow the same law, wrought-iron beams must not be similarly proportioned ; and, in wrought-iron beams or girders, the top and bottom flanges are usually made of about the same cross section. The clipping or shearing strain to which the cutters of steam engines and the pins of various structures are subjected is a form of tensile strain, as also is the twisting strain to which shafts are exposed. If we suppose a thin tube to possess a transverse section in which the particles cohere more weakly than in the other parts, and if we twist it as we twist the joints of a flute, it is plain that the tube will separate in the weak section, and all the particles in that section will be simi- larly strained ; but if the tube be thick, the outside particles will be strained the most. The strength of solid shafts varies as the cube of the diameter, and the strength of hollow shafts as the cube of the external diameter diminished by the cube of the internal diameter. Pillars.— If W be the breaking weight of a column or post in tons, I its length in feet, D its external diameter, and d its internal dia- meter if hollow, then for both ends rounded, W=14*9 Solid pillars of cast iron Hollow pillars of cast iron D3-6 ITT both ends flat, W=44-16 both ends rounded, W=» 1 3 111 both ends flat, W=44-34 ^rJll fiodgkinson gives the powers as 35*5, but 3*6 is sufficiently near. For solid square pillars of Dantzic oak W= 10*95^-, and for similar pil- lars of red pine W = 7-8l5! , where D is the side of the square. The safe load is about ^ of the crushing load ; the crushing strength of a long cast-iron column being taken at 1,000, that of wrought iron is usually reckoned as 1,745, cast steel 2,518, oak 109, and red pine 78. But short columns of wrought iron, especially if hollow and thin, are much weaker than this proportion assumes. In hollow Vol. III. 625 columns the thickness of the metal should not be less than the diameter. Girders. — If D=depth of a cast-iron girder at centre in inches, A = area of bottom flange in square inches, S =span in feet, and W = breaking weight in tons ; then if the girder be supported at both ends and the load be placed in the middle,. W — ^— ^-? ) or the breaking weight will S be just half of this if the load be equally dis- tributed along the length. A safe deflection is of an inch for each foot in length under a test load of ^ the breaking weight. The working load is never less than i the breaking weight in the case of moving loads. In the case of wrought-iron girders formed of riveted plates, W = — and area of top flange = 1*18 A. Wrought-iron girders are now often rolled, and the breaking weights of such gir- ders at 10 feet span are as follow: Depth of girder, or D, 5 inches ; size of flange, or F, 2 by i inch; breaking weight, or W, 6'6 tons; D 6 inches, F 2^ by ^ inch, W 10 tons ; D 7 inches, F 3 by £ inch, W 14 tons ; D 8 inches, F 3 by | inch, W 20 tons ; D 9 inches, F 4 by § inch, W 36 tons ; D 10 inches, F 4§ by 1 inch, W 60 tons. With double the span the breaking weights will be just half the foregoing, and so in all other proportions. Shafts. — The following results, showing the comparative strength of various metals, as as- certained by resistance to torsion, is given by Mr. Kennie. For the law according to which the elasticity is evolved in the case of slender metallic wires or threads of fibrous substances, when the twisting force is less than is necessary to produce a permanent change of structure, see Torsion. Lead . 1,000 Tin . . 1,438 Copper . . 4,312 Brass . . 4,688 Gun metal . . 5,000 Swedish iron . . 9,500 English iron . . 10,125 Cast iron . 10,600 Blister steel . . . 16,688 Shear steel . . 17,063 Cast steel . 19,562 Mr. Banks ( On the Power of Machines) states, as the mean result of several experiments, that a bar of cast iron, one inch square, is wrenched asunder by a weight of 631 lbs. avoirdupois, applied at the extremity of a lever two feet in length. Other experiments on the force of torsion are given by G. Bevan (Phil. Trans. 1829) and Savart (Annates de Chimie, August 1829). If the power of a solid cylinder to resist torsion be taken as 1, then the power of a solid square to resist it formed with an equal cross section will be -87 ; of a hollow cylinder whose- external is to its internal diameter as 4 to 10 is 1-26; as 5 to 10 it is 1-44; as 6 to 10 it is 1*7 ; as 7 to 10 it is 2-08 ; and as 8 to 10 it is 2*75, S S STREPSIPTERANS Hence, hollow shafts are much stronger than solid ones with the same weight of metal. If L = length of lever in inches to which the force employed to twist a shaft is applied ; F = the force applied in lbs. ; and D = diameter of shaft if round : then D = s/ FL for cast V 1500 iron • D = ^ for wrought iron ; and V 1700 D— 3 / FJi for cast steel. V 3200 The rule employed by Mr. Watt for deter- mining the proper diameter of the cast-iron fly- wheel shafts of his steam engines is indicated by the following formula : If a be the area of the piston in square inches, p the pressure on each square inch of the piston, and I the length of the crank in feet : then 3 / fL£? =the proper V 31-4 diameter to be given to the shaft in inches. Strepsipterans (a word coined from Gr. arptipLS, a turning, and irrepSv, a wing). The name given by Kirby to the order of insects which he found to possess rudimental elytra in the form of linear and spirally twisted scales. Strepsirhina (Gr. o-rptyis, and pis, piv6s, the nose). A family of Quadrumana, in which the nostrils, situated at the extremity of the nose, are twisted, whence the name. It com- prises two subfamilies, the Lemuridce and the Galeopithecidce, which are again divided into various genera, of which Lichanotus, Pro- pithecus, Perodicticus, Nycticebus, Loris, Lemur, Chirogaleus, Otolicnus, Miorocebus, Tarsius, Cheiromys, and Galeopithccus, are variously distributed, the metropolis of the family being Madagascar. Stretcher. In Architecture, a block of stone, or a brick, laid horizontally with its length in the direction of the face of a wall. A stretching course has the bricks or stones in its composition laid horizontally with their length in the direction of the wall. [Headers ; Heading Course.] Stretchers. Movable bars across the bottom of a boat for the rowers to place their feet against. The power of the stroke is dependent on the proper adjustment of the stretcher. Stretching- Course. In Architecture, a course in which the bricks or stones are laid horizontally with their lengths in the direction of the face of the wall. [Headers ; Heading Course.] Stretching- Machine. Calicoes, and other similar textile fabrics, are prepared for the market by being stretched in a proper machine, which lays all their warp and woof yards in parallel positions, and extends their width after the shrinkage caused by bleaching, dyeing, &c. Stretto (Ital. from Lat. strictus, strait, narrow). In Music, a term indicating that the measure to which it is affixed is to be performed short and concise, hence quick. It is the oppo- 626 STRING site of largo. The stretto of a fugue is a part coming towards the end, where the answers to the subject are brought more closely together. Striate (Lat. stria, a channel or furrow). In Zoology, when a surface is painted or im- pressed with several narrow transverse streaks. Striction, Xiine of. The line of striction on a skew ruled surface is the curve which cuts each generator in the point of the latter which is nearest to the consecutive generator. The line cutting, perpendicularly, two consecu- tive generators, and upon which their shortest distance is measured, is not itself, in general, a tangent to the line of striction ; for the point on a generator nearest to the succeeding one is not necessarily nearest to the preceding one. Such lines, in fact, are generators of a second conjugate ruled surface circumscribed to the original one along a curve which is a line of striction on both surfaces. The point in which the line of striction cuts any generator is called the central point of the latter ; the rectangle is constant whose sides are equal to the distances from this central point to the two points at which any plane through the generator is respectively tangential and normal to the surface ; and the normal plane through a generator at its central point touches the surface at infinity. [Skew Surface.] The ruled surfaces of the second order have two systems of rectilinear generators and, of course, a line of striction corresponding to each system. In the hypei-bolic paraboloid, for instance, the two lines of striction are parabolas whoso planes intersect in the principal axis. In conoid surfaces the rectilinear directrix to which all generators are perpendicular is the line of striction. A familiar instance is the under surface of a spiral staircase ; the central axis of the staircase is here the line of striction. Strigae (Lat. furrows). In Architecture, the flutings of a column. Strigae. In Botany, close-pressed rigid hairs distributed over the surface. Hence plants furnished with such hairs are said to be strigose. Strigidae. The name of the family of Nocturnal Eaptores of which the owl (Strix) is the type. Strike. Part of the machinery of Trades' Unions. When the executive or committee of an organisation for securing certain advantages to labourers decides that the workmen shall discontinue labour till their claims are satisfied, the act of the labourers is called a strike ; when, on the other hand, the masters resolve to resist the action of labourers and to enforce certain conclusions which they have come to, and there- fore suspend their works, the proceeding is called a lock-out. Strike. [Dip and Strike ] Striking a Tent. Taking down a tent which has been erected or pitched. String (A.-Sax. ; Ger. strang). In Music, a cord of some elastic material, which being tightly stretched over two bridges (giving a definite length) and set in vibration, gives a STRING BOARD STROPHE musical sound. The strings of the violin tribe, and of the harp and guitar, are of catgut; those of the pianoforte are of steel wire. The note sounded by a stretched string depends on three elements ; viz. the length and the weight of the vibrating portion, and the tension with which it is stretched. If / = length in inches, and w = weight in lbs. of the vibrating part of the wire ; T = the tension, or stretching weight in lbs. ; and V= the number of single vibrations per second ; then V 2 =386 . 156,-. Iw String Board. In Architecture, a board with its face next to the well-hole of a wooden staircase, which receives the ends of the steps ; it differs from the wall string in its position, the one being near the end wall bearing of the steps, and the other being the outside, or the framing towards their outer end. String Course. In Architecture, this term is applied to a course running round the face of a building, the projection of which is small in proportion to its height. Strisores (a word coined from Lat. strideo, to hum or buzz). An order of birds in the systems of Cabanis and Lilljeborg, including the humming-birds, swifts, night-jars, and kingfishers. Strobilus (Lat. ; Gr. arpofSiXos, anything twisted up). In Botany, this term is used in describing a fir-cone, which may be defined as a spike of very imperfect flowers, subtended by bracts which are woody and pressed closely to each other. It thus indicates an imbricated scaly inflorescence, or any. collection of hard scales, representing distinct flowers arranged spirally, but closely imbricated. The term is applied to any fruit which resembles a fir-cone. Stroganowite. An altered form of Sca- polite, found in loose blocks near the river Sljudanka, in Dauria, of a greyish-white or greenish colour. It is a silicate of alumina, lime, and soda, with about 15 per cent, of chloride of lime. Named after Count Stroganow. S trombus (Lat. ; Gr. aTp6fj.fios, literally a rounded body, from a-Tpo/Sew and , to turn). The name of a shell-fish in Pliny. This term was applied by Linnaeus to a genus of the Vermes Testacea, characterised by the form of the shell, of which the aperture is much dilated, the lips expanding, and produced into a groove leaning to the left. The Mollusca to which this character is applicable form a group of Pectini branchiate Gasteropods in the system of Cuvier, which has been subdivided into the genera Strombus proper, Pterocera, Lam., &c. Stromeyerite. A double sulphide of silver and copper, composed of 15'7 per cent, of sulphur, 529 silver, and 31*4 copper. It is isomorphous with Copper Glance, but also occurs compact, of a dark steel-grey colour, with a strong metallic lustre, and is sectile and very brittle. It is found in Siberia, Silesia, Chili, and Peru. Named after Stromeyer, who analysed it. 627 Stromite. A variety of Diallogite, called after a director of mines of the name of Strom. Stromnite. A sulphate of baryta and carbonate of strontia : probably a mixture merely of the sulphate and carbonate, found at Stromness in Orkney. It occurs in yellowish- white translucent masses, with a slight pearly lustre, and crystalline cleavage. Strongylus (Gr. orpo-yyvhos, round). A genus of intestinal worms in Rudol phi's classi- fication, characterised by having a cylindrical body, the anal extremity of which, in the male, is surrounded by a kind of pouch of a varied shape, from which is protruded a small filament or spiculum, probably subservient to generation. The mouth is orbicular, sometimes armed with spines, as in the Strongylus armatus, which in- fests the mesenteric arteries of the horse and ass, producing aneurisms ; sometimes the mouth is surrounded by tubercles or papilla?, as in the Strongylus gigas, which is sometimes found in the kidney of the human subject. Strontia. . An earth contained in a mineral, generally of a pale green tint and radiated crystalline texture, found at Strontian in Argyle- shire. It is a carbonate of strontia. Strontia is the oxide of a metallic base, the properties of which are very imperfectly known, called stron- tium ; the equivalent of strontia, or oxide of strontium (composed of 44 strontium and 8 oxygen), is 52. It has a caustic taste, an alka- line reaction, and a degree of solubility in water intermediate between lime and baryta. The salts of strontia are generally obtained by dissolving the natural or artificial carbonate in the acids ; those which are soluble give the flame of burning bodies a fine rose-red colour : the nitrate of strontia is used for this purpose, and with beautiful effect, in theatrical exhibi- tions and fireworks. The sulphate of strontia is found native : it is an insoluble white powder when artificially prepared. Some of its native varieties have a pale blue tint, whence the term codestine. Very beautiful crystals of this va- riety have been found in the New Red Marl of Clifton and in the neighbourhood of Bristol. A colourless prismatic crystalline variety, of great beauty, is found associated with the native sulphur of Sicily. Strontianite. Native carbonate of strontia. [Strontia.] It occurs in hexahedral prisms which are modified at the edges or terminated by pyramids ; also in fibrous, stellated, columnar, globular and granular masses of a green colour ; also white, yellow, grey, or brown. It is found at Strontian in Argyleshire, generally in acicular diverging groups of crystals, and in