SPINAZZOLA 



SPINNING 



63!) 



becomes elevated, and the scapula projects, while 

 the right side of the chest becomes rounded and the 

 left side flattened. The lungs and liver become com- 

 pressed and subject to disease, and the gait becomes 

 awkward. This disease is due in the first instance 

 to rotation of the bodies of the vertebne on each 

 other as the result of the irregular pressure. Later 

 the ligaments and articular processes of the vertebrae 

 nndergo permanent elianges, while the muscles 

 may atrophy or undergo fatty degeneration. The 

 ribs also become distorted, those at the side of the 

 convexity of the curve bending at the angles, those 

 at the other side becoming flattened. 



The treatment of this form differs entirely from 

 that of angular curvature. As the disease is due to 

 the continuance of asymmetrical positions of the 

 body, combined with muscular and general debility, 

 general tonics, fresh air, and gymnastic exercise 

 specially directed to the strengthening of the 

 weakened muscles must be adopted. In the later 

 stages, when the deformity has become more con- 

 firmed, mechanical supports may be required as an 

 adjuvant to the above. 



SPINA BIFIDA is a congenital malformation 

 occurring perhaps more frequently than any other 

 except hare-lip, and arising like it from arrest of 

 development. It may be regarded as a congenital 

 hernia of the membranes of the spinal cord through 

 a fissure in the wall of the Imny canal. A tumour 

 is thus formed, which is usually of a roundish shape 

 varying in size from that of an egg to that of an 

 adult head, lying in the middle line of the back, 

 fluctuating, and adhering to the adjacent vertebne 

 either directly or by a pedicle. The usual termina- 

 tion of the disease is death. As the size of the 

 tumour increases, fatal convulsions ensue ; or the 

 skin investing the tumour may ulcerate and the 

 contents escape, in which case palsy or convulsion 

 produces death. Occasional cases are, however, 

 recorded in which patients with this affection have 

 survived till middle life. Surgical treatment has, 

 until quite recently, been unsatisfactory ; but with 

 improved modern methods successful results have 

 in many cases been obtained. Moderate support 

 by means of a hollow truss, or a well-padded 

 concave shield, may tend to keep the disease 

 stationary ; and any interference beyond this is, 

 in the great majority of cases, unadvisable. For 

 other diseases connected with the spine, see MENIN- 

 GITIS, MYELITIS, LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA, &c. 



Spinaz/.ola, a city of Southern Italy, 30 miles 

 8W. of Hari. It was the birthplace of Pope 

 Innocent XIL Pop. 10,353. 



Spindle-tree (Euonymwt), a genus of plants 

 of the natural order Celastraceae. This order con- 

 tains about 260 known species, all small trees or 

 shrubs. The genus Euonymus has a lobed capsule 

 and seeds surrounded by an aril, which in some of 

 the species is remarkable for its brilliancy of colour. 

 The Common Spindle-tree (E. europceua), a native 

 of Britain, chiefly of the southern parts, and of 

 great part of Europe, is very ornamental when 

 in fruit, and its aril is of a fine orange colour. It 

 is a shrub rather than a tree. The wood is hard 

 and fine grained. It is used for the finer articles 

 of tnrnery and for skewers. It was formerly used 

 for making musical instruments and for spindles, 

 whence the name of the shrnb. In Germany the 

 *hoot are bored for stems of tobacco-pipes. Char- 

 coal made of it is much valued for crayons. 



Spinel is a mineral composed chiefly of 

 magnesia and alumina, and crystalljsing in octa- 

 hedra. There are several varieties, which differ in 

 chemical composition owing to isomorphous sub- 

 stitution, sometimes of the protoxides, but usually 

 of the sesquioxides. Ruby or Magnesia Spinel is 

 clear red or reddish, and contains little or no iron ; 



Pleonastt (Ceylonite), or Iron-magnesia Spinel, is 

 dark green to black, containing iron ; Picotite, or 

 Chrome Spinel, is black, containing chromium 

 oxide; Gahnite, or Zinc Spinel, is green to brown, 

 containing zinc ; Hercynite, or Iron Spinel, is black, 

 and occurs massive, in this variety ferrous oxide re- 

 placing magnesia. Ruby spinel occurs as crystals 

 imbedded in granular limestone, also with calcite 

 in serpentine and in various crystalline schists, 

 as also in the alluvial sands, &c. derived from the 

 disintegration of these rocks. Pleonaste is an occa- 

 sional constituent of eruptive rocks, and also of 

 certain rocks which have undergone alterations 

 from contact with eruptive masses. Picotite has 

 been met with in basalt, but is more commonly seen 

 in peridotite. Gahnite is of sparing occurrence in 

 certain crystalline schists, while Hercynite is occa- 

 sionally found in such rocks as granulite. The 

 finer varieties of spinel are prized as gems the 

 red coloured ones being commonly called rubies. 

 See RUBY. 



Spinello Aretino, an Italian painter, was 

 born at Arezzo about 1330, his father being a 

 Ghibelline exile from Florence. The painter spent 

 nearly all his life between his birthplace and his 

 father's city, and died at Arezzo about 1410. His 

 principal frescoes were done for the sacristy of the 

 church of St Miniatus near Florence, for the campo 

 santo (cemetery) of Pisa, and for the municipal 

 buildings of Sienna (a series illustrating the Italian 

 wars of Frederick Barbarossa), with several others in 

 and near Arezzo. Spinello enjoyed a great reputa- 

 tion in his own day, being compared, and by some 

 preferred, to Giotto, whose style his own in some 

 respects resembles. Unfortunately his frescoes 

 have mostly disappeared ; and his panel and easel 

 pictures, of which there are several in the galleries 

 of Europe, do not equal his frescoes in excellence. 



Spines. See THORNS. 



Spinet. See HARPSICHORD. 



Spinifcx, or PORCUPINE GRASS (Triodia 

 irritant), a very coarse, hard, and spiny grass 

 which grows in tussocks, and in some interior 

 parts of Australia covers hundreds of square miles 

 at a stretch. This grass cannot be eaten by any 

 animal, and as the clumps are three or four feet 

 high they make exploring and travelling very 

 laborious. Horses are badly lamed by the wounds 

 from the spinifex. 



Spinning is the art of twisting fibrous sub- 

 stances into rounded strands of yarn fitted for 

 weaving, or for thread or rope mak- 

 ing. To form such strands two 

 operations are essential ( 1 ) the 

 drawing out of uniform quantities 

 of fibre in a continuous manner, and 

 (2) twisting the material so drawn 

 out to give it coherency and strain- 

 resisting power. The earliest and 

 for ages the only spinning apparatus 

 was the spindle with the distaff. 

 The latter was a stick or staff upon 

 which a bundle of the fibre to be 

 spun was loosely bound, and it was 

 either held in the left hand or stuck 

 in the belt. The spindle ( fig. 1 ) was 

 a smaller tapering rod, the rotation 

 of which gave the twist, and around 

 which the thread was wound as it 

 was twisted. The twist was given 

 by causing the spindle to rotate 

 against the person, and allowing it _. 

 to fall towards the ground whilst F) e- J'wi "1 

 spinning around. To give the spindlt 

 increased momentum it was weighted 

 wtth a whorl (fig. 1 ) of stone or metal, but as the 

 weight of the yarn on it increased this make-weight 



