SCAPULA SCARLET FEVER. 



113 



the names above Mentioned, Meionite contains 

 the purest and most transparent varieties of the 

 species of a white colour; Dipyre occurs in minute 

 crystals, whose form is scarcely discernible, and 

 imbedded in a steatitic rock ; Bergmanite is massive, 

 fine-grained, of a grayish, greenish, or reddish white 

 colour; Wernerite is in crystals doubly terminated, 

 of a greenish-gray colour; from which Nuttallite 

 scarcely differs, except that the crystals have a 

 tinge of blue, and are slightly chatoyant. The fol- 

 lowing results, relative to the chemical composition 

 of scapolite, were obtained, 1. by Stromeyer, from 

 a variety of Meionite from Monte Somma; and, 2. 

 by Nordenskiod, from the scapolite of Finland: 



Silex, 



Alumine, 



Lime, 



I'otii<li, and a little soda, 



Protox. iron, 



Wifer, 



(1.) 40-531 

 32-726 

 24-245 

 1-812 

 0-182 

 O'OJO 



(2.) 43-83 

 35-43 

 18-96 

 0-00 

 0-00 

 1-03 



In a strong heat, before the blow-pipe, scapolite 

 melts into a vesicular glass, and intumesces con- 

 siderably; then it assumes the appearance of ice, 

 and does not melt any longer. It is dissolved by 

 borax, with effervescence. Meionite is met with 

 among the minerals ejected by mount Vesuvius. 

 The other varieties of the species are met with in 

 primitive mountains, in beds of iron ore or lime- 

 stone, and are generally accompanied by augite and 

 hornblende. 



SCAPULA, JOHN, the author of a valuable 

 lexicon of the Greek language, published originally 

 in quarto, in 1583, which has since gone through a 

 variety of editions, particularly an excellent one 

 from the Elzevir press, and those by A. & J. Dun- 

 can (Glasgow, 1816, 2 vols. 4to.) and Major (Lon- 

 don, 1820, 4to.). Henry Stephens (q. v.), while 

 completing his Thesaurus, having employed Scapula 

 to correct the press, the latter secretly abridged 

 the work. The dictionary, thus treacherously 

 stolen, ruined the sale of that of his employer. 



SCAPULARY (scapularium) ; part of a monk's 

 dress, consisting of two pieces of cloth, of which 

 one covers the breast, the other the back. With 

 lay-brothers, the scapulary only reaches to the 

 knee ; with the other religious, to the feet. 



SCARABEUS; the beetle (q. v.), which was 

 held in great veneration by the Egyptians. The most 

 celebrated, and that which is alone to be found re- 

 presented on ancient monuments, is the scarabeus 

 facer of naturalists. This is seen on the Isiac 

 table, and is frequent among hieroglyphics : it passed 

 as the symbol of immortality, and as the emblem 

 of the sun. Another species was consecrated to 

 Isis, and indicated the moon; its two horns resem- 

 bling the crescent of that planet. According to 

 Caylus,-the Egyptians gave the shape of the scara- 

 beus to their amulets or rings. See Hieroglyphics. 



SCARAMOUCH (Ital. scaramuccia) ; one of 

 the grotesque characters of the Italian stage, which, 

 about 1680, took the place of the old Spanish cap- 

 tain, was dressed entirely in black, a colour com- 

 monly worn in Naples by courtiers and magis- 

 trates. He represented the swaggerer, who is 

 finally flogged by harlequin. The original scara- 

 mouch was a person named Tiberius Fiorelli, a na- 

 tive of Naples, who distinguished himself on the 

 stage by his jests and his skill in mimicry. In 

 France, the scaramouch was used for a greater 

 Variety of parts. 



SCARBOROUGH; a market and seaport town 

 of England, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, forty 

 miles north-ease of York, and 217 north of Lon- 



don. It is a place of considerable trade, and much 

 frequented for its mineral waters, warm baths and 

 sea-bathing. It stands in the recess of a beautiful 

 bay, on the borders of the German ocean, and rising 

 from the shore in the form of an amphitheatre. 

 The town is well built ; the principal streets spa- 

 cious and well paved. The buildings on the cliff 

 are striking, having in front a terrace nearly 100 

 feet above the level of the sands. An iron bridge of 

 four arches, seventy-one feet span each, supported 

 by stone pillars nearly seventy feet high, connects 

 the terrace with a beautiful promenade, 350 yards 

 in length, leading to the Spa, and in full view of 

 the sea, harbour, town and castle. The plantations 

 and public walks are agreeable ; and an elegant as- 

 sembly-room and a handsome theatre are open in 

 summer evenings. The rides are also varied and 

 romantic. Scarborough has two Episcopal churches, 

 an Independent, Baptist, and Roman Catholic cha- 

 pel, a meeting-house for Quakers, and two for 

 Methodists. The rurns of the ancient castle form 

 a very picturesque object, and great ornament to 

 the town. The promontory on which they stand 

 rises nearly 300 feet above the level of the sea. 

 The area of the castle contains about nineteen 

 acres. It was built about the year 1136, and be- 

 came the scene of many important transactions in 

 English history. The harbour of Scarborough is 

 commodious, and of easy access, and has been im- 

 proved by extensive works. The present pros- 

 perity of Scarborough is chiefly owing to its mineral 

 waters, which have rendered the town a place of 

 fashionable resort for health and pleasure. There 

 are two wells, saline aperient, and chalybeate. Po- 

 pulation in 1841, 10,060. 



SCARFING; a particular method of uniting 

 two pieces of timber together by the extremities, 

 the end of one being tapered so as to be set into 

 the other, as in the keel-pieces. But when the 

 ends of the two pieces are cut square arid put to- 

 gether, they are said to butt to one another; and 

 when another piece is laid on and fastened to both, 

 as is the case in all the frame timbers, this is called 

 scarfing the timbers; and half the piece which 

 fastens the two timbers together is reckoned the 

 length of the scarf. 



SCARIFICATION, in surgery; the operation 

 of making little cuts or punctures in the skin by 

 means of lancets or other instruments, particularly 

 the cupping instrument. 



SCARLATTI, ALESSANDRO, chapel-master at 

 the Neapolitan court, born at Naples, 1658, was 

 educated at Rome under Carissimi, and, after resid- 

 ing some time in Germany and at Rome, passed the 

 last years of his life at Naples, where he died, in 

 1728. The Italians called him the pride of art 

 and the first of composers. Hasse says, that he 

 was the greatest master of harmony among the Ita- 

 lians, and Jomelli considered his church music as 

 the best of its kind. He composed a great number 

 of motets, and about 200 masses. His opera La 

 Principessa fidele is esteemed his masterpiece. 



SCARLET FEVER (scarlatina), a contagious 

 fever, characterized by a scarlet coloured eruption 

 on the skin, in patches, which, after three or four 

 days, fall off in scales. Some have asserted that 

 scarlatina never attacks the same person a second 

 time; more extensive observation has confuted 

 this opinion. It seizes persons of all ages; but 

 children and young persons are most subject to it ; 

 and it appears at all seasons of the year, but is 

 more frequently met with towards the end of au- 

 if 



