Differences of opinion exist respecting the nature of the fragrance of the jatamansi. It may be sufficient to state, that it is highly esteemed in the East as a perfume, and is used to scent oils and unguents. At a late meeting of the Asiatic Society specimens of true jatamansi were sent round, and all were of opinion that it was a highly fragrant drug. SPILSBY. [LINCOLNSHIRE.] them with other substances, and mentions the country | Mr. Don, from plants sent home by Dr. Wallich from whence the articles were obtained. He was followed by a Gossainthan, a mountain of Nepaul. Mr. Don obtained the series of authors, as Galen, Pliny, Oribasius, Etius, Paulus additional corroboration that spikenard bought in a chemist's of Egina, to the time of the Arabs, who mention the shop by this name exactly corresponded with the roots of same substances, besides Myrepsus and Actuarius, who the jatamansi. (Royle, Illust. Himalayan Bot., p. 242.) were subsequent to some of them. The Arabs, from Hence there can be no doubt that the nardos described by their position and communication with the East, had a Dioscorides is the jatamansi of the Hindus, and probably the practical knowledge of such articles as were produced in same substance which has been mentioned by such writers their own territories, or were obtained from India. The as Hippocrates, and there is nothing improbable in its being Christian physicians, who assisted them in making transla- the nard of Scripture, and it has seen snown to be a plant tions, must have been well acquainted not only with both the belonging to the natural family of Valerianes. It is curious Greek and Arabic languages, but also with the substances that the Celtic and mountain nards are also Valerians, the which were described and used as medicines. That the former being yielded by Valeriana Celtica and Saliunca, Arabs were acquainted with Sanscrit works on medicine has still exported from the mountains of Austria to Egypt, been proved by Dr. Royle, in his Essay on the Antiquity whence it has spread into both Africa and Asia, being of Hindoo Medicine.' That Hindu physicians were present valued for its fragrance, and hence employed in perfuming at the court of the Caliph of Bagdad was proved by the late baths; and the other by Valeriana tuberosa. Dr. Royle Professor Dietz, and recently again by Mr. Cureton and mentions it as a curious coincidence, if not allowed to be a Professor Wilson, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic sign of accurate knowledge, that the Persians should transSociety.' Hence, by following the description of a substance late the pu of Dioscorides, which he also calls wild nard, through these various authors, we may trace it with a con- foo of the Arabians, by the term bekh i sunbul, root of soonsiderable degree of certainty to the countries where it is bul. The plant correctly ascertained by Sibthorp has been produced; and this plan we have adopted in the articles named by him Valeriana Dioscoridis. LYCIUM and PUTCHUK, which is Costus of the antients. Dioscorides, in the first chapter of his first book, treats of the various aromatic and stimulant substances which were known to the antients, and among these, of the various kinds of Nard. Of the first kind, called simply nardus (vágdos), there are two varieties, the one Syrian, the other Indian; the former so called not because it comes from Syria, but because the mountains in which it is produced have one part turned towards Syria, and the other towards India. This may refer either to the Hindu Khosh, or to so many Indian products finding their way to Syria, by the way of the Red Sea and the Euphrates, from the earliest times. The other variety is called Gangitis, from the river Ganges, near which, while flowing round a mountain, it is produced, bearing many hairy spikes from one root. These are strong-smelling, but those growing in moist situations less so than those found on the mountains. One variety, he further says, is called Sanphariticon, from the name of a place. This first kind being called nardus, and distinguished into the Syrian and Indian varieties; the second kind he calls Celtic nard (vápdog reλtý), and the third kind a mountain nard (vápdos ópeý). On consulting Avicenna, we are referred from narden to sunbul, pronounced sumbul, and in the Latin translation from nardum to spica, under which the Roman, the mountain, the Indian, and Syrian kinds are mentioned. This proves, as has been already stated by Sir William Jones, that sumbul, &c. was always considered by Arabian authors as synonymous with the nardos of the Greeks. In Persian works on Materia Medica, all translated from the Arabic, as, for instance, the Mukhzun al-adwieh,' or Magazine of Medicines, we have four different kinds of sunbul: 1, Sunbul hindee; 2. Sunbul roomee, called also sumbul ukletee, and nurden ukletee, evidently the above Celtic nard, said also to be called sunbul Italion, that is, the nard which grows in Italy; 3, Sunbul jibullee, or mountain nard: hence it is evident that the kinds described by Dioscorides are alluded to, and in fact the accounts given are merely translat ons of his descriptions. The fourth kind of Sunbul appears to be a hyacinth or polyanthus. But the first is that with which alone we are at present concerned. The synonymes given to it are, Arabic, sunbul al