S P I 



S P I 



in 1616, by Ae fenate of Venice, to occupy the principal 

 profeflbrfhip of anatomy and furgery in the univerfity of 

 Padua, which had become vacant by the death of Caflerius. 

 He accepted the appointment, and acquitted himfelf witli 

 fo much fuccefs, that he contribiited to render the fchools 

 of Padua more flaurifhing than they had ever been ; and the 

 fenate recompenfed his fervices by creating him a knight of 

 St. Mark, and prefenting him with a collar of gold. The 

 apparent vigour of his conftitution, his vivacity of dif- 

 poiition, and his years, promifed a continuance of life, and 

 an increaling reputation ; but he was cut off at the age of 

 47, in April 1629 ; according to one account, in confe- 

 quence of a puntlure of his finger by a piece of glafs, at 

 the marriage-fealt of his daughter, which was followed by 

 a fuppurating tumour in the axilla ; but according to 

 another, in confeqi:ence of an attack of (low fever, brought 

 on by his indefatigable exertions in the performance of his 

 duties. His writings evince that he was a man poffeffed of 

 very extenfive medical knowledge. The firll work which 

 he publilhed was entitled " Ifagoges in Rem Herbariam 

 Libri duo," printed at Padua in 1606. This work, though 

 not very fyiematic, contains fome interefting matter. It 

 treats copioufly on the virtues of plants, refpedling which 

 he is faid to have learned much from the Italian pcafatitry, 

 in a tour which he made in the drefs of a rultic. He pub- 

 lifhed alfo " De Lumbrico lato Liber, cum notis et ejufdem 

 Lumbrici icone," to which was fubjoincd a letter " De 

 incerto tempore Partus," 1618. " De Semitertiana Libri 

 quatuor," Francf. 1624. But the moil valuable of his 

 writings are thofe which he compofed on anatomical fubjedf s, 

 and which were publifhed after his death by his fon-iu-law, 

 Crema. Thefe were entitled " De Humani Corporis 

 Fabrica Libri X, cum Tabulis 98 xre incifis," 1625, folio ; 

 and " De formato Fcetu Liber fingularis, xneis figuris 

 ornatus;" to which was annexed "Traftatus de Arthritide," 

 1626, folio. The firit of thefc, relating to the Itrufture of 

 the human body, is one of the bed anatomical works of the 

 time, written with purity, and arranged with great per- 

 Ipicuity and preciCon, and containing ufeful phyfiological 

 and practical obfervations. There is an edition of this 

 work publilhed by Bucretius, 1627, who lias been ccnfured 

 for intermixing his own obfervations with the text of the 

 author. The whole works of Spigelius were colleftcd by 

 Vander Linden, and publifhed \n three volume; folio, at 

 Amlterdam, in 1645. Bee Eloy Dift. Hill, de la Med. 

 Gen. Biog. 



SPIGNEL, in Botany. See Ath.a.maxt.\. 



Spignel, Men. See .^Ethusa. 



Spignfl, IV'ild. See Sersiountain and Sesei.i Seed. 



SPIGNO, or Spin.\, in Geography, a town of France, 

 in the department of the Stura, late a marquifate belonging 

 to Piedmont, on tiie Belbo ; g miles S.S.W. of Acqui. 



SPIGOLA, in Ichthyology, a name given by Paulus 

 Jovius, and fome others, to that fpecies of perch which is 

 generally called the lupus marinus. 



It is a genuine perch, and is dillinguiflicd from the others 

 by Artedi, by the name of the perch with thirteen rays in 

 the fecond back fin, and fourteen m the pinna aiii. 



Authors have called two different fi(h by this name lupus 

 marinus, which, conveying no diftintl idea of the charadlers 

 of the fifli, was applicable to one as much as the other ; 

 but this name of Artedi admits of no equivocation, and 

 mull always diftinguifh the filli. 



