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Thefe the moJerns more ufually call infarmes, or ejilra- 

 :imJitUary Jlars. 



Many of the fporades of the ancients have been fince 

 formed into new conflellations ; e. gr. of thofe between 

 Leo and Urfa major, Hevelius has formed a conltcllation, 

 cnlled l.co minor ; of thofe between Urfa minor and Auriga, 

 the fame perfon has formed anotlier conilellation, called 

 Lynx ; and of thofe under the tail of Urfa minor another, 

 called Canis venirticus, (sfc. 



SPORADIC, ctotojkJixo-, formed from oropac, difperfed, 

 of c-T^ijij, I Jireixi, &c. in Medicine, an epithet given to luch 

 illfeafes as have fome fpecial or particular caufe, and are dif- 

 jicrfed here and there, affefting only particular conftitutions, 

 ■/es, &c. 



Sporadic ftands in oppofition to epidemic difeafes, which 

 are thofe arifing from a general caufe, and that are common 

 to all kinds of perfons, of what complexion and quality 

 foever. 



SPORiE, in Botany, from the Greek irropa, y?f</, a name 

 given by fome botaniits to the feeds of certain cryptogamic 

 plants ; by which they feem to imply a doubt of their being 

 truly femina, or exaftly analogous to the feeds of plants in 

 jfencral. We know not on what fuch doubts are founded. 

 If the parts in queltion be produced or perfefted by fexual 

 impregnation, they are to all intents and purpofes real 

 feeds, nor does any peculiarity, or apparent fimphcity in their 

 llrufture, invalidate the propriety of their being fo called. 

 Seeds of different orders of phxnogamous plants differ, as 

 -is well known, in their conformation, and even in the number 

 of internal parts, as well as external coats, of which they 

 are compofed. Thofe of the more obfcure cryptogamous 

 tribes may therefore be expected to differ from them more 

 widely. If fuch apparent feeds be not the offspring of 

 fexual impregnation, they are Gemmae, fee that article ; 

 where, as well as in our biographical account of the great 

 Hedwig, we have lamented that this diftinguifhed philo- 

 fopher and botanifl (hould have been feduced, by lefs ac- 

 curate obfervcrs, to adopt a term entirely fubverfive of his 

 ewn doftrincs and difcoveries. 



SPORANGIUM, from <rT»fa, Jeed, and ayyof, a vfffe/, 

 a name ufed by Hedwig for the capfule of mofles, to which 

 we have the fame objeftion as to the term Spor« for their 

 feeds. See that article, and Hedwig. 



SPORLING's Island, in Gtography, a frmW ifland near 

 the coalt of New Zealand, a little to the N.E. of Gable End 

 Foreland. 



SPORLIVOI, Nos, a cape of Ruffia, on the S. coaft of 

 Nova Zembla. N. lat. 70° 30'. E. long. 60° 34'. 



SPOROBOLUS, in Botany, from <!-:rof.x, feed, and /SaAXii, 

 to throiv, becaufe, as we prefume, of the round deciduous 

 feed. — BrownProdr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 169. — Clafs and order, 

 Triandria Digynia. Nat. Ord. Gramina. 



This genus of grades is feparatcd by Mr. Brown from 

 /fgrri/lis, by the following charadtcrs. 



Calyx of two unequal unarmed valves, containing a fingle 

 flower ; the outer valve fmalleit. Corolla of two rather 

 acute valves, without awns, fcffile, longer than the calyx. 

 Nettary of two fcales. Stigmas villous. Seed obovate, 

 tumid, naked, deciduous. 



The ipecics are found between the tropics, fcarcely be- 

 yond the latitude of 35°. Some have only two Jlamens. 

 Tht: Jloiurrs are panicled. Sheaths of the /miiw boarded, 

 with hardly any membranous Jlipula. They are akin to 

 jigrojlh, cfpeclally to A. virginica. /I. dinndrii of Linnius 

 is a Sporobolus, as well as A. inJica. Bolides the latter, two 

 new fpecies have been ohfcrved by Mr. Brown in New Hol- 

 land, S. ikngatus and pulchellut. 



