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SNAIL, in zoology. See Helix, and Limax.
SNAITII, a town of England, in the West Hiding of York-shire, 22 miles S. of York . Lon. 1. 2. W. Lat, 53. 39. N.
SNAKE, in zoology. See Anguis, and Serpens.
Snake Indians, a tribe of North American Indians, who in-habit the S. W. bank of the Missouri , in Lou. 107. 0. VV. Lat.^7. 0. N.
SNAKEWEED, in botany. See Polygonum.
SNAKING, in naval affairs, is the winding small ropes spirallyround a large one, the former lying in the intervals between thestrands of the latter, and is frequently termed worming.
SNAP-DRAGON, in botany. See Antirrhinum .
SNEECK, SNEEK , orSNITZ, a handsome, populous, andStrong city of Batavia, in the department of the Eems, late provinceof Friesland, and territory of Wcstergoe, S miles S. of Franeker ,13 S. of Lewarden, and 3S W. S. W. of Groningen .
SNEEZING, a convulsive motion of the muscles of thebreast, whereby the air is expelled from the nose with much ve-hemence and noise. It is caused by irritation of the upper mem-brane of the nose, occasioned by acrid substances floating in theair, or by medicines called sternutatory. See Medicine. Thisirritation is performed either externally, by strong smells, as mar-joram, roses, &c. or by dust floating in the air, and taken in byinspiration; or by sharp pungent medicines, as cresses and othersternutatories, which vellicate the membrane of the nose ; or inter-nally by the acrimony of the lympha or mucus, which naturallymoistens that membrane. The matters cast forth in sneezing comeprimarily from the nose and throat; the pituitary membrane conti-nually exuding a mucus thither; and, secondarily, from the breast,the trachea, and the bronchia of the lungs.
SNETSHAM, a town of England, in Norfolk , 12 miles N. byE. of Lynn Regis, and 111 N. by E. of London . Lon. 0. 32. E.Lat. 52. 55. N.
SN1ATIN, a commercial town of Little Poland, seated on thePruth , 8 miles E. of Coloni, and 45 S. E. of Ilalitz. Lon. 26. 7.E. Lat. 48. 44. N.
SNIGGLING is thus performed: in a warm day, when thewater is lowest, take a strong small hook, tied to a string about ayard long: and then into one of the boles, where an eel may bidehimself, with the help of a short stick put in your bait leisurely,and as far as you may conveniently : if within the sight ot it, theeel will bile instantly, and as certainly gorge it: pull him out by•degrees.
SNORING, in medicine, otherwise called stertor, is a soundlike that of the cerchnon, but greater and more manifest. Manyconfound those affections, and make them to differ only in placeand magnitude, calling by the name of stertor that sound or noisewhich is heard or supposed to he made in the passage between thepalate and the nostrils as in those who sleep : that boiling or bub-bling noise, which in respiration proceeds from the larynx, orhead, or orifice of the aspera arteria, they call cerchnon ; but ifthe sound comes from the aspera arteria itself, they will have itcalled cerchnos, that is, as some say, a rattling, or as others, a stri-dulous or wheezing roughness of the aspera arteria. In dyingpersons,; this affection is called by the Greeks rhenchos,
which is a snoring or rattling kind of noise, proceeding as it werefrom a conflict between the breath and the humours of the asperaarteria. This and such like affections are owing to a weakness ofnature, as when the lungs are full of pus or humours.
SNOW is a well-known meteor , formed by the freezing of thevapours in the atmosphere. It differs from hail and hoar-lrost, inbeing as it were crystallized, which they are not. This appearson examining a flake of snow by a magnifying glass; when thewhole of it will appear to be compoi ed of tine shining spicula di-verging like rays from a centre. As the flakes fall down throughthe atmosphere, they are continually joined by more of theseradiated spicula, and thus increase in bulk like the drops of rain orhailstones. Dr. Grew, in a discourse of the nature of snow, ob-serves, that many parts thereof -are of a regular figure, for the mostpart stars of six points, and are as perfect and transparent ice asany we see on a pond, &c. Upon each of these points are othercollateral points, set at the same angles as the main points them-selves : among which there are divers other irregular, brokenpoints, ami fragments of the regular ones. A cloud of vapours,bcictg gathered into drops, descend ; meeting with a freezing air
as they pass through a colder region, each drop is immediatelyfrozen, shooting itself forth into several points; but these still con-tinuing their descent, and meeting with some intermitting gales ofwanner air, or in their continual wattage to and fro touching uponeach other, some ot them are a little thawed, blunted, and againfrozen into clusters, or entangled so as to fall down in what we callflakes. The lightness of snow is owing to the excess of its surface,in proportion to the matter contained under it. The whiteness ofsnow is owing to the small particles into which it is divided; forice, when pounded, will become equally white.
