SHE 



SHE 



tiquis illis, et cum maxime florentibus verfari." This edi- 

 fice was opened in July 1679, and almoft immediately after 

 the archbilhop refigned the chancellorlhip, and retired from 

 all public bulinefs : during the latter part of his life he 

 chiefly rclidcd at Croydon. He died at Lambeth, OB the 

 9th of November, 1677, in the 80th year of his age. 



This prelate appears to have been more attached to the 

 duties of morality, than to the profefRon of any particular 

 doftrinei of rehgion : to young men of rank his advice 

 was always this : " Let it be your principal aim to become 

 honell men, and afterwards be as devout and religious as 

 you will. No piety will be of advantage to yourfelves or 

 others, unlefs you are honell and mora) men." Burnet fays 

 that " he feemed not to have a deep fenfe of rehgion, if any 

 at all, and fpoke of it commonly as an engine of govern- 

 ment, and a matter of pohcy ;" but he allows that he was 

 a very generous and charitable man. From his own books 

 it appears, that from the time of his becoming biihop of 

 London till his death, he expended for public and charitable 

 ufes 66,000/. He publifhed a fermon at the thankfgivmg 

 for the king's relloratiou. He was intimate with Chilling- 

 worth, and found means to overcome his fcruples refpefting 

 fubfcriptioii to the articles of the church of England. 



Sheldon, formerly Hungerford, in Geography, a poft- 

 town of America, in the (late of Vermont, and county of 

 Franklin, containing 883 inhabitants; 14 miles E. of lake 

 Champlain. 



SHELE, a river of England, in the county of North- 

 umberland, which runs into the Tyne, near its head. 



SHELF, a term ufed by tiie miners in many parts of 

 England, to exprefs a dillinftion of the inner tlruClure of 

 the earth, fo little known to philofophers, that they have 

 no word to exprefs it by. Thefe workmen fometimes alio 

 exprefs it by the term fajl ground, or faji country. What 

 they mean by this is, that part of the earth, which they 

 find lying even, and in an orderly manner, and evidently 

 having attained its primitive form and fituation, unmoved by 

 the waters of the general deluge, while the circumjacent, 

 and upper ftrata, have plainly been removed, and tofled 

 about. 



It is evident to reafon, that there mud have been a verj' 

 violent concufiion of the fuperficial part of the earth, in the 

 time of its being covered by the waters of the deluge ; and 

 experience as much evinces this as reafon. Before this con- 

 cuflion it appears probable, that the uppermofl furface of 

 mineral veins, or loads, did in mofl places lie even with the 

 then furface of the earth. The remains of this furface, 

 found at different depths in digging, the miners exprefs by 

 the word Jhelf. 



In this concuffion of the waters covering the whole earth, 

 its natural furface, together with the uppermofl; furface of 

 thofe mineral veins, were then in many places loofened, and 

 torn off; and the earth, and with it the mineral nodules, 

 called /hoad-flones, were carried down with the defcending 

 waters from hills into the adjacent vallies, and fometimes 

 into the ftreams of rivers, by which they were wafhed to 

 yet greater didances from their original place. On this de- 

 pends the method of training mines. Phil. Tranf. N° 69. 

 See Training. 



SHELFY, or Sl.\ty Soil, in Agriculture, that fort 

 which is chiefly formed of a kind of thin laminated, brittle, 

 flaty material, or which has it much mixed and incorporated 

 with its other earthy parts. It is a prevailing fort of land 

 in fome diflrifts ; this fort of rotten flaty matter being 

 largely intermixed with the light loamy mould that confti- 

 tutes the earthy parts of it. 



Where the fubfoil or fubllratum is a fchiftus, or foft 



flate, as is the cafe in fome places in Cornwall, there is 

 great difference, in point of fertility, in the land, according 

 as the difpofition of the lamim is more flat, or the con- 

 trary ; as when flat, the furface is more retentive of the 

 manure which is employed ; but when on the edge, what is 

 called a greedy or hungry fort of land is formed, that per- 

 raits the manure to be wafhed down through it in too ready 

 a manner, and be loil. See Soil. 



SHELL, Testa, in Natural Hijlory, a hard calcareoui 

 crull, ferving to cover and inclofe a kind of animal, hence 

 called tejlaceous. See Conchology and Testaceology. 



Shells, ColkHing and cleaning of. See Conchology. , 



Shell.s, Figures and Colours, isfc. of. It is obferved, fl 

 that river-fhells have not fo agreeable or diverfified a colour • 

 as the laud and lea-lhells ; but the variety in the figure, co- 

 lours, and other charafters of fea-fhells, is almoft infinite. 

 The number of dulindl fpecies we find in the cabinets of 

 the curious is very great ; and doubtlefs the deep bottoms 

 of the fea, and the yet unfearched fhores, contain multi- 

 tudes more, yet unknown to us. Even the fame fpecies 

 ditter in fome degree in almoft every individual, fo that it is 

 rare to find any tu o ftiells which are alike in all refpefts. 

 Bonan. Recreat. Ment. et Ocul. p. 49. 



This wonderful variety, however, is not all the produce 

 of one fea, or one country ; the different parts of the world 

 afford us their different beauties. Bonani obferves, that the 

 moft beautiful (hells we are acquainted with come from the 

 Eaft Indies, and from the Red fea. This is in fome de- 

 gree countenanced by what is found to this day ; from the 

 general obfcrvations of the curious, it feems that the fun, 

 by the great heat that it gires to the countries near the line, 

 exalts the colours of the fhells produced there, and gives 

 them a luftre and brilliancy, that thofe of colder climates 

 always want ; and it may be, that the waters of thofe vait 

 feas, which are not fubjecl to be weakened by frefh rivers, m 

 give a nourifhment to the fi(h, that may add to the brilliancy I 

 of their (hells. ^ 



The ftiores of Afia furnifli us with the pearl oyfters and 

 fcallops in great perfection. About Amboyna are found J 

 the moft beautiful fpecimens of the cabbage-fhell, the arro- H 

 fuir, the ducal mantle, and the coral oyilers, or echinated 

 oyfters. Here alfo are found a great variety of extremely 

 beautiful mufcles, tellinje, and volutas ; fome fine buccinums, 

 and the (hell called the Ethiopian crown, in its greateft per- 

 fection. 



The dolia, the murices, and the caffandrx, are alfo found 

 on thefe coafts in great beauty. Many elegant fnails and 

 fcrew-fhclls are alfo brought from thence ; and finally the 

 ferapion and fpider-fhells. Hift. Nat. Eclairc. p. 168. 



The Maldive, and Phihppine iflands, Bengal, and the 

 coaft of Malabar, abound with the moft elegant of all the 

 fpecies of fnails, and furnifh many other kinds of fhells in 

 great abundance and perfeftion. 



China abounds in the fined fpecies of porcelain fhells, and 

 has alfo a great variety of beautiful fnails. 



Japan furnifhes us with all the thicker and larger bi- 

 valves ; and the ifle of Cyprus is famous above all other 

 parts of the world, for the beauty and variety of the patella, 

 or limpet, found there. 



America affords many very elegant fhells, but neither in 

 fo great abundance nor beauty as the fhores of Afia. 



Panama is famous for the cylinders or rhombi, and we 

 have befide, from the fame place, fome good porcelains, 

 and a very fine fpecies of dolium, or concha globofa, called 

 from this place the Panama purple (hell. One of the mofl 

 beautiful of the cylinders is alfo known among our na- 

 turalifts under the name of the Panama fhell. 



About 



