are round or oval, impressed in gold, silver, lead, but generally in wax of various colors. The difference in the color of the wax indicated different degrees of dignity, &c. In the sixteenth century, sealing-wax came into use. (See Seal.) Sphragistics, as a science, dates from the great work of Heineccius on seals, in 1709 (new ed. 1719, folio, Leipsic).See also Ficoroni's I Piombi Antichi (Rome, 1740, 4to.); Manni's Osservazioni istoriche sopra i Sigilli antichi de' Secoli Bassi (Florence, 1739-86, 30 vols., 4to.); and Ph. W. Gercken's Anmerkungen über die Siegel zum Nutzen der Diplomatik (Augsburg, 1781; Stend., 1786). SPICE ISLANDS. (See Moluccas.) SPIDER. (See Appendix, end of this vol.) SPINAGE. (See Appendix, end of this vol.) SPINE (from spina, thorn, so called from the shape of the processes of the vertebræ), in anatomy, the vertebral or spinal column, the back-bone in common language, is the articulated bony pillar at the back of the trunk, forming the foundation or basis of support and connexion to all the other parts of the frame. It is placed perpendicularly in the body, supporting the head on its upper extremity, while the lower end rests on the pelvis. The bones of the chest, to which the upper extremities are attached, are fixed to its sides, while the ossa innominata, or the great bones to which the lower limbs are articulated, are immovably united to it below. It is the point of attachment and support in front for the viscera of the thorax and abdomen, and for the great trunks of the blood-vessels. We may thus regard it as the central and most essential piece of the skeleton, as the centre of motion for the head and limbs, and the basis of support for all the great internal organs. Again, the bones which compose it give attachment to the principal muscles moving the head, the shoulders and the arms, to those which act on the trunk, and to some part of the abdominal muscles, and of those which move the lower limbs. Further, it constitutes a canal, which receives and protects the spinal marrow, and gives issue to the various nerves proceeding from that organ to the trunk and limbs. The importance of the spine is so great that it modifies all the details of the organization of the animals which possess it. It is formed of twenty nine pieces of bone, strongly articulated into each other, and placed in succession from above downwards. The twentyfour upper ones are called vertebræ. Distortions of the Spine are the unnatu ral inflections of the spine, which give a more or less deformed figure to the trunk, and even to the limbs; hence wry neck, high shoulders, humpback, uneven hips, lameness, &c., are very frequent among the higher classes of our time, particularly among females, and generally owing to want of care or judgment in those who have charge of children, or to the injudicious habits of the persons afflicted, and frequently aggravated or made permanent by improper means used for remedying them. The beauty of the whole body depends chiefly upon the natural formation of the spine. This column of vertebræ ought not permanently to deviate from the straight line to the right or left; but it has naturally some slight curvatures forwards and backwards. In the region of the loins, it is bent a little forward; in the region of the chest, a little backward, and, at the neck, again, somewhat forward. This regular formation of the spine is produced by the character of the vertebræ, the cartilages which unite them, and the muscles of the back, which support and move them. If the vertebræ themselves suffer from disease, as, for instance, in case of rickets, the spine is not capable of supporting the head and keeping the body straight, it becomes curved, and, if remedies are not applied in season, this unnatural curvature increases daily, and permanent distortion at length takes place. If the cartilages and ligatures suffer relaxation, as in case of a debilitated state of the body, the spine cannot, after every motion, resume its proper position, and it may easily happen that some vertebræ become partially dislocated, and thus a disposition to distortion takes place, because the part of the spine over these vertebræ is deprived of its proper support, and must incline to one side. The muscles of the back, situated on both sides of the spine, equal in number and form, and destined not only to execute the manifold movements of the trunk, but also to maintain, by the equilibrium of their power, the straight direc tion of the spine, frequently occasion distortions, by losing their vigor; for the spine, in this case, wanting its natural support, inclines sideways or backwards. The same effect may be produced by too frequent or too continued use of one set of muscles in a particular way; for the spine becomes at last permanently fixed in the posture which it has been compelled to