since which time it has been much used here by physicians, practitioners, and planters; yet its true dose is not generally ascertained. I have given it in hundreds of cases, and have been very attentive to its effects. I never found it do much service, except when it proved gently purgative. Its purgative quality naturally led me to give it in febrile diseases which seemed to arise from viscidity in the primæ viæ; and, in these cases, it succeeded to admiration, even when the sick did not void worms. I have of late, previous to the use of the Indian pink, given a vomit, when the circumstances of the case permitted it; and I have found this method to answer so well that I think a vomit should never be omitted. I have known half a drachm of this root purge as briskly as the same quantity of rhubarb; at other times I have known it, though given in large quantities, produce no effect upon the belly: in such cases it becomes necessary to add a grain or two of sweet mercury, or some grains of rhubarb; but the same happy effects did not follow its use in this way, as when it was purgative without addition. The addition, however, of the purgative renders its use safe, and removes all danger of convulsions of the eyes, although neither ol. rutæ sabinæ, nor any other nervous substance, is given along with it. It is, in general, safer to give it in large doses than in small; for from the latter more frequently the giddiness, dimness of the sight, and convulsions, &c., follow: whereas from large doses I have not known any other effect than its proving emetic or violently cathartic. To a child of two years of age, who had been taking ten grains of the root twice a-day, without having any other effect than making her dull and giddy, I prescribed twenty-two grains morning and evening, which purged her briskly and brought away five large worms. After some months an increased dose had the same good effect. I prefer the root to the other parts of the plant; of which, when properly dried, I gave from twelve to sixty or seventy grains in substance. In fusion it may be given to the quantity of two, three, or four drachms, twice a day. I have found that, by keeping, the plant loses its virtue in part; for forty grains of the root which has not been gathered about two months will operate as strongly as sixty which has been kept for fifteen months.' In Dr. Garden's subsequent letters, addressed to Dr. Hope, in 1764 and 1766, the efficacy of this root in worm cases is further confirmed; and he observes that the root keeps better than he at first thought (having lately used it several years old with great success). In what he calls continued or remitting low worm fevers, he found its efficacy promoted by the addition of rad. sepentar. virg.

SPIGELIUS (Adrian), an eminent anatomist, surgeon, and botanist, born at Brussels in 1578. He became professor of anatomy and surgery at Padua. The senate of Venice honored him with the order of St. Mark. He died 1625. His works on these branches of science were printed at Amsterdam, in 3 vols. folio, 1645.

SPIGNA, or SPIGNO, a town and castle, and ci-devant marquisate of Italy, in the late duchy of Montferrat; now annexed to France, and included in the department of Marengo; seated

Bacon.

Suffering not the yellow beards to rear, He tramples down the spikes, and intercepts the year. Dryden. them down fast. Lay long planks upon them, spiking or pinning Mortimer's Husbandry. Lay long planks upon them, pinned or spiked down to the pieces of oak on which they lie.

Moxon's Mechanical Exercises.

He wears on his head the corona radiata, another type of his divinity: the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun. Addison.

A youth, leaping over the spiked pales, was suddenly frighted down, and in his falling he was catched by those spikes. The gleaners,

Spike after spike, their sparing harvest pick.

Wiseman.

Thomson The oil of spike is much used by our artificers in their varnishes, but it is generally adulterated

Hill's Materia Medica.

SPIKE, OIL OF, an essential oil distilled from

lavender, and much used by the varnish makers

and the painters in enamel.

SPIKE'NARD, n. s. Lat. spica nardi. A plant, and the oil or balsam produced from the plant.

A woman, having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, brake and poured it on his head.

Mark xiv. 3.

He cast into the pile bundles of myrrh, and sheaves of spikenard, enriching it with every spicy shrub. Spectator.

It grows plentifully in Java. It has been known to the medical writers of all ages.