teeb, or fragrant nard; Greek, narden; Latin, nardoom, and Hindee, balchur and jatamasee. Having the Hindee and Sanscrit names of an Indian plant, the next step was to obtain it. This was first attempted by Sir William Jones, at a time when we had no access to the Himalayan mountains, and a wrong plant was sent him. Dr. Royle informs us that on making inquiries on the subject, when at Saharunpore, in 30° N. lat., about thirty miles from the foot of the Himalayas, he learnt that jatamansi, better known in India by the name bal-chur, was yearly brought down in considerable quantities from the mountains, such as Shalma Kedarkanta, near the Ganges and Jumna rivers, to the plains. Having obtained some of the fresh brought down roots, he planted them both in the East India Company's Botanic Garden, and in the mountains, in a nursery attached to it. The plant produced was found to belong to the natural family of Valerianeæ, and has been named Nardostachys Jatamansi by De Candolle, and formerly Patrinia Jatamansi by SPINA BIFIDA, or "left-spine, is a disease commencing in fœtal life, and which consists in an imperfection of the posterior part of the spinal canal. It is almost always accompanied by an excessive secretion of spinal fluid, and in these cases it may be regarded as a disease of the same kind affecting the spinal canal as that which, existing in the skull, constitutes hydrocephalus. The two are indeed not unfrequently coincident; and spina bifida is sometimes called hydrorachis. The arch of each vertebra [SKELETON] is developed and ossified in two pieces which meet behind in the middle line at the base of the spinous process. This is also developed in two lateral portions which subsequently unite together and with the arch, so as to form the one piece of bone which we find in the adult closing in the back of the spinal canal. This development and union of the arches of the vertebræ goes on during an early period of foetal life, while the spinal column is growing rapidly, and the fluid of the spinal canal and arachnoid sac is being constantly secreted. If this fluid be secreted in an unnaturally large quantity before any or a part of the arches of the vertebræ are completely ossified, it may exert such pressure upon them as to separate their component parts, and produce a permanent aperture in the back of the spinal canal, through which a sac containing the excess of fluid will protrude. Or if the development and ossification of any or all of the arches take place more slowly than it should, then a secretion of not more than the ordinary quantity of fluid may suffice to keep them permanently open. A cleft spine will thus be produced without the watery tumour; but the openness of the spine will generally in cases of this kind lead to the secretion of an unnatural quantity of the spinal fluid; for it seems a general law that, other things being equal, the quantity of fluid secreted in each part is inversely proportionate to the resistance offered by the walls of the cavity into which it is poured. Spina bifida is almost always characterized by a tumour situated over the defective vertebræ, globular, elastic, and fluctuating, often attached by a narrowed base, and varying in size according to the extent of the fissure in the spinal canal. It is usually covered by healthy skin, and consists of the dura mater, and one or more of the other membranes of the spinal chord, protruded in a sac through the space between the separated arches, and filled by a clear serous fluid. On pressing such a tumour the patient may become insensible, or be convulsed; for the fluid within it communicating with that within or around the brain and spinal chord, the pressure made upon it is felt with equal force by the whole of those organs. The parts of the body below the tumour are often paralytic, not from the pressure of the fluid, for that is equally diffused, but from disease of the chord coincident with that of the arches. Spina bifida is most common in the lumbar and sacral regions, in which the vertebral arches are latest completed: | tended to, cleaned, and thinned out, and in this way it may it is most rare in the neck, and is there also most dangerous, be made productive till April or May, by which time the because of the great number of nerves which, by the coin- summer sort will be ready. The first sowing of the roundcident disease of the spinal chord, may be paralysed. It leaved spinach or smooth-fruited should take place at the does not commonly interfere with the general health: but end of January in some sheltered border. This crop should by the friction to which, when the tumours are large, the be successively thinned out till the plants are eight or ten skin is subjected, and by the distention produced by the inches apart. Successive sowings may be made, in order increasing secretion of fluid, the sac is liable to inflame to ensure a constant supply in February, March, and and ulcerate, till, exposing the spinal chord, or its mem- April, and, if desirable, these sowings may take place branes, death is produced by their inflammation; or, the between rows of cabbages, &c. quantity of fluid secreted may be so great as to produce death by its pressure on the chord and brain, in a manner similar to that in which hydrocephalus often terminates. In one of these modes, spina bifida, when