assume during the exercise. This survey shows us the various causes of distortions, and the proper means for pre venting them. The causes may be reduced to diseases and injudicious habits. The diseases of children which may occasion distortions of the spine are chiefly scrofula and rickets, so often connected with it, and general debility. These diseases may be best prevented by the use of food easily digestible by pure air, hard beds not too warm, frequent exercise, great cleanliness, frequent bathing, washing and rubbing the skin, and similar requisites of a good physical education. The muscles of the back are often debilitated by compelling children, particularly weakly ones, to sit up in a constrained posture, which distresses the spine, and produces a sinking and bending in search of relief, or by allowing children too little free movement and exercise, and obliging them continually to sit still and read-the surest mode of producing physical and intellectual cripples. The use of corsets also contributes much to the weakness of the dorsal muscles, and consequently to distortion of the spine. If the shoulders are continually supported artificially by a corset, the dorsal muscles, destined by nature to keep the spine straight, remain inactive, and lose their power, the body becomes unable to support itself without the corset, and a sinking and bending take place as soon as it is removed. If to this is added the continual command, perhaps accompanied oy threats, to sit straight, which has become actually impossible to the child, its exertions result in nothing but a curvature of the spine, which is therefore so frequent in girls of the higher classes, but in boys of the same families, who are neither tormented with corsets, nor admonished so repeatedly to sit straight, is much rarer. The second cause of distortions-injudicious habits-deserves particular attention, because much may be done to prevent them. The habit of many nurses to carry children always on the same arm, accustoms the child to incline always towards one side, and to sleep in one position, from which a distortion of the spine naturally arises in the course of time. The bad position of the body in some amusements and occupations; for instance, the manner in which young people sit in writing, reading, drawing, sewing, embroidering playing on the flute, violin, harp and guitar, the habit of crossing the feet in standing, or of standing on one foot; the habit of lying crooked in bed, and even the habit of girls to spend a long time in a constrained position dressing their own hair,-may occasion distortion of the spine. Every one-sided motion, often repeated, may produce a tendency to such distortion, and, the tendency once existing, the evil increases every day. This distortion, besides disfiguring the body, and unfitting the subject for certain avocations, also tends to produce inflammation of the lungs, dropsy of the chest, pulmonary consumption and apoplexy, a general disturbance of the health, and early death. With women, it often gives rise to painful labors, and sometimes makes a natural delivery impossible. The proper means of guarding against distortion we have already suggested in the directions respecting food, air, exercise and cleanliness, the prevention of ill habits on the part of nurses, and of the children themselves, and in the important rule, not to compel a straight carriage of the body by the wearing of corsets, nor by the continual injunction to stand and sit straight, as both tend directly to produce the evil intended to be prevented. It is important to detect a distortion of the spine as early as possible. It is therefore the duty of mothers and governesses to examine often the body of children. The child should be undressed, and placed in such a way (not lying down) that the entire back may be scen. The head must be held straight, the face directed forwards; the arms must hang down, and the whole position must be as easy as possible. Then the vertebræ must be struck slightly with the hand, to discover if there is a prominence or a sensation of pain in any place. The examiner should then proceed to the parts of the body on each side of the spine, which ought to be perfectly equal. The neck, the shoulders, and the hips, are to be looked at: if the latter are uneven, the hip joints and feet must be also tried. The examiner should also see whether the breast-bone is precisely in the middle of the breast, and whether it forms a straight line, whether the clavicles are uniform, whether the ribs lie even. With grown girls, the unevenness of the breasts often furnishes the earliest sign of distortion of the spine. These examinations ought to be made once or twice a week, and in the case of girls, even after they have arrived at maturity, because the years immediately succeeding the period of puber ty