S O R 



folitary, oval, tumid, concealed in the hard polifhed calyx, 

 out of which the awn of the corolla projefts. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx of two valves, fingle-flowered. Corolla 

 of two valves ; the inner one cloven and awned. Nedlary 

 villous. Seed enclofed in the hardened calyx. Some flowers 

 male, ilallted, without an awn. 



We have under the article Holcus adverted to the prefent 

 jrenus, which requires to be feparated therefrom, and is in 

 itfelf important, on account of its economical ufes. What 

 are its genuine Ipecies, we do not completely undertake to 

 determine, nor how far thofe which are defcribed are diilinft, 

 authors having been obliged to recur to colour in their de- 

 finitions. " They are annual grafles, of quick growth, and 

 of a very large bulk, abounding with faccharine juice, as 

 much as the lugar-cane, at leaft in Italy." Profellor Ar- 

 duino (hewed the writer of this, at Padua in 1787, good 

 fugar and treacle procured from his Holcus Cafer, hereafter 

 mentioned. See Sm. Tour on the Continent, ed. z. v. 3. 10. 

 The ftalks of the ripe panicles of fome of the fpecies make 

 brooms, or even carpet and clothes-bruflies of a very good 

 quality. The following will ferve to exemplify the genus in 

 queilion. 



S.Dora. Common Indian-millet. (Holcus Dora ; Mieg. 

 Aft. Helvet. V. 8. 125. t.4. f. 3. Holcus Sorghum ; Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1484. Willd. Sp. PI. V. 4. 929. Ait. Hort. Kew. 

 V. 5. 430. Arduin. 01c. o Sorg. 19. t. 4. f. I. Milium 

 indicum ; Matth. Valgr. v. i. 370.) — Panicle ovate, com- 

 paft, ereft. Glumes downy. Seeds (lightly comprelied. — 

 Native of the Eaft Indies. Cultivated in the fouth of 

 Europe. The root is annual, confifting of innumerable 

 fibres. Stem ereft, round, jointed, leafy, from fix to ten 

 feet high, as thick as the finger or thumb. Leaves fheath- 

 ing„ reed-like, lanceolate, fmooth, with a (Irong mid-rib, 

 and many fine lateral, oblique, parallel ones. Panicle ter- 

 minal, from four to twelve inches long, very much branched, 

 clofe, of innumerable dov/nyjlo'wers, on zig-zag or curved 

 ftalks. Seeds roundi(h, various in colour, ufually yellow or 

 reddilh. This is the moil general fpecies, under which in- 

 deed many of the reit have been confounded ; but fome of 

 them, by their fuperior merits, have (uperfeded it in cul- 

 tivation. 



S. licolar. Two-coloured Indian-millet. (Holcus bico- 

 lor ; Luin. Mant. 301. Willd. Sp. Pi. v. 4. 929. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. V. 5. 430. Arduin. Olc. o Sorg. 29. t. 6. 

 H. Sorgiium ; Mieg. Aft. Helvet. v. 8. 129. t. 4. f. 4 ?) — 

 Panicle ereft, fomewhat lobed. Glumes fmooth, black. 

 Seeds globofe, white. — Said to be a native of Perfia. Suf- 

 ficiently dillinft from the former, by the above charafters. 



S. cernuum. Drooping Indian-millet. (Holcus cernuus ; 

 Willd. Sp. PI. V. 4. 930. Arduin. Olc. o Sorg. 14. t. 3. 

 f. I, 2.) — Panicle compaft, curved downward as it ripens. 

 Glumes downy. Seeds globofe. — Cultivated in Arabia, 

 .Syria, and various parts (;f the Levant, being probably a 

 native of India. It is remarkable for its deflexed, or pen- 

 dulous ^izn;V/(» of yW, whofe ilalk cannot be made ftraight 

 without breaking. Thcjlem is five or fix feet high. Leaves 

 fmooth. Seeds very white, fcarccly compreffed. 



S. cajfrorum. Cadres Indian-millet. (Holcus caffrorum ; 

 Thunb. Prodr. 20. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 930. H. Cafer ; 

 Arduin. Olc. Sorg. 5. t. I.) — Branches of the panicle 

 fpreadmg every way, deflexed. Glumes downy. Awns 

 deciduous. Seeds globofe. — Native of the Cape of Good 

 Hope. Rather larger than moll ot the preceding, with a 

 fpreading, drooping-branched ^an/c/f. Seeds more expofed 

 than in the others. ProfelTor Arduino recommends this 

 much for culture, on account of its abundant crop ; the 

 goodnefs of the grain for poultry ; and the copious fac- 



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charine juices of tlie/cm/. We prefume his plant and Thun- 

 berg's to be the fame, but have no proof. 