accompanied by excessive secretion, almost always terminates fatally, though patients may survive with it for ten or even twenty years. Life may generally be prolonged by maintaining a gentle even pressure upon the tumour, so as to supply the necessary resistance to the effusion of more fluid. In a few cases a repeated evacuation of the fluid, and then firm pressure upon the sac, has been found successful; and lately, M. Tavignot has related some cases which he cured by slicing off the tumour, and instantly bringing together the edges of the mouth of the sac, and so holding them till they had united and formed a firm cicatrix. That just described is by far the most common form of spina bifida; others more rare are those in which not the arches only, but the bodies of the vertebræ also are cleft, the two lateral portions in which each is developed being kept apart, so that a portion of the spinal canal is open in front towards the cavity of the abdomen. Some differences of character also depend on the seat of the fluid secreted: it is generally in the sac of the arachnoid, but sometimes is in the tissue of the pia mater, or in both it and the sac, or, yet more rarely, in the central canal of the spinal chord. SPINA VENTO'SA is a term now obsolete, which was applied by old surgeons to abscesses in bone, accompanied with excessive swelling, and then to nearly all the diseases indiscriminately in which either bones or joints become enlarged. SPINACH. [SPINACIA.] SPINA'CIA (from spina, a thorn,' on account of its prickly fruit), the name of a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Chenopodiacea. This genus is dioecious, the male and female flowers being on different plants. The male flowers are composed of a calyx, with 5 deeply cloven, concave, oblong, obtuse segments, 5 stamens, with filaments longer than the calyx, with oblong double anthers. The female flowers have a monosepalous calyx, with four divisions, two of which are smaller and opposite; a superior ovary with four styles and simple stigmas. As the fruit ripens, the calyx hardens and adheres to it. The ovary contains a single seed. There are only two species, which are herbaceous plants, with alternate leaves, and axillary flowers of a green colour. One of the species of this genus, the S. oleracea, the common Spinach, is well known on account of its use in the kitchen. It has an herbaceous stem one or two feet high, branched, and hollow; arrow-shaped leaves; male flowers in long spikes, abounding with pollen; female flowers on another plant, axillary, herbaceous, and small. The fruit is a small round nut, which is sometimes very prickly. The common spinach has been cultivated in Europe from time immemorial, but its native region was not known till Olivier announced that he had found it wild in Persia. It does not appear to have been cultivated or known by the antients, and is first mentioned by Arabian physicians under the name of Hispanac, and appears to have been known to the Spaniards from a very early period. There are two principal varieties cultivated in gardens, the prickly-fruited, with triangular, oblong, or sagittate leaves, and the smooth-fruited, with round or blunt leaves. The former is considered the hardiest, and is therefore employed for winter culture; the latter is used for summer crops. Of these varieties there are several subvarieties, varying in the size, thickness, and shape of their leaves. For the winter crop the seed is sown at the beginning of August. A light, dry, rich soil should be preferred, and, if possible, in a sheltered situation. When the plants have put forth two pair of leaves, the ground should be hoed and the plants thinned. By October or November the outer leaves of the spinach are fit for use. In February, when fine weather occurs, the plants should be again at Spinach is often sown in narrow drills, which is rather more troublesome at first, but this is made up for by the facility with which clearing, thinning, and gathering are afterwards accomplished. For preserving seed, those plants which are of the most stocky growth should be selected. The winter crops run up soonest, but seed may be obtained from spring crops in July and August. The new seed is the best for sowing, although it will keep very well for a year. When the plants are saved for seed, the male plants, which are eastly distinguished by their flowers, may after fertilization be drawn and thrown away. Spinach is sometimes grown by the farmer, for the purpose of obtaining a crop of seed for the uses of the gardener. In the selection of land for this purpose, care should be taken that it is finely prepared by ploughing and harrowing in the early spring, and some well-rotted dung should be ploughed in where the soil is not of the best quality. When the Spinach has blossomed, the male plants should be drawn out, which serve at this time as excellent food for pigs, and might be given to other animals with advantage. There is much uncertainty about this kind of crop; sometimes however it turns out very advantageous. SPINAL CHORD. [BRAIN; NERVOUS SYSTEM.] SPINE, in Botany, is applied to the sharp hard conical extremities of the branches of plants. The spine is seen in great perfection in the Gleditschia, sloe, white thorn, and other plants. It is not produced in all plants, and seems to arise