are those in which distortions are most frequently manifested in the female sex, and because a cure can be hardly expect ed much after the twentieth year Atten tion to distortion ought not to be delayed until a high shoulder or hip shows itself these are only proofs of a distortion which has already long existed. If, however, any thing like distortion is perceived, do not resort to the means so often recommended of suspension by the arms, or the use of plasters, which can avail nothing, and do not expect that the dancing-master can remedy the evil, which will only increase under his lessons. Assistance can be rendered only by a physician familiar with these deformities, and who has made himself acquainted with the general state of body of his patient by a careful examination. The cure must not be expected too soon; and the orders of the physician must be scrupulously obeyed. Too much reliance is not to be placed on machines. See Wenzel, On the Diseases of the Spine (with engravings, Bamberg, 1824, folio); sec, also, Orthopedic Insti tutes. SPINELLAN. (See Sodalite.) SPINELLE (Spinelle Ruby and Pleonaste). The primary form of this species is the regular octahedron; and this is the figure under which it generally occurs. It is rarely modified by the truncation or the bevelment of its edges, and sometimes presents itself in hemitrope crystals. Its crystals vary in dimensions, though they are usually not above the size of a pea. Their cleavage is very difficult; fracture conchoidal; lustre vitreous; color red, passing into blue and green, also into yellow, brown and black; transparent to opaque; hardness above that of quartz; specific gravity 3.5. The red varieties of spinelle are called, by jewellers, spinelle ruby, while those possessed of a darker color are called Ceylonite or Pleonaste. The following analyses-the first of which is by Berzelius, the second by Klaproth, and the third by Descotils-exhibit the chemical composition of the species: 3. Pleo naste. phosphorus. Pleonaste yields a deep, green color to the globule. The original depositories of this species are white limestone and a drusy volcanic rock. It is often found, however, in more recent deposits, formed by diluvial or alluvial action, along with crystals of corundum and zircon. The isolated crystals chiefly come from Ceylon. In Südermannland, in Sweden, bluish and pearl-gray varieties occur, imbedded in granular limestone. Crystals of a green color are found imbedded in the drusy cavities of rocks ejected by Vesuvius. But the U. States surpass the rest of the world, both as to the number of the localities of spinelle, and the dimensions of its crystals. It abounds particularly in the towns of Amity and Edenville, in Orange county, New York; at which places it occurs in a highly crystalline, white limestone, and likewise loose in the soil, in crystals varying from the size of a pea and under, to those whose smallest diameter is four inches. Their colors are either black, or dark greenish, or bluish black, though it is rarely of a pale pink, or reddish-brown. These crystals are associated with hornblende, mica, augite, idocrase and scapolite. Spinelle of a rich green color is also found in the neighboring county of Sussex, New Jersey, at Franklin, near the iron works in that place. The crystals from this spot are highly modified in their figure, and are sometimes nearly transparent. Green and blue spinelle is also found in Massachusetts, in the lime quarries of Bolton, Boxborough and Chelmsford. Clear and finely-colored red varieties of the present species are highly prized as ornamental stones in jewelry. They go generally by the name of spinelle ruby, or balas ruby. SPINET; a stringed instrument, formerly much in use, but now superseded by the pianoforte, somewhat similar to the harpsichord, and, like that, consisting of a case, 68.00 sounding-board, keys, jacks, and a bridge. 2.00 The difference between the spinet and 12.00 the harpsichord is, that the latter is larger, 16.00 and contains two or three sets of jacks and 0.00 strings, so disposed and tuned as to admit of. a variety of stops, while the former has only one set of jacks and strings, and consequently only one stop. When the spinet was first brought into use, though its invention was certainly anterior to that of the harpsichord, is not exactly known. But that it is derived from the harp is evident, from its character as well as construction, internal and external; and, indeed, it was originally called the couched harp, though 98.00 The red varieties, exposed to the heat of the blow-pipe, become black and opaque; on cooling, they appear first green, then almost colorless, and at last re-assume their red color. They are with difficulty fused with the aid of borax-melting, however, a little more easily with salt of since denominated spinet, from its quills, which