Hill's Materia Medica. SPIKENARD. See NARDUS. SPIKENARD, CELTIC, a species of valeriana. SPIKENARD, FALSE, a species of lavandula. SPIKENARD, INDIAN, or TRUE. See NARDUS. The Indian or True Spikenard was discovered in 1786, and announced in the Philosophical Transactions for 1790: yet Mr. Lee, in his Introduction to Botany, p. 330, published in 1794, says it is still 'unknown.'

SPIKENARD, PLOUGHMAN'S. See BACCHARIS. It is also the name of a species of Conyza.

SPIKENARD, WILD, a pecies of Asarum. SPIKE-ROLLER, in agriculture, a useful implement of the roller kind, introduced by Mr. Randall of York. It has been found of much advantage in bringing stiff cloddy lands into a

state of suitable pulverization and fineness of mould for being sown. It is likewise employed in a beneficial manner on sward-land that is worn out and mossy, by preparing it for the application of earthy composts and grass-seeds. But it is remarked by the inventor that in this business the roller must go up and down till the swarth and ground are perfectly well broken up: this being done, the seeds of clover, trefoil, and rye-grass, or any other mixed with them, must be sown in the usual way and quantity; then the compost must be spread over the seeds so as to cover them; and a common barley-roller, with a thorn-bush fastened to it, must follow, and the ground be shut up, lest the cattle should do harm by treading. In respect to this sort of roller the dimensions in length were seven feet, the diameters at the ends eighteen inches, and the whole cylinder made of the heart of oak; and when the irons were burnt in, and the man seated on the box designed for that purpose, the weight of the whole was about a ton. But the blunt ends of the irons were opposed to the clods, and run more taper, till they came to the surface of the cylinder, into which the irons were burnt, and inserted about three inches, which was their length above the surface of the roller, and which he always found very sufficient to crush the hardest clod that ever came in their way. Had he, indeed, attempted to go on the ground when the soil was not perfectly dry, this position of the irons would have carried the clods round with the roller; for it is not its province to squeeze, but crush. Nor indeed can a man do more harm to his ground than going upon it, when it is not quite dry, with a roller constructed in this way. He had the irons fixed in four inches asunder, in the first row, from end to end. The second row began just between the first and second irons of the first row. The third row was like the first; and the fourth like the second. Then alternately for the whole surface of the cylinder, as nearly as possible, the irons were four inches asunder in each individual row; and four inches from row to row, as nearly as the superficies of the cylinder would permit. He does not know how to convey a juster idea of the shape of the irons than to call them ox-harrow teeth, or those of a very large harrow; for when he sent for the workman he desired him to make so many of this denomination six inches in length, and burn the small end three inches into the wood. This is a roller that requires a strong team in performing its work.

In addition to these uses it has been suggested that it may likewise be very useful in preparing clay for the making of canals, or pieces of water: for where, as sometimes happens, the clay grows dry, and will not admit of being duly tempered for use, without great pains in breaking it, a very large quantity may very soon be reduced to the requisite fineness, by spreading it on hard ground in a due thickness, and passing this roller a few times over it. In extensive works much trouble and labor may sometimes be saved by this means, and the clay prepared in a manner that will answer the purpose much more effectually. It may also be noticed that this is a sort of tool which no farin, where the land is a stiff clay, or in the

least liable to clot, should want: for besides the constant advantage of saving labor, and bringing land to a better condition for any kind of sowing than the plough and harrow, with any assistance of the work of hands, can make it; in favorable seasons, and under certain circumstances, the loss of the whole crop, by an otherwise unavoidable delay beyond the seed-time, may be with certainty prevented.

This implement may likewise be employed to assist in reducing the half-burnt turf of burnbaked land, which requires much labor as commonly done by hand; but by going over the land several times with the spike-roller, and harrowing it with heavy harrows alternately, to pul! up the turfs, or ploughing them up, they may be reduced fine in a much shorter time, and at a much less expense, than by beating or breaking them by hand. The mode of constructing the tool, in the common manner, has been already shown.