from the want of perfect development of the growing point of the plant. That such is the case would appear to be proved by the fact, that when wild plants which bear spines, as the apple and pear, are introduced into orchards, where they have more nutrition, the growing point no longer remains in the state of a spine, but is developed into a branch with leaves. Occasionally spines bear leaves, and this is the case in the white thorn. Spines differ from prickles in being in connection with the wood of the stem, and in being composed of bark and wood, as the stem itself. The prickle consists of merely hardened cellular tissue, and can be removed from the wood with the bark. SPINELL, Spinell Ruby, Balas Ruby, Ceylanite, Candite, &c., occurs in loose and imbedded octohedral crystals. Primary form the cube. Cleavage easy, parallel to the faces of the octohedron of the black opaque variety; difficult in the other varieties. Fracture conchoidal. Hardness greater than that of quartz, but less than that of corundum. Colour red, blue, violet, green, yellow, brown, and black. The first is the most common. Streak white. Lustre vitreous. Transparent; translucent; opaque. Specific gravity 3-5 to 3.7. Infusible by the blow-pipe; the red varieties are rendered black and become opaque by exposure to it, but on cooling, at first of a fine green by transmitted light, then nearly colourless, and at last become again red. Spinell is found in Ceylon and Siam in isolated and rolled crystals in the beds of rivers. It is found embedded in carbonate of lime in North America and Sweden. Several varieties have been analyzed: red transparent spinell, by Vauquelin; blue, by Berzelius; green and black, by Dr. Thomson. parallel to the faces of the dodecahedron. Fracture conchoidal, uneven. Hardness 5.5 to 6.0. Colour brown, grey, greyish black. Lustre vitreous. Translucent. Opaque. Specific gravity 2 28. It gelatinizes in acids. It is found on the borders of Lake Laach, near Andernach on the Rhine. Analysis by Klaproth :-Silica, 43 0; Alumina, 29 5; Soda, 19.0; Lime, 15; Peroxide of iron, 16; Sulphuric acid, 20; Water, 25. SPINET', a musical instrument of the harpsichord kind, but differing in shape and power, formerly much in use, though now entirely superseded by the piano-forte. The Spinet had but one string to each note, which was struck by a quilled jack, the latter acted on in the usual manner by a key. The tone was, of course, comparatively weak, but pleasing, and as the instrument was small in dimensions and cheap in price, it answered the purpose of those who did not find it convenient to purchase a harpsichord. The outline of its ordinary form was nearly that of a harp laid horizontally, supposing the clavier, or key-board, to be placed on the outside of the trunk, or sounding part, of the last-named instrument. SPINNING. The art of spinning consists, philosophically speaking, observes Dr. Ure, in his Philosophy of Manufactures, in forming a flexible cylinder of greater or less diameter, and of indeterminate length, out of fine fibrils of vegetable or animal origin, arranged as equally as possible alongside and at the ends of each other, so that, when twisted together, they may form a uniform continuous thread.' Whatever be the substance operated upon by the spinner, whether cotton, wool, flax, or silk, it is necessary in the first place to lay the fibres or filaments parallel with each other, so as to form them into a soft continuous ribbon or cord, sometimes called a sliver. Excepting in the case of flax, this is done by a carding or combing process, the object of which is to disentangle and straighten the tangled filaments; and in all cases it is desirable to distribute their ends as equally as possible in the mass, in order to make the strength of the sliver uniform. If such a sliver or cord be firmly griped or compressed at two points rather farther apart than the average length of its component filaments, it may be extended or drawn out to a greater length; the filaments sliding upon each other. When two or more such cords have been extended in this way, until they will stretch no longer without separating or being pulled asunder, they may be laid parallel to each other, and combined by being slightly twisted together. The compound cord thus formed may be again extended by stretching or drawing; | and the repetition of the processes of doubling, twisting, and stretching will enable the spinner to extend the length and diminish the thickness of the cord until it becomes a fine compact thread or yarn. In fact, the power of extension is almost unlimited, except by the imperfect performance of the process, which might occasion the fibres to be so laid that several should terminate at the same point, whereby the cohesion of the thread would be destroyed; or by the attainment of such a degree of twist that the fibres would sooner break than slide farther upon each other, their mutual compression being sufficient to overcome their individual strength. This explanation will apply to most of the operations classed under the general name of spin ning; but various modifications of the process are occasioned by the nature of the material to be spun, or the character of the apparatus employed. ing the principal variations necessary to adapt similar machinery to the spinning of wool, flax, and