SPEAKER SPELMAN. 



351 



position by the same individual which deposits the 

 eggs. Fishes exhibit a great variety in regard to 

 the number of their eggs. In some, the number is 

 small ; while in the spawn of a codfish 3,686,760 

 eggs have been found; in that of the flounder, 

 1,357,400, and in that of the mackerel, 546,681. 

 The season of spawning varies according to the 

 species and even the habits of the individual. In 

 general, before spawning, fish forsake the deep wa- 

 ter, and approach the shore, that, the roe, being 

 placed in shallow water, may be vivified by the in- 

 fluence of the solar ray. At that season, some fish 

 forsake the salt water, and ascend the rivers, and, 

 after spawning, return again to the ocean. The 

 eggs of various species of fish are used as articles of 

 food, sometimes in a recent state, and sometimes 

 salted, as in the well-known article of trade, caviar. 



SPEAKER. The lord-chancellor is, ex-offitio, 

 the speaker of the British house of lords, and may, 

 if a lord of parliament, as in practice is always the 

 case, give his opinion and argue any question before 

 the house. The speaker of the house of commons 

 is a member of the house, elected by a majority of 

 the votes, to act as chairman or president in putting 

 questions, reading, briefs or bills, keeping order, re- 

 primanding the refractory, adjourning the house, 

 &c. The first thing done by the commons, upon 

 the meeting of a parliament, is to choose a speaker, 

 who is to be approved of by the king, and who, 

 upon his admission, begs his majesty that the com- 

 mons, during their sitting, may have free access to 

 his majesty, freedom of speech in their own house, 

 and security from arrests. The speaker is not al- 

 lowed to persuade or dissuade in passing a bill, ex- 

 cept in committee, but only to make a short and 

 plain narrative ; nor to vote, unless the house be 

 equally divided, when he has a casting vote. He 

 receives a salary of 6000 a year. (See Parlia- 

 ment.') The presiding officer of the French cham- 

 ber of deputies is styled president, and is chosen by 

 the chamber itself. The chancellor of France pre- 

 sides in the house of peers. In the senate of the 

 United States of America, the presiding officer is 

 styled president ; and the constitution (i. 3.) pro- 

 vides that the vice-president shall be president of 

 the senate, and shall have no vote, unless the votes 

 of the senators are equally divided. In his absence, 

 or in case he exercises the office of president of the 

 United States, the senate chooses a president pro 

 tempore. The speaker of the house of representa- 

 tives is chosen (Const, i. 2.) by the house itself. 

 PECIFIC GRAVITY. See Gravity. 



SPECIFICS, in medicine ; such articles in the 

 materia medico, as have the special power of curing 

 particular diseases in all persons and under all cir- 

 cumstances. Multitudes of such medicines are con- 

 tinually announced by quacks : but men of science 

 and sense do not now believe in the existence of 

 any specific, in the full sense of the word. Peru- 

 vian bark was formerly supposed to be a certain 

 cure for intermittents and agues; but it is now 

 known to fail in many cases, and not to be more 

 efficacious than some other tonic medicines. The 

 two medicines which approach nearest the character 

 of specifics, are sulphur as an antidote to the itch, 

 and mercury to venereal poison. Yet there are 

 cases of disease not distinguishable from lues vene- 

 rea, which are cured without the aid of mercury ; 

 and the power of sulphur in curing the itch is con- 

 siderably augmented by the addition of other sub- 

 stances. 



SPECTACLES are of two sorts, according as 



they are intended to assist short-sighted or far- 

 sighted persons. In the former case they must be 

 concave, in the latter convex ; concave to diminish 

 the excessive refraction of the rays of light by the 

 humours of the eye, convex to increase the refrac- 

 tion. In both cases care should be taken to adapt 

 the degree of concavity or convexity to the condi- 

 tion of the eye ; for since the eye gradually accus- 

 toms itself to glasses continually used, the defect 

 in the vision will be increased by the use of such 

 as are too powerful, while it may be diminished, or, 

 at least, prevented from increasing, by those of an 

 opposite character. In addition to this, it ought to 

 be considered, that, with most persons, the field of 

 vision in one eye is greater than that in the other. 

 But if a person, in the selection of spectacles, suf- 

 fers himself to be guided merely by the first impres- 

 sion, he will 1 commonly choose glasses that are too 

 powerful, and seldom be able to adapt them to both 

 eyes. Opticians have a contrivance for determin- 

 ing the degree of short or far sightedness, and the 

 glasses are numbered according to their degree of 

 convexity or concavity, so that suitable ones may 

 be more readily selected. Those persons who are 

 far-sighted should refrain, as long as they conveni- 

 ently can, from increasing the power of the glasses. 

 To afford the means of seeing distinctly, and fo be 

 used without injury, spectacles should be regularly 

 formed ; that is to say, the concavity or convexity 

 should be uniform. Moreover, the glasses should 

 be perfectly transparent, and entirely destitute of 

 colour. Green spectacles are to be recommended 

 only to such persons as have very sensitive eyes, or 

 to such as are exposed for a long time to a glittering 

 white surface (for instance, snow in bright sun- 

 shine). Spectacles are also used to cure squinting. 

 These have no glasses, but consist merely of a thin 

 plate of some substance. In the middle, opposite 

 the axis of the eye, there is a small opening, to 

 which the pupil must turn, in order to see any 

 thing. In this way it gradually becomes accustomed 

 to the proper direction. The ancient Greeks and 

 Romans were entirely unacquainted with the use of 

 spectacles. In the twelfth century, we find a dis- 

 covery mentioned by an Arabic writer, Alhazen, 

 which might have led to the invention of spectacles. 

 At the close of the thirteenth century, Roger Bacon 

 speaks of them. The common spectacles must have 

 been invented early (1280 1311). In Germany, 

 a kind of spectacles were known in 1270. For 

 further information, see the article Optics. 



SPECTRUM, PRISMATIC. See Colours, 

 Doctrine of; also Optics. 



SPEECH, ORGANS OF. See Voice. 



SPELMAN, Sm HENRY, a celebrated English 

 antiquary and philologist, born in 1562, was sent, 

 at the age of fifteen, to Trinity college, Cambridge, 

 and entered as a law student at Lincoln's Inn ; but 

 he seems to have paid little attention to legal science 

 at this period, and within three years he settled 

 on his estate in the country. At length embar- 

 rassments, partly arising from a numerous family, 

 aroused him to the exertion of his talents. He 

 went to Ireland in 1607, as member of a board of 

 commissioners for settling the titles to lands and 

 manors in that kingdom ; and he was afterwards 

 employed to investigate the subject of the exaction 

 of fees by the civil and ecclesiastical courts. On 

 this occasion, he drew up his treatise De Sepuhura, 

 in which he demonstrates the flagrant abuses which 

 had occurred to his notice. His services were re- 

 warded with the honour of knighthood. In 1612, 



