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SCAN'DIX. The cicely or great chervil. 

 A genus of herbaceous plants. Pentan- 

 dria Digynia. Name trxa.vb^, from a 

 Hebrew word meaning small and sharp, 

 according to Pliny, who used the term to 

 denote the S. cerefolium, or chervil of 

 Europe. There are three British, namely 

 the sweet-scented and the rough-seeded, 

 cicely and Venus' comb. 



SCAN'NINO. In grammar, from scando, 

 to climb, is the critical examination of a 

 verse, by counting the feet and syllables, 

 to see that the quantities are right. 



SCANSO'RI.S. Climbers. The name of 

 the third order of birds in the arrange- 

 ment of Cuvier, comprising such as have 

 the external toe directed backwards like 

 the thumb, by which conformation they 

 are better enabled to support the weight 

 of their bodies, and of which some of the 

 genera take advantage in clinging to and 

 Climbing trees. The scansoriae usually 

 nestle in the hollows of old trees, and 

 live chiefly on insects. The wood-peckers, 

 jacamars, barbels, and parrots, are 

 examples. 



SCANT. In naval language, applied to 

 the wind when barely fair. 



SCANTLING, Fr. tchantitton, from Lai. 

 scandula. 1. A term used in reference to 

 timber, in the same sense as size, but 

 with respect to breadth and thickness 

 only: thus a piece of timber 12 inches 

 wide and 6 inches thick, is said to have a 



scantling of 12" X 6". 2. The name of 



a piece of timber when under 5 inches 

 square, or the rafter, purlin, or pole-plate 



of a roof. 3. In masonry, scantling is 



the dimensions of stone in length, breadth, 

 and thickness. 



SCAPE. Lat. scapus, a column. In bo- 

 tany, an herbaceous stalk, bearing the 

 fructification, without leaves. The hya- 

 cinth and narcissus are examples. 



BCAFE'MENT. In horology, a part of the 

 construction of a watch or clock, to regu- 

 late its motion by means of a balance or 

 pendulum. The general contrivance by 

 which the pressure of the wheels, which 

 move always in one direction, and the 

 reciprocating motion of the pendulum or 

 balance, are so accommodated to one ano- 

 ther, that when a tooth of a wheel has 

 given the balance or pendulum a motion 

 in one direction, it must quit it that it 

 may get an impulsion in the opposite di- 

 rection ; and it is ihis escaping of the tooth 

 of the wheel from the balance or pendu- 

 lum, or of the latter from the former, that 

 has given rise to the term escapement, now 

 commonly written scapeinent. 



SCAPH'OID, from ff%a$os, a boat, and 

 fjjof , like. Boat-like. Applied, in natural 

 history, to denote form. 



SCAP'ULA (Lat.) from Heb. tchipha. The 

 shoulder-blade. 



SCAP'ULAR, I Lat. scapularu, apper- 



S.-u-'i-nnr, Staining to the scapula. 

 1. In surgery, a bandage for the shoulder- 

 blade or scapula. 2. Lat. tcapularia, a 



scapulary. 3. In ornithology, a feather 



which springs from the shoulder of the 

 wing, and lies along the side of the back. 



SCAPCS (Lat.). A stalk. 1. The base, or 



hollow part of a feather. 2. The shaft 



of a column. 



SCARAB^'US. In entomology, a genus of 

 pentamerous coleoptera, belonging to the 

 family of Lamellicornes. Xame a-xotg^i;, 

 a beetle. The scarabacides are no'w va- 

 riously subdivided. Cuvier enumerates 

 the following tribes: Coprophagi, compre- 

 hending the genera Ateuchus, Sisyphus, 

 Coprobius, Oniticellus, Copris proper, 

 Aphodius, &c., &c. ; the Xylophili, com- 

 prising Geotrupes, Phileurus, Rutela, 

 Oryctes, &c., &c. ; the Arenicoli ; the 

 Phyllophagi ; the Anthobii, comprising 

 Glaphyrus, Amphicoma, Anthipna, &c. ; 

 the Melitophili, comprehending the genera 

 Trichius, Fab., Gofiat/,Lam.,and Cetonia, 

 Fab., which are again variously divided. 



SCARF'ING, from Sax. scearf, a piece. 

 The jointing and bolting of two pieces of 

 timber together transversely, so that the 

 two may appear as one, and serve the 

 same purpose. Scarfing is resorted to 

 when timber is required of longer lengths 

 than can be procured in single pieces. 



SCARIFICA'TION, from scar, and/<wio, to 

 make. In surgery, a superficial incision 

 made with a lancet, or other chirurgical 

 instrument (see SCARIFICATOR), for the 

 purpose of taking away blood, letting out 

 fluids, &c. 



SCARIPICA'TOR. In surgery, an instru- 

 ment in form of a box, with ten or more 

 lancets fitted in it exactly in the same 

 plane. The lancets are all connected with 

 a spring, and being, as it were, cocked, 

 and the box applied to the part to be sca- 

 rified, they are discharged by means of a 

 trigger, and are all driven equally deep 

 into the part at the same instant. 



SCARLATI'NA, from scarlatto, the Italian 

 word for deep red. The scarlet fever, a 

 disease characterised by contagious fever, 

 the face swelling, and a scarlet eruption 

 appearing on the skin in patches, which 

 after three or four days ends in desqua- 

 mation of the cuticle. 



SCARLET OAK. The Querctu coccifera, 

 or kermes oak, producing small granular 

 excrescences called kermes or scarlet grain, 



SCARP, Fr. escarpe, aslope. 1. In fortifi- 

 cation, the inner talus, or slope of the 

 ditch, next to the place at the foot of the 



rampart. 2. In heraldry, the scarf 



which military commanders wear for or- 

 nament, borne somewhat like a baton- 

 sinister, but broader, and continued to the 

 edges of the field. 



BcVsrg. Scar. A genus of thoracic 



