SPECIFICS, ill medicine. By specifics is not meant such asinfallibly and in all patients produce salutary effects. Such medi-.cines are not to be expected, because the operations and effects ntremedies are not formally inherent in them, but depend ' c

mutual action and reaction of the body and medicine upon eachother; hence the various effects of the same medicine in the samekind of disorders in different patients, and in the same patient at dif-ferent times. • By specific medicines we understand such medicines■as are more infallible than any other in any particular disease.See Medicine.

S P ECTAC EES, in dioptrics, a machine consisting of two lensesset in silver, horn, &c. to assist the delects of the organ of sight.See Optics.

SPEC 1 RA," Ocular , images presented to the eye after re-moving thorn trom a bright object, or closing them. When anyone has long and attentively looked at a bright object, as at thesetting sun, on closing his eyes, or removing them, an image,which resembles m form the object he was attending to, continuessome time to be visible. 'I'liis appearance in the eye is called theocular spectrum of that object.

SPECULUM, [Eat.] a looking-glass, or mirror, capable ofreflecting the rays of the sun, &:c. See Mirror , Optics, andTelescope.

Speculum, in surgery, an instrument for dilating a wound, orthe like, in order to examine it attentively.

SPEIGLi t’s-'l’O\VN, a sea-port-town of Barbadoes , on theN. W. coast. Lon. 58. 31. W. Lat. 13. 15. N.

SPEISS, in metallurgy, an artificial metal compounded ofcobalt, bismuth, and nickel. Sulphur and arsenic are sometimesadded.

SPELL, a charm, generally attended with some ceremony. Inorder to see a future spouse in a dream. The party inquiring mustlie in a different county from that in which he commonly resides,and on going to bed must knit the left garter about the riglH-legged stocking, letting the other garter and stocking alone ; andas lie rehearses the following verses, at every comma knit a knot:—“ This knot 1 knit,—To know the thing 1 know not yet,—That I may see—The man (woman) that shall my husband (wife)be ;—I low lie goes, and what lie wears,—And what lie does alldays and years.” And, if spells fail not, lie will appear in adream, with the insignia of liis profession. To these rules, we shallonly add an anecdote, by way of caution to all who have any curi-osity to try experiments of this kind. All such have more or lessfaith in the spells they try. The chief danger arises from the im-pression made by this false faith upon the imagination. AboutJ5 or 20 years ago, a young woman in the Mearns , went out,upon St. Valentine ’s or some other Saint’s night, to get a sight other future husband. 'Phis site was to procure, upon going to acertain kiln at some distance, pronouncing some spell, ami makinga motion of weighing three times, while she had nothing to weigh.This she did accordingly. Iler imagination being strongly im-pressed with the expectation of seeing something, she saw, orthought she saw, a coffin, ascending in the smoke ot the kiln. Shewent home in a panic ; told what she had seen ; fevered, and diedthe fourth day alter.

SPELLING, in grammar, that part of orthography whichteaches the true manner of resolving words into their syllables.All words are either simple or compound, as use, disuse ; done,undone ; and the rules for dividing each must be such as are de-rived from the analogy of language in general, or from the esta-blished custom of sneaking; which, for the English language, arereduced to the following rules: 1. A consonant between twovowels must be joined with the latter in spelling, as na-turc,ve-ri h/, ge ne-rous ; except, however, the letter r, which isjoined to tli.- first, as in Jlux-en, oa-en, Sec. and compound words,as in up-on, un used, &c. 2. A double consonant, must be di-vided, as in let Ur, man ner, Sec. 3. Those consonants whichcan begin a word must not be parted in spelling, as in de-fraud,re-xuard, rc-prove, di stinct ; however, this rule is found some-times to fail: for tin ugh gn begins a word, as gnaw, gout, Sec.yet it must be divided in spelling, as in cog-ni-zuuce, ma-lig-ni ty, Sec. 4. Those consonants which cannot, begin a word mustbe divided, as Id in sel-dom, It in mul ti-hide, rnp in Um-per, rdin ardent; but in final syllables there are exceptions, as tl inti-tle, dl in han-dtc , See. 5. When two vowels come together,

- y ■ I I I - - - , I 1 -LL.-I

and are both of them distinctly sounded, they imet lie separatedin spelling, at co-e-vnl, mu-lu-ut, Sec. 6. The grammatical ter-minations or endings must he separated in speiing, as cd in icing-ed,edsl in dc-li-vtr-nbt, ing in heur ing, once m de Li-ver-unce, Sec.7. Compound words must be resolve,! min (heir simple or com-ponent words, as up-on, in to, ne-vcr-the-less, noi-ivilh stand-ing, Sec.