silk. The principle of roller-spinning has been explained as above, vol. ii., p. 345. The soft cord or sliver is caused to pass between two pairs of rollers; the space between the two pairs being rather more than equal to the length of the fibres. The two pairs of rollers between which the sliver is compressed do not separate farther from each other in order to stretch it, but that effect is produced by making the second pair of rollers revolve faster than the first. It is necessary to arrange the distance between the two pairs of rollers with reference to the average length of the filaments of which the sliver is composed; because if the two pairs of rollers were too far apart, the soft cord would be liable to separate between them, and if they were too near, so that the opposite ends of a filament should be compressed between them at the same time, the sliver could not extend or lengthen by the sliding of the filaments, but the filaments themselves must break with the strain. Hence, in machinery for spinning wool, on account of the variable length of the filaments, the drawing-rollers are so mounted that they may be readily adjusted to different distances. In consequence of the greater elasticity of wool, the relative velocities of the two pairs of rollers are so arranged as to produce a greater degree of stretching or extension than is usual with cotton. For spinning flax other modifications are necessary, owing to the greater length of its fibre, and its peculiar character. Instead of being curled and tangled together like those of cotton and wool, the fibres of flax are nearly straight and parallel, but so firmly connected together in bundles as to need splitting or separating by a kind of metallic comb, called a heckle or hackle. This operation has been usually performed by the hand, in the manner described in the article FLAX, vol. x., p. 305, and it has been found very difficult to apply machinery successfully to the process, as no machine can proportion the force exerted to the state of the flax with the same accuracy as an experienced hand. A material difference between the processes of heckling by hand and by machinery consists in the circumstance that in the former case the heckle is stationary, and the flax is moved through it, while in the latter the principal movement is in the heckle itself. Automatic heckles are placed between the pairs of rollers in machinery for drawing the slivers of flax. Machinery for spinning tow is similar, but has a different heckling apparatus, to allow of the rollers being nearer together, because of the comparative shortness of the fibres. As the fibres of flax have not the same tendency to mutual entanglement as those of wool and cotton, it is necessary to moisten them with water to make them adhere to each other during the process of spinning, and also to render them more pliable and easy to twist. Until recently, cold water was used for moistening the flax for machine-spinning; but the substitution of hot water for that purpose has been found a great improvement. By this alteration a much finer, smoother, and more uniform thread may be produced, and a given weight of flax may, it is stated, be spun to double the length that it formerly could. The inconvenience of the spray thrown about by the process of flax-spinning is very serious, although measures have been adopted to lessen its injurious effect upon the health of the spinners. Particular descriptions of the machinery used for spinning flax, with the flaxIt is needless to enter at length into the history of the art gill, or automatic heckle, may be found in Dr. Ure's 'Phiof spinning, an art which has been practised from the earliest losophy of Manufactures' and Dictionary of Arts,' &c. times, and to the invention of which so many claims have In the latter work it is stated that the first attempts at been brought forward. The primitive modes of spinning by spinning flax and hemp by machinery went on the printhe spindle and distaff, and by the spinning-wheel, which ciple of cutting the filaments into short lengths, by which are still extensively practised in the East, and not entirely their cohesive strength was wasted. In such experiments superseded in some remote districts of Scotland,* only enable tow was used with more success, because of its greater simithe spinner to produce a single thread; but with the almost larity to cotton. The first tolerable results in the spinning automatic spinning-machinery which has been called into of flax by machinery were obtained about the year 1810, as existence by the cotton manufacture, one individual may we are informed in the same work, by the brothers Girard, produce nearly two thousand threads at the same time. The at Paris; but the French have never carried the art to any history of the series of inventions by which this result has great practical perfection. In this kingdom many ingenious been gradually attained has been already given under ARK-inventions have been recently brought into operation; and WRIGHT, SIR RICHARD, vol. ii., p. 344; COTTON SPINNING, at Leeds, Dundee, and Belfast, the machine-spinning of vol. viii., p. 94; and COTTON MANUFACTURE, vol. viii., p. flax has been brought to a state of perfection little short of As the application of spinning-machinery to other that of cotton. The great superiority of rope-yarns made manufactures has arisen out of the improvements made in by machinery over those made by hand has been alluded that of cotton, it is needless, after the information conveyed to under ROPE, vol. xx., p. 154. in those articles, to do more than add a few remarks respect* Ency. Brit.,' art, Spinning.' 