S M U 



ftirred about, until the injurious fubftance floats away, or 

 can be fliimmed off from the furface. When intended for 

 flour, after this waftiing, it mult be dried on a malt-kiln 

 for the fpace of eighteen hours, but heated fo as not to ex- 

 ceed 85° of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The reprefentation 

 of a machine contrived for this ufe, may be feen in the Cor- 

 refted Agricultural Report of Bcrkftiire. 



M. Chantran prefented a memoir to the French National 

 Inftitute in 1799, on the fmut is wheat, and its acid. Aftqr 

 remarking, that ilalks which bear charred ears do not differ 

 from others, and that thefe ears often contain good and bad 

 grains, he thought himfelf authorifed to advance, that this 

 difeafe does not exift, as generally believed, in the germ of the 

 feed from which they fprung. However, he does not con- 

 fider liming the feed as ufelefs ; he thinks that it deitroys 

 the aniraalculse attached to the feeds, and that the reafon of 

 its not entirely extirpating the fmut, is becaufe it cannot aft 

 on thofe fmall infeds which occafion it, and which happen 

 to be fcattered in the ground. 



Having analyfed forty-Hx grains of fmut, he found in 

 this fubitance an acid eafy to be demonftrated. For this 

 purpofe, boiling water being infufed over it, gave a ftrong 

 tinge of red to tinfture of turnfole, while the remainder 

 of this tinfture retained its former charafter. Smut, de- 

 prived of the acid, and calcined in the open air, emitted 

 the odour of burnt corn, and gave a refiduum fix times as 

 large as the fame quantity of the farina of wheat treated in the 

 fame manner. This, joined to microfcopic obfervations, fays 

 Chantran, proves the animal nature of this fubitance, and a 

 difference between it and the farina of wheat greater tlian 

 could arife merely from difeafe. Tfie acid of fmut is not 

 volatile, and may be concentrated by diflillation. With hme 

 and with ammonia it proves an infoluble fait ; and this dif- 

 tinguifhes it from the phofphoric acid. Combined with pot- 

 afh it gave a fait cryitallized in fmall dehquefcent needles of 

 a bitter taite. It decompofes carbonate of lime. 



Smut, or Blacks, in oats, a fort of vegetable difeafe that 

 often occurs or takes place in crops of this kind, in much 

 the fame manner as that of fmut in wheat, in many of the 

 country diftrifts. It is faid by feme to affeft the whole of 

 the ear of the grain, being occafionally met with in different 

 ftages of its progrefs in the Handing crops, as well as at the 

 time of threfhing out the corn, as in thofe of a foft unc- 

 tuous ftate, in the ftate of a ball, and in a powdery itate, 

 or that of a fine dull, which difperfes itfelf in threfhing, and 

 fixes upon different parts of tlie faces of the men who tlirelh, 

 rendering them quite black. But others, probably without 

 fufficient obfervation or knowledge of the faft, fuppofe it to 

 be a plant growing leparately among the oats. 



It is an affeftion of this fort of grain which happens fre- 

 quently on the eallern fide of tlie county of Lancalter, in the 

 Ille of Man, and in feveral other fituations. It is found to 

 prevail lefs among the potatoe oat crops than thofe of any 

 other forts of that grain, and to be much more prevalent in 

 fome years than in others. 



No effeftual method of preventing it has yet been dif- 

 covered, but it is found to be much lefl'ened by the good cul- 

 tivation and management of the land on which this fort of 

 crop is grown. The oat crops, where it exiits to any con- 

 fiderable extent, are much lefs produftive than in other cir- 

 cumftances, and the quality of the produce is probably not 

 fo good. But the difeafed fubitance is fo light in its nature, 

 that it is readily blown away in dreffing or cleaning the grain 

 without its doing much mifchief to it. 