SPELLO, a town of Italv, in Umbria , in the Pope’s late ter-ritories; 3 miles N. W. of Loligni, 10 S. W. ofNoeera, and 13N. of Spoletlo.

SPELMAN, Sir Henry, an eminent English antiquarian,descended from an ancient latnilv, and born at Cengham, nearEmiii in Norfolk , about 1561. lie was knighted by king j.onesI. w ho esteemed him on account of h:s service in discovering theoppressions of exacted fees in the courts, civil and ecclesiastical,and lie employed him three limes in Ireland on public affairs.When he was about 50 years of age, lie went to re-ide in London ;where following the bent of bis genius, be collected all booksand MSS. on antiquities, foreign and domestic, in 1613, hopublished his book De non temerandis Ecclesiis;” i. c. acainstthe profanation of churches. Ill 1626, he published the "firstpart of Ins well known “ Glossary, ” which lit never carried be-yond the letter L ; because, as some say, lie had said things underMagna Charla, and Maximum Consilium, that would have givenoffence. Upon his death all his papers came into the hands ofhis son Sir John Spelman, a gentleman who had abilities to havecompleted his fathei’s design, if death had not prevented him.The second part was afterwards published by Sir William Dug-dale, but unfinished. The next work was an edition of “ TheEnglish Councils,” of which he published the first volume abouttwo years before his death, leaving the second to be published by 'Sir William Dugdale . Sir Henry wrote several other works onancient laws and customs, and died in 1641. His posthumousworks were published in tolio, 1C9S, under the care of Mr. Gib-son, afterw ards bishop of London .

SPELTER, in metallurgy, the same with Zinc , which see.

SPENCER, Dr. John, an eminent divine, born in Kent in1630, and educated at Cambridge. He was chosen fellow of hiscollege, and took Ins degree of D. D. in 1663. In 1667 he waschosen master ol C. C. College, and preferred to the deanery ofEly in 1677. He died on the20th of May 1695. His works are, 1. ,The Righteous Ruler; a sermon on Proverbs xxix. 2, preached June28, 1660. 2. A D'scourse concerning Prodigies, wherein the Vanityof Presages by them is reprehended,and their true and proper Ends.asserted and vindicated. To this excellent work was afterwardsadded, A Discourse concerning vulgar Prophecies, wherein thevanity of receiving them as the certain indications of any futureevent is exposed ; and some marks of distinction between trueand pretended prophets are laid down. 3. A Latin dissertationconcerning Urim and Tliummim. 4. His famous treatise “ DeLegibus Hebrx-orum Rilualihus Rerutn Actionibus.”

SPENSER, Edmund, the poet, was born in London in 1553,and descended from an ancient family of the Spensers in North'amptonsliire. He was admitted a sizer of Pembroke hall in Cam*bridge, and matriculated in 1569. At this time began his intimacywith Mr. Gabriel Harvey , a man of genius, and a'poet. In 1576 ,having completed his degrees in arts, lie left the university, as Ris said, for want of subsistence, and retired to the north of Eng'land. Here lie had the misfortune to become enamoured of h' 5Rosalind, who, after (lattering his passion for a time, at leng*^preferred his happier rival. Spenser continued in the country1578, when at the persuasion of his frieud Mr. Harvey he r c "moved to London , where that gentleman introduced him to M r 'Sidney, afterwards Sir Philip. Concerning his first inlroductio'Jto Sir Philip, there is indeed a different story, which was first to' 1by the writer of his life, prefixed to his works in 1679, and Iran *"cribed by Hughes, Cibber , and several others ; which, neverth e "less, is doubted. It is, that Spenser , being unknown to this M*”camas ot the age, went to Leieesler-liouse, and sent in thecanto of the lir^t honk of the “ Fairy Queen ;” that, on reach 11 !?part of it, Sir Philip ordered his steward to give the bearer 50h *on reading a little farther 50 1, more ; ilien 200/. bidding him "ymake haste and pay the moiiry, hot lie should give the poet j 1 ' 5whole estate. The story tells prettily enough; but the F»'QQueen was begun long alter Lib acquaintance with Sir Philip- ”< v