S P I 



S P I 



difcovered variety of fpinell is called by Werner Salam ftone, 

 the name by which it is known in India ; its coloura are red 

 and blue. It is cryftallized in fix-fided prifms, varioufly 

 truncated. It is in general only tranflucent, and exhibits a 

 pearly light on the furface. It is fomewhat heavier than 

 true fpinell, but in other charafters agrees with it. It is 

 found in the peninfula of India. 



SPINET, Spinetto, Ital. Efplnette, Fr. from fpina, a 

 thorn, or quill, the tone being produced by a crow's quill 

 inferted in the tongue of a little machine called a jack. 

 (See Jack, and Tongue.) The inftrument confilts of a 

 chell or belly, made of the mod porous and refinous wood 

 to be found, and a table of fir fattened on rods, called the 

 found-board, which bears on the fides : on the table are raifed 

 two little prominences or bridges, in which are fixed as 

 many pins as there are firings on the inftrument. See 

 Bridge. 



It is played with keys, like the virginal, or fmall piano- 

 forte ; the long keys are for the diatonic or natural notes, 

 and the fhort for the flats and (harps. See Keys, and 

 Scale. 



The keys, when prefled down at the end by the finger, on 

 the principle of the lever, make the other end throw up 

 jacks, which itrike the ftrings, and caufe the fotJnd by means 

 if the quiUs with which they are armed. 



The thirty thickeft ftrings are of brafs ; the others, for 

 the more delicate tones, are of Heel or iron-wire, faftened at 

 one end by hooks, and at the other on pins, by which they 

 receive their tenfion over the bridges already mentioned. 



The figure of the fpinet is like that of the harpfichord, 

 a horizontal harp, and the harp an inverted fpinet. It is 

 tuned in the fame manner as other keyed inilruments, by 

 jths and 8ths, with or without bearings, as the tuner or the 

 owner of the inftrument fhall pleafe. 



There have been fpinets and harpfichords made for curious 

 people with fome or all the ihort keys fplit or cut in two for 

 harmonics, or at leaft to perfeft fome of the extraneous 

 keys, furnifliing a different tone for F* and Gb> D* and 

 Ebj &c. to pcrfeft fome of the moft offenfive keys in com- 

 mon tuning. Zarlino had an inftrument of this kind made 

 at Venice, which we faw at the houfe of Pcrcetti, the com- 

 pofer's widow, and it was afterwards fent to England ; but 

 the mechanifm and tone were fo bad, that no tuning could 

 render its founds agreeable. There are quarter-notes, as 

 they are called, in the Temple organ, to three of the five 

 fhort keys ; but except in pfalmody, or very flow movements, 

 Stanley never ventured to touch them. 



We have fcen fpinets made by Haywood, in the time of 

 James and Charles I., with box keys for the natural notes ; 

 by Keen and Slade, in queen Anne's time, with the long keys 

 of ebony and the fhort of ivory ; and excellent fpinets by 

 the two Hitchcocks, father and fon, with ivory natural 

 keys, and ebony or drii-d pear-tree for tiie fharps and flats. 



The fpinet had but a finglc firing to each note. As the 

 fpinet rivalled the virginal, the fmall piano-forte has fup- 

 planted the fpinet in the public favour ; and we believe 

 that very few have been made fince the middle of the laft 

 century. 



SPINIAGOR, in Geography, a town of Ruffia, in the 

 government of Viatka ; 40 miles vS.W. of Elabuga. 



SPINIFEX, in Botany, {rom fpina, a thorn, and facio, 

 to make, becaufe of the thorny nature of its involucral 

 leaves. — Linn. Maut. 2. 163. Nov. Gram. Gen. 29. t. i. 

 Schreb. Gen. 744. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 1129. Mart. 

 Mill. Dift. V. 4. Brown Prodr. Nov. Hoil. v. I. 198. 

