SEXTON. 



SHEATHING. 



600 



to the frame which support* the horUon-gb** tod telescope, or to the 

 indubar which carries the index glass. Tbe arrangement 1* exceedingly 

 ingoniuu*. but we mupect that the clamping an.l undamping must 

 Act each other, notwithstanding the beauty of the worktnaiuhip. 

 They are also made much too heavy for the hand, and, considering 

 tbe principle, unnecessarily to. Mr. Hanlar employed them, we 

 rvf. in hit surrey . but we hare not heard of their ue elsewhere. 



The idea of a moveable or flying circle was probably taken from De 

 Mendoxa Rio*, who propoaed a flying Ternier, M well u circle. (' Phil. 

 Trans. 1 1801, p. 862.) The complication of thin construction, and the 

 practical objection! to it, were, we presume, fatal to it* adopt!. 

 we are not aware that it has ever been successfully used. In observing 

 altitude* at sea, it is presumed that the horizon is always risible, which 

 in baiy weather, or in dark nights, in frequently not the case. There 

 hare been several proposals for overcoming the difficulty by adapting a 

 plumb-line or level to the sextant when required. 



Several modifications, additions, and supposed improvements have 

 been made in this class of instruments, but none of sufficient import- 

 ance to require notice here. The sextant and circle, such as we have 

 described them, are sufficient for the cases which practically occur ; 

 and without disputing the ingenuity and even utility of certain 

 modifications in peculiar and exceptional cases, we believe that there 

 is little to be gained by such alterations as have been hitherto 



For reducing observations made with reflecting instruments, we must 

 refer to the usual works on nautical astronomy. The tables of Thomp- 

 son, or Riddle, or Inman, or Raper, will afford sufficient information. 

 Borda's memoir, already mentioned, should be carefully studied by 

 Terr one who proposes to use a repeating circle ; and Troughtou a 

 article CIRCLE, in Brewster's ' Edinburgh Encyclopaedia,' will be found 

 of great value, especially as a guide to the circle known by his name. 

 We have ventured very frequently to modify their opinions and 

 directions, and the intelligent reader may decide for himself. 



SEXTON, an officer of the church, whose name is supposed to be a 

 contraction of tarriftan, the name of the person who in ancient times 

 had the care of the sacred vessels and other things used in religious 

 service*. The greater simplicity of Protestant ceremonies has rendered 

 this duty one of small importance, and it is now usually performed by 

 the parish clerk ; so that the sexton has sunk into an officer whose 

 chief business it is to see to the preparation of graves and to assist in 

 depositing the corpses. To him also belongs the care of sweeping the 

 church, and other similar menial offices. 



SKYCHELLE COCOA-NUT is a fruit of one of the palms 

 (Ludnirea Sechettarum), respecting which fabulous accounts were 

 formerly related. Many marvellous medical virtues were ascribed to 

 these nuts by the physicians of the age, both Asiatic and European, 

 and they were consequently sold at a high price. At present they 

 form only objects of curiosity, and are well-known under the name 

 of double cocoa-nuts. To the inhabitants of the Seychelle Islands the 

 tree is useful for its timber, which is hard externally, and employed 

 in building their huts and for posts ; the leaves and their footstalks are 

 used for the roof, walls, and partitions, and for many other domestic 

 purposes. The nuts weigh from 20 to 25 pounds each, and, when 

 fresh, contain a white, transparent, and jelly-like substance, which is 

 edible. The shells are employed in making vessels and dishes of 

 various kinds, and the entire nuts form articles of commerce, as 

 they are esteemed in other countries both for their fabled virtues and 

 as curiosities. 



SHADOWS, PROJECTION OF. [PERSPECTIVE.] 



SHAGREEN. [LEATHER MANDFACTURE.] 



SHAKE, in music, the alternate and rapid iteration of two sounds 

 which are not lens than a semitone, or more than a whole tone, apart. 

 This grace for as such it U considered is generally introduced at a 

 pause, and should commence rather slowly, and increase in rapidity as 

 it proceeds, always concluding with a turn. Ex. : 



IT. 



-ff 



> 



Tha tiffn of the shake u a t and an r conjoined, tbe two first letters 

 of tbe Italian tnllu, or the French Irille, both signifying the same as 

 the English term. 



SHAKERS, a religious sect which arose in Lancashire about the 

 year 1747. As the individuals of whom it at first consisted had pre- 

 viously been Quakers, they were sometimes called Shaking Quakers, 

 but more commonly Shakers, from the violent shaking of their bodies 

 in their religious exercises. In 1758 they were joined by Ann Lee, a 

 native of Manchester, whose reputation gradually increased, together 

 with the numbers of the sect, till, in 177o, she laid claim to divine 

 inspiration, and called herself Ann the Word. In 1774, in conse- 

 quence of the persecution to which they were subjected, she and some 

 of her followers set sail from Liverpool for New York, where they 

 arrived in safety. Ann Lee fixed her residence at Watervliet, on the 

 Hudson, not far from Albany, and died at Watervliet in 1784. Their 



communities are called families. The property of each ' family ' is 

 held in common; and as the members, who are both males and 

 females, are all single persons, celibacy being strictly enjoined, the 

 numbers can only be kept up by converts. They are generally dis- 

 tinguished for good conduct in the common business of life. They 

 agree with the Quakers in their abhorrence of war, then- objection to 

 take oaths, and in the belief of the direct influence of the Holy Spirit. 