Snow, in sea-affairs, is generally the largest of all two-mastedvessels employed by Europeans, and the most convenient for na-vigation. The sails ami rigging on the mainmast and foremast ofa snow are exactly similar to those on the same masts in a ship;only that there is a small mast behind the mainmast of the former,which carries a sail nearly resembling the mizen of a ship. Thefoot of this masl is fixed on a block of wood on the quarter-deckabaft the mainmast; and the lu-ad of it is attached to the aftertopof the maintop. The sail which is called the try-sail is extendedfrom its mast towards the stern of the vessel. When the sloops ofwar are rigged as snows, they are furnished with a horse, whichanswers the purpose of the trysail-mast, the fore-part of the sailbeing attached by rings to the said horse, in different places of itsheight,
SNOWDON, a mountain of North Wales, in Caernarvon-shire, generally thought to be the highest in Britain ; though somesay, its height is equalled, or exceeded, by mountains in the High-lands of Scotland .
SNOWllILL, a town and pint of entry of Maryland , on theeastern shore, capital of Worcester county, 125 miles N. E. ofNorfolk , anil 158 S. by W. ot Biiiladeiphia. Lon. 75. 30. W.Lat. 38, 10. N.
SNUFF is chiefly made of tobacco, other matters being onlyadded to give it a more agreeable scent, &r. The kinds of snuff,and their several names, are innumerable, and new ones are dailyinvented; so Oral it would be difficult to give a detail of them.We shall only say, that there are three principal sorts: the firstgranulated ; tne second an impalpable powder ; and the third thebran, or coarse part remaining after sifting the second sort.“"Every protested, inveteiare, and incurable snuff-taker, (saysLord Stanhope,) at a moderate computation, takes one pinch inten minutes. Every pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blow-ing and wiping the nose, &c. consumes a minute ami a half.’ Oneminute and a half out of every ten, allowing 16 hours to a snuff-taking day, amounts to two hours ami 24 minutes a day, or oneday out of every ten. This amounts to 36£ days in a year.Hence if the practice he persisted in forty years, two entire yearsot the snuff-taker’s life will be dedicated to tickling his nose, andtwo more to blowing it. On calculating the expence of snuff',snuff-boxes, and handkerchiefs, it will appear, that this luxury en-croaches as much on the income of the snuff-taker as it does onhis lime; and that by a proper application of the time and moneythus lost to the public, a fund might be constituted for the dischargeof the national debt.” See Nicotiana .
SOANA, or SUANE, in modern geography, an ancient town,of Etruria , 30 miles S. E. of Sienna. Lou. 11. 46. E. Lat. 42.40. N.
SOAP, [sapo, Lat.] a composition of oil of any kind, vegeta-ble or animal ; and lixed alkali, either soda or potass. These,(that is, oil ami alkali,) enter into the composition of every soap,and, besides, lime is es enti.il to give the alkali the requisite de-gree or causticity : common salt is also employed in most of thepotass-soaps. The general process lot soap-making is on the wholevery simple ; and consists, first, in making a caustic, or partlycaustic ley, with the alkali and lipte ; next, of boiling the leywith (lie oil (ill they are perfectly united into a smooth uniformsoap; and lastly, of drying the soap till it is become of a properconsistence for use. But though the general process is simpleand success to a certain degree may be insured by any one whopuls the proper ingredients together in the plainest manner, thereis a considerable number ol precautions, and many minute atten-tions, required to make the best and most perfect article with thegreatest uiconumy. The simplest, and, on the whole, the mostbeautiful soap, is the fine white soap prepared from olive oil a' 1 "