S M E 



S M E 



year 1764, while he was in Yorkfhire, he offered hirafelf as 

 a candidate for the office of receiver to the Derwent water 

 eftate ; and in the courfe of the year he obtained the ap 

 pointment in a manner moft flattering to himfelf, inafmuch 

 as his own merit carried the point in oppofition to two 

 other candidates who were ftrongly recommended and 

 powerfully fupported. He was very happy in this appoint- 

 ment, particularly in the alTiftanee which he received from 

 Mr. Walton, the other receiver, who took upon himfelf the 

 management of the accounts, leaving Mr. Snieaton leifure 

 and opportunity to exert his abilities on public works. In 

 the year 1773, he had fo much bufinefs as a civil engineer, 

 that he wifhcd to refign this appointment ; but his friends 

 prevailed on him to continue in office two years longer. 

 After this, Mr. Smeaton was employed on many works 

 of great public utility. He made the river Calder navi- 

 gable, a work that required talents of the very firll order, 

 M owing to the impetuous floods in that river ; he planned 

 I and attended to the execution of the great canal in Scot- 

 land, for conveying the trade of the country either to 

 the Atlantic or German ocean ; and as a proof of the 

 difintereftednefs of his habits, having brought it to the 

 place originally intended, he declined a handfome yearly 

 falary, in order that he might attend to other bufinefs. 

 On the opening of the great arch at London-bridge, the 

 excavation around and under the ftarlings was fo confider- 

 able, that the bridge was thought to be in great danger of 

 falling. Mr. Smeaton was then in Yorkfhire, and was 

 fent for exprefs, and he arrived without any delay. " I 

 think," fays his biographer, " that it was on a Saturday 

 morning when the apprehenfion of the bridge was fo ge- 

 neral, that few perfons would venture to pafs over or under 

 it. Mr. Smeaton applied himfelf immediately to examine 

 it, and to found about the ftarlings as minutely as poflible, 

 and the committee being called together, adopted his 

 advice, which was to repurchafe the ftones that had been 

 U taken from the middle pier, then lying in Moorfields, and 

 to throw them into the river to guard the darlings. In 

 this way Mr. Smeaton probably faved London-bridge from 

 falling, and fecured it till more effeftual methods could be 

 adopted." 



Mr. Smeaton was appointed engineer to Ramfgate har- 

 bour, and brought it into a (tate of great utility by various 

 operations, of which he piiblifhed an account in 1791. 

 The variety of miUs which Mr. Smeaton conftrufted, fhews 

 the great ufes which he made of his experiments already re- 

 ferred to ; for it was a rule with him, from which he never 

 willingly deviated, not to truil to theory in any cafe, where 

 he could have an opportunity to invelligate a fubjeft by 

 real trial. He built a Iteam-engine at Auilhorpe, and 

 made a vaft number of experiments with it to afcertain 

 the power of Newcomen's engine (fee SrEAM-Engine), 

 which he improved and brought to a far greater degree of 

 pcrfeAion, both in its conftruftion and powers, than it was 

 before. Mr. Smeaton, during many years of his life, was 

 a frequent attendant upon parliament, his opinion on various 

 works begun or projefted being continually called for. 

 And in thefe cafes the ftrcngth of his judgment and per- 

 fpicuity of expreflion had f'jU fcope. It was his conftant 

 cuftom, when applied to plan or fupport any meafure, to 

 make himfelf fully maflcr of the fubjeft, to underfland its 

 merits and probable dcfefts, before he would engage in it. 

 By this caution, added to the clcarnefs of his expreflion, 

 and the integrity of his heart, he feldom failed to obtain 

 for the bill which he fupported the fanftion of an aft of par- 

 liament. No one was ever heard with more attention, nor 

 had any one ever more confidence placed m his tcltimony. 

 Vol. XXXIIL 



In the courts of law he had feveral compliments paid liim 

 from the bench by lord Mansfield and other judges, for 

 the new light that he always threw upon difficult fubjefts. 

 About the year 1785, the health of this excellent man began 

 to decline, and he took the refolution to avoid all the bufinefs 

 he could, in order that he might hare leifure to publi(h an 

 account of his inventions, improvements, and works, by 

 which he conceived he Ihould be doing a public benefit to 

 his country and the world. In September 1792, he had 

 a paralytic feizure, which put a period to his life in about 

 fix weeks. 



Mr. Smeaton had a warmth of expreffion that might 

 appear to thofe who did not know him, to border upon 

 harlhnefs, but thofe more intimately acquainted with him 

 knew that it arofe from the intenfe application of his mind, 

 which was always in the purfuit of truth, or engaged in 

 fome difficult fubjefts. If he were fometimes apparently 

 hafty and impetuous in his difpofition, he would always 

 liften to reafon, and yield to the force of argument. 



In all the focial duties of life he was exemplary : his 

 manners were firaple, and his mode of life abitemious. He 

 was fingularly moderate in his pecuniary concerns. He 

 was fond of fcience for-its own fake, and fpent much of 

 his leifure in cultivating that of aftronomy ; for which pur- 

 pofe, he fitted up an obfervatory in his houfe, furnilTied 

 with curious contrivances of his own invention. He wa« 

 a friend and encourager of merit wherever he difcerned it, 

 and many perfons were indebted to him for important 

 affillance on their entrance into hfe. Mr. Smeaton was 

 the inftitutor, in 1771, of a fociety of civil engineers, which 

 was diii'olved at his death, but afterwards renewed ; they 

 publi(hed, in 1797, a volume of his Reports. For his 

 works in conftrufting bridges, mills, harbours, engines, &c. 

 fee his Reports, in 3 vols. 4to. Of his inventions and im- 

 provements of philofophical inftruments, an idea may be 

 formed from the lift of his writing! which is inferted in 

 Hutton's Diftionary. 



SMECTIS, in Natural Nijlory, a name ufed by feveral 

 authors for the common fuUer'.s-earth, more commonly 

 called tlmolia purpurafcens . 



SMECTYMNUUS, a cant term that made forae figure 

 in the time of the civil war, and during the Interregnum. 

 It was formed of the initial letters of the names of five 

 eminent Prefbytcrian miniftcrs of that time, viz. Stephen 

 Marlhal, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew New- 

 comen, and WiUiam Spurllow ; who, together, wrote a 

 book againlt epifcopacy, in the year 1641, whence they and 

 their retainers were called Smeftymnuans. 



SMECZNA, in Geography, a town of Bohemia, in the 

 circle of Schlan ; 3 miles S. of Schlan. 



SMEGMA, a kind pf walh in ufe among the ancients. 

 See Detkrsorium. 



SMEGMADERMOS, in Botany. Sec Smkgmahia. 



SMEGMA RI A, judicioufly abbreviated by Willdenow, 

 from Smfgmadermos, the name originally given to this genus, 

 by the authors of the Flora Peruviana ; which, being com- 

 pofed oi ajxtfj fLV., foab, and it(iJ.a,Jiin, alludes to the ufe made 

 of the bark in wafhing, — " Ruiz et Pavon Prodr. 144. 

 t. 31." Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 1123.— Clafs and order, 

 Polygamia Dioecia, WilU. More properly, a» wc prefume, 

 DecanJria Penlagynia. Nat Ord. allied to Rutacex of 

 Juffieu. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth Inferior, of one leaf, coriaceous, 

 downy, in fire deep, ovate, equal fegmcnts, permanent. 

 Cor. Petals five (not fix), obovate, the length of the calyx, 

 alternate with its fegments ; their claws flendcr, Neftary 

 of five orbicular, I'mooth, dcpreffed lobes, oppofite to, and 

 Z lying 