&■ fticcharatum. Yellow-feeded Indian-millet. Purflm. I. 

 (Holcus faccharatus; Linn. Sp. PI. 1484. Willd. Sp. PI. 

 V. 4. 930. Ait. Hort. Kew. V. 5. 430. Arduin. Olc. o Sorg. 

 22. t. 4. f. 2. Mieg. Aa. Helvet. v. 8. 119. t. 4. f. i. 



Sorgum ; Rumph. Amboin. v. 5. 194. t. 75. f. i.) 



Panicle ereft, with (lender, drooping, lax branches. Glumes 

 hairy. Male flowers very few, withering. — Native of the 

 Eaft Indies. The more difperfed flowers, on the long, 

 fpreading, drooping, whorled branches of the panicle, readily 

 mark this fpecies. 



S. nigrum. Coal-black Indian-millet. (Holcus niger ; 

 Arduin. Olc. o Sorg. 20. t. 9. ) — Panicle ovate, ere£l, with 

 fpreading denfe branches. Glumes and feeds black. — No- 

 thing is faid of the native coui;try, or particular qualities, 

 of this fpecies, which is one of the largcft of the genus. 

 The leaves are long and broad, confpicuous for their white 

 rib. Panicle fomewhat pyramidal, not near fo denfe as that 

 of the firft fpecies, but the fo-jjers are thickly fet on its 

 fpreading, (lightly deflexed, branches. 



SORGUE, or Pont de Sorgue, in Geography, a town 

 of France, on the river Sorgue ; 6 miles from Avignon. — 

 Alfo, a river of France, which rifes from the fountain of 

 Vauclufe, and runs into the Rhone, by leveral mouths, at 

 and near Avignon. 



SORI, a town of the Ligurian republic; 9 miles S.E. 

 of Genoa. 



SORIA, a town of Spain, in Old Callile, near the 

 fource of the Duero, built near the ruins of the ancient 

 Numantia. This town, which fuffercd much during the 

 Moori(h wars, was repeopled in the beginning of the 12th 

 century, by order of Alonfo, king of Caftile ; 116 miles 

 N.N.E. of Madrid. N. lat. 41° 47'. W. long. 2° 35'. 



SORIANG, a river on the W. coaft of the ifland of 

 Celebes, which runs into the fea, S. lat. 3° 9'. E. long. 

 1 19° 48'. 



SORIANO, Francesco, in Biography, a great canonifl, 

 and critic of the mullc of his time, was maeftro di cappella 

 of St. Peter's church at Rome, and in 1610 publilhed one 

 hundred and ten canons upon the chant to the hymn '< Ave 

 Maris Stella," for three, four, five, fix, fcven, and eight 

 voices. Refolutions of thefe canons in fcore, with remarks, 

 by Zacconi, 1625, in manufcript, were m the poilciTion of 

 the late refpedable theorill and hillorian, P. Martini, who, 

 among his other mufical curiofities, communicated to us this 

 manufcript, which imprelled us with a much higher opinion 

 of the patience than tlie genius of Soriano. Few mailers, 

 except himfelf, could perhaps have compofed thefe canons, 

 but many mull have thought that the lofs to mufic would 

 not have been very great, if they had never been compofed. 

 Baptill Doni, an enemy to learned mufic, and a great advo- 

 cate for the recitative and melodies for a fingle voice, which 

 were now advancing into favour, fsys (Tratt. della Muf. 

 Scenica, Op. omn. tom. ii. p. 129.) that though Soriano 

 was generally allowed by mulicians to be a learned co;)tra- 

 puntilt, he never hud genius fufiicient to invent a fingle air 

 that was beautiful or pleafing ; on which account lie applied 

 himfelf to the compofition of elaborate fugues and canons : 

 as in poetry, thole who have no original ideas or ijivtntion 

 can write acrollics and anagrams, by whicii lluy become 

 only rhymers, not poets ; fo canonills (hould be c.illed con- 

 trapuntills, not nuificians. 



SoKiANO, in Geography, a town of the P.itrimonio ; 6 

 miles E.S.E. of Vuerbo. — Alfo, a town of Naples, in 

 Calabria Ultra ; 6 miles E.S.E. of Milcto. 



3 A 2 SORI. 



