S O M 



SON 



feWes, and obferved in others, as to fuppofe that the truth of 

 the forecfoing itatement will be readily admitted, that condi- 

 tion ol thenn which conftitutes fomnambulifm feems to differ 

 principally in two circumftaticcs, viz. in commencing 

 commonly in a difhirbcd fleep, and in requiring a ftronger 

 impn-flion upon the feiifes to break the chain of mental 

 conception ; fo that the lighter impreffions only mingle 

 with and modify the conceptions, according to the prin- 

 ciple of aflociation. The following ftngular example of the 

 fomnam.buhllic reverie is well authenticated, and is related 

 of an amiable and diftinguilhed poet. We quote it from 

 the life of that writer in Anderfon's edition of the poets, 

 vol. xi. 



" Dr. Blacklock, one day, haraffed by the cenfures of 

 the populace, whereby not only his reputation, but his very 

 fubfiftence was endangered, and fatigued with mental exer- 

 tion, fell afleep after dinner. Some hours after, he was 

 vifited by a friend, anfwered his falutation, rofe, and went 

 with him into the dining-room, where fome of his compa- 

 nions were met. He joined with two of them in a concert, 

 finging, as ufual, with tafte and elegance, without miffing 

 a note, or forgetting a word. He then went to fupper, and 

 drank a glafs or two of wine. His triendp, however, ob- 

 ferved him to be a little abfent and inattentive : by and by he 

 began to fpeak to himfelf, hut m io flow and confufed a 

 manner, as to be unintelligible. At laft, being more 

 forcibly roufed, he awoke with a certain Itart, unconfcious 

 of all that had happened ; as till then he had continued fait 

 afleep." 



Thofe who wifli to inveftigate this curious fubjeft farther, 

 may confult the old writers mentioned in the beginning of 

 this article ; alfo Hoffmann's Diflertatio de Somnambulifmo, 

 in the third volume of the fupplcment to his works ; the 

 French Encyclopedie, article Somnambulifme ; Darwin's 

 Zoonomia, vol. i. fedl. xix ; Cleghorn de Somno, &c. 



SOMNER, William, in Biography, an able antiquary, 

 was born at Canterbury in the year 1606. He received a 

 good common education, after which he was taken as clerk 

 by his father, who was regiller of the court of Canterbury. 

 He was afterwards promoted by archbifliop Laud to an office 

 in the ecclefialtical court of that diocefe, which naturally 

 engaged him in the Itudy of national antiquities. To pur- 

 fue this to advantage, he applied with great diligence to the 

 Saxon tongue, and having made himfelf mailer of that lan- 

 guage, he drew up copious notes, and a gloffary, to fir Roger 

 Twilden's publication of the laws of Henry I. The anti- 

 quities of his own country engaged his particular attention, 

 and he compofed " A Treatife of the Roman Polls and Forts 

 in Kent," left by himfelf in MS. but which was printed at 

 Oxford in 1693; and "A Treatife on Gavelkind," completed 

 in 1647, and publiflied in 1660. He alfo wrote " A Dif- 

 courfe of Portus Iccius," which was afterwards tranflated 

 into Latin by bifliop Gibfon, and publiflied with fome other 

 trafts. Having Itudicd all the kindred dialctts to the 

 Saxon, he wrote obfervations on fome old German words, 

 collcftcd by Lipfiu;., which were publilhcd by Meric Ca- 

 faubon, and he drew up the Gloflary annexed to the ten 

 writers of Englifli hiftory, publiflied by Twifden. This 

 gloilary being a key to reclufe and antiquated words, im- 

 proved whatever of ihis nature had been done before. It is, 

 indeed, a work of that extent as may ferve as a key to all 

 other hilloriana, and Vo all records : " neverthelefs," lays the 

 writer of the life in the Biographia Britannica, " it might be 

 greatly improved from our author's fubfequcnt collections, 

 which remain in the archives of Canterbury ; from .lunius's 

 " Etymologiciim Anglicanum ;" and from Dr. Wilkin's 

 Gloilary, at the end of his edition of the Saxon laws. Mr. 