98. The manufacture of yarns or threads of the best quality of silk is a process essentially different from the spinning of cotton wool, or flax. Instead of combining a number of short fibres into a long thread, the silk-throwster receives the silk in the form of very long and exceedingly fine filaments, which merely need cleansing and twisting together until the requisite strength is attained. The twisting process is, in this case, called spinning. There is, however, besides the best portion of the silk, which is wound off from the cocoon, a quantity of loose or floss silk, which forms a soft tangled mass enveloping it. This, with the refuse of the superior part of the silk, under the general name of waste, is converted into yarns for coarse or inferior articles, by a process very similar to that of spinning other fibrous substances. This waste silk was formerly cut by a machine, to reduce its filaments into short lengths, and then treated much in the same way as cotton wool; but the process of manufacturing it into yarns has been recently much improved by the adoption of contrivances similar to those used in flax-spinning, by which the filaments are heckled or drawn out into a sliver without being cut. A detailed account of the art of spinning silk-waste is given in the article Silk Manufactures,' in the new edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.' It is there observed that this art is still in its infancy; but its rapid progress in this country may be inferred from the fact that while, in 1814, the quantity of waste-silk imported into Great Britain was only 28,996 lbs., it amounted to 1,509,334 lbs. in 1836. In 1839, according to the table in the article SILK, p. 12, the quantity imported of this description was 1,042,490 lbs., and the quantity of raw silk of the ordinary character 3,746,248 lbs. SPINOLA, AMBRO'SIO, MARQUIS OF, was born at Genoa in 1569. His family were originally from Spinola, a small town on the confines of the duchy of Milan and the Monferrat; but one of his ancestors removed to Genoa, where he amassed considerable wealth by engaging in mercantile speculations. On the death of his father, Ambrosio followed his pursuits, while his younger brother Frederic embraced the military profession. Having in 1598 entered the service of Philip III. of Spain, with six galleys equipped and armed at his own expense, Frederic was employed against the Dutch, over whom he gained several victories, ruining their trade, and capturing or sinking their ships. In 1601 Frederic was appointed admiral of the Spanish fleet on the coast of the Netherlands, and shortly after was invested with full powers to raise a body of troops to operate against the insurgents of Flanders. He then went to Genoa, and prevailed on his brother Ambrosio to take the command of the land forces, whilst he scoured the sea with his fleet. The army was to be raised in the duchy of Man, and to consist of 9000 men, Italians and Spaniards, whom the two Spinolas were to arm and pay, after the manner of the old condottieri, to be afterwards reimbursed by the Spanish treasury. This circumstance, at a time when the conduct of wars depended so much upon the troops being regularly paid, contributed in a great degree to the success which afterwards rendered Spinola so celebrated. While the Spanish troops in Flanders were disorderly and mutinous, those under the command of Spinola were always a pattern of obedience and discipline. Ambrosio left Milan in May, 1602, and entered the Low Countries. He served at first under Mendoza, who sent him to the relief of Grave, besieged by Maurice; but he was defeated in an attempt to break through the enemy's lines, and Grave surrendered on the 20th of September, 1602. The ensuing year (May, 1603) his brother Frederic was killed in a naval engagement with the Dutch. Shortly after Spinola was appointed general-in-chief of the Spanish forces in the Netherlands. He began the campaign by an attempt to relieve the town of Sluys, which was besieged by the Prince of Nassau; but in this he failed, the place having capitulated on the 19th of August, 1604. The Archduke Albert of Austria, governor of the Netherlands, having employed him in the capture of Ostend, which had long been besieged by the Spaniards, it fell into his hands after it had sustained a siege of three years and two months. Although Spinola obtained possession of a mere heap of ruins, his reputation was at once established throughout Europe. After this he repaired to Madrid, where he was received by King Philip with the respect due to his talents, and appointed commander-in-chief of all the Italian and Spanish forces in the Netherlands. On his way back to the theatre of war, he passed through Paris, where he had an interview with Henry IV. This king having asked him what were his plans for the ensuing campaign, Spinola, who penetrated his motives, entered without hesitation into the detail of his projects, and of the military operations which he intended to perform. Taking for granted that