snow-white crystals at Pately Bridge and Nidderdale in Yorkshire. The principal foreign localities are- Saxony, Westphalia, the Harz, and the Northern States of America. Strontianocalcite. A variety of carbonate of lime containing an admixture of strontia. Strontites. [Strontianite.] Strophe (Gr. arpocp-ff, a turning). A divi- sion of a Greek choral ode answering to a stanza. The name is derived from arpeqeiv, to turn, s s 2 STROPHIQI^E STRYCHNOS because the singers turned in one direction while they recited that portion of the poem; they then turned round and sang the next portion, which was of exactly the same length and metre as the preceding, and was termed the antistrophe. These were sometimes fol- lowed by another strophe and anti strophe, sometimes by a single stanza called the Epode. Strophiolae. [Caruncula.] Strophulus (a word coined from the Greek (TTpecpu), to turn, and oOXa, the gums). The red gum ; an eruption peculiar to infants. Struma (Lat.). In Botany, a swelling present in some leaves at the extremity of the petiole, where it is connected with the lamina, as in Mimosa sensitiva. The term is also used in describing mosses to denote a dilatation or swelling sometimes seen upon one side of the base of the theca. Struma. In Pathology, an enlarged gland. Strut. In Architecture, a piece of timber placed obliquely to the foot of a king post or a queen post to support a rafter ; it is some- times called a brace. The term is also applied to the raking shores inserted to support a building. Struthein (Gr. arpovOiov, soap-wort). A principle obtained from the root of Gypsophila Struthium. It appears to be identical with Saponin, obtained from the Saponaria offici- nalis, or Soap-wort. Struthionidae (Lat. struthio, Gr. arpov- 6ia>v, an ostrich). The name of a family of terrestrial birds, incapable of flight, with very short or rudimental wings, and long and strong legs ; including the ostrich and other congeneric species which constitute the order Cursores of Kirby, and the family Brevipennes in the system of Cuvier. Struvite. A name given (in honour of Struve) to the crystallised ammonio-magnesian phosphate found in peat-earth in digging the foundations of the church of St. Nicholas at Hamburg, and which is also met with in guano at Saldanha Bay, on the coast of Africa. It occurs in regular six-sided prisms of a pale yel'ow colour, which are transparent, but gene- rally rendered opaque and blackened by organic matter. Strychnia or Strychnine (Gr. arpvxvos, nightshade). A poisonous vegetable alkaloid; discovered in 1818 by Pelletier and Caventou in the seed of the Strychnos multijiora [Igna- tius' s Bean] and 8. nux vomica, and also in the Upas poison. Its composition is represented by C 42 H 22 0 4 N 2 . To obtain it, the nux vomica seeds are boiled for some hours with water acidulated by one-eighth of its weight of sul- phuric acid; they are then bruised, and the liquor expressed. Excess of lime is then added to it, and the precipitate boiled in alcohol of sp. gr. '850, and filtered hot; strychnia and brucia are deposited together in a coloured and impure state, and may be separated by cold alcohol, which dissolves the brucia. The remaining strychnia is then boiled in alcohol with a little animal charcoal, and the solution 628 filtered boiling hot ; on cooling, the strychnia crystallises. The same process is applicable to the Ignatius' beans. Strychnia is a powerful poison, destroying life with the dose of half a grain. It is a white crystalline solid. It requires 7,000 parts of cold and 2,500 of boiling water for solution : the intensity of its bitterness is such, that an aqueous solution containing not more than 40000 °f weight of strychnia is sensibly bitter. It is soluble in common alcohol, especially at its boiling temperature, and crystallises in prisms and octahedra from this solution. It is dissolved by the acids, forming colourless and crystal- lisable salts. It is not soluble in the alkalies. Nitric acid does not colour strychnia or its salts, if free from brucia ; but it frequently reddens them, owing to traces of brucia. When a minute quantity of strychnia is moistened with a drop of concentrated sulphuric acid, the strychnia is dissolved without any peculiar colour ; but if a minute quantity of per- oxide of lead or manganese, or of bichromate of potash, is added, a blue tint is developed, which passes into red and yellow. This reaction is characteristic of strychnia. This alkaloid neutralises the acids, and forms very bitter and poisonous salts : they are most- ly crystallisable. The caustic alkalies throw down from their solutions a white precipitate of strychnia, which may be dissolved and removed by agitating the liquid with twice its bulk of ether or chloroform. This is the process usually pursued for the extraction of strychnia in cases of poisoning. The liquid is acidulated, concen- trated in a water-bath, rendered alkaline, by potash, and then shaken with two volumes of ether. The ethereal liquid poured off, and spontaneously evaporated, leaves strychnia. The symptoms of poisoning by strychnia are difficulty of breathing and sense of suffocation, twitching of the limbs, and violent tetanic con- vulsions, the body becoming stiff, arched in the back, and resting on the head and heels ; the features are convulsed, and attempts to drink are often attended by spasm of the jaws and choking. During the intervals of the paroxysms the intellect is usually clear, but after a succession of fits and shortly before death, there may be loss of consciousness. The only chance of re- covery appears to be the very early use of the stomach pump. Medicinally, the extract or tincture of nux vomica is used in certain forms of paralysis and indigestion ; and in small doses it acts as a tonic and diuretic. (Taylor On Poisons. ) Strychnos (Gr. crpvxvos). A genus of Loganiacece, consisting of trees or climbing shrubs, natives of the tropics of Asia and America. They have entire strongly-nerved opposite leaves, one of them frequently abor- tive, and developing from its axil a tendril-like branch ; and they bear terminal or axillary corymbs or panicles of greenish-white, gene- rally fragrant flowers. The seeds are flattened, disc-like, and silky, surrounded by pulp. 8. nux vomica is the species which yields the ST11YCIIN0S seeds known under the name of Nux vomica. It is a moderate-sized tree, with fruit very like an orange in appearance, and containing nume- rous seeds of a flattened circular outline, about Strychnos nux vomica, the size of a halfpenny, rather thicker near the circumference than elsewhere, the exterior of an ash-grey colour, covered with fine silky hairs, and the interior consisting of very hard grey albumen, in which, near the circumference, the embryo is embedded. The seeds have an in- tensely bitter taste, owing to the presence of two most energetic poisons, Strychnia and Brucia, conjoined with certain peculiar acids; but the pulp is innocuous, and is said to be greedily eaten by birds. The bark of the tree possesses similar properties to the seeds, but in less degree. Serious consequences ensued in the early part of the present century from this bark having been imported and used as Angostura bark ; and in Calcutta it is said to be sold for the harmless bark of Soymida febrifuga, or Rohun bark. 8. Tieute, a climbing shrub, growing in Java, yields a juice which is- used by the natives for poisoning their arrows. Its effects are precisely similar to those of nux vomica. This poison is called Upas Tieute. 8. toxifera also yields a frightful poison called Ourari or Wourali, em- ployed by the natives of Guiana. It has been tried in cases of hydrophobia, but with no good result. 8. Coheir in a, a native of Malabar, furnishes one kind of Snakewood : it is consi- dered by the natives as an infallible remedy in cases of snake-bite ; it is also given in fevers and other complaints. 8. ligustrina and other species are said to yield in Java various kinds of Snakewood, used for similar purposes. 8. Pscudo-Quina, a native of Brazil, yields Col- pache bark, which is largely used in that country in fever cases, and is considered to equal quinine in value ; its fruit is edible. It is stated that this species does not contain strychnia, in spite of its bitter taste, and hence it is not considered to be poisonous. 8. potatorum, a tree found in the mountains and forests of India, yields the seeds known in that country as Clearing Nuts. The fruit is black, of the size of a cherry, and contains only a single seed. These seeds are employed to clear muddy water ; they are simply rubbed round the inside of the vessel for a minute or two, and then the water is allowed to settle. 629 STURGEON Their efficacy for this purpose depends, ac- cording to Dr. Pereira, on their albumen and easein, which act as lining agents. Stubble (Ger. stoppel, Lat. stipula). The root ends of stalks of corn, left in the field after the corn has been reaped. In some parts of the country only a small portion of the straw is cut off with the ear& of corn, and the stubble in that case is a foot or eighteen inches in length; but in others the corn is cut as close to the surface as possible, and in this- case the stubble is quite short. In general, long stubble is a symptom of bad farming, because a quantity of straw is thus left waste in the field, which might have been carried home and rotted into manure. Stucco (Ital.). In Architecture, a term applied to many sorts of calcareous cements. In this country it denotes generally any third coat of three-coat plaster, consisting of fine lime and sand ; the better sort is hand-floated twice, and well trowelled. There is a species- called bastard stucco, in which a small portion of hair is used* [Finishing.] Bough stucco is merely floated and brushed with water. Studding: Sails. Supplementary sails ex- tended in light winds beyond the leeches of the principal square sails. They are narrow, and of the same height with the sail supplemented. Although not of great power from their size,, they exert considerable force on the ship's movements from the leverage which their dis- tance from- the mast as centre gives them. They are bent on the studding-sail booms, which are spars run out as required along the upper surfaces of the yards, Stufa (Ital.). A jet of steam issuing from a fissure in the earth : these jets are not un- common in volcanic districts. The name is also applied to natural vapour baths, in which steam issues from the earth, generally accom- panied by gas, and used for curative purposes. Stuff (Dutch stof r Ger. stoff, Fr. etoffe). A Commercial term, applied to A'arious woven fabrics ; it signifies especially a light woollen cloth formerly much used for curtains and bed furniture. Stuffing; Box. A recess for the reception of packing or stuffing, usually of hemp, and pro- vided with a lid and suitable bolts, by which the packing may be screwed down. The purpose of the contrivance is to enable a rod or shaft to pass through an orifice without any undue friction, and yet to keep the perforation tight. To this end, a stuffing box is provided where the piston rod of an engine passes through the cylinder cover, and also at the point where the screw shaft of a steamer passes through the stern beneath the water. Sturgeon (Ger. stor, Span, esturion, Fr. esturgeon). The type of a genus of Cartila- ginous fishes, with free gills, having the body more or le&s covered with bony plates in longi- tudinal rows. The mouth is placed beneath the snout, is small and edentulous, but protrac- tile. Soft feelers or cirri are attached beneath the snout. The bodies of the vertebrae retain STURIONIANS the primitive condition of an undivided gela- tinous cord. The sturgeons ascend the larger rivers of Europe in great abundance. The llesh of most of the species is wholesome and agreeable food ; their ova are converted into caviare, and their air-bladder affords the finest isinglass. The sturgeon which is occasionally captured on our east coast is the Acipenser sturio of Linnseus. By statute 16 Edw. II. c. 1, all sturgeon, wherever caught, are declared to vest in the crown by virtue of their dignity, and are to be delivered without purchase. For the importance of the sturgeon fishery in the Caspian, see the Commercial Dictionary. No fish, with perhaps the exception of the cod and the herring, has so great an economical importance. [Acipenser.] Sturionians. The name of the family of Cartilaginous fishes of which the sturgeon is the type. Sturm's Theorem. This theorem, in the theory of equations, enables us to ascertain how many real roots of an equation lie be- tween any given limits. It was communicated to the Academy of Paris, and published in the Memoir as 'presentees far des Savants Etr angers in 1835. In the enunciation of the theorem, to which Ave shall here limit ourselves (its demon- stration being given in every good text-book), it will be necessary to refer to the series of Sturmian Functions F(a), . . . F m (x). The first F(x) is the function which, put equal to 0, constitutes the given equation, deprived of its equal roots [Equations, Theory of] ; and the second F 2 (x) is the derived function of F(x). To obtain the other functions, the operation of finding the greatest common measure of F(>r) and F 1 (a-) must be performed with these modifications : L The multipliers usually employed in order to avoid fractional coefficients must all be positive numbers; 2. The signs of all the coefficients in each remainder must be changed before making it a divisor ; 3. The process may be arrested at any such modified remainder F m (.r) which has the property of retaining the same sign for all values of x. This being premised, Sturm's theorem may thus be enunciated : The number of real roots of the equation F^^O between given limits a and b is equal to the difference between the numbers of variations of sign pre- sented by the series of Sturmian functions F(a), F^a), F 2 (a) . . and F(b), F^b), F 2 (b) . . Thus, if FO) = x i -3x*- 2x 2 + x - 3, we shall have Fj(a?) = 4x 3 - 9x* - 4d? + 1, F 2 (x) = iSx 2 + 45 9 , which is necessarily positive. Putting, for x, — oo 0, and oo, successively, the variations in signs presented by the series of three Stur- mian functions amount respectively to 2, 1, and 0 ; hence the equation has two imaginary and two real roots, one of the latter being positive and the other negative. Valuable memoirs on questions relating to Sturm's theorem have been 630 STYLIDIACE.E • published by Prof. Sylvester; one of these, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1853, will [ well repay the attentive perusal of all students of the higher algebra. Stuttering-. [Stammering.] Stye or Stythe. A little boil or tumour projecting from the edge of the eyelid. Styg-mite. A name for a variegated variety of Carnelian of a reddish-yellow colour, and traversed by numerous white lines. Style (Ital. stile, G-er. stil, Lat. stilus). In Botany, that elongation of the ovarium which supports the stigma. It is an extension of the midrib of the carpellary leaf, or is formed by the rolling up of the attenuated extremity of the latter. Style. In the Calendar, a manner of reckoning time. For the new style intro- | duced by Gregory XIII. in 1582, and adopted . by England in 1752, see Calendar. Style. In Dialling, the gnomon which