S O R 



Vindocladia near Cranburn, and Sorbiodunum being Old 

 Sarum. 



SORUNDO, in Geography, a town of Sweden, in 

 Sudermanland; 20 miles S.S.W. of Stockholm. 



SORUS, in Botany and Vesetable Phyftology, from j-ufs?, 

 a lnap, is a term recently introduced, for the aflemblage of 

 capfules in Ferns, which had hitherto been called a dot, 

 fpot, or line, according to its particular figure. ( See Fi- 

 LICES.) The Sort in many kinds of Polypodium and Afpi- 

 dlum are very much elevated, or prominent, well anfwcnug 

 to this appellation, v/hich is indeed, in every cafe, more 

 correct and lefs exceptionable than the terms it fnperfedes. 

 In an early itate, the Sori are httle more than fpots, more 

 or lefs opaque, or quite pellucid, in whofe homogeneous 

 fubftance nothing can be difcerned of the myltery of im- 

 pregnation, though certainly performed there. Whether 

 that myftery takes place before the fliape of each particular 

 capfule is developed, we cannot determine, though it ap- 

 pears moll probable ; for if the Sori fwell at all, they do 

 not feem to fail afterwards. If they do not come to per- 

 fedlion, they remain in their original ftate, of a fcarcely 

 confpicuous dot. 



SO RUT, in Geography, a circar of Hindooftan, in 

 Guzerat ; 120 miles long, and 40 broad. 



SORWY, a river of Monmouthfliire, which runs into the 

 Edwith. 



SORY, in Natural H'tftory, the name of a foffile fubftance, 

 much fpoken of by the ancients, but erroneouily fuppofed 

 to be now loft. 



It is a firm and not brittle fubftance, though of a fpongy 

 and cavernous ftrufture, and is confiderably heavy. It is 

 found in maffes of no regular fliape or fize, fome being 

 roundilh, others angular or flatted, and fome of the fize 

 of a walnut, others of many pounds weight. It feels very 

 harfli and rough to the touch, and is covered with no io- 

 veftient coat or crult, but (hews its natural furface, which 

 is always corrugated or wrinkled, and ufually full of fmall 

 protuberances and cavities, and when broken, is found to 

 be of a rugged and fpongy ftrudlure within. 



Its natural colour is a rufty black, but it is fometimes 

 reddifh, and fometimes blueifti : and is commonly ftained, 

 in different places, with fpots of a blueifh or ruft colour, 

 when black ; and of a greenilh hue, when it is of a reddifti 

 colour ; in the places where it is free from thefe, it is 

 ufually fomewhat bright and fparkling. It is of an acrid 

 and difagreeable tafte, and of a ftrong and naufeous fmell ; 

 put into the fire it burns to a deep purple ; and if boiled 

 in water a great part of it becomes dilTolved in it ; and 

 this may again be feparated from the water by evaporation 

 and cryftallization, and then appears in the form of pure 

 blue vitriol, forming regular rhomboidal cryftals, and 

 tinging iron to a copper colour, on being firft wetted, and 

 then rubbed upon it. 



It is found in many parts of the Turkilh dominions, par- 

 ticularly in Gallo-Groecia ; as alfo in fome parts of Ger- 

 many. In this country it is boiled for the blue vitriol it 

 contains. In Turkey it is mixed with lime, and made 

 into a pafte with water, which is laid on fuch parts of the 

 body as they would eradicate the hair from, and effefts 

 that purpofe in a very few minutes. In the eaftern na- 

 tions, where it is thus ufed, it is known by the name of 

 rufma. 



The ancients ufed it externally to take off pimples, and 

 put a piece of it into a hollow tooth, as a remedy for the 

 tooth-ache. There can be no doubt of their fory being the 

 fame fubftance with this ; fince Diofcorides has defcribed it 

 to be blackifli in colour, full of fmall cavities, moift on the 



SOS 



furface, (as ours always is in raoift weather,) and of a difv 

 agreeable tafte and fmell. 



