f

shows the time which is yet to elapse before noon. As to
the time of the year, observe that the sun was at the
autumnal equinox T on the 21st of September, since which
time it has moved over TS, independently of the diurnal
rotation of the sphere. We see then what is meant by say-
ing that the diagram represents some morning in October.
The use of the globe is thus explained, as far as setting it
for any hour and day is concerned. The pole P must first
be elevated until the elevation is equal to the latitude of
the place, the sun must then be put in its proper place in
the ecliptic for the time of the year, and its hour-angle
must then be made to represent the time which is wanted
of noon, or has elapsed since noon. All this on the globe
is done without attending to the distinction of sidereal and
solar time, which need hardly be attended to when no
greater degree of accuracy is wanted than can be obtained
on a globe. We now refer the reader to works on the use
of the globes, and shall conclude this article by a few indica-
sions of the mode of applying spherical trigonometry.

while an angle of it refers to the angle made by two planes of the solid angle.

Throughout this article we shall designate the angles by A, B, C, the sides opposite to them by a, b, c; the half sum of the sides by s. And by A', B', C', a', b', c', we mean the supplements of A, B, &c., so that A+ A' 180°, a+a'= 180°, &c.

Three circles divide the sphere into eight spherical triangles. Of these four are equal and opposite to the other four, with which they agree in every respect but one [SYMMETRICAL] with which we have nothing here to do. Of the four which are distinct, if ABC be one, there are three others thus related to it: the first has for its sides a, b, c, and for its angles A; B', C'; the second has a, b, c for sides, and A', B, C' for angles; the third has a', b', e for sides, and A', B', C for angles. Hence every spherical triangle has another, with one side and its opposite angle remaining unchanged, and all the other parts changed into their supplements.

To find the time of sunrise, observe that in the spherical triangle PKN, right-angled at N, we have PK given, being 90°+the sun's declination, and also PN, the latitude of the place of observation. Hence the angle KPN can be found, which being turned into sidereal time, gives a good approx-plemental to the sides of its corresponding triangle in the imation to the time of sunrise, refraction and the sun's proper motion being neglected.

Given SL the sun's altitude, and the latitude of the place; required the time of day. In the triangle SZP, we now know ZS the sun's co-altitude, SP which is 90°+declination, and ZP the co-latitude of the place. Hence the angle SPZ can be found, and thence the time from noon. If S. instead of the sun, were a known star, the question would be solved in the same way, except that the sun's hour-angle is no longer SPZ, but that angle increased or diminished by the difference of the right ascensions of the sun and star. Two known stars, W and S, are observed to be in the same circle of altitude SWL at a given place; required the time of day. Here PW and PS, the co-declinations of the stars, are known, and also the angle WPS, which is the difference of their right ascensions; hence in the triangle SWP the angle SWP can be found, and thence its supplement, the angle ZWP. Then, in the triangle WZP, we know the angle ZWP, PW the co-declination of the star W, and ZP the co-latitude of the place: whence the angle WPZ can be found; and thence, by comparison of W with the sun, the time of day.

For the actual applications we must refer to mathematical works on astronomy.

SPHERICAL EXCESS. [SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY,

&c.]

SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY, SPHERICAL TRIANGLE, SPHERICS. We shall confine ourselves in the present article to such a collection of the properties of a spherical triangle as may be useful for reference, referring for demonstration to the treatise on the subject in the Library of Useful Knowledge,' and to that on Geometry; adding to the former nothing but a shorter mode of obtaining Napier's Analogies.

By a spherical triangle is meant that portion of the sphere which is cut off by three ares of great circles, each of which cuts the other two, as ABC. It is now usual how

A

ever to consider the spherical triangle as a sort of repre-
sentative of the solid angle formed at the centre of the
sphere by the planes AOB, BOC, COA, as follows:-The
ares AB, BC, CA are the measures of the angles AOB,
BOC, COA, and are used for them: the spherical angles
BAC, ACB, CBA are by definition the angles made by the
planes BOA and AOC, AOC and COB, COB and BOA.
The spherical triangle then has six parts corresponding in
name to the six parts of a plane triangle; but a side of it
means the angle made by two straight lines of a solid angle,

Again, if the three circles be taken which have A, B, and C for their poles, the intersections of these new circles are themselves the poles of AB, BC, and CA; and of the eight new triangles thus formed, each one has all its angles supfirst set, and all its sides supplemental to the angles. Thus there exists a triangle which has the sides A', B', C', and the angles a', b', c'; which is called the supplemental triangle of that which has a, b, c for sides, and A, B, C for angles. Hence, if in any general formula sides be changed into supplements of angles, and angles into supplements of sides, the result is also a general formula.