projects the shadow on the plane of the dial. [Dial.] Style. In the Fine Arts, the mode in which an artist forms and expresses his ideas on and of a given subject. It is the form and character that he gives to the expression of his ideas, according to his particular faculties and powers, or his handwriting. Style may be almost con- sidered as the refinement of Manner: it is a characteristic essence by which we distin- guish the works of one master from another. From literature this word has passed into the theoretic language of the fine arts ; and as in the former we hear of the sublime, brilliant, agreeable, regular, natural, confused, and other styles, so we have almost the same epithets ap- plied to styles of art. Nor is this remarkable, since the principles of taste, in both the one and the other, are founded in nature ; and it is a well-known saying, that poetry is a speaking picture. This word is improperly used as applied to colouring and harmony of tints : we speak of the style of a design, of a composition, of draperies, &c. ; but not of the style of colouring, but rather the method, or manner of colouring. The definition of this word by Sir Joshua Keynolds is as follows : ' Style in painting is the same as in writing — a power over materials, whether words or colours, by which conceptions or sentiments are conveyed.' But we can scarcely consider this definition sufficiently general ; it is rather the individuality of the mode of applying this power. There is in art what is called subjective and objective style. [Decoration ; Ornament ; Subjective.] Style. A kind of pencil made use of by the Komans for writing on waxed tablets. It was made of brass or iron, with one end sharp for writing, and tire other blunt and smooth for making erasures ; hence the phrase to turn the style, used by ancient writors, signifies to make corrections. Styles. [Bail. In Architecture.] Stylidiaceae (Stylidium, one of the genera). A small order of monopetalous epigynous Exo- STYLITE SUJWRAOIIIANS gens, nearly allied to tho irregular-flowered CampanulacecB or Lobeliacea, of which it has the inferior two-celled ovary and capsular fruit , with numerous albuminous seeds; but it is remarkable for the stamens, two in number, being united with the style in a highly irritable column of curious structure, the stigma lying in a cavity at the apex, surrounded and con- cealed by the anthers. It consists of small herbs or undershrubs, chiefly Australian. The genus Stylidium itself contains the great ma- jority of the species. Stylite (Gr. arvKlr-ris, from arvAos, a column). The title given to a peculiar class of anchorites from the places on which they took up their solitary abodes, being the tops of various columns in Syria and Egypt. This strange method of devotion took its rise in the second century, and continued to be practised for a great length of time. The most famous among them was one Simeon, in the fifth century, who is said to have lived thirty-seven years upon various columns of considerable height in the neighbourhood of Antioch. (Montalembert, Lcs Moines oV Occident ; Edin- burgh Review, October 1861, p. 329.) Stylo. In Physiology, names compounded of this word apply to the muscles attached to the styloid process of the temporal bone. Stylobate (Gr. arvXofiaTr]s, the foot of a column). In Architecture, the uninterrupted base below a range of columns. Stylobate. A Mineralogical synonym for Geheenite. Styplinic Acid (Gr. crrv^vSs or CTpv supremacy of the pope in ecclesiastical or j temporal affairs in England, which by many slat ul es was required to be taken, along with the oath of allegiance, by persons who wished to qualify themselves for office, &c. In 1858, j however, a new form of oath was substituted for . the three oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and I abjuration (21 & 22 Vict. c. 48), and a still \ simpler form was provided for the use of j members of both houses of parliament on I taking their seats, by the Parliamentary Oaths Act 1866. Supremacy, Papal. [Papacy.] Supremacy, Royal. This term, as ap- plied to the sovereign power in a monarchy, would appear to denote civil no less than ' ecclesiastical authority. In practice, however, while the civil authority of the sovereign j power has never been questioned, its eccle- siastical authority has been often impugned, j and the phrase in question has consequently been applied almost exclusively to the supre- j macy of the crown over ecclesiastical causes and persons. There appears to be no doubt that the , supremacy of the crown in ecclesiastical affairs j was both theoretically held and practically asserted in the early ages of English history. In the reign of William the Conqueror the court of the bishop was separated from the hundred court by a royal charter granted under the advice of the great ecclesiastical and civil personages of the realm. In 1157 a dispute between the bishop of Chichester and the monks of Battle Abbey was decided by the king in council. The practice of appealing to Pome was first introduced into this country in the reign of Stephen, by the legate Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, but the ancient course of justice seems to have been restored under Henry IL by the Constitutions of Clarendon. The pope, however, still asserted and exercised a real though ill-defined au- thority over the church of England as an integral part of the Western church [Papacy], and appeals to Pome once more became com- mon, although they were never expressly sanc- tioned by the laws of England, and although the Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire [Prae- munire; Provisoes] enjoin heavy penalties against those who ' do sue in the court of any other in derogation of the regality of our lord the king' (16 Eich. II. c. 5). At the Reformation, the independence of the crown was again asserted. Appeals to Rome were prohibited by the Act of Appeals (24 Hen. VIII. c. 19) and the Act of Submission (25 Hen. VIII. c. 19), and by the latter statute the appellate jurisdiction in ecclesiastical causes was expressly vested in the crown, where, except during the reign of Mary Tudor, it has ever since remained. The royal supremacy was declared by 26 Hen. VIII. c. 1 ; and the present Act of Su- premacy (1 Eliz. c. 1, 'An Act for restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the 663 SUPREMACY, ROYAL state ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolish'* ing all foreign power repugnant to the 1 same') provides that no foreign prince, prelate, or potentate, spiritual or temporal, shall exercise any manner of power, jurisdiction, or privilege, spiritual or ecclesiastical, within the realm or the queen's dominions ; and, next, that such jurisdictions and privileges spiritual and eccle- siastical, as by any spiritual or ecclesiastical power had been or might then be lawfully exercised or used for visitation and correction of the ecclesiastical state and persons, shall for ever be united and annexed to the imperial crown of the realm. It was not, however, till after the Restoration that the regular course of appeals in eccle- siastical suits became established in its modern form ; the jurisdiction of the crown was before that period exercised for the most part by extra- ordinary royal commissions, culminating in the famous Court of High Commission, which was established in 1583 and lasted till 1640. Subsequently to the Restoration, the practice was for the appellant from the ecclesiastical court to petition the Lord Chancellor, praying that a commission of appeal might issue under the great seal, and be directed to judges delegates to be named at his discretion. ' A fresh commission issued in each case ; but as the delegates were selected from a permanent list, the tribunal acquired the name of the High Court of Delegates. The delegates selected usually consisted of doctors of civil law and common law judges : it was formerly usual to add some of the bishops, but this practice was gradually disused. The High Court of Dele- gates was abolished in 1832, and its jurisdiction transferred to the king in council. In the following year it was enacted (stat. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 41) that all appeals to the privy council should be referred to a judicial com- mittee of the council, who should report thereon to the sovereign. This committee, therefore, now constitutes the supreme court of appeal in matters ecclesiastical. It consists of the present and past holders of certain high judicial offices, together with two privy coun- cillors nominated by the crown, and, in cases under the Church Discipline Act (3 & 4 Vict, c. 86) the prelates who are privy councillors. The lord president summons the members of the committee who sit on each occasion. (Brodrick and Freemantle, Ecclesiastical Judg- ments of the Privy Council.) The right of nomination to archbishoprics and bishoprics forms a branch of the royal supremacy, both as anciently understood and as now exercised. 'Election,' says Black- stone (1 Comm. 377), 'was in very early times the usual mode of elevation to the episcopal chair throughout all Christendom, and this was promiscuously performed by the laity as well as the clergy, till at length, it becoming tu- multuous, the emperors and other sovereigns of the respective kingdoms of Europe took the appointment in some degree into their own hands, by reserving to themselves the right SUPREMACY, ROYAL of confirming these elections, and of granting investiture of the temporalities (which now began almost universally to be annexed to this spiritual dignity), without which confirmation and investiture the elected bishop could neither be consecrated nor receive any secular profits. This right was acknowledged in the emperor Charlemagne, A. d. 773, by Pope Hadrian I., and the council of Lateran, and universally exercised by other Christian princes ; but the policy of the court of Rome at the same time began by degrees to exclude the laity from any share in these elections, and to confine them wholly to the clergy, which at length was com- pletely effected, the mere form of election appearing to the people to be a thing of little consequence, while the crown was in possession of an absolute negative, which was almost equi- valent to a direct right of nomination. Hence, the right of appointing to bishoprics is said to have been in the crown of England (as well as other kingdoms in Europe) even in the Saxon times, because the rights of confirmation and investiture were in effect (though not in form) a right of complete donation. But when, by length of time, the custom of making elections by the clergy only was fully established, the popes began to except to the usual method of granting these investitures, which was per an- nulum et baculum, by the prince's delivering to the prelate a ring and pastoral staff or crosier, pretending that this was an encroachment on the church's authority, and an attempt by these symbols to confer a spiritual juris- diction.' It is quite beyond the limits of these pages to trace the history of the contest which long prevailed between the popes and the temporal powers of Europe with respect to ecclesiastical investitures. Eventually, the question ended in a compromise, by which the sovereign re- ceived only homage from the bishops for their temporalities, instead of investing them with the ring and crosier, retaining nevertheless the substantial power of nomination. In England, however, King John surrendered by charter to the cathedral chapters the free right of electing their bishops, reserving to the crown only the custody of the temporalities during the vacancy, the form of granting a li- cense to elect (on refusal whereof the electors might proceed without it), and the right of approbation afterwards, which was not to be denied without a reasonable and lawful cause. These privileges were confirmed by Magna Charta, and continued till the Reformation. The bishops elect were confirmed by the arch- bishop from the charter of King John to the reign of Edward III., after which period the pope superseded the archbishop. At the Reformation, the right of nomination was again rested in the crown, and a curious system of forms established, which remains to the present time, it being enacted (25 Hen. VIII. c. 20) that on the avoidance of a bishopric the king may send the dean and chapter his license to proceed to election (conge 664. d'elire), which is to be accompanied by a letter missive from the king containing the name of the person he would have them elect. If the election be delayed above twelve days, the nomination lapses directly to the crown. The person elected is confirmed, invested, and con- secrated by the archbishop ; but it was decided in 1848, in the celebrated case of Dr. Hampden, that the function of the archbishop is ministe- rial only, and that he has no power to take cognisance of any objections to the person presented to him. Previously to the year 1850, the Roman Catholics in England had for many years been under the authority of vicars apostolic appointed by the pope. These were, in fact, bishops; but in order to avoid the jealousy of the civil power their titles were taken from places abroad, and the word district was used instead of diocese, to express their local jurisdic- tion, submission to which was, of course, volun- tary only. In Ireland and the colonies, how- ever, the Roman prelates had long assumed the episcopal title. In the year 1850 the pope issued letters apostolic dividing England into formal dioceses, and appointing a bishop or archbishop to each. This measure (commonly known as the papal aggression) caused great excitement at the time, and an Act was passed (14 & 15 Viet. c. 60) imposing penalties on persons assuming the title of archbishop or bishop of any place unless authorised by law. The Act, however, can only be enforced with the consent of the Attorney- General, and it has been quietly allowed to become a dead letter, no prosecution having been instituted under it, although the English Roman Catholic bishops habitually use territorial titles. The royal supremacy has been considered to extend to the colonies, and numerous bishoprics (endowed for the most part from private sources) have been established there by the crown under letters patent, and the crown has in the same manner appointed bishops to the different dioceses, some of whom have been invested with a metropolitan or superior jurisdiction. It has, however, been recently decided by the Privy council in Mr. Long's ease (1863) and the Natal case (1865) that letters patent issued by the crown after the establishment of a constitutional government in any colony are ineffectual to create therein any legal diocese, subject to coercive ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or any ecclesiastical corporation whose status, rights, and authorities the colony can be required to recognise. 