S C Y 



S C Y 



inflexed, inferted below the petals, and about equal to them 

 in length; anthers oblong, curved. Pi/l. Germcn imbedded 

 in the calyx ; ftyle thread-fhaped, as long as the ftamens ; 

 ftigma fimple. Perk. Berry formed of the calyx, thickened, 

 of eight cells. Seeds folitary, fomewhat comprefled. 



Efl'. Ch. Calyx entire, becoming pulpy. Petals five. 

 Berry of eight cells. 



1 . S. fcuteUata. Loureir. — " Stalks many-flowered. 

 Berries compredcd." — Native of Cochinchina. A fmall 

 tree, about eight feet high, with fpreadiiig branches. Leaves 

 oppofite, lanceolate, entire, fmooth, thickelt at the margin. 

 Flowers lateral, many on a ftalk, all over viobt-coloured. 



2. S. umhellaia. Loureir. — " Flowers in umbels. Berries 

 roundifh." — Native of bufhy places iu Cochinchina. A 



Jhruh about four feet high, much branched. Leaves oppofite, 

 feflile, ovate, lanceolate, entire, thick. Floivers fmall, 

 terminal, variegated with white and blue, in umbels, or large 

 eymes. 



The berries of this genus are faid to be of an aftringent, 

 ttrengthenmg quality, vying with thofeof the myrtle. 



Scuiula refts entirely upon Loureiro's authority. Some 

 parts of his defcription we have omitted, as unintelligible. 

 The genus may polTibly be referriblc to Memecylon. 



SCUTUM SoBiESKl, Sobiejk't's Shield, in AJlronoiny, a 

 conftellation formed by Hevelius ; the ftars of which in his 

 catalogue are fcven : four of thefe are enumerated in the 

 Aquila in the Britannic catalogu?. See Constellation. 



Scutum, in Natural Hi/lory, the name of a genus of the 

 tchini marini ; the charafters of which are, that it is a fhell 

 of an irregular figure, which on the lower part reprefents, 

 in fome meafure, a (hield ; on the fuperficies it has the (hape 

 of a five-leaved flower ; its mouth is in the middle of the 

 bafe, and the aperture for the anus at the edge. 



Of this genus of the echini there are two kinds, the angu- 

 lar and the oval. 



Of the firtt of thefe kinds, the angular fcuta, there are 

 only two known fpecies : the firit a lower flattiih kind, and 

 the fecond a more elevated one. 



Of the fecond, or the oval fcuta, there are three known 

 fpecies. Klein's Echinod. p. 28. 



Scutum, in Pharmacy, a name given to a folid ftomachic 

 topic, whether made in form of a bag, with medicinal in- 

 gredients fewed in it, or of a plarter. It is always fafliioncd 

 into the fliape of a (hield. The plalters, for this purpofc, were 

 ufed to be made of the warm ftomachic gums, and the bags 

 were filled with the warm aromatic powders ; and they were 

 worn to warm and itrengthcn the Itomach, corredl a cold in- 

 temperature, and promote digeilion, and prevent vomiting. 



The patella, or knee-pan, is alfo fometimcs called by anato- 

 mi&s feutum. 



SCYBALA, (TKiSy-Xx, in Medicine, an appellation given 

 to the cxcremeut of the bowels, when it is hard, dry, and 

 formed into fmall- mafles, or little balls, refembling the ex- 

 crement of fhecp. This form is always given to the llools 

 by their remora or delay in the intcftines, and is fomettmes 

 merely the refult of ordinary conftipation, and is then pro- 

 bably produced in the cellular furface of the colon, or great 

 inteltinc ; but in fome cafes, fcyhala are lodged higher in the 

 canal, exciting great irritation m the bowels, and even violent 

 purging of thin flimy itools, together with much fruitlefs 

 ftraining, or tenefmus ; which conltitute, in faft, one form 

 of the dyfentery, or flux. In thcic cafes, it is obvious that, 

 if aftringcnts are given, with a view of checking the purg- 

 ing, the difeafe mull be aggravated ; for the enemy is thus 

 clofer locked up in the bowels ; and that efl"eftual cathartics 

 muft be adminitlered by the mouth, to expel the accumulated 

 excrement. Accordingly the appearance of fcybala in the 

 Vox.. XXXII. 