resemble thorns, called, in Latin, spinæ. SPINNING. When the fibres of cotton, wool, or flax, are intended to be woven, they are reduced to fine threads, of uniform size, by the well-known process of spinning. Previously to the middle of the last century, this process was performed by hand, with the aid of the common spinning-wheel. Locks of cotton or wool, previously carded, were attached to a rapidly revolving spindle, driven by a large wheel, and were stretched or drawn out by the hand, at the same time that they were twisted by the spindle, upon which they were afterwards wound. Flax, the fibres of which are longer and more parallel, was loosely wound upon a distaff, from which the fibres were selected and drawn out by the thumb and finger, and at the same time were twisted by flyers, and wound upon a bobbin, which revolved with a velocity somewhat less than that of the flyers. The manufacture of flexible stuffs by means of machinery, operating on a large scale, is an invention of the last century. Although of recent date, it has given birth to some of the most elaborate and wonderful combinations of mechanism, and already constitutes, especially in England and in this country, an important source of national wealth and prosperity. The character of the machinery which has been applied to the manufacture of cotton, at different times, has been various. There are, however, several leading inventions, upon which most of the essential processes are founded, and which have given to their authors a greater share of celebrity than the rest. These are, 1. The spinning jenny. This machine was invented by Richard Hargreaves, in 1767, and, in its simplest form, resembled a number of spindles turned by a common wheel, or cylinder, which was worked by hand. It stretched out the threads as in common spinning of carded cotton. 2. The water spinning frame, invented by Richard Arkwright, in 1769. The essential and most important feature in this invention consists in the drawing out or elongating of the cotton, by causing it to pass between successive pairs of rollers, which revolve with different velocities, and which act as substitutes for the finger and thumb, as applied in common spinning. These rollers are combined with the spindle and flyers of the common flax wheel. 3. The mule. This was invented by Samuel Crompton, in 1779. It combines the principles of the two preceding inventions. and produces finer yarn than that which is spun in either of the other machines. It has now nearly superseded the jenny 4. The power loom for weaving by water or steam power, which was introduced about the end of the eighteenth century, and has received various modifications. The foregoing fundamental machines are used in the same or different establishments, and for different purposes. But besides these, various auxiliary machines are necessary to perform intermediate operations, and to prepare the material as it passes from one stage of the manufacture to another. The number of these machines, and the changes and improvements which have been made in their construction from time to time, render it impossible to convey, in a work like the present, any accurate idea of their formation in detail. We have already given, in the article Cotton Manufacture, a brief view of the principal changes which the raw material undergoes preparatory to spinning in a modern cotton factory, founded and improved upon the genera. principles of Arkwright. The roving being, as there described, transferred to the spinning frame, it is once more drawn out by rollers and twisted by flyers, so that the spinning is little more than a repetition of the process gone through in making the roving, except that the cotton is now twisted into a strong thread, and cannot any longer be extended by drawing. The flyers of the spinning frame are driven by bands, which receive their motion in some cases from a horizontal fly wheel, and in others from a longitudinal cylinder. As the thread is sufficiently strong not to break with a slight force, the resistance of the bobbins by friction is relied on to wind it up, instead of having the spindles geared together and turned with an exact velocity, as they are in the common double speeder. In the spinning frame the heart motion is retained to regulate the rise and fall of the rail, and in those frames which spin the woof, or filling, it is applied by a progressive sort of cone, the section of which is heartshaped, and which acts remotely to dis tribute the thread in conical layers upon the hobbins, that it may unwind more easi ly when placed in the shuttle. (See Mule Spinning, Weaving, and Woollen Manu facture; also Bigelow's Technology.) SPINOLA, Ambrose, marquis of, one of the most distinguished generals of his age, was born at Genoa, in 1569. His brother Frederic, who had been appointed to the |