S T I 



I. S.fnaveolens. Fragrant Net-feed. — Difcovered by Mr. 

 William Roxburgh, on the Rajamahl hills. Stem ereft, 

 fhrubby, with oppolite branches ; downy when young. 

 Leaves oppofite, ftalked, with triangular intermediate 

 Jllpulas, lanceolate, acute, entire, near a fpan long, fmooth. 

 Flowers white, an inch long, delightfully fragrant, copious, 

 in numerous terminal tufts. A very curious and diftinft 

 genus, which we hope to fee introduced from the Calcutta 

 garden into the ftoves of England. 



SPHAGEBRANCHUS. See Synbranchus. 



SPRIGE, or Sprigg. 



SPRINGS. Add-See Uxahver, 



STAMMERING. See Lary.vx. 



STAPHYLINUS, 1. 5, add— The lan-s are fubter- 

 raneous, and much refemble the complete animals ; 1. 15, 

 add — Mr. Marfham, in his " Entomologia Britannica," enu- 

 merates no fewer than 87 Britifh fpecies. 



Vol. XXXIV. 



STARCH, Chemical Compofitlon of. Starch has been 

 analyfed by three different experimentalifts. The foUowing 

 were the refults : 



Berzelius employed potatoe ftarch. The other experi- 

 ments were made with the ftarch of wheat. 



Kirchhoff, a Ruffian chemift, found, that by boiling ftarch 

 with dilute fulphuric acid it is converted into fugar ; and 

 M. T. de Saufture has recently difcovered, that this change 

 takes place fpontaneoufiy when boiled ftarch is expofed for 

 a confiderable length of time to the aftion of the air. 



STATISTICS, a term applied to the topography of a 

 country, and comprehending its population, policy, manu- 

 faftures, trade, and a variety of other circumftances. 



STEARIN, in Chemijlry. A name given by Chevreul 

 to a fubftance exifting in animal tallows or fats. It may 

 be feparated by alcohol, or limply by preflure. Braconnot 

 ufed the following method : The oil if fluid was congealed, 

 and ill tins ftate was fubjetled to ftrong prefTure between 

 folds of blotting paper. The elam (fee Elaik) was im- 

 bibed by the paper while the ftearin remained behind in a 

 folid ftate. 



Stearin thus obtained is white, brittle, and fomething 

 like wr.x in appearance. It crj-ftallizes in fniall needles. It 

 has little or no fmell. It is taftelefs, and produces no effeft on 

 vegetable blues. It melts, as obtained from different fats, 

 between 1 09 and 1 20° ; that from the fat of the duck being 

 moft readily melted, and that from human fat the leaft. It is 

 foluble in water, and combines with the alkalies, forming 

 foaps. 



STEUBEN, 1. 15, add — of whom, in i8io, 87 were 

 flares. 



STIPPLING, 1. 7 and 9, r. pecks, 



STIRLINGSHIRE. In l8il, this ihire contained 

 8910 houfes, befides 55 unfiniftied, and 58,174 perfons (in- 

 cluding 803 local militia) ; 27,745 being males (militia in- 



S T R 



eluded), and 30,429 females : 2425 families being employed 

 in agriculture, and 5912 in trade, manufaAures, and handi- 

 craft. 



STIRRUP. At the clofe, add— The Roman manners 

 required that young men and expert riders ftiould be able 

 to vault on horfeback without any affiftance. (Virgil, jEneid, 

 1. 12. 288.) In many public places, particularly highways, 

 ftones were erecEled, to which a rider could lead his horfe, 

 that he might mount with greater facility. Such ftones 

 Gracchus caufcd to be raifed (Plutarch, de Vit. Gracchi) ; 

 and they were to be found in many cities in the 1 6th cen- 

 tury, efpecially near the council-houfe, for the convenience 

 of the members of the council, who at that time did not 

 ride in coaches. It was ufual alfo to have portable ftools, 

 which were placed clofe to the horfe when perfons wifhed to 

 mount : and this gave rife to the barbarous praftice of mak- 

 ing conquered generals and prifoners ftoop down, that the 

 viftor might more eafily get on horfeback, by ftepping upon 

 their backs as upon a ftool. In this ignominious manner 

 was the emperor Valerian treated by Sapor, king of Perfia. 

 Some horfes were fo taught, that they kneeled until the 

 rider mounted ; and warriors had on their fpears or lances 

 a ftep or projeftion on which they could reft the foot until 

 they got on horfeback. (Strabo, lib. iii. Sil. Ital. lib. x.) 

 See Anabathra and Anaboleus. The lirft certain ac- 

 count of ftirrups, fays Beckmann, (Hiftory of Inventions, 

 vol. ii.) is in a book written by Mauritius, refpefting the 

 art of wars, about the end of the 6th century. Euftathius, 

 the commentator on Homer, informs us, that in his time, 

 i.e. the 12th centurj', ilirrups had not become very com- 

 mon ; but on a piece of tapeftrj', of the eleventh century, 

 caufed to be engraven by Montfaucon, the faddles of all the 

 horfes appear to have ftirrups. However, after they became 

 common, it was thought to be an evidence of fuperior dex- 

 terity to ride without them. 



STOKES, in Geography, a townftiip of Madifon county, 

 in Ohio, containing 267 inhabitants. 



STONE in the Bladder. See Lithotomy, and Urinart 

 Calculi. 



Stone, Mile. See MiLE-5'/onf. 



Stoned, Chemical Analyjts of. See Analysis. 



STONY Creek, in Geography, a townftiip of Somerfet 

 county, in Pennfylvania, having 943 inhabitants. 



STRAFFORD, in New Hampfhire, add— divided into 

 31 townftiips, &c. 



STRAINING. See Lungs. 



STRAND Bridge. See Waterloo. 



STRONTIAN, Strontium, in Chemijlry, the name of 

 an elementary fubftance or earth, the defcription of which 

 has been omitted. 



Strontian is always found in nature combined with the 

 carbonic or fulphuric acids. (See Stron'tianite ar.d Ce- 

 LESTIXE. ) It may be obtained pure from thofe minerals 

 precifely in the fame manner as barytes and lime. 



Strontian thus obtained is in porous mafles of a greyifh- 

 white colour. Its tafte is acrid and alkahne, and it con- 

 verts vegetable blues to green. Its fp. gr. according to 

 Haffenfratz, is 1.647. It does not aft fo ftrongly on animal 

 bodies as barytes, nor is it poifonous. 



Sir H. Davy, led by analogy, fubjecled it to galvanic 

 influence, and thus fucceeded in feparating its oxygen and 

 obtaining flrontium, the metallic bails of ftrontian. This 

 metal is white, much heavier than water, and bears a clofe 

 refemblance to bariitm in its properties : when expofed to 

 air or thrown into water, it rapidly abforbs oxygen, and 

 is converted into ftrontian. 



Dr. Thomfon, from the recent experiments of Stromeyer 



and 