Any two sides of a spherical triangle are together greater than the third, and the sum of the three sides is not so great as 360°. Any two angles of a spherical triangle are together less than the third angle increased by 180°, and the sum of the three angles is more than two, and less than six, right angles. And the greater side of a spherical triangle is opposite to the greater angle; and the sum of two sides is greater than, equal to, or less than, 180°, according as the sum of the opposite angles is greater than, equal to, or less than, 350°.

The formula for the solution of a spherical right-angled triangle are six in number. Let C be the right angle, and let c be called the hypothenuse, as distinguished from a and 6, which are still called sides. [CIRCULAR PARTS.]

1, 2. The cosine of the hypothenuse is equal to the product of the cosines of the sides, and of the cotangents of the angles:

cos c = cos a cos b; cos c = cot A cot B. 3. The sine of a side is the sine of the hypothenuse into the sine of the opposite angle:

=

sin a sin c sin Å; sin b = sin c sin B. 4. The tangent of a side is the tangent of the hypothenuse into the cosine of the included angle:

tan a tan c cos B; tan tan c cos A. 5. The tangent of a side is the tangent of its opposite angle into the side of the other side:

tan atan A sin b; tan b = tan B sin a. 6. The cosine of an angle is the cosine of its opposite side into the side of the other angle:

cos Acos a sin B; cos B = cos b sin A. These formula are sufficient for every case. Name any two out of the five a, b, c, A, B (C being a right angle), and in the preceding six formula, by repetition ten, will be found those two combined with each of the other three. Thus having given a side a and its adjacent angle B, we find the other parts from

tan a tan b tan B sin a, tan c= cos A = cos a sin B cos B'

These formulæ should be committed to memory: the ab breviation, so called, described in CIRCULAR PARTS, is only an expeditious mode of wasting time.

When all the angles are oblique, the principal formula are as follows (in most cases we give only one, those for other sides, &c. being easily supplied):sin A sin B sin C sin a sin b ; sin c

1.

=

=

or the sines of sides are to one another as the sines of their opposite angles.

2. cos c = cos a cos b + sin a sin b cos C.

C/ sin a sin bcos (a−b), gives cos c = cos(a-b) cos 0.

The formula (5) which are called Napier's Analogies, may be demonstrated more easily than in the usual way, as follows. First

C

B

In the case in which one or both of the sides are greater than a right angle, which rarely, if ever, occurs, it is best to have recourse to one of the adjacent triangles described at Supplement. Given the three angles, to find the three the beginning of this article, and to use it in the same mansides. Make the supplements of the given angles sides, cal-ner as the supplementary triangle has been used. It is not culate the three angles, and the supplements of the last three angles will be the sides required.

however necessary to dwell on this point.

Supplement.-Given two angles (A and B) and a side opposite to one of them (a); required the remaining parts. Let A' and B' be the sides of a triangle, and a the angle opposite to A'. Find the remaining side, and b' and c the remaining angles; then C is the remaining angle of the original triangle, and b and c the remaining sides.

All the cases would need some subdivision to adapt them to calculation, if it were really often required to solve triangles with very large sides and angles. But in application,

SPHI'NGIDÆ, a family of Lepidopterous insects belong. ing to the section Crepuscularia; in fact, regarding the family in its most extended sense, it composes the section named.

it generally happens that the reasoning of the previous part | the will can either contract them more than they usually of the process is so conducted as to throw the calculation are contracted, or can suffer them to be dilated: but that entirely upon triangles which have at least two sides and state of contraction which is usual to them is altogether two angles, severally less than a right angle. Divide a involuntary, and persists during sleep, as well as when the great circle into three parts, and we have the extreme limit consciousness and the will are most active. of a spherical triangle: the sum of its sides being 360°, and the sum of its angles six right angles. But a triangle which should be very near to this limit would be best used in reasoning, and solved in practice, by means of one of the other seven triangles into which its circles divide the sphere. And if one of the sides should be greater than two right angles, the remainder of the hemisphere would be the triangle on which calculation is employed. And it is to be understood that all the formulæ are demonstrated only for the case in which every side is less than two right angles. At the same time we should recommend the beginner to procure a small sphere, and to habituate himself to the appearance of all species of triangles.

