SPONTINI 



SPORADIC 



C57 



in a way with which every one is familiar. The 

 inside of the box was then coated with glycerine, 

 and the whole was kept as still as possible. After 

 some time the dust particles sank t-o the floor of 

 the box, and stuck to the glycerine, and a beam 

 of sunlight passing through was quite invisible, 

 there not being anything to reflect it. The infusions 

 were then boiled for a long time, and then allowed 

 to cool, after which they might be kept for months 

 without putrefying or showing any signs of the 

 presence of life. Here all the conditions of the 

 infusions were natural, save that there was no dust 

 in the air above them. In the dust of the air there- 

 fore are solid germs of life. The opponents of the 

 doctrine of Biogenesis had long made objection to 

 it, saying that ' if true then the air must l>e thick 

 with germs ; now this is absurd, therefore the 

 doctrine is untrue.' An argument this that shows 

 that a reditctio cut abmirdum is not always a proof. 

 The researches of Tyndall called forth the first 

 utterances on the subject of Bastian, the latest, 

 let us hope the last, obscurantist. Two years 

 later, 1872, Bastian published his work, in two 

 volumes, upon The Beg innings of Life. In the 

 preface he states that the question of spontaneous 

 generation turns wholly upon the probability of 

 the de novo origin of bacteria, and further tha 

 evidence of the most convincing character shows 

 that bacteria are killed by a temperature of 140 

 F., yet similar organisms will constantly appeal 

 in closed flasks containing organic fluids that hav< 

 been exposed for some time to a temperature o 

 212 F. It is surprising that any man could at 

 that late .day have been found to urge such stale 

 arguments after the repeated demonstration of the 

 two sources of error in such experiments ( 1 ) thai 

 fresh bacteria might get in after the original set 

 were killed ; (2) that though adult bacteria are 

 killed by a temperature of 140 F., their germs are 

 not always killed by a much higher temperature. 

 Bastian 's work has been quietly forgotten, and since 

 then the progress of discovery as to the nature and 

 mode of origin of bacteria and all other forms ol 

 life has progressed steadilv. 



See BACTEBIA, BATHYBICS, LIFE, PROTOPLASM, PUTRE- 

 FACTION ; and Haeckel'a Natural History of Creation. 

 Spoiitini. GASPARO LUIGI PACIFICO, Italian 

 'I composer, was bom at Majolati in the 

 March of Ancona on 14th November 1774, and 

 received his musical education at Naples. In 1803 

 he proceeded to Paris ; but it was not until he 



1851. See monograph by Robert (Berlin, 1883)- 

 and Spitta in Deutsche Rundschau (March 1891 ). 



SpOIltOOIl, a kind of spear. See PIKE. 



Spoonbill, a family of birds, Plataleidse, allied 

 to the Ibididse, and more distantly to the storks 

 and distinguished by the remarkable form of the 

 bill, which is long, flat, broad throughout its whole 

 length, and much dilated in a spoon-like form at 

 the tip. The species are not numerous, but are 

 widely distributed ; the birds are, however, becom- 

 ing scarce owing to the drainage of their native 

 haunts. The only European species is the White 



produced (1804) the one-act opera of Milton that 

 he attracted any notice. Encouraged by this, 

 h<- MmpOMd the grand opera La V estate ; this on 

 ii- production in Decernlier 1807 was greeted with 

 enthusiastic acclaim, and was adjudged the prize 

 of 10,000 francs instituted by Napoleon. An 

 equally warm reception was accorded to Ferdinand 

 Cortez in 1809. In the following year Spontini was 

 appointed director of Italian opera at the Odeon. 

 A third grand opera, Olymnia, produced in 1819, 

 lid not prove so successful. In 1820 Frederick- 

 William III. summoned Spontini to Berlin. There 

 he remained more than twenty years, though dur- 

 ing the greater part of the time it was only court 

 influence that supported him against the enmity 

 of the Berlin public and of the Prussian press. 

 S|pontini was jealous of Weber, and was by nature 

 Iiiarrelsome and vain ; but as a musician lie enter- 

 tained the loftiest aims, possessed true artistic 

 taste, was grandiose in his conceptions, and breathed 

 the spirit of genuine melody into his compositions. 



In Berlin he wrote three other grand operas 



Kcntrmaital (1822), Alcidor (1825), and Agnes ran 

 Hohenstaufen (1829), his greatest work. Spontini 

 was dismissed by Frederick-William IV. in 1842, 

 and he gradually withdrew into private life. He 

 died at Majolati, his birthplace, on 14th January 

 458 



Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia). 



Spoonbill (P. leucorodia), atone time a resident 

 in Britain, but now only a visitor. This bird was 

 known as the Shovelard or Shovelar, while the 

 bird now known as the Shoveler was then called 

 the Spoonbill or Spoonbilled Duck. In northern 

 Europe it is uncommon ; it breeds in Holland, in 

 the south of Spain, and the Black Sea district. 

 Eastward in snmnier it ranges to India, Ceylon, 

 and northern China ; it is resident in North Africa. 

 In South Africa it is represented by another species, 

 P. tenuirostris or cristata. It is gregarious, but 

 its nesting habits vary in different countries ; in 

 Holland the nests are made of reeds, and placed 

 on the mud among rushes; in Slavonia on the 

 submerged branches of willows ; and in India on 

 trees. It is about 32 inches long. Its colour is white, 

 slightly tinged with pink ; the bill and legs are 

 black. A curious convolution of the windpipe, in 

 the form of a figure 8, is found on dissection in the 

 adult spoonbill, but does not exist in the young. 

 The flesh of the spoonbill is said to be tender and 

 of good flavour. The spoonbill is easily tamed, 

 is quiet and inoffensive, and feeds readily on any 

 offal. The Roseate Spoonbill (P. ajaja) is an 

 American species, and the only one; very abundant 

 within the tropics, and found in the most southern 

 parts of the United States. It is nearly equal in 

 dze to the White Spoonbill, which it resembles in 

 its habits. It is a beautiful bird, witli plumage of 

 a fine rose-colour, of which the tint is deepest on 

 the wings ; the tail-coverts are crimson. Two 

 species (P. remaormelanor/iync/iusiaidP.Jlavipes) 

 are found in Australia. 



Sporades. See ARCHIPELAGO. 



Sporadic (Gr., 'scattered') is a term applied 

 o any disease that is commonly epidemic or con- 

 agious, when it attacks only a few persons in a 

 listrict and does not spread in its ordinary manner. 

 Tlie conditions which determine the occurrence of 

 epidemic or contagious diseases in a sporadic form 

 ire unknown. Amongst the diseases which occur 

 n this form may be especially mentioned cholera, 

 lysentery, measles, scarlatina, and smallpox. 



