S E R 



S E R 



i)ig beautiful white filky threads of two or more feet in 

 length, and is fo abundant, that Dolomieu made ufe of 

 it inftead of flax to pack liis minerals in when in that 

 iHawd. 



Serpentine exifts in various parts of the hig;hlands of 

 Scotland and the Hebrides ; it is found botii pure and alter- 

 nating vviih raicii-flate and linieftone. 



No weli-characlerized rocks of ferpentine are known in 

 South Britain, except in Cornwall and the Ifle of Anglefea. 

 The ferpentine of Cornwall is not particularly diftinguilhed 

 for the beauty of its colours. Rocks of this mineral ex- 

 tend to the Lizard Point. 



The moft beautiful variety of ferpentine in Great Bri- 

 tain, or perhaps in Europe, is that on the weftern fide of 

 Anglefea. It occurs at a low elevation afl'ociated with 

 rocks of talcous flate. The beds are of confiderable fize, 

 and divided by feams of albcllus. Some of the ferpentine 

 is intermixed with white cryllalline limcftone, like the verde 

 antique from Italy ; but the particles of white are gene- 

 rally fmaller. Veins of quartz and fteatite, with brilliant 

 kminx of fchillcr fpar, alfo occur in feme of the beds. 

 It is iufficiently hard to refill the point of a copper tool, 

 and takes a high polidi. The colours are variou; (liades 

 of light and dark green and red, varying from a peach- 

 bloom to a blood-red fcarlet. The colours are intermixed 

 .and diftributed in an infinite variety of fpots and clouds, 

 the effects of which are heightened by polifhing. 



Mell'rs. Bullock and Co. in Oxford-llreet, haveeftablifhed 

 a manufacture of chimney-pieces, columns, and other or- 

 namental articles of this (tone, which has the advantage, 

 being raifed in vaft blocks, fo as to form columns and flabs 

 in one piece, from 12 to 20 feet in length, and of pro- 

 portionate diameter and breadth. A column of 12 feet in 

 one (haft, compofed of red ferpentine, which we meafured 

 at Medrs. Bullock's manufactory, weighed two tons, and 

 had no perceptible flaw or blemilh in the v/hole piece. 

 This is the moll durable as well as the richell of Britilh 

 ftones applied to ornamental Iculpture, and is not exceeded 

 in the variety or frefimefs of its colours by any of the 

 colHy marbles of Italy. 



The Mona marble, as this ferpentine is called by the pro- 

 prietors, is not liable to have its colours injured by common 

 fire, which is the cafe with many marbles, when made into 

 chimney pieces ; neither are the colour.s affefted by acids, 

 air, or moilture. 



With fuch a valuable material for ornamental fculpture 

 in our own ifland, it is greatly to be regretted, that fuch 

 large fums (liould be annually paid to foreign nations in 

 tlie purchafe of ftone for fimilar purpofes, which is lefs 

 durable and lefs beautiful. It would furely be more 

 patriotic to encourage the proper application of the mine- 

 ral treafures of our own country. 



The ftone called verde antique is a mixture of green 

 ferpentine with white granular limellonc. See Vekde 

 ylnlique. 



Seiu-entine, in tlie Manege. A horfc is faid to have a 

 ferpentine tongue, if it is always frilking and moving, and 

 fometimes paffing over the bit, inllead of keeping in the 

 void fpacc, called the liberty of the tongue. 



Tiie Romans, in breaking and drelTing their liorfes, ufed 

 to work them in ivavlng ox ferpcnlhie lines, as the practice 

 is, or ought to be, at prefcnt. The French call this riding 

 a horfe enfirpentanl. The Greeks and Romans know it by 

 the term of riding in Mttatulcrs, in allufion to the windings 

 and doublings of the celebrated river which bore that name. 



Sebpentine Column. Sec Colum.v. 



Serpentine Ftrfn, are fuch as begin and end with 

 the lame word. As, 



" Ambo florentes aetatibus. Arcades ambo." 



SERPHANT, in Geography, a village of Syria, fup- 

 pofedto be the ancient Sarepia I which fee) ; 14 miles S.S.W. 

 of Saide. 