The area of a spherical triangle is singularly connected with the sum of its angles, on which alone it depends, the sphere being given. Let any two triangles, however differently formed, have the sum of their angles the same, and they must have the same area. If the angles be measured in theoretical units [ANGLE], the formula is as follows: being the radius,

so that the area of a triangle is easily found from its sides. If a spherical triangle were flattened into a plane one, without any alteration of the lengths of its sides, it is obvious that the sum of the angles would undergo a diminution, being reduced to 180°. The angles would not diminish equally; but, if the sphericity of the original triangle were small, or if it occupied only a small part of the sphere, the diminutions which the several angles would undergo in the process of being flattened would be so nearly equal, that it would be useless, for any practical purpose, to consider them as unequal. For a triangle of small sphericity, then, it may be assumed that in being flattened, each of its angles loses one-third of the spherical excess. This proposition is one of considerable use in the measurement of a degree of the meridian.

SPHEROID, a name given to the class of surfaces which are formed by the revolution of an ellipse about either its longest or shortest diameter. When the longer diameter is the axis, the spheroid is called prolate; when the shorter, oblate. The earth is an oblate spheroid, or very near indeed to such a figure: hence the oblate spheroid is of much more importance than the prolate one. The general properties of the spheroid are either those which belong to it as particular cases of SURFACES OF THE SECOND DEGREE, or those which are useful in geodesy, and which belong more to the generating ellipse than to the surface.

SPHIGU'RUS. [PORCUPINES.] SPHINCTER (from adiyyw, I restrain') is a name applied generally to the muscles which close the external apertures of organs, as the sphincter of the mouth, of the eyes, &c., and more particularly to those among them, which, like the sphincter ani, have the peculiarity of being, during health, in a state of permanent contraction, independently of the will, and of relaxing only when it is required that the contents of the organs which they close should be evacuated. One of the most interesting of the results of Dr. Marshall Hall's investigations into the reflex function of the spinal chord is the proof that for this capability of permanent contraction the sphincter muscles depend on the influence of that part of the nervous centre. As soon as the spinal chord is destroyed, the sphincter muscles relax involuntarily; but so long as that part of the chord from which their nerves proceed is uninjured, though it be completely cut off from the influence of the brain and of the will, they remain contracted. They thus stand as it were midway between voluntary and involuntary muscles;

The section Crepuscularia by most authors is placed between the Diurnal and Nocturnal Lepidoptera (sections Diurna and Nocturna), and corresponds with the genus Sphinx of Linnæus.

The insects belonging to this division generally fly in the evening, or early in the morning, but there are many which fly in the day-time. The body is usually stout, and in the typical species remarkable for its pointed apical portion; in some the body is cylindrical. The antennæ are moderately long, angular, and generally increase in thickness from the base, and terminate in an elongated club, having the apex pointed and recurved. The wings when at rest are usually a little inclined, but sometimes horizontal, and in some species the inferior wings project beyond the upper margin of the superior. These inferior wings are provided at the base of their upper margin with a bristle-like spine, which, passing through a hook of the upper wing, serves to unite the two wings. The spines in question are visible upon viewing the under side of the insect; they are also found in the Nocturnal Lepidoptera, but here the antennæ are stoutest at the base, gradually decreasing in thickness. The larva are always provided with sixteen legs, six tho racic, eight abdominal, and two anal. In the more typical Sphingide the larvæ are moreover provided with a spurlike process on the upper surface of the last segment of the abdomen, the point of this somewhat curved and horny process being directed backwards.

According to the views of some authors, the Crepuscularia constitute a family, but most modern writers regard this division as one of higher value, and divide it into several families.

The following are the characters of four families adopted in Stephens's Illustrations of British Entomology:'Sphingida.-Antennæ prismatic, sometimes serrated to wards the middle, ciliated slightly in the males, terminated by a scaly seta, or naked filiform appendage: palpi short, three-jointed, densely clothed with hair or scales, the ter minal joint minute; abdomen conical, not tufted at the apex; larva exposed, cylindrical, or attenuated anteriorly, with a horn on the last segment, naked, sometimes granu lated, the sides frequently with oblique or longitudinal stripes; pupa subterranean, or subfolliculated.

