sou 



drinking foda-watcr, to have it free from any metallic im- 

 pregnation, or improper admixture. 



SODALITE. See MiNKUAUJGY, JMnda. 



SOMERSET, 1. 6,r. 14,725- 



SOONTAARS, a wild and unlettered tribe of Hmdoos, 

 who inhabit the dillrid of Ramgur, the leall civilized part 

 of the Company's pofFefTions, and who have reduced the 

 detciflion and trial of perfons fufpeded of witchcraft to a 

 fyftem. For an account of their praftices, we refer to the 

 fourth volume of the Afiatic Rcfearches, p. 343. See 



BKNAnES. 



SORBIC Acid, in Chnmjlry. This acid was fo named 

 by Mr. Donovan its difcoverer, liecaufe obtained from the 

 berries of the moun/rt/n afi (formerly denominated yoriuj- aucu- 

 paria, but now fiyrus aticupana ) . The juice of the ripe berries 

 is to be ftrained and mixed with a filtered folution of acetate of 

 lead. The precipitate is then to be feparated by a filter, 

 and wafhed in cold water. A large quantity of boiling 

 water is then to be poured upon the filter, and allowed to 

 pafs through the precipitate into jars. After fome hours 

 this hquid becomes opaque, and depofits cryftals of great 

 luftre and beauty. Thcfe cryftals are to be boiled for half 

 an hour with 2.3 times their weight of fulphuric acid, fpe- 

 cific gravity 1. 090, fupplying water as faft as it evaporates, 

 and takuig care to keep the mixture conftantly ftirred. While 

 ftill hot a ftream of fulphuretted hydrogen is to be fent 

 through the refulting liquid, which will precipitate the lead, 

 and leave the forbic acid in folution in the water. 



Sorbic acid thus obtained is a tranfparent colourlefs 

 inodorous fluid, foluble in alcohol, and in any portion of 

 water. It does not cryftallize, nor is it volatile. Its tafle 

 is exceedingly acid, and it does not appeal- to undergo much 

 change when kept. 



The forbates of potadi, foda, and ammonia, are cryftalliz- 

 able falts, containing an excefs of acid. They are foluble in 

 water, but not in alcohol. Theyirtofjof barytes and lime 

 are neutral and white infoluble powders. The forbic acid 

 combines with lead in three proportions. T\\e fubforbate is 

 a hard mafs or a gritty powder. The forbate is a white 

 powder, which by folution in forbic acid may be obtained 

 cryftallized in beautiful filvery cryftals. The fuperforbate 

 has a fvveet tafte, and is foluble in water. The other 

 forbates are little known, and do not feem to be very in- 

 terefting. 



There appears to be a great refemblance between the 

 forbic and malic acids. Indeed it has been aflerted that they 

 are identical. The malic acid having recently been obtain- 

 ed in a more pure ftate than formerly, has enabled che- 

 mifts to inveftigate its properties more completely, and in 

 this pure ftate it is faid in no circumftance to differ from 

 forbic acid. 



SOSOS, a Chaldaean period of 60 years, which doubled 

 gave the return of the lunar months to within the 20th part 

 of a month. By multiplying this cycle as many times as 

 are neceffary to obtain the precife returns of the fun and 

 moon to the fame points of the heavens, aftronomers found 

 a period of 600 years, called the Neros ; which fee. 



SOUND, for Roberts r. Robarts. 



SOUTHAMPTON, in Geography, a townfhip of Cum- 

 berland county, in Pennfylvania, having 700 inhabitants. 



SOUTH-END. In i8ii,thepan(hof Prittlewellwith 

 Milton contained 285 houfes, and 1541 perfons ; 750 beino: 

 males, and 782 females. '' 



• D?P7,^,_^^^^' ^'^^■^' ^ townftiip of Pennfylvania, 

 in Philadelphia county, having 726 inhabitants. 



