S P E 



hnear-lanceolate, fringed with briitly teeth. Whorls of 

 few flowers. — Native of Surinam and Geor£;ia. A fpeci- 

 men was fent by Rolander to Linna;us, who marked it S. 

 Jlr'igofa, but afterwards effaced that name, nor does tins 

 fpecies feem to have been any where defcribed, till it ap- 

 peared in the Natural Hiitory of the Infefts of Georgia, 

 with the plants on which they feed, publilhed by the writer 

 of this article, from the drawings and papers of Mr. John 

 Abbot. This work is never cited by Willdenow, nor 

 perhaps had it fallen in his way. The fpecies before us has 

 woody, wavy, decumbent, flightly branched, fmoothiflj 

 jhms. The haves are an inch long, remarkable for being 

 bordered with fine cartilaginous teeth, pointing forward, 

 like thofe of many fpecies of Galium. Briltles of ihejlifulas 

 numerous, long, and ilout. Flo-wers reddirti, three or four 

 in each whorl. Calyx fringed. Fruit obovate, roughifh, 

 red even in an early Hate, though the calyx is green. We 

 fhould fufpeft this to be the S. diodina of Michaux and 

 Purfh, found in dry barren foils, on iron ore hills, from 

 Virginia to Carolina, but the Jlowers of that fpecies are 

 defcribed as white, and very fmall, iolitary and alternate, 

 the _^em and feeds hairy, which charafters do not anfwer 

 to our plant, though the edges of the leaves appear to be 

 fimilarly rough in both. 



S. involucrala. Long-flowered Button-weed. Purlh 

 n. 4. — " Stem alternately branched, very hifpid. Leaves 

 ovato-lanceolate, pointed, hairy on both fides. Stipulas 

 with many bridles. Heads terminal, brafteated. Stamens 

 prominent." — Found in Carolina by Mr. Frafer. About 

 a foot high. Leaves broad, rather oblique. Flowers 

 white, with a very long tube. 



Spermacoce, in Gardening, contains plants of the herba- 

 ceous, annual, and (hrubby kinds ; among which the fpecies 

 cultivated are, the flender button-weed (S. tenuior) ; and 

 the whorl-ilowered bulton-weed (S. verticillata). 



Method of Culture. — Thefe plants are increafed by fowing 

 the feeds on a moderate hot-bed, early in the fpring, or in 

 pots to be plunged in it. When the plants have attained 

 fome growth, they (hould be removed into feparate pots, 

 filled with good friable mould, replunging them in the bed. 

 They fhould afterwards be managed as other plants of the 

 exotic ftove kind. 



They afford variety in hot-houfe and ftove coUeftions. 



SPERMATIC, in Anatomy, an epithet applied to va- 

 rious parts belonging to the telticle, as the artery, veins, 

 nerves, cord, &c. See the defcription of the teilis in the 

 article Generation. 



Spermatic Chord, Difeafe of, in Surgery. See Hy- 

 drocele. 



SPERMATOCELE, a kind of rupture, occafioned by 

 a diltenfion of the fcminal veffels, by which they are let fall 

 into the fcrotum. 



SPERMATOP(EA, a name given to fuch medicines 

 as are fuppofed to increafe the femen. 



SPERMATOSIS is a term fometimcs ufed for the 

 formation of feed. 



SPERONE, La, in Geography, a cape at the fouth-eaft 

 extremity of Corfica ; 4 miles E. of Bonifacio. 



