S C A 
S C A 
62i 
name given by the antient inhabitants of the 
northern countries to their poets, in whose 
writings their history is recorded. 
SCALE, a mathematical instrument, con- 
sisting of several lines drawn on wood, brass, 
silver, S:c. and variously divided, according to 
the purposes it is intended to serve; whence 
it acquires various denominations, as the 
plain scale, diagonal scale, plotting scale, 
Gunter’s scale, &c. See Instruments, 
Mathematical. 
SCALE, in music (from the Latin, scala), 
the denomination first given to the arrange- 
ment made by Guido, of the six syllables 
ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la: also called gamut. 
This order of sounds, to which the French 
have added that of si, bears the name of scale, 
t. e. ladder, because it represents a kind of 
ladder, by means of which the voice or instru- 
ment rises to acute, and descends -.to grave ; 
«ach of the seven syllables being, in a man- 
ner, one step of the ladder. 
The word scale is also used to signify a se- 
ries of sounds rising or falling from any given 
pitch or tone, to the greatest practicable dis- 
tance, through such intermediate degrees as 
make the succession most agreeable and per- 
fect, and in which we have all the harmoni- 
cal divisions most commodiously divided. 
This scale is properly called the universal 
system, as including all the particular sys- 
tems. 
This enumeration of all the diatonic sounds 
©f our system, ranged in order, and which we 
call scale, was denominated by the Greeks 
tetrachord, because, in effect, their scale was 
composed of only four sounds, which they re- 
peated from tetrachord to tetrachord, as we 
repeat ours from octave to octave. 
SCALENE Triangle. See Geome- 
try; 
SCALENUS, in anatomv. See Necic. 
SCALES offish. See IIorn, Vol. I. p. 
©24, 3d col. 
SCAM \10N Y, in the materia medica. 
See Convolvulus, and Gum Resins. 
SCANDALUM MAGNATUM, is the 
special name of a statute, and also of a wrong 
done to any high personage of the land, as 
prelates, dukes, marquises, earls, barons, and 
other nobles ; and also the chancellor, trea- 
surer, clerk of the privy seal, steward of the 
house, justice of one bench or other, and 
©ther great officers of the realm, by false 
news, or horrible or false messages, whereby 
debates and discord, betwixt them and the 
commons, or any scandal to their persons, 
might arise. 2 R. 11. c. 5. This statute has 
given name to a writ, granted to recover da- 
mages thereupon. Covvel. — It is now clearly 
agreed, that though there are no express words 
in the statute which give an action, yet the 
party injured may maintain one on this prin- 
ciple of law; that when a statute prohibits the 
doing of a thing, which, if done, might be pre- 
judicial to another, in such case he may have 
an action on that very statute for his da- 
mage. 2 Mod. 152. 
SCANDIX, chervil, shepherd’s needle, 
or Venus’s comb, a genus of the digynia order, 
in the pentandria class of plants ; and in the 
natural method ranking under the 45th or- 
der, umbellata:. The corolla is radiating ; 
the fruit subulated; the petals emarginated ; 
the florets of the disc frequently male. There 
S C A 
are eleven species. The most remarkable is 
the odorata, with angular furrowed seeds. _ It j 
is a native of Germany; and has a very thick 
perennial root, composed ot many fibres, of a 
sweet aromatic taste, like aniseed, irom which 
come forth many large leaves that branch out 
somewhat like those of fern, whence it is 
named sweet fern. 
SCAPEMENT, a general term for the 
manner of communicating the impulse of the 
wheels to the pendulum ot a clock. Common 
scapemenls consist of the swing wheel and 
pallets only. See Clock-work. 
SCAPOLITE, a mineral found at Aren- 
dal, in Norway. It is of a pearl colour, and 
is crystallized in long, four-sided, rectangular 
prisms. Faces longitudinally streaked. Its 
specific gravity is 3.68, and it is hard enough 
to scratch glass. Fracture foliated in two di- 
rections. Before tlie blowpipe, it froths and 
melts into white enamel. It is composed ot 
48 silica 
30 alumina 
14 lime 
1 oxide of iron 
2 water 
95. 
SCAPULA. See Anatomy. 
SCAPULAR. See Anatomy. 
SCARAIUEUS, beetle, a genus of insects 
of the order coleoptera. The generic cha- 
racter is, antennae or horns clavate, with a 
fissile tip; legs generally toothed; body 
thick and compact. This genus is extremely 
extensive, there beingnearly one hundred spe- 
cies. Among these the most remarkable is, 1. 