SauTiiWARK 5r;%,, an elegant ftrudure defigned by 

 MJ-. Rennie, and forming a conununication between the city 



S P E 



of London and the borough of Southwark, in nearly a 

 ftraight line between Guildhall .lud the Bank-fide. It con- 

 fifts of three grand arches ; the centre arch being 240 

 feet in fpan, and each of the fide arches being 210 feet. 

 The arches are compofed of caft-iron, and the piers and 

 abutments of ftone. The eftimate of the expence was 

 287,000/., and that of the tolls, on the fuppofiliou that 

 London bridge (liould be rebuilt, was conjeftured to amount 

 annually to 50 or 60,000/. The firft ftone of this bridge 

 was laid in 1815, and it was opened for paflengers and car- 

 riages in February 1819. 



SOWANS, a nutritious article of food prepared in Scot- 

 land from the huf]<s of oats, by a proccfs not unhke that by 

 which common ftarch is made. The huflc of the oat after having 

 been feparated by the fieve ftill retains a confiderable portion 

 of farinaceous matter. It is mixed with water, and allowed 

 to remain till the water becomes four. The whole is then 

 thrown upon a fieve ; the milky water paftes through loaded 

 with ftarchy matter, which foon fubfides. The four liquor 

 is poured off, and about an equal quantity of frefh water 

 added. This mixture when boiled forms a very nourifhing 

 article of food, and the portion of the four water which ftill 

 adheres to the ftarch gives the whole a pleafant acidity. 



SPANGLES, paillettes, Fr. are fmall thin round leaves 

 of metal, pierced in the middle, which are fewed on gar- 

 ments, &c. as ornaments. They are prepared by firft 

 twifting wire round a rod into the form of a fcrew ; this is 

 then cut into fingle fpiral rings, like thofe ufed by pin-makers 

 in forming heads to their pins ; and thefe rings being placed 

 upon a fmooth anvil are flatted by a fmart ftroke of the 

 hammer, fo that a fmall hole remains in the middle, and the 

 ends of the wire which lie over each other are clofely united. 

 The fmaller fpangles were firft made in the French gold and 

 filver manufaftories, and imitated in Germany, for the firft. 

 time, in the beginning of the 1 8th century. Beckmann's 

 Hift. of Inventions, vol. ii. 



SPARROW, in Jgricullure. Add— It has been fug- 

 gefted, however, that the mifchief done by fparrows may be 

 fully compenfated by their ufefulnefs in deftroying cater- 

 pillars ; a fingle pair has been found to confume 40,000 in 

 one fe:ifon, in feeding their young. We may here add, that 

 in a diftrift in which great pains had been taken to extir- 

 pate the moles every vegetable was for a confiderable time 

 deftroyed by cockchafFers, which grubs had been thus pre- 

 ferved by the fhort-fighted policy of the farmers. 



SPARTA, I. 13, for country r. city. 



Sparta, col. 2, 1. 3, containing 179 inhabitants. 



SPAVIN. Add— In healing the blood fpavin, Mr. 

 Denny recommends repeated bliftering, and afterwards a 

 comprefs of folded linen, moiftened in the following lotion, 

 and confined by a long bandage : Take 4 oz. of fal am- 

 moniac, 2 oz. of acetated cerufe, 2 quarts of vinegar, and 4 

 of water, mix them. The ufual method of treating the 

 bone fpavin is by bliftering and firing. 



SPECULUM, col. 15, 1. 23 from bottom, for cord r. 

 card. 



SPEECH. See Larynx. 



SPERMACETI, Chemical Properties of. See Cetio 

 ^cid. 



SPERMADICTYON, in Botany, from aTr^j^a, feed, 

 and liKixjnw, a net, becaufe of the reticulated tunic of the 

 feeds. — Roxb. Coromand. v. 3. 32. — Clafs and order. Pen' 

 tandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Rubiacee, JufT. 



Eff. Ch. Corolla funnel-fhaped. Calyx in five deep- 

 awl-(haped fegments, permanent. Stigma five-cleft. Cap- 

 fule inferior, of one cell and five valves. Seeds five, each 

 in a latticed tunic. 



I. S>. fuaveoleiUf 



