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 farm, 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 fraine 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,

belonging to the class of syngenesia, and to the order of polygamia æqualis. The common 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.

SPILBERG, (Adriana), daughter of John, was born at Amsterdam, in 1646, and learned painting under her father. She excelled in drawing portraits with crayons. The celebrated painter, Eglon Vander Neer, married her. SPILL, v. a. & v. n. Sax. rpillan; Goth. and SPILTH, n. s. Teut. spilla; Belg.spijlen. To shed; throw away; lose; destroy; waste; be lavish; be shed: spilth, that which is spilt.

Thus is our thought with pain of thistle tilled, Thus be our noblest parts dried up with sorrow; Thus is our mind with too much minding spilled.

Sidney.

Thy father bids thee spare, and chides for spilling.

Why are you so fierce and cruel?

Is it because your eyes have power to kill?
Then know that mercy is the Mighty's jewel,
And greater glory think to save than spill.
Friend or brother,

Id.

Id.

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 all the company: he spoke well indeed, but he spoke too long. Watts. SPILL, n. s. Teut. spille; Belg. spil. A shiver or small bar of wood or iron; small quantity of money.

The oysters, besides gathering by hand, have a peculiar dredge, which is a thick strong net, fastened to three spills of iron, and drawn at the boat's stern. Carew.

Have near the bunghole a little venthole, stopped with a spill. Mortimer.

The bishops, who consecrated this ground, were wont to have a spill or sportule from the credulous laity. Ayliffe. 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. A spacious square, with the market cross at the east end, and the town-hall at the west. The cross consists of a plain octagonal shaft, with a quadrangular base, elevated on five steps. The townstanding on arches on the site of an old hall. hall is a plain brick building, built in 1764, The general quarter sessions of the peace have 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. Preter. spun or SPIN'DLE, n. s. & v. n. span; part. spun. SPIN'DLESHANKED, adj. Sax. rpinnan; Belg. SPIN'NY, 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.

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.

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, holoracea.

The male calyx is quinquepartite; there is no corolla: the female calyx is quadrifid: no corolla; there are four styles, and one seed within the indurated calyx. There are only two species: 1. S. fera, wild spinage, produces its fruit on footstalks. 2. S. oleracea, common spinage, has sessile fruits and sagitated leaves. It has been cultivated in Britain since 1568, but it is not known from what country it was originally brought. When intended for winter use, it should be sown on an open spot of ground in the end of July; and if possible when the weather is rainy. When the young plants are come up, the weeds must be destroyed, and the plants left at about five inches asunder. The ground being kept clear of weeds, the spinage will be fit for use in October. The way of gathering it to advantage is only to take off the longest leaves, leaving those in the centre to grow bigger; and at this rate a bed of spinage will furnish the table for a whole winter, till the spinage sown in spring is become fit for use, which is commonly in April.

SPINE, in botany, thorns, rigid prickles: a species of arma, growing on various parts of certain plants for their defence; spinæ ramorum arcent pecora. On the branches we find examples in the pyrus, prunus, citrus, hippophaes, gmelina, rhamnus, lycium, &c.; on the leaves in the aloe, agave, yucca, ilex, hippomane, theophrasta, carlina, &c.; on the calyx, in the carduus, cnicus, centauria, molucella, galeopsis, &c.; on the fruit, in the trapa, tribulus, murex, spinacia, agremonia, datura, &c.

SPINAGE. See SPINACH and SPINACIA. SPINAL, adj. Lat. spina. Belonging to SPINE, n. s. the backbone: the backbone. All spinal, or such as have no ribs, but only a backbone, are somewhat analogous thereto. Browne's Vulgar Errours.

There are who think the marrow of a man, Which in the spine, while he was living ran; When dead, the pith corrupted will become A snake, and hiss within the hollow tomb. Dryden. Descending careless from his couch, the fall Luxed his joint neck, and spinal marrow bruised.

Philips.

The rapier entered his right side, reaching within a finger's breadth of the spine. Wiseman's Surgery. SPINAL MARROW, SPINAL NERVES. See ANATOMY, Index.

SPINALIS, in anatomy, several muscles, &c. of the spine. See ANATOMY.