The family embraces some of the largest European Lepidoptera: among others may be mentioned the Death'shead Hawk-moth (Acherontia Atropos of modern authors; Sphinx Atropos of Linnæus), an insect not uncommon some parts of England, and which measures from tip to tip of the expanded wings usually a trifle less than five inches. Its general colour is dark, the superior wings being mottled with brown, black, and yellow; the body is yellow, has a longitudinal black dorsal mark, and narrow black hands; the under wings are also yellow, and have two black bands; on the thorax are pale markings, which bear some resemblance to a skull. The larva is of a greenish yellow colour, with the back speckled with black, and transverse lateral lines partly blue and partly white. It feeds upon the potato plant, jasmine, &c. When full grown the larva measures about five inches in length; and when about to assume the pupa state, it buries itself in the ground. Towards the end of September, or the beginning of October,' says Mr. Stephens, the imago is produced, and, like the rest of the group, flies morning and evening only. The conspicuous patch on the back of its thorax, which has considerable resemblance to a cranium, or death's-head, combined with the feeble cry of the insect, which closely resembles the noise caused by the creaking of a cork, more than the plaintive squeaking of a mouse, has caused the insect to be looked upon by superstitious persons as the harbinger of death, disease, and famine,' and their sudden appearance in Bretagne, as we are informed by Latreille, during a season while the inhabitants were suffering from an epidemic disease, tended to confirm the notions of the superstitious in that district, and the disease was attributed by them entirely to the visitations of these hapless insects.'

The Death's-head Moth is at times very troublesome to | from Asia or from Ethiopia. (Apollod., iii., 5, 8; Schol. ad the keepers of bee-hives, which it robs of the honey. [BEE.] Eurip, Phoen., 1748.) Greek sphinxes, as we know partly Zygaenide-Antennæ fusiform, sometimes bipectinated, from the descriptions which the antients give of them, and without a fascicle of scales at the apex; head smooth; palpi partly from representations still extant, were portrayed in short or elongated, clothed with long scales or hair, the ter- different ways, but their figure was always a compound of minal joint elongated; abdomen cylindric, with a slight the animal and human form. Palaephatus describes the tuft at the apex; larva exposed, fusiform, slightly villose, body as that of a she-dog with wings, and the head as that not tailed; legs minute; pupa folliculated. of a young female; others describe the whole body, with the exception of the head, as that of a lion, to which in some cases the tail of a dragon or of a lion was added; sometimes also the upper part represents a lion, while the lower parts are those of a woman. She was generally represented as lying upon the front part of her body with the paws stretched forward; but she was also represented in other attitudes. Her figure was often used as an ornament on various works of art, and also appears upon several coins, especially those of Chios. The Grecian sphinx, which occurs in the early legends of Thebes in Boeotia, is always described as a female, and of a cruel nature. She was the daughter of Typhon and Echidna, or, according to others, of Typhon and Chimaera, or of Orthus and Chimaera, and dwelled upon the Phician Hill near Thebes, where she proposed a mysterious riddle to every one that passed by. Those who could not solve the riddle were killed by her, and the city of Thebes was in great distress, until at last Oedipus solved the riddle, whereupon the sphinx threw herself from the rock.

The insects of this family, observes Mr. Stephens, are of a gregarious nature, and, unlike the Sphingidae, they fly chiefly by day. Their flight is very heavy and slow. Their caterpillars subsist upon the leaves of divers plants, and they form a silken web in which they change to pupæ. The species of this group are generally very brilliant in their colouring, and many exotic species have the wings transparent in parts. Examples of two genera are found in this country, Ino and Anthrocera (or Zygana). Of the former of these genera but one English species is known, Ino Statices, an insect measuring from the points of the expanded wings rather more than an inch. Its superior wings are of a brillant green colour, and the inferior are brownish.

The genus Anthrocera contains several indigenous species: the superior wings are usually of a deep metallic green colour, spotted with red, and the under wings are red margined with black. The species are known by the name Burnet moth. The six-spotted Burnet moth (Anthrocera Filipendula) measures nearly an inch and a half in width, the wings being expanded, and has six red spots on the superior wings. It is very common in various parts of England, making its appearance in meadows, &c. about the end of June. The caterpillar is yellow, spotted with black. It feeds upon the plantain, trefoil, dandelion, &c.