'The church of England,' Lord Kingsdown said, in giving judgment in Long's case, ' in places where there is no church es- tablished by law, is in the same situation with any other religious body, in no better but in no worse position, and the members may adopt, as the members of any other communion may adopt, rules for enforcing discipline within their body, which will be binding on those who ex- pressly or by implication have assented to them.' (See further the case of Colenso v. Gladstone, decided in Chancery, Nov. 1866.) SURA Sura. The Arabic name for the chapters of the Koran. These chapters were, it is asserted, given forth sometimes as a wholo, sometimes in driblets, and often in single verses. Such driblets Mohammed, it is said, directed his amanuensis to enter ' in the sura which treated of such and such a subject.' If this tradition be authentic, it would indicate that Mohammed wished the Koran to be ar- ranged according to its matter, and not chrono- logically ; and hence the difficulty of assigning dates to each sura or portion of a sura is indefinitely increased. The arrangement is made, therefore, in the absence of other proof, to rest mainly on internal evidence, the various phases in his life, so far as we- can be said to have any knowledge of it, being illustrated by the various chapters of the Koran. This perilous task has been attempted by many writers ; with more than average suc- cess by Mr. Muir, in his Life of Mahomet, to which the reader is referred for a review of all the literature relating to the Prophet of Islam. According to Mr. Muir's canon, the earliest suras are vehement and impetuous fragments, while in those of a later date the style becomes calmer and more uniform ; with the decay of really sincere and earnest feeling, the suras become more lengthy and elaborate ; and the theory of inspiration is more fully developed. Thus, the passages in which reverence is claimed for the Koran, by ascribing to it not Divine inspiration only, but a heavenly original, belong to a later time than those in which the prophet speaks of himself simply as declaring the will of the Most High. It is obvious that with such uncertain materials the conclusions of independent writers must be more or less antagonistic ; and the mani- pulators of the Koran have not escaped the criticism which commonly falls to the lot of those who attempt to determine the chrono- logical order of facts, for which we have not adequate evidence in contemporary documents. Surbase (Fr.). In Architecture, the upper base of a room, or rather the cornice of the dado. Surcharged or Overcharged X&ine. In Military Mining, a mine loaded with a very great charge of powder. It is sometimes called a globe of compression. Surcoat (Fr. sur, over, and Eng. coat). A garment, generally of silk, forming part of the knightly equipment of the middle ages, from the thirteenth century. [Cyclas ; Jttpon.] It was worn over the body armour, and was ori- ginally designed to defend the armour from wet. G ay gownus of grene To hold thayre armur clene And were 1 '- hitte fro the wette. The Avowynge of King Arther, stanza 39. Surd (Lat. surdus, dull, silent). In Arith- metic and Algebra, a magnitude which is inexpressible by rational numbers. Thus, the square root of 2, the cube root of 3, &c, are numbers which cannot be expressed exactly in the ordinary notation, and are represented 660 SURFACE CONDENSATION by prefixing the radical signs indicating the operation, viz. ./2, a working by hand, the practice of an art). This word, in its modern acceptation, may be defined as the | practical application of medical science, in the use of all mechanical or instrumental means, for the removal of diseases and the relief of human suffering. If it be true that man is impelled by an instinctive impulse to seek for some natural remedy for his bodily disorders, the practice of medicine must for some time have existed before the dawn even of the rudest deductive theories. The wish to cause vomiting in order to relieve nausea would impel the sufferer to seek, for something which would act as an emetic, and the discovery of such a thing might be either imparted to his fellow-men or kept secret as a means both of profit and power. In matter of fact, the knowledge of herbs and simples so acquired seems in all countries to have been confined to a small class, which in the sequel assumed all the powers of a caste, and was generally identical with the priesthood. In this, which may be termed the sacerdotal stage of medicine, the hierarchy, possessed of a certain knowledge not shared by 666 1 SURGERY the great body of the people, and having no interests which might be hurt by the extension of that knowledge, affords a valuable aid to the growth of medical science. But the observation that remedies act in a given way, being effective in some cases and useless in others, leads to the idea of an orderly and regular causation, and the theories of the miraculous or supernatural characters of diseases begin to lose their ori- ginal power and charm ; and although the student of medicine may try to avert opposition by declaring that all causes with all their con- sequences are equally divine, an instinctive feeling warns the priestly caste that the advance of such notions must insure their downfall, and leads them to an uncompromising antagonism. This speculative or sceptical stage of the science, if summarily arrested, will be followed by an effete stagnation, like that which followed the extinction of Saracenic science in Spain ; but if the efforts for repression fail, the growth of a genuine scientific school has for its result a large accumulation of observations, and of knowledge derived from experiment, which may again bring it into collision with theologians and deductive reasoners. These several stages may be traced with more or less exactness in the history of medical science amongst the Greeks and Romans, in Egypt and Spain, in mediaeval Europe, in the Eastern world, and in the modern states of Europe and America. The Ayur Veda of the Hindus embodied the medical knowledge of the priestly caste in a form analogous to that of the Egyptian priesthood, and as this system has retained its hold to the present day their medical science exhibits still the features which marked it two or three thousand years ago. In the Greek legends, the tales of Cheiron and Asklepios(-ZEsculapius), of Heracles, Poda- leirion, and Melampus, illustrate that mythical era of medicine to which Sanchuniathon and j his alleged writings may be assigned. The remedies applied by the school which assumed the name of Asklepios were, as we might ex- pect, altogether empirical, and their unscientific character called forth the Aristophanic satire, which represented the Asklepiadae as stealing during the night the offerings of their dupes. The Pythagorsean schools (whether Pythagoras be mythical or historical) worked to better purpose, and came accordingly into conflict with the traditional dogmas of ruling classes. The men who on recovery from sickness put up a votive tablet to some deified hero, whom they regarded as their healer, could not well tolerate a system which applied a specific remedy to a specific evil in the anticipation of a merely natural result. That Greek medicine had reached its specu- lative or sceptical stage is abundantly attested by the doctrines of Hippocrates, who ' treated all phenomena as at once both divine and scientifically determinable. (Grote, History of Greece, part i. ch. xvi.) Of all diseases he affirmed that ' none is more divine or more I SURGERY human than another, but all arc on the same footing, and all divine ; nevertheless, each of them lias its own physical conditions, and not one occurs without such physical conditions.' It is obvious that one who so spoke might profess to start with or uphold some deductive theory, but his science pointed wholly to observation and experiment, and took no cog- nisance of any causes beyond those which might be ascertained by human industry and research. Hence Hippocrates necessarily made light of all hypotheses which connected the study of medi- cine with astronomical phenomena, and insisted that medicine should be determined by and bear reference to its own end, i. e. to the nature of man, as ascertainable by practical exa- mination. This method marks especially the Hippoeratic treatise on Climate as affecting the developement of the human race, and the basis of his Humoral Pathology, which retained its hold on the medical schools of Europe for more than 2,000 years. Medical science, checked in Greece by the disorders which followed the fall of Athens, received a fresh impulse in the schools of Alexandria. These schools were especially distinguished for their anatomical researches. By dissection and experiment they laid the foundation of scientific anatomy and physio- logy ; and the advance made was so great that, while Aristotle hardly knew that there were nerves, Herophilus was enabled to de- monstrate the functions of both the motor and sensitive nerves. While medical science was thus advancing in Egypt, at Eome it had scarcely taken root, nor can the schools which sprang up in the later days of the republic and after the esta- blishment of the empire be strictly considered Roman. They were founded by Greek phy- sicians ; and the Romans who, like Celsus, became most eminent in them, whether be- longing to the Eclectic or to other sects, adopted Greek theories, or reasoned from Greek axioms. To Celsus medical science is indebted for a great advance, not only in pharmacy, but also in surgical knowledge. Roman medicine reached its culminating point when, under Marcus Aurelius, Galen sojourned in Rome. The degree to which deductive methods still influenced scientific research may be inferred from the fact that this illustrious physician belonged to the sect of the Dogmatics. Al- though he professed to believe that the axioms from which he reasoned were founded on facts, he yet disregarded individual facts and the detail of experience as of little value in comparison with his preconceived theories of the nature of diseases. On the whole, he adhered to the mingled dogmatism and scepticism of Hippocrates. His two fundamental maxims were: (1) that disease is something contrary to nature, and must be overcome by that which is contrary to the disease itself ; and (2) that nature is to be preserved by that which has relation with nature. In his treatment, he made little of the symptoms of diseases, 667 SURMARK arguing that these would disappear with the disease as soon as the latter was conquered. In the West, modical science, after the days of Galen, underwent a sudden and complete eclipse. In the Byzantine empire, the medical schools, after the opposition made by Chiisl ianfl to anatomy, consisted chiefly of copyists and commentators on Hippocrates and Galen. Rut the namos of Oribasius, Aetius, and Procopius, are obscured by the greater fame of Paulus iEgineta, in the earlier half of the seventh century. The independent research, which had been abandoned or stigmatised in Christian coun- tries, was taken up by the Saracenic schools. Un- der Ebn Sina (Avicenna) and Avenzoar they reached their highest glory in the East and West respectively. But the victories of the Turks in the former, and in the latter the downfall of Moorish dominion in Spain, at once and finally arrested its progress. In mediaeval Europe, the genuine cultiva- tion of medical science soon provoked the oppo- sition of the hierarchy ; and the imprisonment of Roger Bacon, with the posthumous conviction of Peter of Apono, answered to the penalties inflicted on Galileo. But when 3 in the person of Leo X., the powers of the papacy were wielded by one whose attachment to the tra- ditional belief has not been considered very strong, medical science again revived, and the Greek culture then introduced insured the overthrow of the old coercive system. This so-called revival of learning had an im- mediate effect on England. In 1484, Thomas Linacre, founder of the College of Physicians of London, attended at Florence the lectures of the Athenian Chalcondylas. A century later, Foes had translated the Hippoeratic writings, and Fernel had questioned the dogmas of Galen. Into the later history of the science we are precluded by our limits from entering. Some account of the most distinguished physicians and of their several discoveries may be found in the article Anatomy. For the details of medical and surgical science, the reader is referred to the accounts given of the several diseases, and to the articles Chemistry ; Di- gestion ; Food ; Morphology ; Nutrition ; Teleology. A compendious account of ancient surgery is given in the article ' Chirurgia ' in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Soman Antiquities. (See also the articles on Celsus, Galen, Hippo- crates, in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Soman Biography; Encyclopedia Britannica, art. ' Medicine ; ' Henri Martin, La Fondrc, VElectricite, et le Magnetisme chcz les Anciens.) Surinamine, A crystallisable alkaloid obtained from the bark of the Geoffroya Suri- namensis (now called Andira inermis) or Suri- nam bark. Surmark. In Shipbuilding, an abutment temporarily placed on the outside of a rib, or timber, to give a hold to the riband by which, through the shores, it is supported on the slipway. SURMOUNTED SURVEYING Surmounted. In Architecture, a term sometimes used to denote an arch or dome which rises higher than a semicircle. Surmounted. In Heraldry, a bearing is said to be surmounted by another bearing which extends not only across it, but across the field also ; therein differing from charged, e. g. a pile surmounted by a chevron ; which in this case extends across the field. Surname (Fr. surnom ; Span, sobrenombre, from Lat. super, over, and nomen, a name). In modern European usage, the family name of an individual; but often used for any distinguishing name. [Name.] According to Ducange, the use of surnames in France began about the year 987, when the barons adopted the practice of designating themselves by the names of their estates. This has been the general, though by no means the uniform origin, of family names in the nobility of Europe ; some having been derived from badges, cognisances, the nicknames applied to individuals, &c. Among the commonalty of this country, surnames are said not to have been general before the reign of Edward II. It will be found on examina- tion that a great number of them originate in the still older custom of adding to the son's Christian name that of the father by way of distinction ; many more from the names of trades; and many more from accidental distinc- tions, as of size or colour, probably applied in the first instance to the founder of the family. Surplice (Low Lat. superpellicium, appa- rently from pellis, skin). This ecclesiastical vestment is thought by Mr. Palmer (Orig. Liturg. ii. 320) to have been at one time not different from the alb. It now has wider sleeves, a difference which is thought to have originated in some distinction between the dress of a supe- rior and inferior order of clergy. It dates from the twelfth century. The vehement objections entertained by the Puritans of the sixteenth century to its use are well known. [Vest- ments.] Surrebutter i [Pleading.] Surrejoinder. [Pleading.] Surrender (perhaps a corruption of Fr. se rendre, to yield oneself). In Law. 1. A deed by which the tenant of a particular estate or interest conveys his interest to the remainder- man or reversioner, immediately expectant on the determination of that estate, as, for instance, when a tenant for years gives up his lease to the freeholder. 