As an improvement in this implement it has been suggested, in order to prevent its tearing up the ground, and the great stress that is upon the frane in turning, to have it divided into two parts. Let the ends of each part be bound with narrow, but strong, bands of iron, and let the spikes at the ends be placed close to them; let each part have a separate frame; but let the cheeks, in which the inward gudgeons turn, be made of iron plates, about two inches wide above and four where the gudgeons enter; the thickness, a common flat bar of iron; and these fixed in any firm manner to two cheeks of wood, reaching down just to the bands, and of such a thickness at bottom as not to interrupt the spikes. Let the inward gudgeons be made with quite flat heads to prevent their slipping out in working, and bring the two ends of the roller nearer together, which is of consequence, as the fewer clots will be missed in working. Let the frames be joined together by four eyes, like those of a small gate, two at one end, about five or six inches apart; the two at the end of the other to take place just within them, an iron pin being put through all four and keyed. Let the thills be placed just on the middle of each frame, and a bar of wood just behind the horse to strengthen them; the bar sawed through in the middle, and joined by a strong flat hinge; one side made to hasp upon a staple kept down with a wooden clet. This gives the whole proper play in working.

The spikes are about four inches without and three within the wood: the thickness of the roller and number of spikes may be determined, in some measure, by the nature of the soil it is to work upon. Thus formed it will be found, it is said, next to the plough, the most useful instrument in tillage, not only in reducing a stiff soil, but, with a bush at its tail, to cover the seed, when sown, much more effectually, and in a better manner, than a harrow, as it turns up the earth light and fine behind it; and, though seemingly unwieldy, will turn with ease, and may be worked with one, two, or three horses at most, upon any land that is of a proper dryness to work upon.

SPILANTHUS, in botany, a genus of plants,

SPI

belonging to the class of syngenesia, and to the The common order of polygamia æqualis. calyx is erect; the leaflets numerous, sub-equal, and oblong, the two exterior being longer than the rest. The compound corolla is uniform and tubular; the florets are hermaphrodite and equal; the proper corolla is funnel-shaped. The filaments are five in number, and short. The antheræ cylindrical and tubular. The seeds are vertical, oblong, flat, and covered with chaff. The receptacle is paleaceous and conical. There are seven species, viz. 1. S. acmella; 2. atriplicifolia; 3. insipida; 4. oloracea; 5. pseudoacmella; 6. salivaria; and, 7. urens.

SPILBERG (John), an historical and portrait painter, born at Dusseldorp in 1619. He was painter to the prince Palatine, and died in

1691.

8

This sight shall damp the raging ruffian's breast, The poison spill, and half-drawn sword arrest.

Tickell. He was so topful of himself, that he let it spill on Watts. too long. all the company: he spoke well indeed, but he spoke Teut. spille; Belg. spil. A shiver or small bar of wood or iron; small quantity of

SPILL, n. s.

money.

a

The oysters, besides gathering by hand, have to three spills of iron, and drawn at the boat's stern. Carero. peculiar dredge, which is a thick strong net, fastened Have near the bunghole a little venthole, stopped Mortimer. with a spill. The bishops, who consecrated this ground, were wont to have a spill or sportule from the credulous Ayliffe. laity.

SPILLER (John), a young sculptor of great promise, was born December, 1763, in London, and after a liberal education became a pupil of Bacon. His talents becoming known, he was chosen to execute a statue of Charles II. for the centre of the Royal Exchange; and while engaged in this work the pulmonary disease, to which he had a tendency, became so much aggravated that soon after his much-admired production was placed on its pedestal he expired, in May 1794. The author of the Curiosities of Literature makes the following observations illustrative of the enthusiasm of genius :-The young and classical sculptor who raised the statue of Charles II., placed in the centre of the Royal Exchange, was, in the midst of his work, advised by his medical friends to desist from working in marble; for the energy of his labor, with the strong excitement of his feelings, already had made fatal inroads on his constitution. But he was willing, he said, to die at the foot of his staThe statue was raised, and the young sculptor, with the shining eyes and hectic blush of consumption, beheld it there, returned home and shortly was no more.' He married in 1792, and his accomplished wife died a few months after him of a similar disease. They left behind them, at the tender age of a few months, an only daughter.

tue.