Sesiidae.-Antennæ prismatic, ciliated in the males, slightly hooked, the apex terminating in an oblique scaly process; palpi short, clothed with scales, the terminal joint extremely minute; abdomen conical, with the apex tufted; larva naked, with a horny appendage on the hinder segment; pupa smooth, without spines, enclosed in a co-in height in front. The greater part of it is now covered coon upon the ground.

To this family belongs the Humming-bird Hawk-moth (Macroglossa Stellatarum), an insect not uncommon in various parts of England. Of this species Mr. Stephens says there are usually three broods in the year, appearing respectively at the end of April, June, and August; some of the last brood bave been known to hybernate. The moth measures in width about an inch and three-quarters, or rather more, and is of an ashy-brown colour; the upper wings have two transverse waved black marks; the under wings are of an orange colour, edged with black, and on the sides of the body are some white patches. This insect flies about in sunny weather, and is remarkable for the swiftness of its motions; in which respect it greatly resembles the humming-bird, as well as in its habits of feeding upon honey, which it extracts from the flowers by means of its enormously long proboscis, but without settling upon the plant. Other species of the present family are found in England. They constitute the genus Sesia, and are distinguished from Macroglossa by the disc of their wings being transparent. Egeriida.-Antennæ fusiform, a little curved, ciliated in the males, the apex terminating in a plume of scales; ocelli two, minute, placed behind the antenna; palpi elongate, thickly clothed with scales and long hairs, the last joint elongate; abdomen cylindric, tufted at the apex; wings horizontal and generally transparent, with the exception of the apical portion, which is more or less covered with scales; larva tailless, assumes the pupa state in the stems of plants or dead wood of trees; pupa furnished with spines on the segments of the body.

The species of this family are usually of small size, and remarkable for their transparent wings and the possession of ocelli, or simple eyes, in addition to the ordinary compound eyes. They fly by day, and many of them bear superficial resemblances to insects of other orders, and hence have received such names as Crabroniformis, Ichneumoniformis, &c. Numerous species are found in England, and these constitute the two genera Trochalium and Ægeria. In the former of these genera the maxilla are very short, and the antennae are short, whilst in Egeria the maxilla are elongated, and the antennæ also long.

SPHINX (opiy), a fabulous being which occurs in the mythology of Greece, Egypt, and India, and appears to have been introduced into the western part of the antient world P. C., No. 1402.

The Egyptian sphinxes are lions without wings, and are represented in the same recumbent position as those of Greece; the upper part of their body is either human, and mostly female, or they have the head of a ram. In some cases the head is covered with a kind of cap, which also covers part of the neck. These sphinxes were generally placed at the entrance of temples, where they often formed a long avenue leading to the temple, as at Essaboa in Nubia, at Carnak, and Luxor. The largest of the existing sphinxes is that of Jizeh, which is hewn out of the rock, and is of the enormous dimensions of 143 feet in length, and 62 feet with sand, above which little more than the head and shoulders are visible. A colossal sphinx near Thebes has been discovered and described by Belzoni. Another great sphinx, twenty-two feet long, and consisting of one block of rose-coloured granite, is at present in the museum of the Louvre at Paris. There are several small sphinxes in the British Museum. Herodotus (ii., 175), in speaking of certain sphinxes, calls them Androsphinges, men-sphinxes' (dvdpóriyyeç), from which some writers have inferred that Egyptian sphinxes were figures in which the male and female sexes were united, but the expression of Herodotus is only intended to distinguish the half-human sphinxes (avèpooptyyes) from those which have the head of a ram (poopyyes). There are also sphinxes the head of which is that of a man, as is evident from their beard, but their number appears to have been very small in comparison with the others, and few such sphinxes have yet been found.

Sphinxes are also found in India as ornaments of temples, but they are always represented with the head of a man.

(Piroli, Antiq. d'Hercol., iv., tav. 44; Winkelmann, Werke, iii., p. 330, &c.; Voss, Mythol. Briefe, ii., p. 22, &c.; Egyptian Antiquities, i., p. 211, &c.; ii., p. 242, &c.) SPIDER. [ARACHNIDA.]