2. A surrender of copyhold or customary estates is the yielding up of such estates by the tenant into the hands of the lord for purposes expressed in the surrender. This is the common method of conveying copyhold lands, the lord being in general bound to admit the party in whose favour the surrender is made. [Copyhold.] Surrogate (Lat. subrogatus). In Law, one substituted for or appointed in the room of another. The term is commonly used in the ecclesiastical courts as the description of an officer who acts as deputy for the bishop's | chancellor. 658 1 Surtout. In Heraldry, a figure borne over another, and obscuring part of it. Surturbrand. A kind of fibrous Brown Coal or Bituminous Wood found in Iceland. It resembles Bovey Coal. Surveying (Fr. survoir, to overlook). In Practical Mathematics, the art of determining the boundaries and superficial extent of a portion of the earth's surface. The object of a survey may be either to ascertain the contents of a field or portion of land, or to determine the relative distances and bearings of the most prominent objects of a country for the purpose of construct- ing a map, or to determine the form and dimen- sions of a portion of the earth's surface with a view to deduce the magnitude and figure of the earth by comparing the geodetical distances be- tween given points with their astronomical posi- tions. In all cases the operation is conducted on the same principles ; but while the first requires only the application of the merest elements of arithmetic and trigonometry, the last can be accomplished only with the aid of instruments of the most refined description, and processes of calculation deduced from mathe- matics of the highest order. In measuring land, all the lines and the sur- faces whose contents are to be found are reduced to the same horizontal plane, on the principle that as plants shoot up vertically, no greater number can be produced on the slant side of a hill than would grow on the area covered by its horizontal base. When the lines actually measured are not horizontal, they are therefore multiplied by the cosines of their respective inclinations to the horizon. For the linear measurements, a chain is employed consisting of 100 links, its whole length, 22 yards, being such that one square chain is equal to the tenth part of an acre. In order to avoid decimal fractions, surveyors usually set down all the measures in links ; and when the contents of a field are cast up in square links, it is only necessary to mark off the five last figures as decimals in order to have the contents in acres, the number of square links in an acre being 100 x 100 x 10 = 100,000. As the measurement of angles is in general an operation much less liable to error than the measurement of linear distances, the skilful surveyor, in cases where the surface to be mea- sured is of considerable extent, will avoid making further use of the chain than is ne- cessary for obtaining the data requisite for a trigonometrical computation. The most con- venient instrument, and that which is almost universally employed in land surveying for the measurement of angles, is the Theodolite, which, from the nature of its construction, gives the angles reduced to the plane of the horizon, and consequently renders a computation for that purpose unnecessary. As auxiliaries to the theodolite, and for the purposes of sketching and filling in the details of a map, the Plane Table and the Prismatic Compass are used; and in order to determine the bear- ings of the several objects observed from any SURVEYING station with reference to the cardinal points of the horizon, a compass and needle accom- pany the theodolite. It frequently happens in surveying, that tri- angles are to be measured whose sides contain very acute or obtuse angles. As in such cases a small error in the angular measurement would lead to very erroneous results, the practice usually adopted for finding the area is to measure the longest side of the triangle and the perpendicular let fall upon it from the op- posite angle, the area being half the product of the side into the perpendicular. For the purpose of tracing the perpendicular, the simple cross-staff may be employed ; but the instru- ment called the optical square (which is merely a small shallow circular box containing the two principal glasses of the sextant fixed at an angle of 45°) will effect the purpose with greater accuracy. The method of using it is obvious. If the observer moves forward or backward in the straight line A B until the object B seen by direct vision coincides with another object C seen by reflexion, then a straight line drawn to C from the point at which he stands when the coincidence takes place will be perpendicu- lar to A B. The box sextant might evidently be employed for the same purpose. Since every plane figure may be regarded as composed of a certain number of triangles, the whole theory of land surveying resolves it- self into the measurement of the areas of plane triangles. For computing the area of a triangle it is necessary to know the length of at least one side ; and when this is known, together with any two of its other parts, the remaining parts and the area are computed by the rules of tri- gonometry. In surveying an estate, the usual practice is to measure round it with a chain, and observe the several angles with the theodolite; and if the boundaries are very irregular, a straight line is to run between two points so as to cut off one or more of the bendings, and the per- pendiculars or offsets from the straight line to each bending are measured with a rod or offset staff, the most convenient length of which is ten links. By this means the spaces included between the actual boundaries and the assumed straight lines are computed ; and the sides and angles of the interior polygon being known, its area may be formed without resolving it into triangles. [Polygon.] Trigonometrical Survey. — When a survey is to be effected on a large scale, as for making a geometrical map of a country, or for mea- suring an arc of the terrestrial meridian, not only is minute accuracy required in all the practical parts of the operation, but it becomes necessary to have regard to the curvature of the earth's surface, the effects of temperature, refraction, altitude above the sea, and a host of circumstances of which the influence is wholly unappreciable in the practice of ordi- nary surveying. Geodetical measurements of this kind have been executed in various coun- tries. [Degree.] The first undertaken in 669 our own country was that of General Roy, begun in 1783, for the purpose of connecting the Greenwich Observatory with the French triangulation which had been carried on from Paris to the coast opposite Dover, and con- sequently for determining the difference of the meridians of the two observatories by actual measurement. This gave rise to a more important operation ; namely, a general survey of the kingdom, begun in 1791 under the di- rection of the Board of Ordnance. A brief description of the methods employed in con- ducting the different parts of this splendid national undertaking will probably be the best means we could adopt to explain the nature and objects of an accurate trigonometrical survey. Measurement of Base. — This is the funda- mental, and probably the most difficult part of the whole operation, and must be executed with the most minute accuracy, as any error committed in its determination will affect all the distances deduced from it, and be multi- plied in the ratio of these distances to the length of the base. First of all, a suitable piece of ground, on which a straight line of not less than five or six miles can be laid down, must be selected and carefully levelled ; and a measuring apparatus employed, of which the length is exactly known in units of a standard scale. General Roy's base on Hounslow Heath was first measured with deal rods; but as these were found to be affected by the hygrometrical changes of the atmosphere, it was again mea- sured with glass tubes twenty feet in length, furnished with a peculiar apparatus for making the contacts. In the subsequent measurement of the same line for the Ordnance Survey, two steel chains of 100 feet in length, made by Ramsden, were employed. One of these was used as a measuring chain ; the other was kept for the purpose of comparing the measuring chain with it before and after the operation. In the act of measuring, the chain was laid in a trough supported on trestles, and was stretched with a weight of fifty-six pounds. The same apparatus was em- ployed in measuring five other bases in different parts of the country, for the purpose of verify- ing the accuracy of the work. For the mea- surement of the Lough Foyle base in the survey of Ireland, Colonel Colby employed a compensating apparatus formed of bars of different metals, so arranged that the distance between two points viewed by compensation microscopes remains constant under all changes of temperature. The length of the Hounslow Heath base was nearly 5*2 miles; that of the Irish base about 8 miles. {Account of the Mea- surement of the Lough Foyle Base, 1847.) Selection of Stations. — The next step in the operation is to divide the country to be surveyed into a series of connected triangles. The choice of the stations which form the angular points must depend in some measure on the nature of the country ; but where circum- stances admit of a selection being made, it is very important to form the triangles so that SURVEYING the small unavoidable errors of observation shall produce the least errors possible in the resulting sides. The conditions required for this purpose are mostnearly fulfilled by making the triangles as nearly as possible equilateral. (Galloway ' On the Determination of the most probable Errors of Observation in a portion of the Ordnance Survey,' Mem. Eoyal Ast. Soc. vol. xv.) Signals. — Various plans have been adopted in the course of the survey for marking and rendering visible the stations at which the instrument is successively set up. At first flag- staffs were chiefly used, carrying lamps and con- cave reflectors for night observations. Such signals could be seen in the telescope of the great theodolite at distances of 20 or even 24 miles. Bengal lights, fixed in small sockets, were used for more distant stations. In the moun- tainous countries of Scotland and Ireland, and where the sides of the triangles generally exceeded 50 and sometimes even 100 miles in length, conical piles of stone were erected on the summits of hills ; and although the signals were attended with this disadvantage, that they could only be seen when the atmosphere was clear (and the surveying parties were fre- quently compelled to remain for weeks on the mountains before a single observation could be made), yet from the steadiness of the object observed they were found on the whole to be preferable to any night signals previously tried, When the theodolite was to be set up at a station which had been already ob- served from another, the pile was thrown down, and the instrument placed exactly over its centre. The heliotrope, and small plane mirrors, have likewise been occasionally em- ployed with success. (On this subject, see Mr. Drummond's paper in the Phil. Trans, for 1826.) Reduction to Centre of Station. — In observing the angles at any station, it is supposed that the centre of the instrument is placed exactly at the centre of the station. This condition was rigidly adhered to in the Ordnance Survey of Britain by erecting signals on purpose ; but where the saving of expense is an object, it is often convenient to take advantage of spires, towers, &c, in which case the instrument cannot always be placed in the required position. In such circumstances, the observation is made at a point near the station, and the angle at that point subtended by two remote objects is reduced to that which would have been observed if the instrument had been placed exactly at the centre of the station. Reduction to the Horizon. — Another indis- pensable condition is, that the angles observed at each station be reduced to the plane of the horizon. When the theodolite is employed for measuring the angles, this reduction is effected by the instrument itself ; but when the angles are measured with a repeating circle or sextant, a reduction is necessary, unless the two distant objects observed be in the same horizontal plane with the instrument, which will rarely happen. 670 Spherical Excess. — The sum of the three angles of any spherical triangle exceeds 180° by a quantity which is called the spherical ex- cess, and which we shall denote by E. If the observations could be made with absolute accu- racy, the sum of the three observed angles of any triangle on the ground would be 180° + E ; the difference of their sum from this quantity is the aggregate error of the three observed angles, and must be distributed among those angles so as to render the sum precisely 180° + E before the sides are computed. It is therefore neces- sary to determine E. Let S denote the area of the triangle in square feet, r the number of feet in the radius of the earth, and 7r = 314159; then E is given in seconds by this formula [Spheeicax Excess] : -p^ S + 648000" ir r 2 (648000 being the number of seconds in 180°). In order, therefore, to compute E, we must previously know the values of S and r. Now with respect to S, it is to be observed that in every case which can arise in practice the area of the triangle must be a very small quantity relative to r 2 , so that in order to find E it is not necessary to compute S with great precision. A sufficiently near value will be obtained by calculating one of the unknown sides as if the triangle were a plane one, and computing the area from the formula 8 = ^ a b sin C. {Measurement of Lough Foyle Base, p. 126.) With respect to r, which is here taken to repre- sent the radius of curvature of the surface of the triangle in question, it is to be remarked, that by reason of the ellipticity of the earth, the radius of curvature of any arc on the earth's surface varies not only with the latitude of the place jof observation, but also with the direction of the arc in respect of the meridian. For the present purpose it would be sufficiently accurate to assume r as the radius of the meridian ; but as the radius of the perpendicular and oblique arcs is required in other parts of the computa- tion, we shall here give the formulas from which they are computed. Let B be the radius of curvature of the meridian at latitude I, B' the radius of the circle perpendicular to the meridian, and r the radius of a great circle making an angle 9 with the meridian ; also let p denote half the polar axis of the earth, or 20,853,810 feet (Airy's value), and e the ellipticity, or the difference between the equa- torial and polar axes divided by the polar axis ( = l-s-301-026=-003322); then R=jj 3 e shv7) B/ =p (1 + e + e sin 2 *?) r=R (l+ R, ~ R sin 2 6) B Since the inclination 6 is different for each of the sides of the triangle, a mean value of rmay be found by making 6 = 45°, in which case sin 2 6 = ^ ; and as the curvature varies very little through a considerable extent of country, the same value SURVEYING SUS of r may bo used for all the triangles within a zone of two or throe degrees of latitude. Sup- pose, then, the value to bo computed for the moan latitude of a chain of triangles, the formula for the spherical excess will be E _ a b sin C x 648000 It is proper to remark that in general E is a very small quantity. When the sides of the triangles are about 20 or 30 miles, it will seldom exceed 4 or 5 seconds of a degree ; but in some of the great triangles connecting Ire- land with the west coast of Scotland its value was found to exceed 30 seconds. Having computed the spherical excess E, make e=A + B + C -(180° + E)— A, B, C being the observed horizontal angles ; then e is the error of the sum of the observed angles ; and if there be any reason for supposing that any one of the angles has been less accurately deter- mined than the others, the error must be equally divided among them, or a third of e must be added to or subtracted from each angle, as the error is in excess or defect, and the results will give the angles from which the sides are to be computed. Calculation of the Sides. — The angles being thus corrected for errors of observation, it now remains to compute the two unknown sides of the triangles. The computation may be made by the ordinary rules of spherical trigonometry ; but a better method, practised by Delambre, and adopted in the Ordnance Surveys of Great Britain and Ireland, consists in first computing from the observed horizontal angles the corre- sponding angles formed by the chords of the terrestrial arcs, and then calculating the triangle as a plane one. In this manner the chords of the spherical arcs are found, whence the arcs themselves are easily obtained. Legcndre's Theorem. — Another method of computing the sides, which has been gene- rally adopted in surveys on the Continent, is derived from a theorem which was discovered by Legendre, and is demonstrated in his Ele- rnens de Geometrie. 