apothecaries and furgeons in fpreading plaifters or stirring medicines together. Quincy. In raifing up the hairy fealp smooth with my spatula, I could difcover no fault in the bone. Wiseman. SPAVENTO. See SCANTO.

(1.) * SPAVIN. n.f. espevant, Fr. Spavano, Italian.] This difcafe in horfes is a bony excrefcence or cruft as hard as a bone, that grows on the infide of the hough, not far from the elbow, and is generated of the fame matter by which the bones or ligaments are nourished: it is at firft like a tender griftle, but by degrees comes to hardnels. Farrier's Dictionary.—

The pavin

And fpringhalt reign'd among them. Shak. -If it had been a spavin, and the afs had petitioned for another farrier, it might have been reafonable. L'Efrange.

(2.) SPAVIN. See FARRIERY.

(1.) * SPAW. n. f. [from Spaz in Germany.] A place famous for mineral waters; any mineral

water.

(2.) SPAW. See SPA.

SPAW L. n. f. \ fpatl, Saxon.] Spittle; moifture ejected from the mouth.

Then in the fpawl her middle finger dips. Dryden. *To SPAWL. v. n. [fpatlian, to fpit, Saxon.] To throw moifture out of the mouth.

He who does on iv'ry tables dine. His marble floors with drunken spawlings fhine. Dryden. Why muft he fputter, spawl, and flaver it, In vain the people's favourite. Savift. (1.) SPAWN. n. f. \ Spene, spenne, Dutch.] 1. The eggs of fish or of frogs.

Your multiplying Spawn how can he flatter?

Shak.

Reptile with parun abundant. Milton. -Thefe ponds, in fpawning time abounded with frogs, and a great deal of pawn. Ray. 2. Any product or offspring. In contempt.

'Twas not the Spawn of fuch as these That dy'd with Punick blood the conquer'd feas, And quasht the stern Æacides. Rofcommon. -This atheistical humour was the Spawn of the grofs fuperftitions of the Romish church and court. Tillotson.

(2.) SPAWN. See FISH and Raxa.

Be dumb you beggars of the rythming trade, Geld your loofe wits, and let your mufe be Spay'd. Clearveland. -The inales must be gelt, and the fows fpay'd; the Spay'd they esteem as the most profitable. Mortimer.

SPAYING, part. n. f. or SPADING, the operation of cattrating the females of feveral kinds of animals, as fows, &c. to prevent any further conception, and promote their fattening. It is performed by cutting them. But we will not defcribe the barbarous operation. We abhor cruel. ty of every kind, whether of men or beafts. Such barbarity for the filly object of gluttony is truly deteftable. The fooner fuch practices can be abolished and buried in oblivion, so much the better.

(1.)* To SPEAK. v. n. [Preterite, spake or Spake; participle paffive, spoken; fpecan, Saxon, spreken, Dutch.] 1. To utter articulate founds; to exprefs thoughts by words.-Speaking is nothing elfe than a fenfibie expreffion of the notions of the mind. Holder.-Hannah spake in her heart, only her lips moved. 1 Sam. i. 13. 2. To harangue; to make a fpeech.-Many of the nobility made themfeives popular by fpeaking in parlia ment. Clarendon.

Therfites, tho' the most prefumptous Greek, Yet durft not for Achilles' armour Speak. Dryd. 3. To taik for or againft; to difpute.-An honeft man, fir, is able to speak for himself when a knave is not. Shak.

She speaks for you floutly.

He was your enemy; still spake against
Your liberties and charters.

4. To discourse; to make mention.

Shak.

Shak.

Were fuch things here as we do speak about?
Shak.

Lot went out and spake unto his fons in law. Gen. xix. 14.

The fire you speak of. Ben Jonfon. -The Scripture Speaks only of those to whom it fpeaks. Hammond.—They could never be loft, but by an univerfal deluge, which has been spoken to already. Tillotson.-Lucan speaks of a part of Cæfar's army that came to him from the Leman lake. Addifon.-Luther spoke up to this accufation. Atterbury. 5. To found.

Make all your trumpets speak.

Shak.

Some report a fea-maid spawn'd him. 2. To generate; to bring forth. In contempt.What practices fuch principles as thefe may sparn, you may determine. Swift.

(2.) To SPAWN. v. n. 1. To produce eggs as fish. The fish having spasoned before, the fry that goes down hath had about three months growth under ground. Brown. 2. To iffue; to proceed. In contempt.-It is fo ill a quality, and the mother of fo many ill ones that jpan from it, that a child fhould be brought up in the great. eft abhorrence of it. Locke.

