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SPARTA, or LACEDAEMON, the capital of Laconia inGreece , an ancient and renowned states the inhabitants of whichhave been in all ages celebrated for the singularity of their lawsand character. See Lacedaemon, and Misitra.
SPARTACUS, a Thracian shepherd, who commenced gladia-tor, and was one of those kept in the house of Lentulus, at Capua ,who, it would seem, had been slaves: for having escaped with 30of his associates, they soon increased to 10,000 men, and raised aformidable rebellion against the Romans. Emboldened by increas-ing numbers they not only plundered the country of Campania ,but attacked the Roman army, under the two consuls, and defeatedthem. At last Crassus was sent against them with dubious hopes,and after a very blood)' battle defeated them ; Spartacus beingkilled in battle upon heaps of Romans whom he had slain; B. C.31, with his own hand. In this battle no fewer than 40,000 of therebels were slain.
SPARTIVENTO, Cape, a promontory of Naples, at the ex-tremity of Calabria Ultra. Lon. 16. 40. E. Lat. 37. 50. N.
SPARTIUM, Broom; in botany, a genus of plants belongingto the class diadelphia. and order decandria ; natural order, Papi-lionaces. Stignva longitudinal, woolly above; filaments adhereto the germen ; calyx produced downwards. There are 27species.
S. Scoparium, the Common . Broom, has ternate soli-tary leaves; the branches angular, and without prickles. Itis used for various purposes. It has been of great benefit in drop-sical complaints. The manner in which Dr. Cullen administeredit was this: He ordered half an ounce of fresh broom-tops to beboiled in a pound of water till one-half of the water was evapo-rated. lie then gave two table-spoonfuls of the decoction everyhour till it operated both by stool and urine. By repeating thesecloses every day, or second day, he says some dropsies have beencured. Dr. Mead relates, that a dropsical patient, who had takenthe usual remedies, and been tapped three times without effect,was cured by taking half a pint of the decoction of green broom-tops, with a spoonful of whole mustard-seed every morning andevening.
SPARUS, Gilthead ; in ichthyology, a genus of animals be-longing to the class pisces, and order thoracici. Fore-teeth anddog-teeth very strong; grinders obtuse, thick set; lips foldedover ; five rays in the gill-membrane; opercula scaly; body com-pressed ; lateral line crooked behind ; pectoral fins roundish.Gmelin enumerates 40 species.
SPASM , jVxtto-ft*,] an irregular and involuntary contraction ofthe muscles, generally accompanied with painful sensations.Spasms are either general, where many or most of the muscles arestacked (as in tetanus, catalepsis, &c.); or partial, when thecontraction is confined to single muscles, for instance, of the jaw,°f the throat, or other parts. See Medicine.
SPATHA, in botany, a sheath, a species of calj'x which burstslengthways, and protrudes a stalk supporting one or more flowers,"hieh commonly have no periantbium or proper flower-cup. TheE Patba opens on one side, from bottom to top, and consists either
one piece, as in the narcissus, snow-drop, and die greaterdumber of spathaceous plants: of two, as in the marsh-aloe; or
a number of scales laid over one another like tiles, as in theplaintain-tree.
SPATHACEiE, the name of the ninth order in Linnsus’sfragments of a Natural Method. It is plain that the genus andPecific difference are the proper and constituent parts of thespecies.
botany, a genus of plants belonging to the
» 1 A PH ELl A, ... uuiuuj , u ’Ji [.mm. L11C
. a *s pentandria, and order trigynia. Calyx five-leaved; petalsj s Ve j capsule three cornered, three-celled ; seeds solitary. Thereonly one species, viz. S. simplex, rhus-leaved spatheliu, a nativeJamaica .
apo/l ^ ^ ULA, [ spatha , spathula, Lat.] an instrument used bytogej^ Carles a “ c ' sur S eons i*> spreading plaisters or stirring medicines
SPAVIN.
SPAWN.
operation of castrating thenils of animals, as sows, &c. to prevent any
of the house elected by a majority of votes thereof to act as chair-man or president in putting questions, reading briefs or bills, keep-ing order, reprimanding the refractory, adjourning the house, &c.See Parliament .
SPEAKING , the art or act of expressing one’s thoughts inarticulate sounds or words. See Grammar, Language, Read-ing, and Oratory.
SPECfES, in algebra, are the letters, symbols, marks, orcharacters; which represent the quantities in any operation orequation.
Species, in commerce, the several pieces of gold, silver, cop-per, Sic. which having passed their full preparation and coinage,are current in public. See Money.
Species, in logic, a relative term, expressing an idea whichis comprised under some general one called a genus. SeeLogic,
Species, in optics, the image painted on the retina by the raysof light reflected from the several points of the surface of an object,received in by the pupil, and collected in their passage throughthe crystalline, &c.
SPECIFIC, in philosophy, that which is peculiar to any thing,and distinguishes it from all others.
Specific Gravity, a term much employed in the discussionsof modern physics. It expresses the weight of any particular kindof matter, as compared with the weight of the same bulk of someother body of which the weight is supposed to be familiarlyknown, and is therefore taken for the standard of comparison. Thebody- generally made use of for this purpose is pure water. SeeHydrostatics.
Specific Gravity, is the relative, comparative, or apparentgravity in any body, in respect of that of an equal bulk or magni-tude of another body ; denoting that gravity or weight which ispeculiar to each species or kind of body, and by which it is dis-tinguished from all other kinds. In this sense a body is said to bespecifically heavier than another, when under the same bulk itcontains a greater weight than that other; and reciprocally thelatter is saidlo be specifically lighter than the former. Thus, ifthere are two equal spheres, each one foot in diameter; the oneof lead, and the other of wood ; since the leaden one is foundheavier than the wooden one, it is said to be specifically, or inspecie, heavier; and the wooden one specifically lighter. Thiskind of gravity is by some called relative ; in opposition to absolutegravity, which increases in proportion to the quantity or mass of thebody.
Laics of the specific gravity of bodies.
I. If two bodies are equal in bulk, their specific gravities are toeach other as their weights, or as their densities.
II. If two bodies are of the same specific gravity or density,their absolute weights will be as their magnitudes or bulks.
III. In bodies of the same weight, the specific gravities are re-ciprocally as their bulks.
IV. The specific gravities of all bodies are in a ratio com-pounded of the direct ratio of their weights and reciprocal ratio oftheir magnitudes. And hence again the specific gravities are as thedensities.
V. The absolute gravities or weights of bodies are in the com-pound ratio of their soecifie gravities and magnitudes or bulks.
VI. The magnitudes of bodies are directly as their weights, andreciprocally as their specific gravities.
VH. A body specifically heavier than a fluid, loses as muchof its weight when immersed in it, as is equal to the weight of aquantity of the fluid of the same bulk or magnitude. Hence,since the specific gravities are as the absolute gravities under thesame bulk ; the specific gravity of the fluid, will be to that of thebody immerged, as the part of the weight lost by the soli.), is tothe whole weight. And hence the specific gravities of fluids areas the weights lost by the same solid immerged in them.
VIII. To fmd the specific gravity of afluid, or of a solid— Onone arm of a balance suspend a globe of lead by a fine thread, andto the other fasten an equal weight, which may just balance it inthe open air. Immerge the globe into the fluid, and observe whatweight balances it then, and consequently what weight is lost,which is proportional to the specific gravity as above. And thusthe proportion of the specific gravity of one fluid to another is
deter-