1 If from each of the angles of any small triangle on the surface of a sphere or spheroid one-third of the spherical excess be deducted, the sines of the angles thus diminished will be proportional to the lengths of the opposite sides, and consequently the sides may be computed as if the triangle were rectilineal.' This is the easiest method of any ; and, in fact, if the three angles are assumed to have been equally well determined, the previous computa- tion of the spherical excess is not necessary for the calculation of the sides, though it will be required for estimating the relative accuracy of the observations. Latitudes, Longitudes, and Azimuths. — When the sides of all the triangles have been computed, the distances between the stations become known ; but in order to complete the survey, it is still necessary to determine the astronomical positions of the principal stations, together with the bearings of the sides of the triangles with 671 respect to the terrestrial meridians. For this purpose the latitude and longitudo of one of the stations, and the azimuth of another as seen from it, must be found by astronomical methods [Azimuth ; Latitude ; Longitude] ; but when this has been done these elements may be computed for each of the other stations in the chain of triangles, provided the dimensions and ellipticity of the spheriod are assumed to be known. Calculation of Altitudes. — The only element which remains to be determined, in order to complete the survey, is the relative altitudes of the different stations or principal points. At every station the elevation or depression of each of the others observed from it is measured with the theodolite ; but owing to the curvature of the earth and the refraction of light, a calculation is necessary in order to determine their true differences of level or of distance from the centre of the earth. In surveying a line of railway or canal, the first thing to be done is to traverse the country intervening between the proposed termini, so as to judge by a reconnaissance, or eye survey, what is the most elegible route. A more detailed examination is subsequently made, when the levels are taken, so as to balance the earthworks as nearly as possible, and the line is then staked out. [Railroads.] In marine surveying, the main points are fixed by as- tronomical observation. {Trigonometrical Survey of England and Wales; Delambre, Base du Systeme Metrique; Puissant, Traite de Geodesie ; Id. Nouvelle Description Geometrique de la France ; Ency. Brit. art. 'Trigonometrical Survey.') Surveying-, Efaval. The science of deter- mining the lines on which seas may be safely navigated. The duty consists in ascertaining the depth of water by sounding, in carefully delineating on charts the points at which the depth changes, and by observing the bearings of natural or artificial objects, which may enable navigators to determine their exact position and course. Survivorship. In the doctrine of Life Annuities, a reversionary benefit contingent upon the circumstance of some life or lives surviving some other life or lives, or of the lives falling according to some assigned order. For the solution of the different questions which can be put relative to the values of annuities and assurances in every order of survivorship, where there are only three lives, see the trea- tises of Baily and Milne; or the 'Essay on Pro- babilities ' in the Cabinet Cyclopcedia. [Assur- ance ; Expectation of Life.] Sus (Lat. ; Grr. vs). The generic name given by Linnaeus to those hoofed mammals which have on each foot a pair of large digits with a small one on each side, shorter, and more backwardly placed. Lower incisors procumbent, opposed to upper ones. Canines exposed, and in the males usually recurved, upward. The muzzle terminated by a truncated snout fitted for turning up the ground. Non-ruminant. This SUSANNITE generic name is retained for the species of wild boar and their domesticated descendants of Europe and Asia. But certain African kinds have been separated under the names Potamochcerus and Phacochoerus, and the South American kinds under the name Dicotyles : the whole now forming the family of non-ruminant Artiodactyles, called Suidce. Susannite. A mineral with the same com- position as Leadhillite, which it also closely resembles in appearance, found in crystals on the Susanna lode at Leadhills in Lanarkshire. Suspension. In Ecclesiastical Law, sus- pension from the right of exercising an office, and from receiving the emolument thereof (ab officio et beneficio), is a punishment inflicted on the clergy by sentence of the ecclesiastical court. Laymen may also be suspended ab ingressu ecclesiae for brawling in a church, or the like, and condemned to pay the costs of the proceedings. Suspension Bridge. In Architecture, a bridge in which the roadway, instead of being carried over the supporting points, is suspended from them, the supporting points being chains or other flexible materials. .The principle has recently been carried to a great extent in this country, as in the case of the Menai bridge ; but its application is old, and has long been practised among people who have attained very little if any skill in the arts. [Bridge.] Sussex Marble. A variety of limestone which constitutes one of the fresh-water deposits of the Wealden group ; it abounds in shells of Paludince, a genus of fresh-water Univalves. It occurs in layers varying from a few inches to upwards of a foot in thickness, the layers being separated by seams of clay or of friable lime- stone. Suttee. This word, more correctly written sati or satee, is akin to the Sanscrit Sacti, the term applied to the female power in nature. This power could be approached only after purification, and various rites of this nature were in process of time denoted by this word, which was especially used by the Brahmins to signify the self-immolation of widows on the funeral pile of their husbands. The justifica- tion for this practice, and the obligatory precept on which it rested, was found by them in a passage of the Rig Veda, which, as translated by Colebrooke, runs thus : ' Om ! let these women, not to be widowed, good wives adorned with collyrium, holding clarified butter, consign themselves to the fire. Immortal, not childless, not husbandless, well adorned with gems, let them pass into the fire whose original element is water.' This passage, Professor Max Miiller asserts (Comparative Mythology, 23), has been corrupted and falsified by the Brahmans to support their cruel tenet. The real meaning of the verse, in his judgment, is the following : 'May these women who are not widows, but have good husbands, draw near with oil and butter. Those who are mothers may go up first to the altar, without tears, without sorrow, but decked with fine jewels.' The verse is thus 672 SUTTEE addressed, not to the widows, but to the other women, who have to pour oil and butter on the pile ; while in a subsequent verse the widow is ordered to leave her husband and return to the world of living men. ' Rise up, woman, come to the world of life ; thou sleepest nigh unto him whose life is gone. Come to us. Thou hast thus fulfilled thy duties of a wife to the husband who once took thy hand and made thee mother.' The injunction to self-immolation, thus ob- tained by changing the words yonirn agre into yonim agneh (the womb of fire), Prof. Max Miiller stigmatises as ' perhaps the most fla- grant instance of what can be done by an unscrupulous priesthood. Here have thousands and thousands of lives been sacrificed, and a fanatical rebellion been threatened, on the authority of a passage which was mangled, mistranslated, and misapplied.' He urges, fur- ther, that the existence of the word vidhavd (widow) suffices of itself to prove that this practice of self-immolation is comparatively modern. ' If this custom had existed, the want of having a name for widow would hardly have been felt, or if it had been, the word would most likely have had some reference to this awful rite.' But in Sanscrit dhava is a man, and from this word by the prefix of the preposition vi, without, is formed vidhavd, husbandless ; and ' if the custom of widow- burning had existed at that early period, there would have been no vidhavas, no husbandless women, because they would all have followed their husbands into death.' If, however, this evidence proves beyond all question that the idea of self-immolation, as incumbent on all widows, was at first unknown, it can scarcely prove the negative, that there were no widows who sacrificed themselves. It is conclusive against the universality or fre- quency of the custom, but not against the theory of self-immolation. It may further be urged that Professor Max Miiller' s argument fails altogether to account for the origin of the practice, except by attributing it to the dis- interested cruelty of a sanguinary priesthood. But even if we grant a position from which we may have a natural shrinking, it may fairly be doubted whether the corruption of agre into agneh would have sufficed to introduce the practice, however powerful might be the priest- hood which enjoined it. Such a fraud might convert into a precept of general obligation a practice which had been the privilege or the pride of a few, but it could scarcely have insured the acceptance of a duty, which could on this hypothesis have had for them no meaning and must have appeared the mere arbitrary com- mand of a sacerdotal caste. Hence we must go further, if we wish to account for the origin of the custom ; and it has been thought that the later Brahmanic teaching is connected with mythical phrases and legends familiartosome.at least, among the Aryan nations. If the custom was notgeneral.and if at the same time it existed before the corruption of the Vedic text, it would follow that self-immolation was practised on SUTUJtAL SWEATING SICKNESS the death only of kings, chieftains, or great warriors ; and if the death of such men was compared, as we know that at certain stages of thought it commonly is, to the putting out of the light of day, to the sinking of the sun into the dark sea, then the analogy of the earthly wifo to the bride of the sun might, it is urged, very naturally suggest itself. The forms which this idea assumed in Hellenic and Teutonic mythology have been noticed in the articles Mythology, Paris, and Sigurdr ; and it can scarcely be questioned that (Enone and Bren- hyldr are genuine instances of suttee, whether the practice took its rise from mythical phrases and ideas or whether it did not. But, apart from such striking examples, the tone and spirit of innumerable legends pointed to the conclusion that life could have no attraction for the wife of the hero, whose career and death had re- sembled that of the glorious sun-god. Such a conclusion might long remain a mere idea, while here and there it might be carried out by some whose very heart was broken by their grief ; and if during an indefinite period this self-devotion was occasionally permitted in the wives of kings and heroes, there is nothing surprising in the fact that a powerful priesthood succeeded in the sequel in representing the rite of immolation as a duty incumbent on all women who desired to win a pure and unspotted name. But, whatever may be its origin, it is certain that the custom had under Brahmanic influ- ence become frightfully common. The English government in the territories under its sway interfered at first only to insure, as far as possible, that the sacrifice should be strictly voluntary on the part of the widow. The pre- sence of a government officer for this purpose imparted to the custom an air of legality which was far from promoting the object of such interference. At length, in December 1829, the rite was abolished in the British dominions by Lord "William Bentinck. (Forbes, Oriental Memoirs ii. 26 ; Heber, Journal i. 70 ; Craw- ford, Indian Archipelago vi. 2.) Sutural (Lat. sutura, a seam). In Botany, this term is applied to parts which bear some definite relation to a suture or line of junc- tion between the different parts. Thus, the term sutural dehiscence means that a seed- vessel splits along the line of junction of two valves. Suture (Lat. sutura, a seam). In Ana- tomy, the junction of bones by their serrated or toothed margins : the bones of the skull are '. so united. Suture. In Entomology, the line at which the elytra meet, and are sometimes confluent. j Suture. In Mammalogy, the line formed by the incumbent ends of converging series ' of hairs of the integument. i Svanbergite. A pale-red mineral found at Wermland in Sweden ; and chiefly composed of sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, alumina, '. lime, soda, and water. The name Svanbergite has also been applied to Platiiiiridium. Vol. III. 673 Swab (A.-Sax. swebban, io svwp). A bundle of yarns tied together to form a, sort of mop used in drying the decks of a ship. Swallow (A.-Sax. swalewe, Ger. schwalbc). A name equivalent to the subgeneric term Hirundo, appropriated in Modern Ornithology to the British species called bank, chimney, and window swallow, and to foreign allied forms dismembered from the swifts. Swamp (A.