SPLUGEN 



SPONGES 



651 



the ends of the broken bone ; they are also em- 

 ployed for secuiing perfect immobility of the parts 

 to which they are applied in other cases, as in 

 diseased joints, after resection of joints, &c. 



Ordinary splints are composed of wood carved to 

 the shape of the limb, and padded ; the best pads 

 being made out of old blankets, which should be 

 ut into strips long and wide enough to line the 

 splints, and laid in sufficient number upon one 

 another to give the requisite softness. The splints 

 should be firmly bound to the limb with pieces of 

 bandage, or with straps and buckles ; care being 

 taken that they are put on sufficiently tight to 

 keep the parts immovable, and to prevent muscular 

 spasm, but not so tight as to induce discomfort. 

 Gutta-percha, sole-leather, or pasteboard, after 

 having been softened in lioiling water, may in 

 some cases advantageously take the place of 

 wooden splints. They must be applied when soft 

 to the part they are intended to support, so as to 

 take a perfect mould, and then be dried, stiffened, 

 and, if necessary, lined. Perforated tin or zinc is 

 sometimes used to form splints. An account of 

 the more complicated kinds of splint required in 

 certain cases, as Macintyre's Splint, Listen s Splint, 

 &c., may be seen in any illustrated catalogue of 

 surgical instruments. 



The ordinary splint is now to a great degree 

 superseded by "immovable bandages, which consist 

 of the ordinary bandage saturated with a thick 

 mucilage of starch, witli glue, or with water-glass 

 <a solution of silicate of soda). As, however, these 

 bandages require some hours to dry and become 

 rigid, means must be used to counteract any dis- 

 placement of the limb in the interval. On this 

 account many surgeons prefer the plaster of Paris 

 or gypsum bandage, which is applied in the follow- 

 ing manner : the limb being protected by a layer 

 of cotton-wool, a bandage composed of coarse and 

 open material, into which as much dry powdered 

 cypsum as possible has been rubbed, must be 

 immersed in water for about a minute, and then 

 rolled around the limb in a spiral manner, just as 

 an ordinary bandage ; after every second or third 

 turn of the bandage, the left hand of the surgeon 

 should be plunged into water, and smeared over 

 the part last applied. When the whole has been 

 thus treated, the exterior of the bandage should 

 be smeared over with a paste of gypsum and water 

 until a smooth surface and complete rigidity have 

 been attained a process not occupying more than 

 ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. 



Splfl^i'll. an Alpine pass in the Orisons, 

 Switzerland, situated at an altitude of 6946 feet. 

 It connects the valley of the Farther Rhine with 

 that of a tributary of the Adda, and has been used 

 for crossing the Alps since the time of the Romans. 

 The existing road, 24 miles long and 14J feet wide 

 throughout, was made by the Austrian govern- 

 ment in 1812-22. It is protected against avalanches 

 by several galleries and refuges. 



Spolir. Lrmvio, composer and violinist, was 

 born at Brunswick on 5th April 1784. His talent 

 for music was shown early, and attracted the 

 notice of the duke, who lent him valuable sup- 

 port in his studies. This patronage he justified 

 oy establishing a high reputation as a performer 

 on the violin. In 1805 he was appointed music 

 director at the court of Saxe-Gotha, but gave 

 up that post in 1813 to Income music director 

 of the Theater an der Wien at Vienna. There, 

 however, he stayed only two years, and afterwards 

 spent a similar period ( 1817-19) in a similar position 

 at Frankfort-on-the-Main. In 1820 he appeared in 

 London, where he was received with great applause 

 At the Philharmonic Society's concerts. On the 

 recommendation of Weber, he was in January 



1822 appointed Kapellmeister at the court of Hesse- 

 Cassel, which post he continued to hold till 1857. 

 He died on 22d October 1859. The best of his 

 numerous musical compositions are the operas 

 Faust, Jessonda, and Zemira und Azor ; the 

 oratorios Die letzteti Dinge, Des Heilands letzte 

 Stunden, and Der Fall Babylons ; nine grand 

 symphonies, the finest Die Weihe der Tone ; fifteen 

 very highly esteemed violin concertos ; besides 

 sonatas for violin and harp, fantasias, and rondos. 

 Die letzten Dinge, or Last Judgment, is a very 

 grand and attractive work ; so also is Der Fall 

 Babylons, first produced at a Norwich musical 

 festival (1842). As a violinist Spohr deservedly 

 ranks as one of the greatest amongst German 

 masters of the instrument. His Violinschwle, a 

 manual for advanced violin-players, is almost 

 indispensable for any student who aspires to 

 mastery of technique as a performer. 



See his Autobiography (Eng. trans. 1864), and bio- 

 graphies by Malibran (1860) and Schletterer ( 1881 ). 



Spokane, the third city of Washington, the 

 metropolis of the eastern portion of the state, on 

 the Spokane River and on several railroads, by the 

 Union Pacific 481 miles NE. of Portland, Oregon. 

 It is largely engaged in the lumber trade. A fire 

 in August 1889 destroyed some $6,000,000 worth 

 of property. But the city is chiefly remarkable for 

 its rapid growth. Pop. ( 1880 ) 350 ;( 1890 ) 19,922 ; 

 (1900)36,848. 



S polo to (Lat. SjMletivm), an archiepiscopal 

 city of ancient Unibria in the middle of Italy, is 

 situated on a rocky hill, 75 miles by rail N. by 

 E. of Rome. It is commanded by a citadel, which 

 dates from the days of the Goths, and has a fine 

 cathedral, built in the time of the Lombard dukes, 

 and containing fine frescoes by Lippo Lippi. The 

 churches of St Domenico, St Peter, St Gregory, 

 and St Nicholas present interesting architectural 

 features. Water is brought to the city by a 7th- 

 century aqueduct, 270 feet high and 680 long. 

 The ancient Spoletium had its origin in a Roman 

 colony planted here about 240 B.C. ; Hannibal (q.v.) 

 was repulsed in an assault he made on the town ( 217 

 B.C.) after the battle of Lake Trasimene. Under 

 the Lombards it became the capital of an independ- 

 ent duchy, and its dukes ruled over great part of 

 Central Italy. Having been united to Tuscany, it 

 was bequeathed by the Countess Matilda to the 

 pope (1115). Spoleto has manufactures of woollens 

 and hats. Pop. 7696. 



Sponges (Pan/era), a class of animals whose 

 type of structure is simpler than that of all the 

 other multicellular forms or Metazoa,. For the 

 body of a sponge is not differentiated into organs, 

 and tissues are only, as it were, in the making. 

 Almost all are marine, occurring from the shore to 

 the great depths. Except as embryos, they are 

 always fixed to rocks, or in the mud, or upon sea- 

 weeds, or on other animals. Their sedentary life, 

 the usual absence of any marked contractility, 

 their frequently herb-like growth, and other char- 

 acters, led early naturalists to regard sponges as 

 plants ; but their animal nature is at once evident 

 when we examine into their internal structure and 

 activities, or when we trace their development. 

 Yet they remained puzzles for centuries. Pey- 

 sonnel regarded them as worm-nests, for were not 

 worms found inside of them ? Lamarck thought 

 they were colonies of polypes, but the polypes were 

 not to be seen. In popular classification they were 

 ranked with seaweeds. A great step was made 

 when, about 1820-25, Robert Grant observed the 

 water-currents which pass in by minute pores all 

 over the surface and pass out by the larger aper- 

 tures. Since then our knowledge of sponges ha 

 been rapidly progressive. 