SPIGE'LIA, the name of a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Spigeliacea. It is commemorative of Adrian Spigelius. The characters of this genus are:calyx 5-parted; corolla funnel-shaped, with a 5-cleft cqual limb; anthers converging; capsule didynamous, 2-celled, 4-valved, many seeded. This genus consists of annual and perennial herbs, and under-shrubs with opposite leaves and rose-coloured or purple flowers. They are natives of North and South America, and are found in various soils. All the species have handsome flowers, and hence are desirable for the garden. They may be planted in a soil consisting of equal parts of loam and peat. The shrubby and perennial kinds are easily propagated by cuttings.

S. Marylandica, Maryland Worm-grass, is an herbaceous perennial, with simple tetragonal scabrous stems; opposite, sessile, glabrous, ovato-lanceolate leaves; solitary spikes; funnel-shaped corolla, and enclosed stamens. It is a native of Virginia, Maryland, Carolina, and Georgia, in rich moist soils, by the edges of woods; also in the forests on the banks of the Arkansas. Although all the species VOL. XXII-2 Y

possess active properties, the Maryland worm-seed is that which is principally used in medicine.

S. Anthelmia, annual Worm-grass, is an herbaceous annual, with branched nearly square stems; ovate or oblong-acute leaves, with short petioles; floral leaves four in a whorl; funnel-shaped corolla, and enclosed stamens. It is a native of Guiana, Trinidad, and Brazil. It possesses powerful narcotic properties, and is used in the same manner as the last. This species is often cultivated: it has small pale-red flowers.

SPIGE'LIUS, ADRIAN, was born at Brussels in 1578. He studied philosophy and medicine at Louvain, and afterwards pursued the latter science at Padua, where he received his diploma of doctor. He practised first in his own country, and then in Moravia; but in 1616 he was invited, at the recommendation of his former preceptor Fabricius ab Aquapendente, to take the principal professorship of anatomy and surgery at Padua. He seems to have filled the post with great honour both to himself and to the university, for its reputation was greater in his time than even when Fabricius and Casserius were professors. He died in 1625, of a disease said to have been caused by an accidental wound in the hand, leaving several works which were published after his death by his son-in-law and by Bucretius. The most important of them was that 'On the Structure of the Human Body,' an excellent and well written system of anatomy, in ten books, in which however there is contained little that was unknown to his predecessors; even the lobe of the liver, which is called after his name, having been before described by Vesalius and others. Haller's judgment of Spigelius, that he commends himself chiefly by the purity of his style and by his practical annotations (Biblioth. Anatom., i. 357) is probably correct; and may explain why, as a professor, he had more repute than his two predecessors, both of whom were certainly more learned anatomists. The whole works of Spigelius were published by Van der Linden, at Amsterdam, 1645, folio.

SPIGE'LIA MARYLA'NDICA (Lonicera Marylandica, Linn.), Carolina pink, perennial worm-grass, or wormseed; a perennial herbaceous plant, native of the southern states of the American Union, abundant in rich soils about the borders of woods. It is from six inches to two feet high, leaves opposite, sessile, ovate, and acuminate. The root has a short caudex, from which issue numerous fibres; all which parts are of a yellowish colour when first dug up, but become black on drying. It is collected by the Creek and Cherokee Indians, and sold to the white traders, who pack it in casks, or make it up into bales, weighing from three hundred to three hundred and fifty pounds. The little care bestowed in packing it generally causes the stalks to be damp and mouldy before reaching the consumer. That contained in casks is generally in the best condition. The odour of the fresh plant is disagreeable, the taste sweetish, slightly bitter, and nauseous. The leaves are less potent than the root, which part, according to Wackerroder's ana- SPIKE is a form of the inflorescence of plants in which lysis, consists of woody fibre 82, a peculiar principle like the flowers are arranged around a common axis, upon which tannin 10; bitter acrid extractive 4; and an acrid resin. they are directly seated, no flower-stalk intervening between Both the resin and extractive have emetic properties. Spi- the axis and the flower, as seen in the Plantago. When gelia has slight narcotic powers, and in large doses causes the flowers are destitute of calyx and corolla, the place of vomiting and purging. In America the fresh plant has de- which is taken by bracts, and when the whole inflorescence cided anthelmintic virtues, but is only useful against the falls off after flowering or ripening, it is called an amentum Ascaris lumbricoides, or large round worm. In Europe it or catkin. Such an inflorescence occurs in the willow and is little used, having lost much of its power by long keep-hazel. If a spike consists of flowers destitute of calyx and ing. Dr. Barton recommends it as a cure for the infantile corolla, the place of which is occupied by bracts, supported remittent fever, which often terminates in hydrocephalus, or by other bracts which enclose no flowers; and when with water in the head. In such a case it acts beneficially by such a formation the rachis, which is flexuose and toothed, removing the worms, the irritation of which, when propa- does not fall off with the flowers, as in grasses, each part gated to the brain, gives rise to the more serious disease. the inflorescence so arranged is called a spikelet or locusta. But the expulsion of the worms by any other means, and (Lindley.) The spadix is also a modification of the spike. the exhibition of any tonic and astringent, like the tannin [SPADIX.] of the Spigelia, will prevent their recurrence. [ANTHELMINTICS.]

