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CoALlTA. This is very much branched, foft, tender, 

 yellow ; the branches are a little compreiTed. It inhabits 

 the North feas ; as do the three following. 



Plana. Expanded, crultaceous, fan-ftiaped. 



Cruciata. White, compreffed, with pinnatifid, obtufe, 

 muriate, woolly branches. 



OssiFORMls. White, flightiy branched, with a thickened 



pitted top. . 



Macida. White, cruftaceous, projefting into fpines. 



FiciFORMis. This is porous, rigid, turbinate, with a 

 perforated tip. It inhabits the Barbary coatt. 



* Lacustris. Creeping, brittle, with ereft, round, ob- 

 tufe branches. It is found at the bottom of lakes in Eng- 

 land and Sweden, covered with fcattered pmes, m which 

 are fometimes found, during autumn, fmall blueifh (hining 

 globules. 



* PuLviATiLis. Green, ereift, fragile, of many irre- 

 gular branches. It inhabits the frelh waters of this country, 

 Pruflia, and other parts of Europe. It is of a dull green, 

 with hardly the appearance of animal life, of a tifhy fmell, 

 and with the pores full of green, gelatinous granulations ; it 

 very much refembles the lall. 



Friabilis. Cinereous, friable, feffile, irregularly (haped, 

 and flightiy branched. Found in the lakes of Germany, and 

 is the food of firti. 



Canadium. This is known by its dichotomous, round, 

 incurved branches. It is found in old aquedufts, and has 

 been thought not to belong to this genus. 



SPONGIOLI, a word ufed by fome authors to exprefs 

 the fmall button muilirooms, which are gathered before they 

 expand or open their heads. 



SPONGIOSUM, in Anatomy, fpongy ; a name given 

 to a fmall ieparate bone of the nofe, and to a procefs of the 

 ethmoid bone. In the older writers, the ethmoid bone alto- 

 gether has been called os fpongiofum, from its complicated 

 apparatus of bony plates, and numerous perforations. See 

 Cranium. 



SPONGY Cheese, in Rural Economy, fuch as is foft 

 and full of ey«s, from negletl and want of attention in 

 making. The remedies are, careful breaking, powerful 

 fqueezing, good Ikewring, and heavy preffing. See Cheese 

 and Dairying. 



SPONHEIM, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Rhine and Mofelle, late capital of a county, 

 to which it gives name ; 27 miles W. of Mentz. N. lat. 

 49° 54'- E-^long. f 40'. 



Sponheim, or Spanbeim, late a county of Germany, in 

 the circle of the Upper Rhine, fituated between the Rhine and 

 the Mofelle, formerly governed by particular counts, at pre- 

 fent divided between the eleftor palatine, the duke of Deux 

 Fonts, and the margrave of Baden. The matricular afleii- 

 ment of the whole for a Roman month was 290 florins, and 

 the tax to the imperial chamber 108 rix-do liars 20 kruet- 

 zers. The foil is in general mountainous, but fertile. Game 

 and fifti are plentiful, and the mutton elteemed excellent. 

 The hills towards the Mofelle and Nahe are covered with 

 vineyards. Here are mines of copper, lead, iron, &c. 

 and fome medicinal fprings. The principal towns were 

 Cruetznach, Sponheim, and Traarbach ; all now annexed 

 to France. 



SPONSIO, in Political Economy, denotes an agreement 

 relating to affairs of Hate, made by a public perfon, who 

 goes beyond the terms of his commiflion, and rtfts without 

 the orders or commands of the fovereign. He who treats 

 in this manner for the ftate, without having a commiflion, 

 promifcs by this means to take fuch meafures, that the 

 (iate, or the fovereign, fhall approve and ratify the agree- 



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I 



ment ; otherwife his agreement would be vain and lUutivCi 

 The foundation of this agreement can be no other, on either 

 fide, than the hope of the ratification. The RomaQ hiilory 

 furnifhes examples of this kind of agreements. 



Sponsio Judictalis, in Law. See Feigned IsstJE. 



SPONSORS. See God-fathers. 



SPONSUS, one of the many names given by the chemifts 

 to mercury. 



SPONTANEOUS, Spontaneus, formed from the La- i 

 tin adverb fponte, of otie's own accord, in the Schools, a term | 

 applied to fuch motions of the body and mind as we perform 1 

 ourfelves without any conftraint. 



Thus, in morality, thofe adlions performed upon an in- 

 ward and natural principle, conformable to our own incli- 

 nations, excluding all conftraint, are called fpontaueous 

 aftions. 



In medicine, an evacuation, effected without any appli- 

 cation for that purpofe, is called a fpontaneous evacuation. 

 And a laflitude or wearinefs, not occafioned by any pre- 

 ceding fatigue, is called a fpontaneous wearinefs. 



Spontaneous Generation. See Equivocal Generation, 



Spontaneous Precipitation. See Precipitation. 



SPONTOON, in Military Language, is a weapon refem- 

 bling a halberd, now ufed infl;ead of a half-pike by the officers 

 of foot. When the fpontoon is planted, the regiment 

 halts ; when pointed forwards, the regiment marches ; and 

 when pointed backwards, it retreats. 



SPOON-BILL, Platea, in Ornithology, the name of a 

 bird of the long-necked kind, approaching to the nature of the 

 fl;ork and heron, and called the fpoon-bill from the remark- 

 able figure of its beak, which is diff^erent from that of all 

 other birds, being broadeft at the extremity, and terminat- 

 ing in a large, rounded, flat procefs, refembhng a fhovel ; 

 or, if Jt were hollow, a fpoon. The whole bill of this bird 

 is of a fine (hining black, except a bright orange-coloured 

 fpot juil above the point of the upper mandible, which is a 

 little bent downward at its extremity ; at the angles of the 

 bill, on each cheek, there is alfo a fpot of the fame colour ; 

 the upper furface of the bill is elegantly waved with dotted 

 protuberances ; a deprefled hne, extending from the nollnls, 

 is continued round it near its edge ; its fubttance appears 

 like whale-bone, being thin, light, and elailic ; the tongue 

 is fliort, and heart-fliaped, and when drawn back, ferves as 

 a valve to clofe the entrance of the throat ; when pulled 

 forward, it has the appearance of a triangular button ; the 

 ears are large, and placed an inch behind the angles of the 

 mouth ; the plumage of the whole body, wings, and tail, is 

 white ; on the back part of the head is a beautiful creft of 

 white feathers, hanging behind the neck ; the legs are black, 

 and alfo the thighs, which are naked about half their length; 

 and the toes are connected by a fmall web, extending to the 

 firlt joint on each. 



This bird breeds on iiigh trees, feeds on fifli and water- 

 plants, and can fwim ; it inliabits the continent of Europe, 

 South America, and the Philippine iflands. 



A flock of thefe birds migrated into the marflies near 

 Yarmouth in Norfolk, in April 1774. Pennant. See Pla- 



TALEA. 



SPOON-DRIFT, in Sea Language, a fort of ftiowery 

 fprinkling of the fea-water, fwept from the furface of the 

 waves in a tempelt, and flying according to the wind, like 

 a vapour. 



SPOONING, or Spooming, was formerly ufed to de- 

 note that moveir.ent in failing, which is now cdWtA. fcudding^ 



SPOON-WORT, in Botany. See Cochlearia. 



SPORADES, in AJlronomy, a name which the ancients 

 gave to fuch ftars as were not included in anv confteliation. 



Thefe 