SERPHO, the ancient Seriphus, an ifland in the Grecian 

 Archipelago, about 36 miles in circumference. Its moun- 

 tains are fo rugged and lleep that the poets fei^ed the 

 natives to have been transformed into ftone by Perfeus. 

 Here are mines of iron and loadltone. The inhabitants be- 

 long to the Greek church : they pay 800 crowns to the 

 grand feignior, for the capitation and land-tax. The pro- 

 duce is but fmall. The onions are in high eltimation. It 

 was made a place of exile by the ancient Romans. N. lat. 

 37° 10'. E. long. 24^ 34'. 



Sehpho Poulo, a fmall ifland, five miles N.E. of the 

 former. 



SERPI, Grottatkl. SeeGltOTTA. 



SERPICULA, in Botany, derived homferpo, to creep, 

 a name given by Linnaeus to theprefent genus, in allufion to 

 its creeping habit and diminutive flature. — Linn. Mant. 16. 

 Schreb. 628. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 329. Mart. Mill. Did. 

 V. 4. Ait. Hort. Kevv. v. 5. 257. Purfh v. i. 33. Jufi'. 318. 

 Lamarck Illuftr. t. 758. ( Laurembergia ; Berg. Cap. 350. 

 Elodea ; Michaux Boreal-Amer. v. i. 20.) — Clafs and order, 

 Monoecia Tetrandria. Nat. Ord. ImindaU, Linn. Onagrt, 

 JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Male, Cal. Perianth minute, four-toothed, 

 ereft, acute, permanent. Cor. Petals four, oblong, acute, 

 feflile. Stam. Filaments four, very fliort ; antiiers oblong, 

 about equal to the petal*. 



Female, on the lame plant. Cal. Perianth fuperior, mi- 

 nute, in four deep permanent fegments. Cor. Petals tliree, 

 or none. P'ljl. Germen inferior, ovate, furrowed ; ftyle 

 fhort ; Itigmas obtufe. Perk. Nut cylindrical, furrowed, 

 of one cell, deciduous. Seed one, or more, oblong. 



Eff. Ch. Male, Calyx four-toothed. Petals four. Fe- 

 male, Calyx in four deep fegments. Nut. 



Obf. The fecond fpccies differs widely from the original 

 generic characters, being dioecious, with three-cleft flowers, 

 and feveral feeds. The whole wants revifion. 



1. S. repens. Cape Serpicula. Linn. Mant. 124. Suppl. 

 416. AViUd. n. I. Ait. n. i. (Lanrembergia repens; 

 Berg. Cap. 350. t. 5. f. 10.) — Leaves fcattered, lanceolate, 

 entire — Native of the Cape of Good Hope. Sent to Kew, 

 by Mr. Mafhin, in 1789. It is a perennial, herbaceous, 

 greenhoufe plant, flowering in July and Augufl. Stem 

 branched, leafy, creeping by fibrous radicles. Leaves acute, 

 three-quarters of an inch long. Flowers axillary, two to 

 four together ; the males are defcribed by Bergius and Lin- 

 njeus as (talked. 



2. S. vertieillata. Eafl Indian Serpicula. Linn. Suppl. 

 416. Willd. n. 2. Roxb. Coromand. v. 2. 33. t. 164. — 

 Flowers three-cleft. Leaves whorled, finely ferrated. — Na- 

 tive of clear Handing (wcet water in the Eail Indies, flower- 

 ing during the cold feafon. This is dioecious. The male 



Jloiuers are (edile, and without a tube, but the female ones 

 have a long tube, and a (heath-like ealyx. Both male and 

 female are three-cleft. 'YW fced-vejfel feems an cblong cap- 

 fule, with four yJw/j, one over another. 



3. S. veromcifoliet. Bourbon Serpicula. Willd. n. 3. — 

 " Leaves oppoiite, ovate, toothed at the fummit." — Native 

 of rocks in the ifle of Bourbon. Bory dc St. Vineeut. — Stems 

 creeping, (lender, red. Leaves thickilh, a line, or line and 



half, 