Spinola wished to deceive him, Henry wrote to Maurice the very contrary of what he had been told; and when he saw that by performing exactly what he had stated, Spinola had deceived both him and his antagonist, he is said to have exclaimed, Others have deceived me by falsehood, but Spinola by telling the truth.' Maurice at length saw the artifice, and changed his plan of operations, but he was unable to gain any decisive advantage over his adversary, who dexterously availed himself of the fortresses and of the nature of the ground to keep him in check. A decisive naval action, in which the Dutch admiral Heemskerk destroyed the Spanish squadron near Gibraltar (1607), induced the cabinet of Madrid to propose an armistice, which was concluded between Spinola and Maurice for twelve years (1609). The war was renewed in 1621, owing to the disputed succession to the duchy of Cleves, and Spain, by her connection with the house of Austria, and the hope of recovering her lost dominion over Holland, entered into it. Spinola commanded the Spanish forces, and Maurice was again his opponent. The advantage however remained entirely with the former. Juliers was invested and taken, and the siege of Breda was commenced. Whilst trying to relieve this city, the Prince of Nassau [MAURICE] died of a fever occasioned by the noxious air of the marshy soil, and Spinola himself was reduced to a weak state of health, owing to the same cause; but after ten months' siege. Breda opened its gates (June, 1625). This was Spinola's last achievement, his health obliging him soon after to resign the command. In 1629 he was employed against the French in Italy, but he was unable to gain any decisive advantage, and he died soon after (1630), of vexation and disappointment caused by the complete disregard of his pecuniary claims by the court of Madrid. Spinola was doubtless one of the ablest generals of his time, being second only to his antagonist, Prince Maurice, in military talent. (Watson's Philip III., Lond., 1783, 4to., p. 86, et seq.; Bentivoglio, De la Guerra di Fiandra, Cologne, 1634, 410.) SPINOZA, BENEDICT, the son of a Portuguese Jew at Amsterdam, was born in that city, the 24th of November, 1632. He was christened Baruch, but on his renouncement of Judaism he always called himself Benedict. From his infancy he exhibited remarkable indications of mental acuteness, and his frail sickly constitution forced him to find solace in study. He became well versed in the Hebrew language, and learnt also Italian, Spanish, German, and Dutch. His early studies were principally the Bible and Talmud; and his penetration was so keen, and the logical tendency of his mind was so great, that he won the admiration of Morteira, the chief rabbin, who became his instructor. His studies however led him to speculate curiously on certain points which were received in the Jewish religion. The immortality of the soul, for example, he nowhere found confirmed in the Old Testament; on the contrary, the Old Testament is silent on that point, a matter which has called forth great discussion. Among the most celebrated of the treatises on this subject are Dr. William Sherlock's 'Discourse of the Immortality of the Soul and a Future State,' and Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses.' Spinoza made no secret of his opinions on this matter, and two of his young friends soon disseminated the report of his infidelity. Spinoza was in consequence summoned before the synagogue, where his judges, after deploring that one who had given such hopes should have wandered from the right path, informed him that he was summoned to give a profession of his faith. He was accused of having treated the law and religion of Moses with contempt, which he denied, but he maintained his opinions. Long discussions took place, in which Morteira, who was enraged at his disciple, used all his endeavours to get him excommunicated, in which he subsequently succeeded. A physician called Vanden Ende, who was himself accused of scepticism, instructed Spinoza in Latin and Greek. Vanden Ende had also a daughter, not prepossessing in appearance, but well acquainted with Latin, and an excellent musician. Spinoza took lessons in Latin and love at the same time; and would have married her, had not a young merchant from Hamburg, with the more potent seductions of pearl necklaces, rings, and other articles, won her heart. Spinoza's Latin however was useful in his new philosophical studies, for which he had abandoned SPI 351 theology; and the works of Des Cartes falling into his ་ Spinoza however found an asylum with his friend Vanden Ende: and there he practised himself in the art of making glasses for telescopes, microscopes, &c., in which he soon excelled, and thereby procured an humble subsistence. But Morteira, who pursued him with unabated rancour, got him exiled from Amsterdam, and he retired to Rhynsburg near Leyden, where he followed his trade, devoting every spare hour to his studies. In 1664 he published his Abridgement of the Meditations of Des Cartes,' with an appendix in which he expressed opinions wholly inconsistent with He then went to the Hague, where those of Des Cartes. he remained the rest of his life. He lived as a perfect His time recluse, and with the most rigid economy. was spent in study, or in correspondence with the celebrated