Suvr-BaUs, the fmall balls of fmutty matter which are 

 found among difeafed wheat and other crops. Thefe balls, 

 as well as the difeafed parts of the crops, appear now, from 



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aftual experience, to be conftantly of a very infeftious na- 

 ture, and fhould, of courfe, be as much guarded againft, 

 and cautioufly avoided, in preparing the feed of the crops 

 for fowing, as poDible ; as ii is not improbable, but that 

 the dileafe may fometimes be communicated and propagated 

 in this way, without the farmer being in the leaft aware of 

 it. See Steeping Seed-Grams and Seeds. 



SMYNHUSEN, in Geography, a town of the duchy of 

 Holllein ; 6 miles E. of Lunden. 



SMYRHIZA, in Botany, a name ufed by Pliny, and fome 

 other old a\ithors, for the common myrrhis, or chervil. 



SMYRNA, in Ancient Geography, one of the Ionian towns 

 of Afia Minor, fituated towards the northern part of the iflh- 

 mus of the peninfula of Colophon, upon a gulf bearing the 

 name of the town. This town is very ancient, and is faid to 

 have been founded by the Smyrnceans, who inhabited a quarter 

 of Ephefus called " Smyrna," from whom it derived this name. 

 Being expelled by the .(EoUans, they retired to Colophon ; 

 but the Colophonians having been obliged to expatriate 

 themfelves on account of fedition, found an afylum among 

 the inhabitants of Smyrna. Some time afterwards,* finding 

 that the Smyrnseans celebrated without their city a feafl in 

 honour of Bacchus, they fhut the gates and took poffefllon 

 of the town. The jEolians came to their fuccour ; but it 

 was at length determined, by common confent, that they 

 fhould leave the lonians in poffefTion of the town, and with- 

 draw themfelves with all their moveable eflefts. The Smyr- 

 nseans having accepted this condition, they diltributed them- 

 felves into eleven other ./Eolian cities, where they obtained 

 the right of citizenfhip. At a fubfequent period the Ly- 

 dians took poflefHon of Smyrna under Ardys ; and having 

 deflroyed it, the inhabitants difperfed themfelves into differ- 

 ent diftrifts. Four hundred years afterwards, Alexander 

 rebuilt it about twenty lladia from its ancient fcite. Strabo, 

 however, attributes its re-eflablifhment to Antigonus and 

 Lyfimachus, without mentioning Alexander. Nor does 

 Arrian, in his hiftory of this province, take notice of this 

 circumftance. Hence it is natural to conclude, that Alex- 

 ander only formed a defign of rebuilding it, or that he par- 

 tially executed his projeft ; that it was continued by Anti- 

 gonus, and completed by Lyfimachus. This town was de- 

 itroyed by an earthquake A.D. 180, according to Eufebius, 

 but according to Dion CafTius, two or three years fooner. 

 The Chronicon Pafcale dates it A.D. 178. Marcus Aurelius 

 re-eilablifhed it. The river Meles ran by its walls, and near its 

 fource was another, where it has been faid that Homer wrote 

 his poems. Hence it was that Tibullus (1. iv. c. i.) called 

 thefe poems " Meletere Carmen," but Smyrna arrogates 

 to itfelf the honour of having given birth to Homer. At 

 Smyrna there was a quadrangular portico, with a temple of 

 Homer and his flatue. The Smyrnsans had alfo a bronze 

 coin, which they called " Homerium." This town was 

 built partly on the brow of a hill and partly on a plain ; 

 and towards its front and the gymnafium was the temple of 

 the Mother of the Gods. The ftrcets were paved, and inter- 

 fefted one another at right angles. It had feveral grand 

 porticoes of a fquare form, ranges of buildings, and a fine 

 library. In procefs of time Smyrna became the centre of 

 the commerce of Afia. Luxury Akw hither the arts ; and 

 it was decorated by fuperb edifices, and crowded by a mul- 

 titude of ftrangers. At Smyrna there were none of thofe 

 tyrants who opprefled many otlier cities of Afia, and even 

 the Romans refpefted the happy ftate of this town, and left 

 it the fhadow of liberty. This city has retained a very 

 confiderable degree of its ancient celebrity. See the next 

 article. 



Smyrna, or Ifm'tr, in Geography, a city and fea-port of 



AlJatic 