-Sax. swam, Dan. svamp). Ground habitually so moist and soft as not to admit of being trod on by cattle, but, at the same time, producing particular kinds of t rees, bushes, and plants. A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produces only herbage plants and mosses. Swamp-ore or Swampy Iron-ore. An old name for Bog Iron-ore. Swan (Ger. schwan, Dan. svane). Of the noble web-footed birds so called there are three British species — the Hooper, or Bewick's, the wild, and the tame swan. These form the typo of the subgenus Cygnus. The wild swan and Hooper ought perhaps to be regarded as the only true native species. The tame swan ( Cygnus olor) is superior in bulk to either of the wild species, and is at once distinguished by a large black callous knob on the base of the bill. Both the wild species are pecu- liarly characterised by convolutions of the windpipe, extending in the mature bird through the whole length of the keel of the sternum. These convolutions are horizontal in the Cygnus BewicJcii, and vertical in the Cygnus ferus. Swaniiild. In Teutonic Mythology. [Sigurdr.] Sward. Green turf; i.e. the surface of land under pasture grasses. A fine sward may be called the characteristic feature of British landscape, not being found in the same degree of perfection in any other country, not even in Ireland. Swash betters. In Printing, letters which had their terminations projecting considerably beyond the shank thus : K^Q^R^ &c. They have been revived of late years with the re- introduced old-fashioned types. Sweating Sickness. An epidemic of great severity which appeared in England at different periods towards the end of the fif- teenth and beginning of the sixteenth century. It is generally believed to have broken out in the army of the duke of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., on his landing at Milford Haven. It spread over various neighbouring countries, and wa s called sudor Anglicus. Curiously enough , it mostly attacked persons of rank, and those in good health. The disease may be described as a fever commencing with heat in some one limb or in some part of the body, spreading over the whole surface, and followed by pro- fuse and exhausting sweating, with insatiable thirst. Restlessness, nausea, delirium, and headache, with irregular action of the heart, were always present. Patients often died in from two to four hours after the sweat set in. XX SWEDE The last visitation of the scourge in England was in 1551. [Plague.] Swede. A kind of Turnip with yellow flesh, introduced from Sweden, much cultivated as a root crop by agriculturists. Its botanical name is Brassica campestris rutabaga. Swedenborgians. Those persons who on religious subjects receive the testimony of Swedenborg, a Swedish nobleman who died in 1772. In his work entitled Arcana Ccelestia, and in his Apocalypsis Bevelata, Swedenborg professes to make known what he calls the Science of Correspondences, or that analogy between spiritual and natural things, according to which, he says, the Word of God is written. Thus, Jerusalem signifies not only the chief city of Palestine, but the Lord's church, and more specifically the religious doctrines by which persons are united into a church. Hence the new Jerusalem, seen by John descending from God out of heaven, signifies a new church, or a new developement of pure doctrines from the Holy Word, which will eventually regenerate the world. In these doctrines may be consi- dered as most prominent the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one God in whom is centred the Divine Trinity, and the necessity for uniting charity with faith, or, in other words, for the keeping of the divine commandments, in which is included the performance of every duty. The admirers of Swedenborg, who form a separate religious body, which they denominate the New Church, have places of worship in London and other towns of England, and are greatly increasing in America. In the religious census of 1851 the number of their congregations in England is stated at fifty. Sweeps. Very long oars used occasionally in the bows of ships to assist the action of the rudder during a calm. Sweet Bay. Another name for the Noble Pay, Laurits nobilis. [Laurus.] In America, the name is applied to Magnolia glauca. Sweet Flagr. The Acorns Calamus, an aro- matic native plant found in moist situations in this country. [Acortjs.] Sweet Sop. The fruits of Anona squamosa and A. srricea. Sweetbread. The thymus gland of the calf is employed as food, under this name ; it contains about seventy parts of water, and thirty of nutritious matter, chiefly of an albu- minous character. 1 A fresh sweetbread when plainly cooked (by boiling) and moderately seasoned, forms a very agreeable and suitable dish for the convalescent ; but, when highly dressed, is improper both for dyspeptics and invalids. (Pereira On Diet.) Swell (a Teutonic word). In Music, a part of an organ. It consists of a small separate organ enclosed in a box, the whole being con- tained within the case of the large instrument. The box has shutters or louvre boards which can be opened or shut by means of a pedal, so as to allow the sound of the pipes within either to be heard distinctly or partly sup- 674 ' 1 SWIMMING pressed at the pleasure of the player, and thus to produce a swelling effect, whence the name. Swell of the XVXuzzle. [Gun.] Swietenia (after Baron von Swieten, a Dutch botanist). Swietenia Mahagoni, the tree which yields the Mahogany of commerce, is the sole representative of this genus of Ce- drelacea, and is peculiar to the warmer parts of America and the West Indies. It forms a stately tree of some, sixty or eighty feet high. The first discovery of the beauty of mahogany wood is attributed to the carpenter on board Sir Walter Raleigh's ship, while lying off Trinidad in 1595. At Honduras the wood is not considered to be in perfection when under 200 years old. The bark is considered a febrifuge, and the seeds prepared with oil were used by the ancient Aztecs, as they are by the modern Mexicans, as a cosmetic. Swimmers (a Teutonic word). The web- footed or aquatic birds (Natatores, 111. ; Pal- mipedes, Cuv.) are so called ; also a tribe of spiders (Araneidce natantcs)wh.\ch. live in water, and there spin and spread abroad filaments to entrap their prey. Swimming:. Amongst land-mammals, man seems to be the only one without the natural faculty of swimming. It is acquired by prac- tice, imitation, or being taught. The learner, immersed to the neck, is directed to begin by placing the palms of the hands together and pushing them forward about an inch under water, the knees at the same time being drawn up under the body, as if pre- paring for a spring. The next movement is that of divarication of the hands, in the form of a scoop, the fingers being kept close and the thumb downward, so as to thrust back the water with a wide sweep of the entire arm from the shoulder. At the same moment the legs are thrown back, the feet pushing away the water beneath, the effort being that of making a spring forward. When the arms have made their utmost horizontal extension, they are to be bent with the elbows drawn back until the ball of the thumb of each hand gently touches the ribs ; the palms, being then again broi:ght together, are pushed forward in a direct line (the tips of the two thumbs passing under the chin) to repeat the stroke. In like manner, the motion of the legs and feet having been made, the action is relaxed, and the legs stretched out with the toes inclined downward till the knees are again drawn up to repeat tie stroke. The principal propelling power is iu the legs, the arms and hands acting chiefly in bearing up the head above the surface. It is essential that the action of arms and legs be simultaneous. Man thus most closely imitates the swimming of the frog. To one in danger of drowning, it is more im- portant to know how to float than how to swim. The exercise of the muscles in a good swim- mer necessitates more frequent respiration, and exhausts the strength. If a shore bo within reach and no help nigh, the swimmer may, indeed, save himself, wh, I throw). A word of many meanings, 679 SYMBOLS although now commonly used in one only. 1. The primary meaning of the verb trvfiftiiWeiv expresses the act of several in constituting or throwing together portions to form a whole. Hence avfx&oKov signified a treaty or agreement. (Arist. Polit.) It seems to be in this sense that the creeds are termed by early ecclesiasti- cal writers symbols: either because (as Au- gustine says) all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity are collected in them ; or from the old traditionary story, related by Rufinus, that the creed called the Apostles' Creed was formed by each of them contributing a sentence. [Creed.] 2. The mind may be said to put together outward appearances, and collect from them the. notion of a thing signified by them ; and hence the outward appearances themselves may be called symbols, signs, or emblems ; while the act of the mind is termed conjecture (Lat. conjicio). Thus, the standards of military bodies were called by the Greeks symbols ; as likewise omens and portents ; and expressions or figures denoting a received meaning, as the Pythagorean symbols. In this sense, the early Christians gave the general name of symbols to all rites, ceremonies, and outward forms bearing a re- ligious meaning, to the sacraments and the sacramental elements, to the cross, and, in later times, to images and pictures. Symbols, properly so called, must be distinguished from Types, and from mere symbolical attributes, such as the figures usually introduced in re- presentations of the four Evangelists. Sym- bolical books are such books as contain the creeds and confessions of different churches : as the three creeds, received by all; the Confession of Augsburg, received by the Lutherans ; the articles of the church of England, &c. The Germans call the study of the symbols and mysterious rites of antiquity, and also the study of the history and contents of Christian creeds and confessions of faith, by the name of symbolics (mythological or theological). Mar- heineke's Institutions Symbolic^, of which the first edition appeared in 1812, is one of their most distinguished works in the latter class. Symbols. In Mathematics, certain marks by which numbers, quantities, or operations are represented. [Notation, Mathematical.] By a calculus of symbols is meant a systematic method of combining symbols according to pre- scribed laws. [Operations, Calculus of.] Symbolic algebra is that branch of the general calculus of symbols where algebraic symbols and operative rules are considered. (De Morgan's Double Algebra.) Symbolic geometry, again, is a science wherein the symbols have geometric meanings, and the operations a geometrical character. [Quaternions.] Great progress has recently been made, and especially in England, in the developement of symbolical methods. Recent volumes of the transactions of our learned societies and of our mathemati- cal journals contain valuable papers on the sub- ject by several writers, amongst whom may be mentioned Gregory, "Warren, Peacock, Sir W. R. Hamilton, De Morgan, Cayley, Sylvester, SYMBOLS, BOTANICAL Boole, Hargreaves, Donkin, Carmichael, Spot- tiswoode, Russell, &c. Symbols, Botanical. In their descrip- tions of plants, botanists use certain signs or abbreviations to convey information in the most ready way on certain general facts which have to be recorded, or to express particular at- tributes in the subject under description. The signs or symbols in most frequent use are the following : — j. The determinant S' = S n_l of the reciprocal system is also symmetrical ; and if a' lt k represent the element of S', which corresponds to a lt t in S, we have a\ ^ == i = A- f — . [Determinants.] da^x Symmetrical Figures. In Geometry, two points are said to be symmetrical with respect to a third point, the centre of sym- metry, when the former are equidistant from, and in the same straight line with, the latter. Two points are also said to be symmetrical with respect to a given line, axis of symmetry, when they are equidistant from the latt el- and situated on the same perpendicular to it. Lastly, two points are said to be sym- metrical with respect to a given plane of symmetry, when they lie on the same per- pendicular to this plane and are also equi- distant from the latter. Similarly, two figures are said to be symmetrical with respect to a centre, an axis, or a plane when their points taken in pairs are so. A figure and its re- flected image are symmetrical with respect to the plane of the mirror. Two figures which are symmetrical with respect to an axis can always be superposed by causing one to make half a complete rotation about that axis. When the figures are symmetrical with respect to a centre or a plane they cannot in general be superposed, though their recti- lineal edges, as well as their plane and di- hedral angles, are equal two and two. The volumes of two such symmetrical solids are likewise equal. Two spherical triangles whose corners are diametrically opposed to each other are symmetrical with respect to the centre of the sphere. When each is isosceles, they can be superposed, but not otherwise ; nevertheless, their angles and sides are always equal, as are also their areas. Two figures which are symmetrical to the same figure, with respect to two different centres or planes of symmetry, are equal and superposable. An interesting memoir on symmetrical figures by Bravais will be found in Liouville's Journal, 1849. Legendre, in the sixth book of his Elements de Geometrie, defines symmetrical polyhedra and examines their properties. Symmetrical Skew Determinant. [Determinants ; Skew Symmetrical Deter- minants.] Symmetry (Gr. avfifxerp'ta, proportion, literally a measuring together). In Botany, that kind of arrangement in which the number SYMMETRY of parts of one series corresponds with that of the other series ; as, for example, when a flower with live sepals has five petals, and five or ten or fifteen stamens. Symmetby. In the Fine Arts. [Proportion.] Symmoria. [Tkierarchia.] Sympathetic Inks. Liquids which are colourless or so slightly coloured that characters written with them are invisible till acted upon by some reagent. The best is a dilute solution of chloride of cobalt. Markings made with it become blue when the paper on which they are written is held in front of a fire, the slightly tinted pink hydrated salt then becoming an- hydrous and deeply blue. Sympathetic Merve. This term is applied, in Anthropotomy, to a system of nerves, which in the Vertebrate series consists of one or more ganglia, usually a series of such, arranged on each side of the bodies of the vertebrae from the occiput to the anterior caudal vertebrae. Where the ganglia are nu- merous, each lateral series is connected by a band of nervous fibres, and they resemble a pair of gangliated cords. They communicate with the contiguous spinal nerves, and with cranial nerves through small ganglia in different parts of the head. At the caudal end the two sympathetic nerves or cords unite with a single ganglion. A sympathetic ganglion is a body connected with bundles of nerve-fibres, the chief proceed- ing to or from it in the direction of its axis, the smaller nerves diverging more or less transversely, ft consists of corpuscles called ganglion-vesicles, and of nerve-fibres embedded in a nucleated fibrous tissue. The nerves from the sympathetic system are principally disposed in plexuses, the chief of which, in man, are the cardiac, the