Somner aflifled Dugdale in compihng the " Monafticon." 

 In 1 659 he publiflied a Saxon diftionary, in folio, which has 

 been llyled the true and lafling monument of his praife ; a 

 work of incredible labour to himfelf, and of fingular benefit 

 to the world. The previous afliflaiice of the like kind which 

 came into Mr. Somner's hands were, i. .(Elfric's Gloflary, 

 tranfcribed by Fr. Junius, from a very ancient copy in the 

 library of fir Peter Paul Rubens, of Bruffels ; 2. The 

 two ancient glolFaries in the Cotton library ; 3. Nowell's 

 Saxon Vocabulary ; 4. Joceline's Colledtions. From thcfe 

 and fome other Saxon books then extant, Mr. Somner made 

 immenfe collections, in two large volumes, for the compiling 

 his diftionary. When it was finiflicd, he fent it to Oxford, 

 where it was printed, and it came out in the year already 

 mentioned. During the compofition of this diftionary, he 

 was chiefly fupported by the laiary fettled on the Saxon lec- 

 ture, founded by fir Henry Spelman. Somner being a zea- 

 lous royalilt, he was arrelled and imprifoned on account of 

 the Kentifli petition for a free parliament, in the fame year 

 that his dictionary was publiflied ; but was liberated on the 

 rclloration, and promoted to the maiterfliip of St. .John's 

 hofpital, in Canterbury. He died in 1669, and Ins books 

 and manufcripts were purchafcd by the dean and chapter of 

 Canterbury, and depofited in the cathedral library. Biog. 

 Brit. 



SOMNIFEROUS. See Soporiperous. 



SOMNOLENTUM Com.4. See Coma. 



SOMNUS, in Mythology. See Sleep. 



SOMORROSTROW, in Geography, a town of Spain, in 

 the province of Bifcay, fituatcd on a bay of the Atlantic ; 

 which, according to the opinion of baron Dillon, has all the 

 appearance of b'.'ing alluvial. Some of the workmen, as he 

 fays, aflured him that they have often found broken pieces 

 of pick-axes, mattocks, and other inltruments, in places that 

 had been worked centuries ago, and are now replete with new 

 ore. Hence he infers that the mine increafcs. The ore is laid 

 to form an uninterrupted llratum, wliofe thicknefs varies 

 from three to ten feet, and is covered with a coat of whitifll 

 calcareous rock, from two to fix feet thick. Everyone is 

 at liberty to dig at pleafurc, and tranfport it by land or 

 water, without being fubjeft to duties or any formalities. 

 It is generally allowed, that no iron in Europe is fo eafy to 

 fufe, or fo foft, as that of Somorroflrow. When the ore is 

 firlt taken out of this mine, it has the colour of bull's 

 blood ; and when wetted becomes purple. Great quantities 

 are carried away by water to the neighbouring provinces, 

 where they fufe it by itfelf, or mix it with ore of their own, 

 which generally yields a harder iron. According to appear- 

 ance, a quintal of ore will produce about 35 lbs. of good 

 iron, and the refidiic about 30 lbs. of flag and dead earth. 

 13 miles N.W. of Bilbao. N. lat. 43° 19'. W. long. 



3°7'- 



SOMOSIERRA, a town of Spain, in New Cattilc ; 

 8 miles N. of Buytrago. 



SOMOVNIA, a town of European Turkey, in Bul- 

 garia ; 10 miles W. of Nicopoli. 



SOMPIL, a town of Thibet; 45 miles E.S.E. of Pa. 



SOMPUINS, or SoMPY, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Marne, and chief place of a canton, in the 

 didridt of Vitry-fur-Marnc ; l 8 miles N.W. of Monehould. 

 The place contains 645, and the canton 4745 inhabitants, on 

 a territory of 3><2t, kiliomctrcs, in 16 communes. 



SOMSDORF, a town of Saxony, in the circle of Erz- 

 gebirg ; 10 miles S. of Frcyberg. 



SON, a relative term, applied to a male child, confidered 

 in the relation he bears to his parents. See Ciiii.p and 

 Pauent. 



The 