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SPOROW, in Geography, a tovm of Lithuania, in the 

 palatinate of Brzefc, feated on a lake to which it gives name • 

 28 miles W. of Pinfk. 



SPO RTS, in the Cujloms of Flanders, were in great Togue 

 through Flanders and the Low Countries fome centuriee 

 ago. Every city had a folemnity of this kind peculiar to' 

 itfeif: thus Bruges had that called the Forejler ; Valen- 

 ciennes, the Prince of Pleafantry, and the Prince of the Horfe. 

 Comb ; Cambray, the King of Ribaldry ; and Bouchain, the 

 Provofl of Sots. Lifle, one of the richeft towns in Flanders, 

 was not behind hand with its neighbours in celebrating fports, 

 by the magnificence and diverfions of which to draw toge- 

 ther a vaft concourfe of people from all parts. One of the 

 chief of thefe divertifements was called the King of the Spinet, 

 Roy d'Epinelte, which was celebrated with great pomp and 

 fhow. See Hift. Acad. Infcript. tom. iv. p. 452, feq. 



SPORTULA, or Sportella, in Antiquity, a dole, or 

 largefs, either of meat or money, given by princes, or great 

 men, to the people or poor. 



The fportula was properly the pannier or baflcet in which 

 the meat was brought, or with which the poor went to beg 

 it ; thence the word was transferred to the meat itfeif, and 

 thence to money fometimes given in heu of it. The bafl<et 

 was fuppofed to contain a quantity of hot provifions, of the 

 value of 100 quadrantes, or i2i pence; and thefe bafkett 

 were ranged in order in the hall, and diitributed oflenta- 

 tioufly to the hungry or fervile crowd, which waited at the 

 door. This indehcate cuflom is very frequently mentioned 

 in the epigrams of Martial, and the fatires of Juvenal. (See 

 likewife Suetonius, in Claud, c. 21, in Neron. c. 16, in Do- 

 mitian. c. 4. 7.) Thefe bafkets of provifions were after- 

 wards converted into large pieces of gold and filver coin, or 

 plate, which were mutually given and accepted, even by per- 

 fons of the highell rank (fee Symmach. epift. iv. 5J. ix. 124. 

 and Mifcell. p. 256.) on folemn occafions, of confulfhips, 

 marriages, &c. 



Sportula was alfo frequently ufed in oppofition to reda 

 ccena, a formal or plentiful meal ; as in Martial. — «' Promifl'a 

 eft nobis fportula, refta data." 



St. Cyprian gives the denomination ^or/H/a/)/«yra/r«, to 

 fuch clergymen as then received gifts, or gratuities, for their 

 maintenance. 



SPOT, in Ornithology, the name of a particular fpeciei 

 of pigeon, called by Moore the columba maculata. It is of 

 the fize of a fmall common pigeon, and was brought otct 

 to England from Holland. This fpecies has always a fpot 

 upon its head, jufl above its beak, from whence it has itt 

 name. The feathers of the tail are always of the fame 

 colour with this fpot, and the reft of the body is all white. 

 The fpot and tail are black in fome, red in othera, and 

 yellow in others. They look very beautiful when they 

 fpread their tails and fly, and arc a diflinti fpecies, at they 

 always produce young ones of their own marks. 



SPOTICO, in Geography, an ifland in the Grecian 

 Archipelago, of an irregular form, about four miles long, 

 and from one to two broad ; 6 miles W.S.W. of Faros. 

 N. lat. 36^ 59'. E. long. 25" 12'. 



SPOTS, in AJtronomy, dark places obferved on the difks, 

 or faces, of the fun, moon, and planets. 



The fpots in the fun are only vifible through a telefcopc ; 

 fome diilinguifli them into maculx, or dark fpots ; and 

 faculx', or bright fpots ; but there Items but little found- 

 ation for any fuch divifion. 



The folar fpots have not been long obferved. They were 

 firif difcovercd by Galileo, in the year 1610. foon after he 

 had (inilhed his tvlefcope. 



In oppofition to the received opinion of the unalterable 

 4F 2 ftatf 



