SPA 



found (fee Notation); but when the lines were reduced 

 to four, as in the canto fermo of the Romidi ritual, and 

 afterwards increafed to five, as in the prefent fecular mafic, 

 the fpaces came into ufe ; and the hiweft was called the firll, 

 and fo on to the fourth, fifth, and fixth, which unites the 

 bafe with the treble. See Riga, Lines, and Staff. 



SPATLING-Poppy, a name given to the common 

 field-lychnis, a fpecies of cucubalus, from the white froth 

 found on it in the fpring. See FROTH-Spil- 



SPATOLA, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Cala- 

 bria Ultra; I4miles S. of Squillace. 



SPATTERDASHES, a kind of covering for the 

 legs, made of leather, &c. Thofe of foldiers are made of 

 coarfe linen, waxed over and buttoned tight. 



SPATTS, a fmall fort of fpatterdafhes, reaching only 

 a little above the ankle. 



SP.'^TULA, or Spathula, formed from fpaiha, of 

 the Greek, j-tkOioj, which figiiifies the fame ; an initrument 

 ufed by furgeons and apothecaries ; made flat at one end, 

 and round at the other ; ferving to fpread their plafters and 

 unguents. 



The furgeons have little fteel fpatulas. And the apothe- 

 caries have alfo large ones of wood, to ftir their drugs in 

 diluting, tempering, or boihng them. 



The fpatula is ufed by furgeons to deprefs the tongue, 

 in order to examine the ilate of the tonfils, uvula, and 

 fauces, when they are affefted with any diforders. It is alfo 

 ufed to fufpend the tongue, when the frcenum is to be di- 

 vided ; for which purpofe it has a fifiure at its extremity, 

 and fiiould rather be made of filver than of any other metal. 

 Thefe fpatulae are made of different {hapes. 



SPAVIN, formed from the French efparv'm, which 

 fignifies the fame ; a difeafe in a horfe : being a fwelling or 

 ftitfnefs, ufually in the ham, which caufes him to halt. 



There are two kinds of fpavins, -viz. the ox, which is a 

 callous tumour, at the bottom of the ham, on the infide, 

 hard as a bone, and very painful. AVhile it is yet young, 

 fome horfes only halt with it at the firll coming out of the 

 liable. The dry fpavin is more eafily perceived, by the 

 horfe's raifing one of his hind-legs, with a twitch, higher 

 than the other : but fometimes it is found in both legs. 



This kind, which fome alfo call Jlring-halt, frequently 

 degenerates into the ox fpavin ; for which there is no re- 

 medy, but to apply the fire ; and even this is not always 

 fuccefsful. 



There are two other kinds of fpavin, which have their feat 

 in the hoof, m's;. the blood fpavin, winch is a foft tumour, 

 that grows through a horfe's hoof, and is ufually full of 

 blood ; and the hone fpavin, or crufty fubllance growing on 

 the infide of the hoof, under the joint. 



SPAWDER, in Rural Economy, a term provincially 

 fignifying an injury, by the legs of animals being forced too 

 far afunder on ice, or flippery road^, &c. 



SPAWN, m Gardening, the progeny or offspring of 

 plants or other vegetables ; but which is molUy applied to 

 fuch fmall offsets, fuckers, and Iprouts, as rife numeroufly 

 from the roots, "Sec. of certain plants, ft-rving for the 

 purpofe of nicreafe, which, as being parts fimilar to the 

 whole plant, when feparatcd from the parent vegetable and 

 planted out, readily grow, and commence proper plants, 

 and thereby renew or increafe their refpeftlve kinds with 

 great facility and abundance. Some plants produce them 

 in large quantities, others fcarcely at all. (See Suckers.) 