SPERONI, Si'EHO.NE, in Biography, a diftinguiflied 

 Italian writer of the 16th century, was the fon of Ber- 

 nardino Speroni, a noble of Padua, in which city he was 

 born in the year 1500. He lludied under the famous 

 Pomponazzo, in Bologna. He took iiis degrees in medi- 

 cine and philofophy, and was appointed at an early age 

 reader in logic, and profcffor of philofophy, in the univer- 

 fity ; but being greatly attached to his former preceptor 

 Pomponazzo, he returned to Bologna, which he did not 



S P E 



quit till the death of that eminent man. He then refumed 

 the profeflbr's chair at Padua, which he held till the death 

 of his father in 1528, and his own marriage. After this he 

 was employed by his fellow-citizens in public bufinefs, and 

 was entrufied with feveral honourable commifTions. But he 

 was not lefs intent upon literature than diligent in aftive 

 bufinefs, and became one of the molt learned men of his 

 time. When refiding as an envoy at Venice, his fpeeches 

 before the fenate were fo much admired, that it has been 

 af5rmed, that the judges and advocates belonging to other 

 courts would leave their own places, to hear his pleadings. 

 Neverthelefs he was not a lawyer by profefTion, but only 

 took up, occafionally, the caufes of his friends. In 1560 

 Speroni went to Rome, as agent to the duke of Urbino at 

 the Papal court. He obtained the friendfliip of the prin- 

 cipal men of letters at that capital, and was on terms of 

 particular intimacy with Charles Borromeo ; and on that 

 account he was induced to add theology to his other iludies. 

 Pius IV. conferred on him the honour of knighthood ; and 

 the dukes of Urbino and Ferrara fent for him to their dif- 

 ferent courts, where he was treated with the greatefl refpeft. 

 Almolt all the princes of Italy followed the example of 

 thofe fovereigns, intreating him to take up his abode with 

 them ; but he preferred the tranquillity of private life to 

 the honours that might have been fhowered upon him. He 

 died at the great age of 88, and was interred with every 

 kind of funeral honour. As a writer, his ftyle is fpoken 

 of with fingular approbation : it is faid to be entirely free 

 from the affefted elegance and the prolixity which charac- 

 terize many authors of that country and period. It rather 

 feems purpofely to fhun the mofl ornamented expreflions, 

 and yet it is inferior to none in true pohfh, and unites gravity 

 and precifion to harmony and eloquence. One of the molt 

 celebrated compofitions of Speroni was a tragedy, entitled 

 " Canace and Macareus," which was much applauded by 

 the Paduan academy degli Inflammati. Some copies of it 

 having got abroad without the knowledge of the author, an 

 incorreft edition was printed at Venice in 1546, but with 

 the imprint Florence. Before, however, this furreptitious 

 publication, there appeared in MS. a criticifm upon it, 

 in which it was treated with fingular feverity. This being 

 afterwards printed, Speroni thought it necoffary to defend 

 his compofition, and a long controvcrfy cniued. The 

 author, no doubt, improved his work before he gave it to 

 the public, fanftioned by his own authority ; and when it 

 thus appeared, it was regarded as oi;e of the belt produc- 

 tions of that clafs which the age exhibited. Of the other 

 writings of this author, many are moral trcatifes in the 

 form of dialogue, in which he was one of the firtt compofers 

 in Italian, and in which he is faid to have had few equals. 

 The reft related to polite hteraturc, eloquence, poetry, hii- 

 tory, &c. ; all difplaying an extenfivc knowledge of books, 

 and a curreft judgment. His works have been colletted 

 and publiflied at Venice, in 5 vols. 4to. 



SPERVERIUS, in Ornithology, a name by which Bel- 

 lonius, and fome other autliors, have called the fparrow- 

 hawk, more commonly known by the names of nifus, and 

 accipiter fringillartus . 



SPESSART, in Geography, a Lvge foreft of Germany, 

 to the right of the Mayiie, extending from Wurzburg to 

 Afchafienburg. 



SPETKER, a river of Switzerland, belonging to the 

 abbey of St. Gal ; 4 miles E. of St. Gal. 



SPEUSfPPUS, in Biography, an Athenian philofopher, 

 fon of Eurymcdon, by a filter of Plato, fuccceded his uncle 

 in his fchool, over which he prcfidcd during eigiit years, 

 commencing from the death of that illuitriouo philofopher, 