Spigelia is given in powder, or as an infusion or decoction. It is usually combined with senna or some other purgative, but it is better to give it alone, and follow its administration by a dose of calomel and jalap.

The Spigelia Anthelmia, a native of Brazil, which is a much more potent plant, is sometimes mistaken and given for the other. It contains an alcaloid, which is volatile, somewhat like nicotina, the effects of which it also resembles, causing formidable narcotic symptoms, to which lemon juice, sugar, or carbonate of potash is said to be an antidote.

SPIGELIA CEA, a small natural order of plants belonging to the monopetalous subclass of Exogens. The order consists of herbaceous plants or under-shrubs, with opposite, entire, stipulate leaves, and flowers arranged in one-sided spikes. The calyx is inferior, regularly 5-parted; corolla regular, with five lobes, having a valvate aestivation; stamens 5, inserted in the corolla, all in the same line; pollen-grains 3-cornered, with globular angles; ovary superior 2-celled; fruit a capsule, 2-valved, many-seeded, valves turned inwards at the margin, and separating from the central placenta; embryo very small, lying in the midst of fleshy albumen, with the radicle next the hilum. This order was separated from Gentianaceae by Von Martius, and is an instance of the great utility of making small orders of those genera which differ much in character from any of the larger orders. If these plants were left among any of the larger groups, they would only tend to weaken the characters of those groups; whilst by separating them, the larger groups are strengthened, and less difficulty is experienced in pointing out their affinities. The principal points of structure for which Spigeliace have been separated from Gentianacea are the symetry of the stamens, corolline, and calycine segments; the division of the valves of the capsule; and the presence of stipules. In this last point they approach Cinchonaceæ.

The order consists of two genera, Canala and Spigelia, the species of which are natives of America. [SPIGELIA.]

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SPIKENARD is a substance which has enjoyed celebrity from the earliest period of the world's history, and bas engaged the attention of numerous commentators on the works of the antients, as well as of some modern authors. It is interesting therefore not only as making us acquainted with one of the substances known to and esteemed by the Greeks and Romans, but it is important likewise as being mentioned in the Bible, since the Nard of Scripture is supposed to be the same substance as the Nardos of the antients, called also Nardostachys (vapoórraxys), and hence Spikenard, the word stachys being rendered by the word Spike.

Reference has been made to this article from Nardus, as also from Schoenanthus and Juncus odoratus, in consequence, as stated, of the very different substances which seem to be referred to under these names being often confounded together by modern writers, though the descriptions are very distinct in the antient authors, and substances may be found in the present day which seem to answer to those descriptions, and which are found in the countries from which the former are said to have been obtained. In antient authors, such as Pliny, Dioscorides, Theophrastus, and Hippocrates, we have notices both of Indian nard and of another aromatic, which is commonly called Calamus aromaticus. [SWEET CALAMUS.] When such substances are merely mentioned in antient authors, it is difficult to identify hem in modern times, as we have the assistance only of the name, sometimes of the properties, and a notice of the country where it is produced. These, though often lending us considerable assistance, are yet insufficient to prove we have succeeded in identifying a substance. In the first place, it is necessary to be acquainted with the more remarkable natural products of the country which is said to have yielded those which were possessed of properties strik ing enough to be sought for at very early times from very distant countries. As the productions of nature remain uniform in properties, we may appropriately compare what we now find with antient descriptions Dioscorides is the most eligible author for such purposes, as he arranges his articles, gives a description, and often synonymes, compares

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