*SPAWNER. n. f. [from spawn.] The female fish. The barbel, both the spawner and the melter cover their spawn with land. Walton.

* To SPAY. . a. [fpado, Lat. To caftrate fe male animals.—

with.

We'll peak with thee at fea.

Shak. I fpake with one that came from thence. Shak. Soyman difdaining to speak with him himself. Knolles.

(2.) To SPEAK. V. a. 1. To utter with the mouth; to pronounce.-Mordecai had spoken good. Eh. vii. 6.-Take advice, and speak your minds. Judges.-None pake a word. Job, i. 13. -When divers believed not, but spåke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed. Afs, xix. 9.

Speak I more than truth? Sandys. Words once spoke can never be recali'd. Waller. Under the tropick is our language spoke. Waller. -He no where Speaks it out. Locke.-Colours fpeak all languages. Spectator. 2. To proclaim; to celebrate.

ΤΟ

This my father's nufick

To fpeak your deeds.

Shak.

3. To addrefs; to accolt.-He will deceive thee, mile upon thee, speak thee fair. Ecclus. xiii. 6.-4. To exhibit; to make known.→

Let heav'n's wide circuit fpeak The Maker's high magnificence. Milton. * SPEAKABLE. adj. (from speak 1. Potlible to be spoken. 2. Having the power of speech.How cam'it thou speakable of mute? Milton. (1.) SPEAKER. n.f. [from peak.) 1. One that fpeaks. The authors were loft in the generaiity of fpeakers. Bacon.-In converfation or read. ing, find out the true fenfe, which the Speaker or writer affixes to his words. Watts.-Common Speakers have only one set of ideas. Swift. 2. One that fpeaks in any particular manner.—

Prior.

Horace's phrase is torret jecur ; And happy was that curious speaker. 3. One that celebrates, proclaims, or mentions. No other speaker of my living actions. Shak. 4. The prolocutor of the commons.-I have difabled myself like an elected speaker of the house. Dryden.

(2.) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, a member of the houfe elected by a majority of votes thereof to act as chairman or prefident in putting questions, reading briefs or bills, keeping order, reprimanding the refractory, adjourning the houfe, &c. Ste PARLIAMENT.

(1.) SPEAKING, part. n. f. the art or act of exprefling one's thoughts in articulate founds or words. See GRAMMAR, under ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LANGuage, Reading, and Oratory, Part IV.

(2.) SPEAKING TRUMPET. . . A stentorophonick inftrument; a trumpet by which the voice may be propagated to a great diftance.And firft taught peaking trumpet how to found. Dryden.

(3.) SPEAKING TRUMPET. See TRUMPET. SPEAN. See SPIAN.

(1.) * SPEAR. n. J. [yfper, Welsh; fpere, Sax. fpere, Dutch; pare, oid French; jparum, low Latin. 1. A long weapon with a tharp point, uted in the thrufting or throwing; a lance.

Thofe brandishers of fpeares. Chapman. Like fome tall tree; upon it feem'd a spear. Cowley. What feem'd both fhield and fpear. Milton. Thy flying Spear

Sung innocent, and fpent its force in air. Pope. The rous'd-up lion, refolute and slow, Andvances fuil on the protended pear. Thomf. 2. A lance generally with prongs, to kill fifh. If a woman with child be prefent, the babe in her womb is gratified with a portion: a point alfo obferved by the spear hunters in taking of falmons.

Carew.

(2.) SPEAR. See LANCE, § 1, and 2. (1.) * To SPEAR. v. a. [from the noun.] To kill or pierce with a spear.

(2.) To SPEAR. v. n. To shoot or sprout. This is commonly written fpire.-Let them not he left they should pear. Mortimer.

(1.) * SPEARGRASS. n. f. [fpear and grass.] Long ftiff grass.-Tickle ou notes with Speargrafs to make them bleed. Shak.

(2.) SPEAR-GRASS.

See ASPARAGUS.

SPEARMAN. n. f. fear and mun.] One who ufes a lance in fight.

The fpearman's arm by thee directed. Prior. (1.) * SPEARMINT. n.. \mentha Romana, Lat.] A plant; a fpecies of mint.

(2.) SPEAR-MINT, in botany. See MENTHA. (1.) SPEARWORT. n. f. [ranunculus flammeus, Latin.] An herb. Ain'avorth.