men of his day. He would frequently not leave his room for three or four days together. His habits were sober, quiet, and retired. The occupation of his life was philosophy; and the only relaxation he allowed himself was his pipe, a little conversation with the people in his house, or watching spiders fight-an amusement which would cause the tears to roll down his face with laughter. His doctrines excited the indignation of theologians, but his virtues He died of endeared him to all who knew him personally. consumption, in the forty-fifth year of his age, A.D. 1677. His published works are: Renati Descartes Principiorum Philosophiæ, pars prima et secunda More Geometrico demonstratæ,' 1663; Cogitata Metaphysica,' 1664; Tractatus Theologico-Politicus,' 1670; and Opera Posthuma,' 1677. The last contain Ethica More Geometrico demonstrata; Politica; De Emendatione Intellectûs; Epistolæ et ad eas Responsiones; et Compend. Gram. Ling. Hebr. The materials for this notice have been drawn from the Vie de Spinoza which precedes Boulainvilliers's Refutation de Spinoza, in which the Life by Colerus is incorporated, and augmented by many curious matters derived from a manuscript memoir by one of Spinoza's friends. SPINÓZISM. The system of Spinoza is generally identified with atheism, both in France and England, so that it has become a term of extreme odium; with what propriety will be seen from the exposition of his doctrines, which, from their celebrity, and from their having been so frequently misstated and misunderstood, it will be useful to give correctly. The only work of Spinoza which attracts the attention of metaphysicians is the Ethica,' which appeared among his posthumous works. 'No treatise,' says Mr. Hallam, is written in a more rigidly geometrical method. It rests on definitions and axioms, from which the propositions are derived in close, brief, and usually perspicuous demonstrations. The few explanations he has thought 2. A thing finite is that which can be bounded (terminari potest) by another of the same nature; for instance, body is said to be finite, because it can always be conceived as larger. So thought (cogitatio) is limited by other thoughts. But body does not limit thought, nor thought limit body. 3. By substance I understand that which is in itself, and per se, conceived: that is, the conception of which does not require the conception of anything else as antecedent to it. 4. By attribute I understand that which the mind perceives as constituting the very essence of substance. 5. By modes I understand the accidents (affectiones) of substance by means of which it is conceived. 6. By God I understand the being absolutely infinite; Whatthat is, the substance consisting of infinite attributes, each of which expresses an infinite and eternal essence. ever expresses an essence, and involves no contradiction, may be predicated of an absolutely infinite being. 7. That thing is said to be free which exists by the sole necessity of its nature, and by itself alone is determined to action; but it is necessary, or rather constrained, when its existence is determined by something else, and its acting by certain and determinate causes. 8. By eternity I understand existence itself, as far as it is necessarily conceived to follow from the sole definition of an eternal thing. For such existence, as eternal truth, is conceived as the essence of a thing, and therefore is not to be explained by duration or time, though duration, beginning, and end may be conceived. Axioms.-1. All things which are, exist in themselves or in others. 2. That which cannot be conceived per aliud, must be conceived per se. 3. From a given determinate cause the effect necessarily follows; and vice versâ, if no determinate cause be given, no effect can follow. 4. The knowledge of an effect depends on the knowledge of the cause, and includes it. 5. Things that have nothing in common with each other cannot be understood by means of each other; that is, the conception of one does not involve that of the other. 6. A true idea must agree with its original in naturewith its object (idea vera debet cum suo ideato convenire). 7. Whatever can be conceived as non-existent, does not in its essence involve existence. These fundamental principles of his philosophy will to some appear truisms, to others absurd. But when their language (and we have adhered as closely as possible to Spinoza's barbarous but energetic and expressive Latin) is rightly understood, and their signification seized, which a very slight study of their development will assist, they will appear as some of the most curious positions of speculative philosophy. Two substances, having different attributes, have nothing in common with each other; hence one cannot be the cause of the other, since one may be conceived without involving the conception of the other; but an effect cannot be conceived without involving a knowledge of the cause (per Axiom 4). This must be understood as meaning a complete conception of the effect, which necessarily depends on a complete conception of the cause, not that the relation of cause and effect itself depends on our conception of them. Two or more things cannot be distinguished except by the diversity of their attributes, or by that of their modes. For there is nothing out of ourselves except substances and their |