SPIKE, in Geography., an ifland in the harbour of Cork, 

 Ireland, which commands the entrance in fuch a manner, 

 that it lias been regularly fortified at a great expence, and 

 is one of the moft complete and unaffailable fortreffes in his 



majelly's dominions. The works, now (1815;) nearly com- 

 pleted, have given employment to a great number of men 

 for feveral years. Spike ifland is immediately oppofite to 

 the town of Cove, and about ten miles from Cork. 



Spike, or Oil of Spike, a name given by our druggilt* to 

 an ciiential oil, much ufed by the varnifh-makers and the 

 painters in enamel ; and of fome ufe in medicine. 



This oil, when genuine, is brought from Provence, and 

 fome other parts of France, and is there made of lavender. 

 This plant is called in Provence a/pic, and thence came 

 the name oil of afpic, which afterwards degenerated into oil 

 of fpik:. See L.WANDtn.A, and Oil. 



The manner of making the oil upon the fpot is this : 

 when the flowers are perfeftly ripe, they put them into an 

 alembic with a great quantity of water, and this they diflil ; 

 after feveral days' maceration, there arifes with the water 

 a large quantity of an oil of a fine pale amber colour, and 

 this, feparated from the water, is the true and genuine oil of 

 fpike. 



The flower of this plant is the part which yields the 

 largell quantity of oil ; as is the cafe with all the plants 

 with galeated flowers, of which the huflc, or flower-cup, 

 ufually contains almoft all the oil of the plant. The aro- 

 matic plants, in general, yield indeed but a fmall quantity 

 of oil, but the vail abundance of this plant, in thefe places, 

 makes the expence of gathering it fo fmall, that the oil is 

 very clicap. The quantity required on feveral occafions, is, 

 however, much greater than what all the lavender of the 

 country can yield ; and the price it is expefted to be fold 

 at is fo fmall, that it is not to be wondered that there are 

 feveral common adulterations of it. 



The moft ufeful ways of fophifticating it, however, arc 

 two ; the one with the fpirit of wine, which is efteemed the 

 leaft hurtful, and the oil thus fophifticated is often called 

 the very bell of the country. The method Mr. GeofFroy 

 took to difcover the cheat was this : he procured a long 

 and narrow phial, of an equal diameter all the way up ; into 

 this he firft put an ounce of fair water, and to this he added 

 an ounce of the oil ; he marked the height of the water in 

 the phial, then fhook the two liquors together, and they be- 

 came milky, and heated on the mixture, which alone would 

 have been a fufficient proof that there was fpirit of wine in 

 the oil. After fome ftanding the liquor became clear, and 

 the oil floated at the top, but in a much fmaller quantity than 

 might have been expedled, there being not more than a 

 quarter of an ounce of it, the reft having been (pirit of 

 wine, which mixed with the water, and thus left all the 

 true oil, whicli was only one-fourth of the quantity, to 

 float alone on the water, which was greatly incrcafed in 

 height in the phial. A pint of this oil of fpike, therefore, 

 contains only four ounces of the genuine oil, and twelve 

 ounces of plain fpirit of wine. 



The fecond method of adulterating this oil, wliich the 

 fame gentleman had fufpeded, was eafily difcovcred next ; 

 for on mixing this quarter of an ounce of pure oil of fpikc 

 with three quarters of an ounce of oil of turpentine, tliere 

 was produced an ounce of liquor, which appeared wholly 

 the fame with the oil of fpike commonly fold in the drug- 

 gilts' fliops. And indeed, much of what is ufually fold 

 is worfe than this, being no other than oil of turpentine 

 fcented with a fmall quantity of true oil of fpike. 



The ready way of dilcovering the oil counterfeited wth 

 oil of turpentine, is to wet a |):iper in it, and fet it on fire ; 

 the turpentine will here be difcovercd by the thick fmokc 

 it yields, it being, of all vegetable oils, that which yields 

 much the thickcll cloud in burning: and, on the contrary, 

 that which has been adulterated with fpirit of wine, w^lI 

 3X2 he 