(2.) SPEAR-WORT is a fpecies of RANUNCULUS. SPECHIA, an ancient name of Cyprus. (1.) SPECIA, an island in the Grecian Archi. pelago. Lon. 41. 12. E. Ferro. Lat. 37. 11. N. (2.) SPECIA. See SPEZZA.

*SPECIAL. adj. [Special, Fr. fpecialis, Latin.] 1. Noting a sort of species.—A special idea is called by the schools a fpecies. Watts. 2. Particular; peculiar. With a certain special grace of her own, wagging her lips. Sidney.-The contents thereof are according to the exigence of that spe cial end whereunto they are intended. Hooker.I never yet beheld that Special face, Which I could fancy more than any other. Shak. Nought fo vile that on the earth doth live, But to the earth fome special good doth give.

Shak. -The fourth commandment, in refpect of any one definite fpecial day of every week was not fimply any perpetually moral. White.-Our Saviour is represented every where in fcripture, as the special patron of the poor and afflicted. Atterbury. 3. Appropriate; defigned for a particular purpofe.-O Neal was made denizen by a fpecial act of parliament. Davies.-Such things are evident by natural light, which men may know and be fufficiently affured of, without the help of any special revelation. Wilkins. 4. Extraordinary; uncommon.-That which neceflity of fome special time doth caufe to be enjoined, bindeth no longer than during that time. Hooker.-The other scheme takes fpecial care to attribute all the work of converfion to grace. Hammond.-Our charity thouid be exercised, chiefly on special opportunities. Spratt.

He bore

A paunch of the fame bulk before;
Which ftill he had a special care

To keep well crammed with thrifty fare. Hudib 5. Chief in excellence.

Shak.

1. Parti

The Special head of all the land. SPECIALITY. See SPECIALTY. SPECIALLY. adv. [from special. cularly above others.-Specially the day that thou ftoodeft before the Lord. Deut.-A brother beloved, specially to me. Phil. xvi. 2. Not in a common way; peculiariy.-If there be any difficuity, the jury may find it fpecially. Hale.

*SPECIALTY. SPECIALITY. n. f. [Specialité, French; from Special.] Particularity. On these two general heads all other specialties are dependent. Hooker.

Shak

Shak.

That all other Specialties are bound. Speciality of rule hath been neglected. -When men were fure, that in case they refted upon a bare contract without fpeciality, the other party raight wage his law, they would not reft upon fuch contracts without reducing the debt into a speciality. Hale.

(1.) SPE

(1.) * SPECIES. n. f. [fpecies, Latin.] 1. A fort; a fubdivifion of a general term.-A fpecial idea is called by the schools a fpecies; fo horfe is a fpecial idea or fpecies, as it agrees to Bucephalus, Trot, and Snowball. Watts. 2. Clafs of nature; fingle order of beings.--He intendeth the care of fpecies or common natures. Broaun.-The Phenix Pindar is a whole fpecies alone. Coavley.

For we are animals no lefs,
Although of different fpecies.

Hudibras. My whole fpecies in myself I fee. Dryden. -A mind of fuperior or meaner capacities than human would conftitute a different fpecies, though united to a human body; and a mind of human capacities would make another species, if united to a different body. Bentley: 3. Appearance to the fentes; any vifible or fenfible reprefentation.-An apparent divertity between the species vifible and audible is, that the visible doth not mingle in the medium, but the audible doth. Bacon.-So much the more unfit it is to tranfmit the fpecies. Ray The fpecies of the letters illuminated with blue were nearer to the lens than thofe illuminated with deep red by about 3 inches, or 34, but the Species of the letters illuminated with indigo and violet appeared fo confufed and indiftinét, that I could not read them. Newton. 4. Reprefentation to the mind.-Imagination, in the writer, fearches over all the memory for the fpecies or ideas of thofe things which it defigns to reprefent. Dryden. 5. Show; vifible exhibition. Not in ufe; and per haps, in the following quotation, mifprinted for Spe&acles.