SPINCKES (Nathanael), an eminent nonjurant divine, born in 1654, at Castor n Northamptonshire, where his father Edmund, a native of New England, and a man of letters, was rector. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1669-70. In 1671 he fell heir, by his father's death, to a large fortune and a fine library. After taking his degrees of B. and M. A., &c., he was admitted priest, December 22d, 1678. He then became chaplain to Sir R. Edgcomb; and in 1681 the same to the duke of Lauderdale. In 1685 he was made rector of Peakirk in Nor

thamptonshire, where he married Miss Rutland of London. In 1687 he was made a prebendary of Salisbury, rector of St. Mary, and preacher at Stratford at £80 a year. But in 1690 he lost all his preferments, by refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary. On the 3d of June 1713 he was made a bishop. He died 28th of July, 1727. His publications were numerous. The most celebrated is his Sick Man Visited.

SPINDLE, in geometry, a solid body generated by the revolution of some curve line about its base or double ordinate; in opposition to a conoid, which is generated by the rotation of the curve about its axis or absciss, perpendicular to its ordinate. The spindle is denominated circular, elliptic, hyperbolic, or parabolic, &c., according to the figure of its generating curve.

SPINDLE, in mechanics, sometimes denotes the axis of a wheel, or roller, &c., and its ends are the pivots.

SPINE. See ANATOMY, Index.
SPINE, in botany. See SPINE.

SPINEL, in mineralogy, a sub-species of octohedral corundum. Color red. Occurs in grains, more frequently crystallised; in a perfect octohedron, which is the fundamental figure; in a tetrahedron, perfect or modified; a thick equiangular six-sided table; a very oblique foursided table; a rhomboidal dodecahedron; a rectangular four-sided prism. Splendent and vitreous. Cleavage fourfold. Fracture flat conchoidal. Translucent to transparent. Refracts single. Scratches topaz, but is scratched by sapphire. Brittle. Specific gravity 3.5 to 3.8. Fusible with borax. Its constituents are, alumina 82-47, magnesia 8.78, chromic acid 6.18, loss 2.57.-Vauquelin. It is found in the gneiss district of Acker in Sudermannland, in a primitive limestone; in the kingdom of Pegu; and in Ceylon. It is used as a precious stone. When it weighs four carats (about sixteen grains) it is considered of equal value with a diamond of half the weight.-Jameson.

SPINEL, in the linen manufactory, four hanks. SPINELLANE. Color plum-blue. It occurs crystallised in rhomboids of 117° 23′, and 62° 37'; and in six-sided prisms acuminated with three planes. It scratches glass. It is found on the shores of the lake of Laach, in a rock composed of glassy felspar, quartz, hornblende, &c. It is said to be a variety of Hauyne.

SPINELLO (Aretino), a Tuscan painter, o great repute in his time. He was born in 1328, and studied under James di Casentino, whom at twenty he excelled. He painted history and portraits admirably, and finished the pieces exquisitely at last. But he painted a picture of the fallen angels, in which he drew so horrid a picture of Lucifer that it frightened him so much as to affect his senses ever after. He died in 1420.

SPINELLO (Paris), the son and disciple of Aretino, was also an eminent painter. His style greatly resembled that of his father, whom he did not long survive, dying in 1422.

SPINESCENT, sharp and pricking. SPIN'ET, n. s. Fr. espinette. A small harpsichord; an instrument with keys. When miss delights in her spinnet, A fiddler may his fortune get.

Su ift.

