S E R 



S E R 



the holes i, 2, and 3 ; and the fame fingers of the right 

 hand, flop the holes 4, 5, and 6. 



The abbe de Bceuf, in his Hiftory of Auxerre, torn, i. 

 p. 643, iays that, about the year 1590, Edmond Guillaumc, 

 a canon of Auxerre, found the means of boring and turning 

 a cornet in tlie form of a ferpent, which was ufed in con- 

 certs at his houle, and the inftrument having been perfefted 

 became common in the great cnurches. For the fcale and 

 compafs of the ferpent, fee Laborde. 



In France, the ferpent ufed to be confined to the military 

 bands ; at prefent, iays M. Laborde, it is confined to the 

 church and proceflions. In cathedrals there is one on each 

 fide the choir. 



Merfennus, who had ftudied this inftrument, fays, that 

 if unfolded and ftraight, it would be more than fix feet 

 long. Laborde fays eight feet. The compafs of the in- 

 llrumcnt is now probably extended, which in the fcale given 

 in the folio Er.cyclopedie is from double B flat in the bafs, 

 to F in the firft fpace of the treble. 



Merfennus, who has particularly defcribed this inftru- 

 ment, mentions fome peculiar properties of it, e. g. that 

 the found of it is Itrong enough to drown twenty robuft 

 voices, being animated merely by the breath of a boy, and 

 yet the found of it may be attempered to the foftnefs of 

 tTie fweetell voice. Another peculiarity of this inftrument 

 is, that great as the diltance between the third and fourth 

 holes appears, yet, whether the third hole be open or fhut, 

 the difference is but a tone. 



SliUPENT, in Mythology, was a very common fymbol of 

 the fun, and ho is repreiented biting his tail, and with his 

 body formed into a circle, in order to indicate the ordinary 

 courfe of this luminary ; and under this form it was an 

 emblem of time and eternity. 



The ferpent was alfo the fymbol of medicine, and of 

 the gods which prefided over it, as of Apollo and .<Efcu- 

 lapius : and this animal was tlie objeft of very ancient 

 and general worlbip, under vanoun appellations and cha- 

 racters. In moft of the ancient rites we find fome al- 

 lufion to the ferpent, under the feveral titles of Ob, Ops, 

 Python, &c. 



The idolatry is alluded to by Mofes, Lev. xx. 27. The 

 woman of Endor, who had a familiar fpirit, is called Out, 

 or Ob, and it is interpreted Pylhonifia: the place where 

 flie refided, fays the learned Mr. Bryant, feems to have 

 been named from the worihip then inftituted ; for Endor is 

 compounded of En-ador ; and fignifies fans pithonis, the 

 fountain of light, the oracle of the god Ador ; which oracle 

 was probably founded by the Canaanitcs, and had never 

 been totally fupprelTed. His pillar was alio called Abbadir, 

 or yiiadir, compounded of nb and adii; and meaning the 

 ferpent deity ytddir, the fame, as yidorus. 



In the orgies of Bacchus, the perfons who partook of 

 the ceremony, ufed to carry ferpent s in their hands, and 

 with horrid fcroams call upon Eva ! Eva ! 



Eva being, according to the writer juft mentioned, the 

 fame as epha, or opha, which the Greeks rendered ophis, 

 and by it denoted a ferpent. 



Thefe ceremonies, and this fymbolic worfhip, began 

 among the Magi, who were the fons of Chus ; and by 

 them they were propagated in various parts. Wherever 

 the Ammonians founded any places of worfhip, and intro- 

 duced their rites, there was generally fome llory of a fer- 

 pent. There was a legend about a ferpent at Colchis, at 

 Thehrs, and at Delphi ; and likewife in other places. The 

 Ore: ks called Apollo himfelf Python, which is the fame 

 as Oupis, Opts, or Oub. 



In Egypt there was a ferpent named Thermulhls, whicli 



was looked upon as very facred ; and the natives are faid 

 to have made ufe of it as a royal tiara, with which they 

 ornamented the ilatues of IGs. The kings of Egypt wore 

 high bonnets, terminating in a round ball, and (urrounded 

 with figures of afps ; and the priells likewife had the repre- 

 fentation of ferpents upon their bonnets. 