 Instead of the original violent shaking, they now move round 

 h.ll of worship in a regular and uniform dance to the singing of a 

 hymn, clapping their hands in unison. There are some of the sect yet 

 in Great Britain. No statement of the numbers of Shakers is given 

 in the last census reports of either Great Britain or the United States ; 

 but several years ago there were said to be 6000 Shakers in thn 

 United States, comprised in fifteen ' families,' 



SHAMOY. [LEATHER MANUFACTURE.] 



SHARP, a character in music (t), used to raise, by the degree of a 

 semitone, any note in the natural scale. Before the character of the 

 natural was introduced, the sharp was also employed to contradict 

 the flat. When sharps are placed at the clef, they are always taken, 

 according to the number required, in the following order : 



111. tod. 3rd. 4th. Sib. 6th 7>h. 





F C O D A E B 



The DOUBLE SHARP, the character for which is a cross ( x ), is used 

 in chromatic music, and raises a note two semitones above its natural 

 state. Thus c double tharp 



is, practically though not strictly so in theory D natural. [FLAT.] 



SHAWL MANUFACTURE. The Hindoos have been the instructors 

 of our manufacturers in the production of shawls. There are two 

 modes of working the pattern in an Indian shawl ; the one by em- 

 broidering it upon the material, and the other by working it into the 

 web during the process of weaving. The first mode is a sort of needle- 

 work, and forms the less valuable kind of Indian shawl. In the pro- 

 duction of the more costly kind, a number of skewers made of ivory 

 or wood, about the size of a common packing-needle, are used ; they 

 are sharpened at both ends, and covered with different coloured wools. 

 With these simple aids, the pattern is worked stitch by stitch into the 

 web. The backs of these shawls show the effect of this minute and 

 laborious handicraft, and present a totally different appearance from 

 the European shawls, the patterns of which are woven entirely on the 

 loom. These Indian shawls are mostly made from the inner hair of a. 

 goat reared on the dry cold table-land of Tibet, obtained after the 

 long shaggy outer hair has been removed. No hair obtained from 

 goats reared elsewhere has ever equalled this. Each goat yields 

 2 Ibs. per year. The best hair sells for 1 rupee per pound in Tibet. 

 The wool is worked up into shawls in Cashmere, Lahore, and Delhi ; 

 especially the first named. Sometimes a sum equal to 3002. English 

 will be given for a real Cashmere shawl. 



Paisley excels all other towns in the United Kingdom in the manu- 

 facture of shawls, in quantity and (with one exception) in quality. The 

 common kinds are woven iu the power loom ; while the finer kinds 

 require the more detailed aid of the hand loom weaver. In the common 

 shawls cotton is mixed with the wool ; but for the finer articles the 

 best wool of Germany, of Australia, and even of Cashmere,is employed. 

 Some of the finest of these shawls are equal to anything produced in 

 any other country. The Paisley weavers are mainly dependent on 

 French patterns, which they modify in details ; but the School of 

 Design in that town is gradually training up a corps of designers whose 

 taste may influence in an important degree the shawl manufacture. 



The printing of shawls has not been much attended to until within the 

 last few years ; but now this art is carried to a very high pitch of, 

 lence. At first it was adopted only for the commoner kinds of Scotch 

 shawls. Red woollen shawls, printed in black designs for borders and 

 centres, were at one time much in vogue. Then came imitations of 

 them in cotton dyed Turkey red. Then chintz styles, upon white and 

 light-coloured grounds. Next came in a fashion of printing the warp 

 threads before the weaving. At length the manufacturers succeeded 

 in producing blocks which would imitate the elaborate Cashmere 

 pattern ; this gave a great impetus to the printed shawl trade. Many 

 establishments in Scotland now attend to this branch of manufacture, 

 and strive to obtain new and good designs. The principal shawl- 

 printing establishment in England is at Crayford in Knit, where as 

 many as a hundred blocks, and sixteen hundred printings, or applica- 

 tions of the several blocks, have, in some instances, been necessary for 

 the production of a single pattern. What an amount of labour is here 

 involved, may be seen by referring to CALICO PBINTIKCI. 



SHEATHING. Owing to the great expense of copper sheathing, 

 which has the effect of limiting its use in mercantile shipping, many 

 attempts have been made to substitute for it either other metals, or 

 alloys in which it is mixed with cheaper metals, or with such as might 

 increase its durability. Mr. Robert Mushet directs that 100 Ibs. of 

 copper should be alloyed either with _ /.. of zinc, 4 oz. of antimony, 

 8 oz. of arsenic, or 2 oz. of grain-tin ; or instead of using one of these 