SPILSBY, a market-town in the county of Lincoln, situated on an eminence overlooking the extensive level of the marshes and the German Ocean. It is the chief town in the southern part of Lindsey division, and consists mainly of four streets, uniting at the market-place. cious square, with the market cross at the east

spa

waste,

consists of a plain octagonal shaft, with a quadrangular base, elevated on five steps. The townhall is a plain brick building, built in 1764, standing on arches on the site of an old hall. have peace The general quarter sessions of the been holden here for upwards of 100 years. The parish church, situated in the west end of the town, is an irregular building, consisting of north and south aisles, the latter being much larger than the rest of the building; and here is a chapel, in which are some ancient monuments belonging to the families of Beke, Willoughby, and Bertie. At the west end of the church is an embattled tower of more modern date. Spilsby contains a free-school and Sunday school. Market on Mon

day, and three annual fairs. Thirty-one miles east of Lincoln, and 134 north of London.

SPIN, v. a. & v. n. SPIN'DLE, n. s. & v. n. SPIN'DLESHANKED, adj. SPIN'NY,

Preter. spun or span; part. spun. Sax. rpinnan; Belg. spinnen. To draw SPIN'STER, n. s. out into, or form, threads: hence to protract; draw out; form by degrees; to exercise the art of spinning; stream out in threads or filaments: a spindle is a pin on which the spinning of thread is performed: spindleshanked, having thin or spindle-like legs: spinster, a woman who spins; the legal term for an unmarried woman not of noble birth: spinny is their loom.

Drayton's Nymphiad. If a gentlewoman be termed spinster, she may abate the writ. Lord Coke. I passed lightly over many particulars, on which learned and witty men might spin out large volumes. Digby.

Whether the sun, predominant in heaven, Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun; He from the east his flaming road begin, Or she from west her silent course advance With inoffensive pace, that spinning sleeps On her soft axle, while she paces even And bears thee soft with the smooth air along, Solicit not thy thoughts. Milton's Paradise Lost. Sing to those that hold the vital sheers, And turn the adamantine spindle round On which the fate of gods and men is wound.

So Pallas from the dusty field withdrew, And, when imperial Jove appeared in view, Resumed her female arts, the spindle and the clew, Forgot the sceptre she so well had swayed, And, with that mildness she had ruled, obeyed.

Stepney. The spindles must be tied up, and, as they grow in height, rods set by them, lest by their bending they should break. Mortimer.

When the flowers begin to spindle, all but one of two of the biggest, at each root, should be nipped off.

Id.

They plow it early in the year, and then there will come some spinny grass that will keep it from scalding.

Id.

The marriage of one of our heiresses with an eminent courtier gave us spindle shanks and cramps. Tutler.

Upon a true repentance, God is not so fatally tied to the spindle of absolute reprobation, as not to keep his promise, and seal merciful pardons.

Jasper Maine. Why should Rome fall a moment ere her time? No, let us draw her term of freedom out In its full length, and spin it to the last.

Addison's Cato.

SPINA CERVINA, the same as the rhamnus catharticus. See RHAMNUS.

SPINA VENTOSA, in surgery, that species of corruption of the bones which takes its rise in the internal parts, and by degrees enlarges the bone, and raises it into a tumor. See SURGERY. SPIN'ACH, n. s. Į Latin spinachia. A SPIN'AGE. S plant.

It hath an apetalous flower, consisting of many stamina included in the flower-cup, which are produced in spikes upon the male plants, which are barren; but the embryos are produced from the wings of the leaves on the female plants, which afterwards become roundish or angular seeds, which in some sorts have thorns adhering to them.

Miller.

Spinage is an excellent herb crude or boiled.

Mortimer.

SPINACIA, spinage, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class of diœcia, and to the order of pentandria; and in the natural system arranged under the twelfth order, holoraceæ.