SPINET, OF SPINNET, a musical instrument ranked in the second or third place among harmonious instruments. It consists of a chest or belly made of the most porous and resinous wood to be found, and a table of fir glued on slips of wood called summers, which bear on the sides. On the table is raised two little prominences or bridges, wherein are placed so many pins as there are chords or strings to the instrument. It is played on by two ranges of continued keys, the former range being the order of the diatonic scale, and that behind the order of the artificial notes or semitones. The keys are so many flat pieces of wood, which, touched and pressed down at the end, make the other raise a jack which strike and sound the strings by means of the end of a crow's quill, wherewith it is armed. The first thirty strings are of brass, the other more delicate ones of steel or iron wire; they are all stretched over the two bridges already mentioned. The figure of the spinet is a long square or parallelogram: some call it a harp couched, and the harp an inverted spinet. See HARP. This instrument is generally tuned by the ear; which method of the practical musicians is founded on a supposition that the ear is a perfect judge of an octave and a fifth. The general rule is to begin at a certain note, as C, taken towards the middle of the instrument, and turning all the octaves up and down, and also the fifths, reckoning seven semitones to each fifth, by which means the whole is tuned. Sometimes to the common or fundamental play of the spinet is added another similar one in unison, and a third in octave to the first, to make the harmony the fuller; they are either played separately or together by means of a stop; these are called double or triple spinets; sometimes a play of violins is added, by means of a bow, or a few wheels parallel to the keys, which press the strings and make the sound last as long as the musician pleases, and heighten and soften them more or less, as they are more or less pressed. The harpsichord is a kind of spinet, only with another disposition of the keys. See HARPSICHORD. The instrument takes its name from the small quill ends which touch the strings, resembling spinæ or thorns.

SPINIFEX, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class of polygamia and order of monacia. The hermaphrodite flowers have a calyx with bivalved biflorus glumes, the valvelets being parallel to the rachis; the corolla is bivalved and awnless; there are three stamina and two styles. In the male flowers the calyx is common with the hermaphrodite; the corolla and stamina are similar. There is only one species; viz. S. squarrosus.

SPINK, n. s. Scot. spink. A finch; a bird. Want sharpens poesy, and grief adorns ; The spink chaunts sweetest in a hedge of thorns. Harte.

SPINNING (from spin), in commerce, the act or art of reducing silk, flax, hemp, wool, hair, or other matters, into thread. Spinning is either performed on the wheel, or with a distaff and spindle, or with other machines proper for the several kinds of working. Hemp, flax, nettle

thread, and other like vegetable matters, are to be wetted in spinning; silks, wools, &c., are spun dry, and do not need water; yet there is a way of spinning or reeling silk as it comes off the cases or balls where hot and even boiling water is to be used. See SILK. The vast variety and the importance of those branches of our manufactures which are produced from cotton, wool, and flax, spun into yarn, together with the cheapness of provisions and the low price of labor in foreign countries, which are our rivals in trade, have occasioned many attempts at home to render spinning more easy, cheap, and expeditious. For which see COTTON. These contrivances have in some parts of Scotland been applied to the spinning of flax.

The ancient Greeks entertained so high an opinion of the utility and benefits of spinning and making cloth, that they ascribed the invention to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. But we, who profess to be Christians, ought to trace the origin of the arts to persons who really existed, and not to the imaginary gods and goddesses of the Greeks. Moses, while he informs us that music and metallurgy were invented by the descendants of Cain before the flood, mentions also that Jabel was the father or instructor of such as dwell in tents. Hence it is evident that spinning, weaving, and cloth-making, must have been invented about or before the same period, and probably by the same person. But to descend to our own times we do not know, except perhaps the steam-engine, any mechanical invention that has made such amazing addition to the activity, industry, and opulence of this island, as the invention of Sir Richard Arkwright for spinning by water, where dead matter is made to perform all that the nicest fingers can do when directed by the never ceasing attention of the intelligent eye. We know not to what benefactor we owe the fly-wheel. Sir Richard has the honor of combining this with the spindle and distaff. To give an intelligible and accurate dedescription of a cotton mill would require a volume. But in our article Co TON will be found a complete account of the modern furniture of this most important manufactory.

Worsted is spun in a frame resembling the water-frame of Arkwright, from which it only differs in the relative distances of the rollers, by which the drawing out or extending of the fibres is effected.

In 1806 Messrs. Clarke and Bugby obtained a patent for improvements in a machine for spinning hemp and flax, which is intended to be worked by hand labor, and to be at such a small expense as to bring it within the reach of small manufacturers. The inventors state it to be constructed upon such safe and easy principles, that no length of experience is necessary to en able children to work it; and that it occupies so little space that the machines may be placed in small rooms, out-buildings, or other cheap places. To effect the above purposes it was necessary to get rid of the flyer fixed upon the spindle used in the old machinery for spinning hemp or flax, which additions require a power in proportion of five to one; and also to surmount the difficulty which arises from the want of elasticity in these