for the fandard of comparison. The body gene. rally made use of for this purpose is pure water. See HYDROSTATICS, Part I. Sect. III-X. (4.) SPECIFIC GRAVITY, ADVANTAGES OF ASCERTAINING. The specific gravity of bodies is a very interefting queftion both to the philofopher and to the man of bufinefs. The philofophet confiders the weights of bodies as meafures of the number of material atoms, or the quantity of matter which they contain. This he does on the fuppofition that every atom of matter is of the fame weight, whatever may be its fenfible form. This fuppofition, however, is made by him with caution, and he has recourse to specific gravity for afcertaining its truth in various ways. The man of business entertains no doubt of the matter, and proceeds on it as a fure guide in his most interesting tranfactions. We measure commodities of various kinds by tons, pounds, and ounces, in the fame manner as we measure them by yards, feet, and inches, or by bufhels, gallons, and pints; nay, we do this with much greater confidence, and prefer this measurement to all others, whene ver we are much interested to know the exact proportions of matter that bodies contain. The weight of a quantity of grain is allowed to inform us much more exactly of its real quantity of ufeful matter than the most accurate measure of its bulk. We fee many circumstances which can vary the bulk of a quantity of matter, and these are frequently fuch as we cannot regulate or prevent; but we know very few that can make any fenfible change in this weight without the addition or abftraction of other matter. Even taking it to the fummit of a high mountain, or from the equator to the polar region, will make no change in its weight as it is afcertained by the balance, because there is the fame real diminution of weight in the pounds and ounces used in the examination. Notwithstanding the unavoidable change which heat and cold make in the bulk of bodies, and the permanent varieties of the fame kind of matter which are caufed by different circumftances of growth, texture, &c. most kinds of matter have a certain conftancy in the density of their particles, and therefore in the weight of a given bulk. Thus the purity of gold, and its degree of adulteration, may be inferred from its weight, it being purer in proportion as it is more denfe. The density, therefore, of different kinds of tangible matter becomes characteristic of the kind, and a test of its purity; it marks a particular appearance in which matter exifts, and may therefore be called, with propriety, SPECIFIC. But this denfity cannot be directly obferved. It is not by comparing the distances between the atoms of matter in gold and in water that we say the first is 19 times denser than the laft, and that an inch of gold contains 19 times as many material atoms as an inch of water; we rec kon on the equal gravitation of every atom of matter whether of gold or of water; therefore the weight of any body becomes the indication of its material denfity, and the weight of a given bulk becomes fpecific of that kind of matter, marking its kind, and even afcertaining its purity in this form. To make this comparison of general ufe, the standard must be familiarly known, and mult be very uniform in its denfity, and the comparifon

Shews and Species ferve beft with the people. Bacon. 6. Circulating money.-As there was in the iplendour of the Roman empire a lefs quantity of current species in Europe than there is now, Rome poffeffed a much greater proportion of the circulating species of its time than any European city. Arbuthnot. 7. Simples that have place in a compound medicine.

(2.) SPECIES, in algebra, are the letters, fymbols, marks, or characters, which reprefent the quantities in any operation or equation.

(3.) SPECIES, in commerce, the several pieces of gold, filver, copper, &c. which having pafted their full preparation and coinage, are current in public. See MONEY.

(4) SPECIES, in logic, a relative term, expreffing an idea which is comprised under fome general one called a genus. See LOGIC.

(5.) SPECIES, in optics, the image painted on the retina by the rays of light reflected from the teveral points of the furface of an object, received in by the pupil, and collected in their paffage through the cryftalline, &c.

(1.) SPECIFIC, adj. in philosophy, that which is peculiar to any thing, and diftinguishes it from ail others. See SPECIFICAL..

(2.) SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES of Plants. See BoTANY, Index.

(3.) SPECIFIC GRAVITY, is a term much employed in the difcuflions of modern phyfics. It expreffes the weight of any particular kind of matter, as compared with the weight of the fame bulk of fome other body of which the weight is fuppofed to be familiarly known, and is therefore taken

of

weight of the fame bulk of the standard to be kept in remembrance; and thus we obtain, by the by, a moft eafy and accurate method for measuring the bulk or folid contents of any body, however irregular its fhape may be. We have only to fee how much weight it lofes in the ftandard fluid; we can compute what quantity of the ftandard fluid will have this weight. Thus fhould we find that a quantity of fand, or a furze buíh, lofes 250 ounces when immerfed in pure water, we learn by this that the folid measure of every grain of the fand, or of every twig and prickle of the furze, when added into one fum, amounts to the fourth part of a cubic foot, or to 432 cubic inches.