This fubftance, as alfo the chalcitis, mify, and melan-> 

 teria, are all properly ores of vitriol, the particles of thofe . 

 falts being fo perfeftly blended in them, as not to be at all 

 diftinguilhable to the naked eye, yet being always regularly 

 feparable from them by water, which is to tiie faline ores 

 what fire is to thofe of the metalline kind. Hill's Hift. of 

 Fofi". p. 606. 



SORYGAZA, in Anelent Geography, a town of India, 

 on the banks and on the other fide of the Ganges, towards 

 the eaftern coaft. Ptolemy. 



SOS, in Geography, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Lot and Garonne ; 10 miles S.W. of Nerac. — Alfo, 

 a town of Spain, in Aragon ; 30 miles W. of Jaca. — Alfo, 

 a river of Spain, in Aragon, which runs into the Sinca, 

 near Mongon. 



SOSA, a town of Saxony, in the circle of Erzgebirg; 

 22 miles S.S.W. of Chemnitz. 



SOSE, a river of Germany, which runs into the Ruhme, 

 9 miles E. of Nordheim. 



SOSES, a town of Spain, in Catalonia ; 6 miles S.W. 

 of Lerida. 



SOSIBES, in ylncient Geography, a people who inhabited 

 the environs of Afiatic Sarmatia, and who are compre- 

 hended, by Julius Capitolinus, in the number of thofe who 

 had confpired againft the Roman empire, under Marcus 

 Antoninus the philofopher. 



SOSIGENES, in Biography, a Peripatetic philofopher, 

 and livilful aftronomer, was brought from Egypt by Julius 

 Csfar, with the view exprefsly of aflifting him in reforming 

 the calendar. The philofopher, by tolerably accurate ob- 

 fervations, difcovered that the year was 365 days and 

 6 hours ; and to make allowance for the odd hours, he in- 

 vented the intercalation of one day in four years ; and the 

 duphcation of the fixth day before the calends of March 

 was the intercalary day : and hence the year in which this 

 took place was called Biffextile. This was called the Julian 

 year, the reckoning by which commenced in the 45th year 

 B.C., and continued till it gave place to fomething more 

 accurate, and a ftill farther reformation under pope Gre- 

 gory XIII. Sofigenes was author of a commentary upon 

 Ariftotle's book ""^De Coelo." 



SOSIPPUS Pqrtus, in ulncient Geography, a port of 

 Arabia Felix, on the coaft of the Arabian gulf, between 

 Mufa Emporium and Pfeuducelis, according to Ptolemy. 



SOSNINSKAIA, in Geography, a town of Ruflia, in 

 the province of Novgorod ; 32 miles N. of Novgorod. 



SOSNITZA, a town of Ruflia, in the government of 

 Novgorod Sieverfkoi ; 32 miles S.S.W. of Novgorod Sie- 

 verflvoi. N. lat. 51° 30'. E. long. 32"^ 46'. 



SOSNOPA, a town of Ruflia, in the government of 

 Perm ; 48 miles S. of Ofa. 



SOSNOVOI, an ifland of Ruflia, in the riyer Angara; 

 96 miles N.N.W. of Ilimflv. 



SOSNOVSKOI, a town of Ruflia, in the government 

 of Kolivan. N. lat. 55° 50'. E. long. 85° 44'. 



SOSPELLO, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Maritime Alps, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 

 trift of Monaco ; divided by a fmall river into two parts. 

 The town contains 2990, and the canton 5512 inhabitants, 

 on a territory of 142^ kiliometres, in 4 communes. It is 

 the fee of a bifliop, united with Vintimiglia ; containing 

 four churches, one of which is a cathedral, and two con- 

 vents ; 10 miles N.E. of Nice. 



SOSPIRO, Ital., Soupir, Fr., a crotchet reft in Mufu. 

 See Characters and Time-table. 



SoSPIRO, 



