644 



SIM1IKS 



SPIRIT 



spires is somewhat olmcnre, but there i no doubt 

 dial the earliest examples of anything of tlie kind 

 are the pyramidal root* of tlie turrets of Norman 

 date. Those of St Peter's, Oxford (fig. 1), and 

 Rochester Cathedral (tig. 2) are good specimens of 



1, Turret, St Peter's Church, Oxford; 2, Turret, 

 Rochester Cathedral; 3, St Mary's Church, Chelten- 

 ham i 4, Bayeux Cathedral, Normandy. 



circular and octagonal pointed roofs, or spires in an 

 embryo condition. Spires of this early period are 

 much less acute than those of later date. The 

 Karly English style has spires of sharply pointed 

 form over the larger towers. They are generally 

 octagonal and what are termed broach spires 

 Le. the slopes spring from the cornice of the lower 

 without any parapet, and at the point where the 

 square changes to the octagon there is a small 

 Bet-off or separate roof (fig. 3). Sometimes the 

 angles at top of towers were occupied with pin- 

 nacles or sloping masses of masonry, as at Bayeux 

 Cathedral, Normandy (fig. 4). 



In the Decorated style the spires were morn 

 ornamented, having generally a parapet and pin- 

 nacles at the top of the tower, crockets on the 

 angles, and enriched windows. The spires of the 

 Perpendicular and Flamboyant styles are still 

 more enriched, with Hying buttresses at the angles, 

 &c. They are sometimes perforated , and the sides 

 of the spire filled entirely with tracery. Such 

 spires are common in Germany, those of Stras- 

 burg and Freiburg on the Rhine l>eing very fine 

 examples, as also that of St Stephen's, Vienna. 

 As in the later styles generally, the character and 

 beauty of the spire give place to dexterity in 

 masonry, and many examples exist of traceried 

 spires more wondernil than beautiful (see Gormr 

 ARCHITECTURE). Spires are most frequently con 

 Htructed of stone, but they are also occasionally 

 mad" nf wood, and covered with lead, copper, 

 nlate. or shingles. These are chiefly to be found in 

 localities where stone is scarce. Among famous 

 spin may be mentioned those of I 1m (530 feet), 

 Cologne (q.v., 515), Rouen (of cast-iron, 487J), 

 St Nirhohis, Hamburg (482), Strasburg (465), 

 Chartres (n.v., 371 ), and Salisbury (q.v., 404), the 

 highest in England, as St Mary's Cathedral, Edin- 

 burgh (275), is the highest in Scotland, ami St 

 Patrick's Cathedral, New York (328), in America. 

 With these heights may bo compared the F.itl'cl 

 Tower (985 feet), the Washington obelisk (555), 

 the Forth Bridge (361 ), and the domes of St Peter's 

 at Rome (43T>) and St Caul's in London (404). 



Spires ( I lor. Speier ), the capital of the Bavarian 

 Palatinate, -lands on the left bank of the Rhine, 19 

 miles S. of Mannheim. The most noteworthy edifice 

 is the Romanesque cathedral, built of roil sundMono. 



which has had a very chequered history. Iti-gnn by 

 Conrad II. in 1030 and finished in lot! I. il sutlered 

 from lire in the 12th, 13th, and Kith centuries, and 

 in 1689 was stripped to the bare walls and even 

 set lire to by the French, who also exhumed and 

 scattered the bones of eight emperors of Germany 

 (from Conrad II. to Albert I.) who lay buried in 

 its crypt. Reconstruct ed in 17S2, it was again 

 desecrated by the French in IT'.U. but was once 

 more rebuilt in 1797-1822. The interim walls are 

 covered with more than thirty large frescoes by 

 Schrandolph ; statues of the eight emperors by 

 Fern korn (1858) adorn tin- vi-til.nl,- ; and in front 

 of the west facade is the ancient ' Domnapf,' or 

 cathedral basin. The town itself was also de- 

 molished by the French in 1689, and having 

 been rebuilt since that date has broad though 

 irregular streets, but very few ancient build- 

 ings, except the gateway or clock-tower (ultn 

 fwrta), dating from before 1246, and a few frag- 

 ments of the imperial palace (Retscher), in which 

 several diets were held. There are a museum, 

 picture-gallery, l>otamcal garden, and library. 

 Top. 17,587. There is some industry in cloth, 

 paper, tobacco, sugar, &c. Spin was known in 

 Koinan times as Auyintto .\nintiiHi and A'ott'o- 

 magus, but was known us S/iiru from the 7th cen- 

 tury. Previous to Unit, however, it had experienced 

 repeated disasters at the hands of the successive 

 barbarian armies that swept westwards. The 

 early emperors showed it considerable favour, and 

 in the 13th century it became a free imperial city. 

 Several imperial diets were held within its walls, 

 especially that of 1529, at which the reformers first 

 acquired the name of Protestants ; and from 1513 

 to 1689 it was the seat of the supreme law-court of 

 the empire. But the repeated devastations it 

 endured in the Thirty Years' War and from the 

 French (see above) ruined it* prosperity. It was 

 the capital of a department of France between 1801 

 and 1814, and in 1815 passed to Bavaria. See 

 works by Remling (1858-61), Weiss (1877), and 

 Hilgard (1885). 

 SpirifVr. a genus of brachiopods. See the article 



CAHHOMKKKors SYSTEM. 



Spirit, a name of very general application to 

 fluids, mostly of a lighter s|ecific character than 

 water, and obtained by distillation. Thus, the 

 essential oil of turpentine is called Spirit of Turpen- 

 tine ; a looser usage extended the name to Spirit of 

 Nitre (nitric acid) and Spirit of Salt ( hydrochloric 

 acid). But in a stricter sense the term spirit is 

 understood to mean Alcohol (q.v.) in it* potable 

 condition, of which there are very numerous varie- 

 ties, deriving their special characters from the 

 sulistances used in their production. 



Spirit. HOLY, or HOLY GHOST, the third Person 

 of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Spirit follows 

 and depends on that of the Son in Scripture and 

 in the development of dogma. It is significant for 

 the whole subject that ruach and jineiima, Hebrew 

 and Greek for spirit, literally mean ' wind ' or 

 'breath.' 



In the Old Testament 'the Spirit of God' is 

 first the principle of life in creation (Gen. i. 2), in 

 particular of man's life (ii. 7). Then to the Spirit 

 are traced the special gifts, intellectual and even 

 bodily, of the instruments of the theocracy, as 

 Mo-e,. P,e/:ilel. Sum-on, and aliii\e all the prophets, 

 who are the men of the Spirit. At length in the 

 later writings e.g. Ps. li. 11, cxliii. 10 the Spirit 

 is called ' holy ' and 'good, 'and the agency comes 

 to be spoken of diielly as moral. But there is 

 nothing at all decisive as to personality, and the 

 action is temporary and external, and is nut geneial 

 except in predictions of the period to l>e intro- 

 duced by the spirit-anointed Servant of the Lord, 



