sou 



671 



SPA 



tae berries of the mountain-ash or roan- 

 tree (Sorbiis auciiparia). 



SOHBON'NE. A college, at Paris, for the 

 study of theology, named from the village 

 of Sorbonne, the birth-place of its founder. 



SOR'BUS. The service tree : a genus. 

 IcosandriaTrigynia. Name from sorbeo, 

 to dry up, because its fruit stops fluxes. 



SOR'DES (Latin). Foul matter. The 

 matter discharged from ulcers is thus 

 named when it is viscid, glutinous, and 

 of a brownish-red colour. 



SORE'DIA. In botany, heaps of powdery 

 bodies found in lichens lying upon any 

 part of the thallus. 



SO'REX. In zoology, the generic name 

 of the Shreu-s : class Mammalia : order 

 Carnaria: family Insectivora. The ani- 

 mal lives in holes, which it excavates in 

 the earth ; and feeds on worms and insects. 

 There are several species ; the Saraneus, 

 Lin., is our common Field-mouse ; and 

 'the rat-tailed Shrew is celebrated as 

 being one of the enimals which the 

 Egyptians were in the habit of embalm- 

 ing. 



SO'RI, *<>?, a heap. Small heaps of 

 reproductive granules growing upon the 

 fronds of polypodiaceous ferns. 



SORI'TES. 'S&ciirris A heap. In logic, 

 an agreement, where one proposition is 

 accumulated on another. 



SOSPI'RO (It.). A sigh. In music, the 

 same as rest (q. v.). 



SOSTENU'TO. An Italian word for *<- 

 tained, used in music to denote the con- 

 tinuing of sounds, and uniting them to 

 each other, in opposition to spiccato, de- 

 tached. 



SOTH'IC YEAR. The Egyptian year of 

 365 days ; so called from Sothis, the Dog- 

 star, at whose rising it was supposed to 

 commence. 



SOT'TO VO'CE. In Italian music, implies 

 soft or piano voice. 



SOUBAHDAB,'. The viceroy or governor 

 of a province in India ; also the title of a 

 native sepoy officer. 



SODOH. A small drain, placed at the 

 top of an embankment, for the purpose 

 of conveying the surface-water to the 

 side-drain. The term is also applied to 

 an adit in some parts of the country. 



SOUND. 1. In surgery, a probe : an in- 

 strument for feeling what is beyond the 



reach of the fingers. 2. In geography, 



a shallow sea, such as may be sounded or 



fathomed. 3. In ichthyology, the air or 



swimming-bladder of fish : the vesica na- 

 tantia of Willoughby. 4. In acoustics, 

 the sensation produced by the vibrations 

 of air or other medium upon the ear with 

 which it is in contact. A sound-board is 

 a thin board placed over the head of a 

 public speaker to strengthen the sound 

 of his voice. 



Soup, PORT'ABLE. A sort of cake, formed 

 of concentrated broth, freed from fat. 

 and, by long continued-boiling, from all 

 the putrescent parts, and thereby reduced 

 to the consistence of glue, which, in 

 reality, it is. 



SOUTH'ERNWOOD. A shrubby species of 

 wormwood, the Artemitia abrotanum, a 

 native of the South of Europe. 



SOV'EREION. 1. In politics, a person or 

 body of persons in whom the legislative 



authority rests in every state. 2. An 



English coin of the value of 20s., and 

 weighing 123'374 troy grains. 



SOW'ANS. The very nutritious article 

 of food distinguished in Scotland by the 

 name of sowans, and in England called 

 ,flummery, " is made" (says Dr. Thomson), 

 " from the husk of oats, by a process not 

 unlike that by which common starch is 

 made. The husk of the oat (called seeds) , 

 is separated from oatmeal by the sieve. 

 It still retains a considerable portion of 

 farinaceous matter. It is mixed with 

 water, and allowed to remain for some 

 days, till the water has become sour. The 

 whole is then thrown upon a sieve. The 

 milky water passes through, but the husk 

 remains behind. The water thus obtained 

 is loaded with starchy matter, which soon 

 subsides to the bottom. The sour liquor 

 is decanted off, and about an equal quan- 

 tity of fresh water is added. This mix- 

 ture, when boiled, forms a very nourish- 

 ing article of food ; and the portion of the 

 sour water which adheres to the starch 

 gives the whole a pleasant acidity." The 

 popular opinion in Scotland, regarding 

 the nutritious qualities of sowans, is very 

 different from that of Dr. T. Thomson. 



Sor. A kind of sauce prepared in China 

 and Japan, from a small bean, the fruit 

 of the I)olichos soja. It is eaten with fish, 

 cold meat, &c. The Japan soy is the best. 



SPA.. A general denomination for a 

 mineral spring : it is derived from a town 

 in the kingdom of Belgium, famous for 

 its mineral water. 



SPACE, Fr. espace, Lat. spatium. 1. Space 

 in the abstract is mere extension ; in re- 

 lation to bodies, it is the interval or dis- 

 tance between two or more objects. 



2. In geometry, the area of a figure. 



3. Among printers, a slip of wood or me- 

 tal, to make a space between words or 



lines. 4. In music, the void between 



the lines of a staff. 



SPA'DIX (Lat.). A term in botany for an 

 elongated receptacle, or flower-bearing 

 spike, which" emerges mostly from a 

 spathe or sheath, and on which the ses- 

 sile flowers are very crowded. The in- 

 florescence of palms and some other plants, 

 is a branched spadix. 



SPA'HIS, or SIP'AHIS. A part of the Tur- 

 kish cavalry were so called. 



SFVLAX. The generic namt given bf 