Abadon, or Abaddon, mentioned in the Revelations, 

 XX. 2. is fuppofed by Mr. Bryant to have been the name 

 of the Ophite god, with whofe worfhip the world had 

 been fo long infefted. This worfliip began among the 

 people of Chaldea, who built the city of Ophis upon the 

 Tigris, and were greatly addifted to divination, and to the 

 worfhip of the ferpent. From Chaldea the worftiip paffed 

 into Egypt, where the Serpent deity was called Canoph, 

 Can-eph, and C'neph ; it alfo had the name of Ob or Oub, 

 and was the fame as the Bafilifcus, or royal Serpent, the 

 fame as the Therrmithis, and made ufe of by way of orna- 

 ment to the flatues of their gods. The chief deity of 

 Egypt is faid to have been Vulcan, who was llyled Opas ; 

 he was the fame as OJiris, the Sun, and hence was often 

 called Ob-el, or Pythofol ; and there were pillars facred to 

 him, with curious hieroglyphical infcriptions, bearing the 

 fame name, whence among the Greeks, who copied from 

 the Egyptians, every thing gradually tapering to a point 

 was flyled obelos, or obelifcus. 



As the worfhip of the ferpent began among the fons of 

 Chus, Mr. Bryant coiijeftures, that from thence they were 

 denominated Ethiopians and ylithiopians, from Ath-ope, or 

 Ath-Dpes, the god whom they worfhipped, and not from 

 their complexion : the Ethiopes brought thefe rites into 

 Greece, and called the ifland where they firft eftablifhed 

 them, Ellopia, Solis Serpentis infula, the fame with Eubaa, 

 or Oiibaia, i. e. the Sirpent-ifland. 



The fame learned writer difcovers traces of the fer- 

 pent worfhip among the Hyperboreans, at Rhodes, named 

 Ophiufa, in Phrygia, and upon the Hellefpont, in the 

 ifland Cyprus, in Crete, among the Athenians, in the 

 name of Cecrops, among the natives of Thebes in Bccotia, 

 among the Lacedxmonians, in Italy, in Syria, &c. and in 

 the names of many places, as well as the people where 

 the Ophites fettled. One of the moft early herefies intro- 

 duced into the Chriftian church was that of the Ophitse. 

 Bryant's Analyfis of Ancient Myth. vol. i. p. 47, &c. 

 p. 473, &c. 



Seupent Iflands, in Geography, fmall iflands near the N. 

 coaft of lake Huron. N. lat. 46° 2'. W. long. 82° 45'. 



Serpent.s, Ifland of. See Szalgen. 



SERPENTINA, in Botany. See Serpentaria. 



SERPENTINE, in Chemiflry, a worm, or pipe of 

 copper or pewter, twifted into a fpiral, and afcending from 

 the bottom of the alembic to the capital, and ferving in 

 the diftillation of rectified fpirit of wine. 



Serpentine, in Mineralogy, a ftone, which derives its 

 name from the variety of its colours, fuppofed to rcfemble 

 thofe of the ferpent. The ancients called this ftone ophites, 

 from the Greek o^i.;, ferpent, as being fpeckled like a fer- 

 peiit's fkin. The moft prevailing colour is green of dif- 

 ferent Ihades, fpotted with red, or with dark green, and 

 alfo clouded and veiny. Some ferpentines are red, varying 

 from a peach-bloom to a blood-red or fcarlet. In rich 

 variety of colours, this ftone far exceeds any other of the 

 great rock-formations. It will receive a high polilli, and it 

 nearly indcllrutlible by fire or acids, and is therefore eminently 

 fuited for ornamental Iculpture or architcfture. The hard- 

 nels of ferpentinc is variable : fome kinds fcarcely yield to 

 the knife, others are eafily worked. It is infuliblc by the 

 blowpipe ; the frafturc is fplintcry, palfing into fmall con- 

 y q 7 choidal J 