 JulT. 30. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 840. — Clafj and order, Polj- 



VoL. XXXIII. 



gamiaDioecia; nther Triandria Dlgynla. Nat. Ord. Gra- 

 mina. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Common Involucrum of two lanceolate, 

 channelled, unequal, fpinous-pointed leaves ; partial of about 

 four fimilar ones. Flowers on awl-fhaped cluftered recep- 

 tacles, naked above. Perianth of two equal valves, con- 

 taining one or two florets. Civ. of two lanceolate convo- 

 luted valves, the innermoft enfolding the organs of fruftifi- 

 cation. Stam. Filaments three, capillar)' ; anthers long, 

 linear, cloven at each end. P't/l. Germen oblong ; flyles 

 two, thread-fhaped, longer than the glumes ; ftigmas vil- 

 lous, prominent. Perk, none, except the hardened corolla, 

 united to the oblong, fmooth, hWtary feed. 



On one plant the flowers are fituatcd at the bafe of each 

 receptacle, each calyx containing two florets, and the an- 

 thers are m.oft perfeft in one, the ftigmas in the other. On 

 a feparate plant the florets are folitary, all male, and nume- 

 rous along the lower part of eacli receptacle. 



Efl. Ch. Involucrum of two fpinous leaves. Calyx of 

 two valves, two-flowered. Corolla of two valves. Seed 

 united to the hardened corolla. 



Some flowers male, on a feparate plant. 



1. S. fqunrrofus. Linn. Mant. 2. 300. Willd. n. i. 

 (Stipa fpinifex ; Linn. Mant. I. 34. Cyperus littoreus ; 

 Rumph. Amboin. v. 6. 6. t. 2. f. 2.)— Smooth. Leaves 

 channelled, rigid, fpinous-pointed, rough at the edges. — 

 Native of the fandy fea-fliores of the Eaft Indies. A large, 

 rigid, tough, fhrubby grafs, whofe furface is fmooth and 

 glaucous. Leaves three or four inches long, with broad 

 fheathing bafes, rough-edged. F/oiuers in large, terminal, 

 aggregate and compound heads, the fpii;ou3 points of their 

 receptacles and involucral leaves projefting in every direc- 

 tion. Thefe heads are blown to a great diftance by the 

 wind, and roll along the fands with great velocity. 



2. S. longifolius. Brown n. I. (Cyperus; Peron, Voy. 

 aux Terres Auftr. v. i. 1 13.) — " Smooth. Leaves flaccid, 

 femi-cyhndrical, unarmed, fmooth-edged, thrice as long as 

 the feed-bearing receptacle. Glumes of the male flowers 

 rough." — Gathered by M. Baudin, in the tropical part of 

 New Holland. Bronun. 



3. S. fragUis. Br. n. 2. — " Smooth. Leaves flaccid, 

 femi-cylindrical, unarmed, rough-edged, longer than the 

 feed-bearing receptacle." — Obferved by Mr. Brown, in the 

 tropical part of New Holland. 



4. S. ferieeus. Br. n. 3. — " Silky. Leaves unarmed, 

 fmooth, like their flieaths, at the infide. Point of the male 

 receptacle feveral times fliorter than the fpike." — Found by- 

 Mr. Brown in the laft-mentioned country, as well as in New 

 South Wales. 



5. S. hirfutus. Br. n. 4. Labill. Nov. Hell. v. 2. 81. 

 t. 230, 231. — Silky. Leaves unarmed, villous as well at 

 their flieaths. Point of the male receptacle nearly equal to 

 the fpike. — Native of the fouth coaft of New Holland. 



SPINIS! Attachiamenta de Spinit ^ Bofco. See At- 



TACHIAMENTA. 



SPINNEY, in Rural Economy, a term fignifying pro- 

 vincially a clump of trees, or fmall grove or plantation. 



SPINNING, the art of combinmg animal or vegetable 

 fibres into threads or cords, by twifting them together. 

 Wool, filk, cotton, flax, and hemp, are the matters moft 

 commonly employed forfpinning into threads ; and of thefe, 

 moll of the vegetable fibres, except cotton, require to be 

 wetted during the operation of fpinning, to render them 

 more fupple ; but cotton, wool, and filk, are fpun in a dry 

 ftate. 



The machines employed for fpinning arc of very different 

 4 A kinds, 