solar, and the hypogastric; there are many minor plexuses, of which those, like the carotid, surrounding the arteries by the nervi molles, are very characteristic of the sympathetic system. The nerves from the abdominal plexuses are so distributed that the intestinal canal is under its direct influence, and indirectly to that of the myelencephalic system. Some experiments seem to show that the sympathetic nerves have more influence upon the nutritive processes than the sensory ones. The normal contraction of arteries appears to be excited by the sympathetic nerves distributed to their walls. The old name relates to a fanciful phase of physiology. Sympathy (Gr. avixiraQeia, fellow-feeling). In the Fine Arts, this term signifies conformity of the parts to each other ; but in Painting it is .more usually applied to the effective union of colours. Sympathy. In Moral Philosophy, the qua- lity of being affected by feelings common to our fellow-men. In his Theory of Moral Senti- ments, Adam Smith maintains that sympathy is the real foundation of morals. [Ethics.] For a succinct statement of this theory, see ' The Life of Adam Smith,' prefixed to M'Culloch's edition of the Wealth of Nations, p. iv. 683 SYMPIEZOMETER Symphony (Gr. av^uvia, from (puvl], sound). In Music, a composition which, from the etymology of the term, evidently implies that the voice anciently formed an essential part of its construction. In the present clay, however, the term is otherwise applied, and is exclusively used for a piece in which instruments only are engaged. It is, in fact, a composition for a perfect instrumental orchestra, which until the beginning of the eighteenth century was unknown. The con- certi grossi of Corelli were the first of the species. The idea was carried out to a greater extent in the works of Geminiani and Vivaldi ; but before the time of Haydn it can scarcely be said to have assumed the form which the name now imports. There is, perhaps, no musical composition in which the power of the author is so completely developed as in a symphony. The musician in it becomes a poet, or perhaps rather a painter. Scenes and the passions are represented by a com- bination of musical sounds ; as an illustration, we need only cite that splendid work of Beethoven known to all under the name of 11 Pastorale. The general form of the symphony may be thus described : It opens with a short, serious, slow movement; this is followed by and forms a contrast to one of spirit and of a lively nature ; then comes an andante varied, or an adagio or slow movement ; a minuet with its trio follows ; and the symphony usually closes with a lively rondo, or a finale of rapid motion. Symphysis (Gr. avfupvais, a growing to- gether). A term applied to the junction of certain bones, or to joints not admitting of motion ; as the symphysis of the pubis. Symphytum (Gr. av/xcpvTou, planted together with). A genus of Boraginacece, inhabiting Europe and Central Asia, and consisting of coarse-growing perennials, with scorpioid ra- cemes of rather large pale-yellow, purple, or blue flowers. Our native species, 8. officinale, the Comfrey, is a well-known plant of water- courses, having much the taste and properties of borage, for which it was not unfrequently substituted in the old English cool tankard, and amongst herbalists it was highly extolled as a ' cooler of the blood.' S. asperrimum, a species from the Caucasus, has been much recommended as a green soiling plant for cattle, and is capable of producing large crops, two in the season, amounting, perhaps, to from forty to fifty tons of green food per acre. Its cultivation is easy. Divisions of its suckers may be planted in rows two feet apart, with fully a foot between each of the plants in the rows. It may be cut twice, and will yield largely, especially if some rotten dung be dug in between the rows when the plantation is dressed up for winter. Sympiezometer (Gr. ffvfiinefa, Icompress ; fxtrpov, meeisure). An instrument contrived by Mr. Adie of Edinburgh for measuring the weight of the atmosphere by the compression of a column of gas. It consists of a glass tube SYMPLESITE SYNCARPOUS ABC of about 18 inches in length, bent as re- presented in the annexed figure, and having an enlarged portion or bulb of about 2 inches in length and half an inch in diameter at each end. The top at A is hermetically sealed, and the other extremity C can be stopped by a cork. The upper part of the tube A m is filled with some permanently elastic gas dif- ferent from common air (hydrogen gas is found to answer best), and the lower m B n with a fixed oil, or with some fluid which does not act upon the gas x ft'" and is not acted upon by air. The tube being open at C, the oil is exposed to the pressure of the atmo- sphere, and stands at a height m, cor- responding to the difference of the c I pressures of the atmo^here and of the n aj B column of enclosed gas. Consequently, as the atmospheric pressure becomes greater the gas will be compressed, and the column of oil will rise. The change in the bulk of the gas occasioned by a change of pressure is measured by a scale, which is formed experimentally, and of which the divisions are entirely arbitrary. But the as bulk of the enclosed gas is altered by any change of temperature as well as of pressure, it is necessary to apply a correction on this account. For this purpose a common thermometer is attached to the instrument to indicate the temperature ; and the principal or barometric scale, which measures the compres- sion of the gas, is made to slide upon another scale so divided as to represent the change of bulk in the gas produced by a change of tem- perature under the same pressure, and corre- sponding to the graduation of the thermometer. In making an observation, the temperature is first observed by the thermometer ; an index or pointer, which is fixed to the top of the sliding scale, is then set opposite to the de- gree of temperature on the fixed scale, and the number on the sliding scale opposite the top of the column of oil gives the pressure of the air in inches of the mercurial barometer. The principle of the sympiezometer is the same as that of the Manometer, or air baro- meter, which was long ago proposed by Hooke. Symplesite (Gr. ivtx6s). The tabular arrangement of history according to dates, by which contemporary persons and things in different countries are brought to- gether. [Tabulation of Chronology.] Synchronous Curve. In Mechanics, a curve which would be reached in the same time by a body or material particle falling from a given point down any one of a set of given curves belonging to the same family. Thus, if from a fixed point on an inclined plane right lines be drawn, and down the seve- ral lines particles, starting together, be con- ceived to fall, they will all, at any subsequent instant, be situated on the circumference of a circle which touches the level line at the com- mon starting-point. This circle is the synchro- nous curve of the system of right lines. The property in virtue of which coinitial chords of a circle are described in equal times is frequently referred to as the synchronism of the circle. Synclinal. [Anticlinal and Synclinal Axis.] Syncopation. In Music. [Driving Notes.] Syncope (Gr. (TvyKoirri, from kottto>, I cut). A figure of Grammar, by which one or more letters are omitted in the middle of a word; as in the Latin litas for littus. [Metaplasm.] Syncope. In Music. [Legato.] Syncope. In Pathology, fainting. A disease in which the circulation and respiration tempo- rarily cease or become extremely feeble. Syncretism (Gr. avyKp^na/jLcs). In Philo- sophy, the blending of the tenets of different schools into a system. A party among the Platonists at the revival of letters, to which belonged Ammonius, Pico della Mirandola, Bessarion, and other distinguished men, have received the name of Syncretists. Syneretlsts. In Ecclesiastical History, the partisans of George Calixtus, a Lutheran divine of the sixteenth century, who endea- voured to form a comprehensive scheme which should unite the different professors of Chris- tianity. The opinions of Calixtus raised a strong controversy in the Lutheran church. A new confession of faith was drawn up in Saxony for the purpose of excluding his par- tisans. His doctrines, however, did not long survive his death, although they were not with- out effect on the spirit of the age. Syndactyles (Gr. avv, and SclktuAos, a finger). The name of a tribe of Perchers, in- 685 SYNIZESIS eluding those which have the external and middle toe united as far as t he second joint. Syndesmosis (Gr. (rvvDefffxos, a ligament). The union of one bone with another by means of ligament. Syndic (Gr. ctvvSlkos, from Sikt], justice). A title given at different times to various municipal and other officers. The syndics of cities in Provence and Languedoc, under the old French government, were officers delegated by the municipality as agents or mandatories. Such were also the syndics of trading companies. The creditors of a bank- rupt, under the law of France, appoint syndics or directors from among their number. Synecdoche (Gr. aweKSoxv, from avv, with, £k, out, and Se'xo^at, I receive). In Khetoric, a figure by which the whole is put for a part, or part for the whole. It is a species of Trope. There are six ordinary instances of synecdoche: 1. When genus is put for species (as being in the sense of man). 2. When species is put for genus. 3. When the essen- tial whole is put for one of its parts. 4. When the matter, or form, is put for the whole being. 5. The whole for a part. 6. The part for the whole. Synechia (Gr. cwe'xeia, continuity). A disease of the eye in which the iris adheres to the cornea, or to the capsule of the crystalline lens. Synedrons (Gr. avv^pos, sitting with). In Botany, a term applied in those cases when the leaves or other parts grow on the angle of a stem. Synergists (Gr. awepyds, working tog ether). A name given to a party in the Lutheran church in the latter end of the sixteenth cen- tury. Those who were thus called appear to have held the doctrine that the divine grace requires a correspondent action of the human will in order to become effectual; which, or something resembling it, is termed semi-Pela- gian in early ecclesiastical history. Some senti- ments expressed by Melanchthon, towards the close of his life, seem to have introduced it into that church. [Pelagianism.] Syngenesious (Gr. trvv, and 7e'i/e(m, birth). In Botany, a term applied to flowers having the anthers united at their edges, so as to form a tube. Synga-athians (Gr. avv, and yvddos, a jaw). The name of a family of Lophobran- chiate fishes, including those in which the lengthened jaws are united by a surrounding integument, so as to form a tubular mouth: the genus Syngnathus, or pipe fish, is the type. Syngnathce is a name given by Dr. Leach to an order of Myriapodous insects. Syngrapha (Gr. avyypacpos, from ypdcpcv, I write). In Diplomatics, contracts signed by the creditor and debtor, and of which a dupli- cate original was kept by each. Synizesis (Gr. , I arrange together). In Grammar and Bhetoric, the disposition of the words and members of a sentence in the grammatical arrangements pro- per to the language. [Grammar.] Synteleia. [Trierarchia.] Synthesis (crvvOecris, from rewers against publicans. It is said that the more modern system of account-books is not found to be possessed of checks equal in point of safety to these ancient modes of reckoning. Talmud. The traditionary or unwritten laws of the Jews. It is called unwritten, to distinguish it from the textual or written law ; and is, in fact, the interpretation which the rabbins affix to the law of Moses. This inter- pretation embodies their doctrine, polity, and ceremonies, and to it many of them adhere more than to the law itself. [Rabbinism.] The word is derived from Heb. lamad, he taught. The Talmud, therefore, is a book, or volume, which contains such doctrines and duties as are taught to the Jews by their own authorised teachers, the ancient rabbins. There are. two Talmuds, that of Jerusalem and that of Babylon : riot to mention those of 696 TALMUD Onkelos and Jonathan, which are rather para- phrases than volumes of traditionary doctrines. The Talmud of Jerusalem consists of two parts — the Gemara and the Mischna. The Mischna signifies a doubling or reiteration ; the Gemara, a work brought to perfection or com- pleted — from the Chaldee gamar, to finish or complete. The Gemara and the Mischna to- gether, strictly speaking, form the Talmud ; but the rabbins sometimes designate the Pen- tateuch of Moses the first part of the Talmud. The Mischna is the work of Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh, 120 years after the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. It is written in a tolerably pure style, and its reasonings are much more solid than those of the Gemara, which was written about 100 years afterwards by Rabbi Jochanan, the rector of the school at Tiberias. These two works form the Jerusalem Talmud. But the Talmud of Jerusalem is less esteemed than the Talmud of Babylon formed by Rabbi Asa or Aser, who had an academy for forty years at a place called Sara, near Babylon, whence it was denominated the Babylonish Talmud. It is this Talmud which the Jews more frequently consult; and it is especially esteemed by those Jews who live beyond the Euphrates from the circumstance that it was compiled at Babylon. Rabbi Asa died before this celebrated commentary on the Mischna was completed ; but it was finished by his disciples (some say his children) about 500 years after Christ. With the exception of the sacred authors, these Talmuds, after the Chaldee paraphrases, are the most ancient books of doctrine possessed by the Jews. A converted Jew in the year 1238 detected several errors in the Talmud, which he laid before Pope Gregory IX., who required the archbishop of France and the kings of Spain and Portugal to seize and burn all such books of the Jews, and twenty cartloads of Hebrew books were accordingly burnt in France alone. Pope Paul IV. and Clement VIII. also signalised them- selves in destroying all the Talmudic books that could be found, and many thousand volumes of the Talmud were by their orders juridically condemned to the flames. The Talmud of Jerusalem was printed in one vol. folio, and that of Babylon in twelve and fourteen vols, folio, which we find in a bookseller's catalogue thus described : ' Talmud Babylonicum Hebraicum integrum ex Sapien- tum Scriptis et Responsis compositum a Rab. Aser, additis Comment. Rab. Sal. Iarchi et Rab. Mosis Maimonidis, Hebraice, 14 torn, folio, Amstelodami 1644.' Two curious works on the traditions and doctrines of the Jews, and selections from the Talmud, were written by Peter Stehelin and W. Wotton ; the former entitled Traditions of the Jews with the Expositions and Doctrines of the Rabbins contained in the Talmud and other Rab- binical Writings, 2 vols. 8vo. 1742 ; the latter, Miscellaneous Discourses relating to the Tradi- tions and Usages of the Scribes and Pharisees TALON in our Saviour's Time, 2 vols. 8vo. 1718. (Encyclopesdia Metropolilana ; Wolff, Bibl. ii. Gf>8 ; Eisennienger, Das enldevJde Judenihum ; Mi lnuui's History of Christianity ; Kenan, ies Apotres, Introduction ; Eemarks on the Study of it in $z