of bulk and denfity muft be eafy and accurate. The most obvious method would be to form, with all nicety, a piece of the standard matter of fome convenient bulk, and to weigh it very exactly, and keep a note of its weight: then, to make the comparifon of any other fubftance, it must be made into a mass of the fame precife bulk, and weighed with equal care; and the moft convenient way of exprefting the fpecific gravity would be to confider the weight of the ftandard as unity, and then the number expreffing the fpecific gravity is the number of times that the weight of the ftandard is contained in that of the other fubftance. This comparifon is most easily and accurately made in fluids. We have only to make a veffel of known dimenfions equal to that of the standard which we employ, and to weigh it when empty, and then when filled with the fluid. Nay, the moft diffi. cult part of the procefs, the making a veffel of the precife dimentions of the ftandard, may be avoided, by ufing fome fluid fubftance for a standard. Any vellel will then do; and we may enfure very great accuracy by using a veffel with a flender neck, fuch as a phial or matrais; for when this is filled to a certain mark in the neck, any error in the eftimation by the eye will bear a very finall proportion to the whole. The weight of the ftandard fluid which fills it to this mark being carefully afcertained, is kept in remembrance. The fpecific gravity of any other fluid is had by weighing the contents of this veffed when filled with it, and dividing the weight by the weight of the standard. The quotient is the fpecific gravity of the fluid. But in all other cafes this is a very difficult problem: it requires very nice hands, and an accurate eye, to make two bodies of the fame bulk. An error of 1ooth part in the linear dimenfions of a folid body makes an error of a 30th part in its bulk; and bodies of irregular shapes and friable fubftance, fuch as the ores of metals, cannot be brought into convenient and exact dimensions for measurement. From all these inconveniences and difficulties we are freed by the celebrated ARCHIMEDES, who, from the principles of hydroftatics difcovered or eftablished by him, deduced the accurate and eafy method which is now univerfally practifed for difcovering the fpecific gravity and denfity of bodies. (See ARCHIMEDES and HYDROSTATICS, Part I. Sect. IV. V.) Instead of meaturing the bulk of the body by that of the difplaced fluid (which would have been impoffible for Archimedes to do with any thing like the necellary precifion), we have only to obferve the Jefs of weight fuftained by the folid. This can be done with great cafe and exactnefs. Whatever may be the bulk of the body, this lofs of weight is the weight of an equal bulk of the fluid; and we obtain the specific gravity of the body by fimply dividing its whole weight by the weight loft: the quotient is the specific gravity when this fluid is taken for the ftandard, even though we should not know the abfolute weight of any given bulk o: this ftandard. It alfo gives us an eafy and accurate method of ascertaining even this fundamentl point. We have only to form any folid body into an exact cube, fphere, or prifin, of known dimenfions, and obferve what weight it lofes when immerfed in this ftandard fluid. This is the

*

(5.) SPECIFIC GRAVITY, BEST STANDARD FOR ASCERTAINING. To all thefe advantages of the Archimedean method of afcertaining the fpecific gravity of bodies, derived from his hydroftatical doctrines and difcoveries, we may add, that the immediate ftandard of comparison, namely, water, is, of all the fubftances that we know, the fitteft for the purpose of an univerfal ftandard of reference. In its ordinary natural state it is fuffici ently conftant and uniform in its weight for every examination where the utmost mathematical accuracy is not wanted; all its variations arife from impurities, from which it may at all times be fe parated by the fimple procefs of distillation: and we have every reafon to think that when pure, its density, when of the same temperature, is invaria ble. Water is therefore univerfally taken for the unit of that scale on which we meafure the fpecific gravity of bodies, and its weight is called 1. The specific gravity of any other body is the real weight in pounds and ounces, when of the bulk of one pound or one ounce of water. It is there. fore of the first importance, in all difcuffions refpecting the fpecific gravity of bodies, to have the precife weight of fome known bulk of pure water. For this purpofe, we fhall reduce all to the Englifh cubic foot and avoirdupois ounce of the Exchequer standard, on account of a very convenient circumftance peculiar to this unit, viz. that a cubic foot contains almoft precifely 1000 oz. of pure water, fo that the fpecific gravity of bodies expreffes the number of fuch ounces contained in a cubic foot. We begin with a trial made before the house of commons in 1696 by Mr Everard. He weighed 2145,6 cubic inches of water by a ba lance, which turned fenfibly with 6 grains, when there were 30 pounds in each scale. The weights employed were the troy weights, in the depofit of the Court of Exchequer, which are ftill prefer ved, and have been moft fcrupulously examined and compared with each other. The weight was 1131 ounces 14 pennyweights. This wants juft 11 grains of a thoufand avoirdupois ounces for 1728 cubic inches, or a cubic foot; and it would have amounted to that weight had it been a degree or two colder. The temperature indeed is not mentioned; but as the trial was made in a comfortable room, we may prefume the tempera ture to have been about 55° of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The dimentions of the veffel were as accurate as the nice hand of Mr Abraham Sharp, Mr Flamftead's affiftant at Greenwich, could exe cute, and it was made by the Exchequer fandard of length. This is confided in by the naturalifts

of