SPECULAR IRON 



SPEKE 



619 



to the eye. Below the red are the dark heat rays, 

 whose presence or absence can be demonstrated 

 by the appropriate means. Professor Langley has 

 specially studied this region with the aid of rock- 

 salt prisms and the Bolometer (q.v. ), and has care- 

 fully measured the positions of the absorption 

 bands. Captain Abney has, by use of a special pre- 

 paration of bromide of silver, obtained photographs 

 of the infra-red end of the spectrum, and has identi- 

 fied some of the absorption lines with lines in the 

 spectra of metals of low melting points, such as 

 sodium and calcium. Metals which volatilise at 

 hijjh temperatures do not seem to give lines below 

 the red. Above the visible violet again are the 

 invisible actinic rays. This upper part of the spec- 

 trum can be made visible by allowing it to fall 

 upon snine suitable fluorescent substance, such as 

 uranium glass or a solution of sulphate of quinine. 

 Photography, however, supplies us with a perfect 

 method for obtaining visible images of the actinic 

 spectrum. Indeed, by properly choosing the sensi- 

 tive substance, we can now photograph any part of 

 the spectrum from a radiation of nearly four times 

 the wave-length of the red rays up to the highest 

 actinic rays known to exist ; and in the extended 

 solar spectrum so obtained we find the same 

 characteristics throughout a continuous spectrum 

 crossed by dark lines. 



Schellen's Spectra/analyst (2 vols. 3d ed. 1883; Eng. 

 trans. 1885), with Allot of spectra, is the most com- 

 plete treatise on the subject, see also Lockyer's Studies 

 in Spectrum Analytic (Inter. So. Series, 2d ed. 1886). 



Specular Iron. See IRON, Vol. VI. p. 215. 



Speculum Metal, an alloy used for the 

 specula or mirrors of reflecting telescopes. The 

 best is composed of 126 parts of copper and 58 D 

 of tin. It takes a fine polish and is not easily 

 tarnished unless exposed to damp. Glass with a 

 film of metallic silver deposited upon it is now 

 taking the place of speculum metal for these 

 mirrors. The silvered glass is equally serviceable 

 . and less costly. See TELESCOPE. 



Spedding, JAMES, was born at Mirehouse, 

 near BassentTiwaite, in June 1808, the younger son 

 of a Cumberland squire. From Bury St Edmunds, 

 where he was beau of the school, he proceeded in 

 1827 to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which lie 

 became a scholar, and of which too at his death he 

 had long been an honorary fellow. Still, brilliant 

 scholar though he was, his degree was only a 

 second-class in classics and junior optime. From 

 1837 to 1841 he held a post at the Colonial Office ; 

 in 1842 he accompanied Lord Ashburtpn (q.v. ) to 

 America as private secretary; and in 1847 he 

 might, had he chosen, have become Under-secretary 

 of State, with 2000 a year. But he had already 

 devoted himself to the task of his life ' to re-edit 

 Bacon's Works, which did not want any such re- 

 edition, and to vindicate his character, which 

 could not be vindicated.' So writes Edward Fitz 

 Gerald, the oldest of Spedding's many brilliant 

 friends Tennyson and Carlyle were also of the 

 number and he adds : ' He was the wisest man I 

 have known ; not the less so for plenty of the boy 

 in him ; a great sense of humour ; a Socrates in 

 life and death, which he faced with all serenity so 

 long as consciousness lasted.' That death was in 

 8t George's Hospital, on 9th March 1881, Spedding 

 having eight days before l>een run over by a cab. 



His publications were Works, Life, and Letter! of 

 Baton ( 1 4 vols. 1857-74 ) ; Publisher! and A uUiors 

 < 1867 ) ; Account of the Life and Timet of Bacon ( 2 vols. 

 I ; Revitwi and Discussions not relating to Bacon 

 (1H7!); Studies in English History (1881), in conjunc- 

 tion with J. Gairdner ; and Evening' with a Reviewer 

 (relating to Bacon, 2 vols. 1881). See the brief Memoir 

 by G. 8. Venables prefixed to the last, and also Fitz 

 Gerald's Letters ( 1889). 



Speech. See ADAM, DUMBNESS, PHILOLOGY, 

 PHONETICS, VISIBLE SPEECH, VOICE. 



Speed, JOHN, antiquary, was born at Farring- 

 ton in Cheshire in 1542, worked most of his days 

 at London as a tailor, and died July 28, 1629, 

 being buried in St Giles's, Cripplegate. All his 

 life long he had been acquiring historical learning, 

 and his extraordinary attainments at length gained 

 him the acquaintance of Sir Fulke Greville and 

 others, and hence opened up a door for the publica- 

 tion of the great works through which his name 

 survives. These are Maps (54) of England and 

 Wales ( 1608-10 ; incorporated into The Theatre of 

 the Empire of Great Britain, 1611) ; The History 

 of Great Britain under the Conquests of the Romans, 

 Saxons, Danes, and Normans ( 161 1 ). His theo- 

 logical writings are of no importance. 



Speedwell ( Veronica), a genus of plants of 

 the natural order Scrophulariacete, distinguished 

 by a four-cleft wheel-shaped corolla, with the lower 

 segment narrower, two stamens, and a two-celled 

 capsule. The species are very numerous, annual 

 and perennial herbaceous plants and small shrubs, 

 natives of temperate and cold climates in all parts 

 of the globe. Some of them grow in wet ditches 

 and in marshes, some only on the driest soils. 

 They have generally very beautiful blue, white, or 

 pink flowers. The number of British species is 

 considerable, and few wild-flowers are more beau- 

 tiful than the Germander Speedwell ( V. chamce- 

 drys), or the alpine species, V. alpina and V. 

 saxatilis. A num- 

 ber of species are 

 very generally cul- 

 tivated in flower- 

 garden s. The 

 bitter and astring- 

 ent leaves of the 

 Common Speedwell 

 ( V. officinalis ), one 

 of the most abund- 

 ant British species, 

 found also in almost 

 all the northern 

 parts of the world, 

 are in some coun- 

 tries used as a 

 tonic, sudorific, 

 diuretic, and ex- 

 pectorant medicine. 

 They are also em- 

 ployed, particularly 

 in Sweden, as a 

 sul>stitute for tea, 

 as are those of the 

 Germander Speed- 

 well. V. virginica 

 is called Culver's 

 Physic in North 

 America ; it is said to be actively diuretic, and a 

 decoction of the fresh root is violently cathartic 

 and emetic. Brooklime (q.v.) belongs to this 

 genus. Several of the shrubby species of Veronica 

 of peculiar and ornamental character, natives of 

 the mountains of New Zealand, are now plentiful, 

 and prove perfectly hardy, in British gardens. 



Speier, a town of Bavaria. See SPIRES. 



Sp'iss. This name is given to the product 

 first obtained (an arsenide of the metal) when 

 arsenical ores are smelted. See NICKEL. 



Speke, JOHN HANNING, an explorer of Africa, 

 was oorn on 4th May 1827 at Jordans in Somerset- 

 shire, entered the Indian army when seventeen, 

 and saw some active service in the Punjab. 

 During peace he spent great part of his time in 

 making shooting expeditions into the Himalayas, 

 in the course of which he collected natural history 



Common Speedwell 

 ( Veronica officinalis). 