 And \x\ a more general acceptation, it is likewifc peculiarly 

 applied to the progeny of muflirooms, being an offspring 

 from the root of thofe fungi, confiding oi minute wliitc 

 parts, (hooting and running in the earth or dung, like 



SPA 



fmall white thready fibres, affuming the appearance of 

 flender white Itrings, which are produftive of numerous 

 minute white knobs, appearing at firil of the fize of fmall , 

 pm- heads, the whole fmelling itrong of tlie mufhroom ; and 

 thole little knobs being infant plants, they gradually in- 

 creafe in fize to proper mufhrooms, which are quick of 

 growth, and of very fliort duration ; but the fame fpawn 

 running in the earth, &c. furnilhes a plentiful fuppiy of 

 mufhrooms from the bottom in regular fucceffion for a 

 confiderable time, fometimes feveral months. See Aga- 



RlCtJS. 



This fort of mufhroom fpawn may be procured at all 

 feafons of the year, but more plentifully towards the end 

 of fummer and in autumn, from the places of its growth 

 and produclion ; fuch as old mufhroom-beds, old horfe-. 

 dung hot-beds, and horle-dunghills that are moderately dry, 

 and which have remained undillurbed feveral months ; alfo 

 fometimes in old compoll heaps, confining chiefly of horfe- 

 dung ; in all of which the fpawny fubllance difcovers itfelf 

 in dry lumps of dung and earth, which lumps fhould be 

 taken up entire : likewife in ilable-yards, where any quan- 

 tity of horfe-dung has lain dry and undillurbed any con- 

 fiderable length of time, lumps of fpawn are often obtained. 

 It is alfo found in great perfedlion in the horfe-rides belong- 

 ing to great inns, livery-ftablei', and horfe-dealers, efpecially 

 on the fides next the waDs ; hkewife in horfe-mill trade, 

 where horfes are contlantly employed in working and drop- 

 ping their dung, which is fwept together on the fides, there 

 to remain ; alfo in kitchen-gardens, where any piece of 

 ground has been dunged in the fpring with new, or but mo- 

 derately rotted ftable-dung, or old dry hot-bed dung, &c. 

 and only flightly turned in, as already fhewn under the head 

 of making thefe beds. And fometimes it is produced 

 naturally all over the furface of an old cucumber or melon 

 hot-bed, both in the dung and earth, in autumn or winter, 

 where the frame and lights have been continued over the 

 bed; and where the earth of the bed is of a loamy nature, 

 the fpawn in which is often remarkably fine and llrong ; for 

 in this kind of earth, of a moderately light quality, it is 

 generally of a fuperior quality, and very produAive ; fo as 

 fometimes, in fuch old beds, where the frames and glaffcs 

 remain, and the furface of the bed is covered thickly with 

 dry flraw, litter, or hay, under the glaffcs, to produce a full 

 crop of good muflirooms towards the fpring. Mufhroom 

 fpawn is alio obtained in meadows and paftures towards the 

 end of fummer and in autumn, before the rain and cold 

 commences, as in the months of Augull and September, 

 when the mufhrooms rife naturally, ferving as a diredion to ' 

 the place where to find it ; but that found in the other 

 places is nit)llly the bell in quality. Some caution is alfo 

 neceflary in coUeding fpawn from fields to have it of the 

 right fort. 



On this fubjed it is neceffary to obferve, that there 

 is alio a fruitful and barren fort of mufhroom fpawn ; the 

 former is dillinguilhed by the fubllance of the fibry or 

 ilniigy white flioots. Sec. and mulhroom-like fmell, as be- 

 fore obferved ; but in the latter fort, the thready fibres are 

 far more abundant, fine, and downy, often appearing like 

 a fine white down, and, being of no fubftance, produce 

 only a flalh of fmall white fungi, dcflitute of the flefhy part, 

 and which, by the mulhroom-men, is commonly called 

 •white -cup. 



Methods are fometimes pradifcd to obtain mufhroom 

 fpawn more abundantly by art, by the effcds of horfe- 

 dung, both in hot-beds and compoll heaps ; fometimes, in 

 the former cafe, by planting frnjU pieces of Ipawn, or 

 fpawny earth, along the top edge of the later cucumber 



hoi- 