(tools, in thefe cafes, is the moft favourable fign, as it indi- 

 cates the removal of the caufe of the difeafe. Sec Dysen- 

 tery, and Tkne.'5Mus. 



SCYBELITES, a term ufed by the ancients to exprcf? 

 a fort of muft, or juice of the grapes, which diftilled from 

 them fpontaneoufly, without prelHng. 



SCYDRUS, in Ancient Geography, a river of Italy, in 

 that part of Magna Graecia called Brutium. 



SCYLACE, SiKi, a fmall town of Afia Minor, in Bi- 

 thynia, at the entrance and to the weft of a fmall gulf 

 called " Cianus Sinus." It was founded, according to He- 

 rodotus, by a colony of Pelafgi. 



SCYLACION, a word by which the ancients cxprefled 

 the flelh of puppies, which they recommended as of great 

 fervice in many chronic cafes. 



SCYLAX, in Biography, an ancient mathematician and 

 geographer, was a native of Car^'anda, in Caria. He it 

 noticed by Herodotus in the following paflage. " A great 

 part of Afia was difcovered by Darius, fon of Hyllafpei, 

 who wiftiing to afcertain the place where the river Indus falls 

 into the fea, difpatched various perfons in whom he could 

 confide, and among them Scylax of Caryanda. Proceeding 

 from the city of Cafpatyrus, and the Paftyian territory, 

 they failed down the river in an eafterly direftion to the fea ; 

 and then continuing their voyage on the fea towards the 

 welt, in the thirtieth month tliey arrived at the place 

 from which the Egyptian king difpatched the Phoenicians 

 to circumnavigate Lybia. After their voyage, Darius fub- 

 dued the Indians, and opened the navigation of the fea." 

 Suidas gives a very brief account of Scylax, in which he 

 has evidently confounded different perfons of the fame name. 

 « Scylax of Caryand;i, a mathematician and mufician, wrote 

 a periplus of the coa(ls beyond the pillars of Hercules, a 

 book refpcfting the Heraclides, a defcription of the cir- 

 cuit of the earth, and an anfwer to Polybius's hiftory." 

 The Periplus which ftill remains, bearing the name of Scy- 

 lax, is a brief furvey of the countries along the fliorcs of 

 the Mediterranean and Euxine feas, together with part of 

 theweftern coaft of Africa furveyed by Hanno. It com- 

 mences with the (traits of Gibraltar, and proceeding along 

 the coatts of Spain and Gaul, round the Mediterranean, re- 

 turns to the fame point, and then briefly defcribes thccoalU 

 of Africa, along the Atlantic, as far as the ifland of Cerne. 

 This, after all, is in general little more than an cnnmeration 

 of nations, towns, and diitaiires, though intermixed with 

 fome occafional notices of natural produAions, and in a few 

 inftances detailing the common f.ibles of the age. It con- 

 cludes with an account of the palfages acrofs the ha from 

 Greece into Afia, and an enumeration of twenty important 

 iflands, in the order of their magnitudes. A queltion ha« 

 been raifed whether the Periplus remaining be the work of 

 the ancient Scylax, or of tome later writer, and critics of 

 high rank in literature have taken oppofite fides. The fiib- 

 jctt is difcufled in the fourth volume of the AtheiiTum, 1808, 

 to which we refer our readers for the arguments on both 

 fides of the qiicilion. It is ahnoll certain that the ancients 

 poflelled the extant Periplus, and tiiat they altribute.l it to 

 the Scylax mentioned by Herodotus. It hai lome down 

 to us in a corrupted date : it was lirll publUhed from a pa- 

 latine MS. by Hoefchelius and others in the year 1600. It 

 was afterwards edited by Ifaac Vollius in 1631; ( by Gro- 

 novius in 1697 ; by Hudfon in 1698. Athcnxum, vol. iv. 



Scylax, in /Indent Geography, a river of Afi.i, m Fob- 

 tus, whicli ran into the Iris, after this Litter river had pur- 

 fued an eafterly courfc, and watered the town of Aiiufia, 

 according to Strabo. SCYLD- 