The scarabaeus Hercules, or Plercules beetle, 
which sometimes measures not less than five, 
or even six inches in length : the wing-shells 
are of a smooth surface, of a blueish or brown- 
ish grey colour, sometimes nearly black, and 
commonly marked with several small, round, 
deep-black spots, of different sizes : the head 
and limbs are coal-black: from the upper 
part of the breast or thorax proceeds a horn 
or process of enormous length, in propor- 
tion to the body: it is sharp at the tip, where 
it curves slightly downwards, and is marked 
beneath by two or three denticulations, and 
furnished throughout its whole length with a 
fine, short, velvet-like pile, of a brownish 
orange-colour: from the front of the head 
proceeds also a strong horn, about two-thirds 
the length of the former, toothed on its upper 
face, but not furnished with any of the velvet- 
like pile which appears on the former. This 
species is a native of several parts of South 
America, where great numbers are said to be 
sometimes seen on the tree called mammata, 
rasping otF the rind of the slender branches 
by working nimbly round them with the 
horns, till they cause the juice to flow, which 
they drink to intoxication, and thus fall 
senseless from the tree. This, however, as 
the learned Fabricius has well observed, 
seems not very probable ; since the thoracic 
horn, being bearded on its lower surface, 
would undoubtedly be made bare by this 
operation. This species, from the large size 
of all its parts, affords an admirable example 
of the characters of the genus. It varies 
much in size, and it may even be doubted 
whether some of the smaller specimens have 
not been occasionally regarded by authors as 
distinct species. The female is destitute 
2 
both of the frontal and thoracic horn, but in 
j other points resembles the male. See Plate 
Nat. Hist. fig. 352. 
2. Scarabams Goliathus, the Goliah bee- 
tle, is highly remarkable both in point of 
size and colour : it is larger in body than the 
preceding, and has a rose-coloured thorax, 
marked with longitudinal black stripes or va- 
riegations, and purple-brown wing-sheaths: 
the head is divided in front into two forked 
processes: the limbs are black, and very 
strong. It is a native of some parts of Afri- 
ca. A supposed variety sometimes occurs, in 
which both the thorax and wing-sheaths are 
of a pale yellowish brown instead of rose-co- 
lour, and are marked with black variega- 
tions. 
3. Scarabxus melolontbas, or cockcha- 
fer, is one of the most common European 
beetles. This insect is extremely familiar in 
our own island, the larva or caterpillar inha- 
biting ploughed lands, and feeding on the 
roots of corn, &c. and the complete insect 
making its appearance during the middle and 
the decline of summer. The cockchafer 
sometimes appears in such prodigious num- 
bers as almost to strip the trees of their foli- 
age, and to produce mischiefs nearly ap- 
proaching to those of the locust tribe. It ap- 
pears from a paper by a Mr. Molineux, printed 
in the Philosophical Transactions for the 
year 1697, that some particular districts in 
Ireland were overrun by this insect in a won- 
derful manner; and the failure of the wheat 
in the year 1804 has been by some attri- 
buted to the numbers of the larva of this in- 
sect which were lodged in the earth. 
The larva, or caterpillar, of this insect, is 
said to be two, and sometimes three years, in 
passing from its first form into that of the 
perfect insect. The eggs are laid in small 
detached heaps beneath the surface of some 
clod, and the young, when first hatched, are 
scarcely more than the eighth of an inch in 
length, gradually advancing in their growth, 
and occasionally shifting their skins, till they 
arrive at the length of near two inches. At 
this period they begin to prepare for their 
change into a chrysalis or pupa, selecting for 
the purpose some small clod of earth, in 
which they form an oval cavity, and, after a 
certain space, divest themselves of their last 
skin, and immediately appear in the chrysalis 
form, in which they continue till the suc- 
ceeding summer, when the beetle emerges 
from its retirement, and commits its depre- 
dations on the leaves of trees, &c. breeds, and 
deposits its eggs in a favourable situation, 
after which its life is of very short duration. 
4. A much more elegant insect of this kind 
is the scarabaeus fullo, or variegated beetle. 
It is nearly twice the size of the cockchafer, 
and of an elegant chesnut-colour, with th« 
wing-sheaths beautifully marbled with white 
variegations. It is common in many parts of 
Europe, but extremely rare in England. 
See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 351. 
5. A species of peculiar beauty is the 
golden beetle, scarabaeus auratus ; it is about 
the size of the common or black garden- 
beetle, but of a somewhat flatter shape ; and 
of the most brilliant, varnished, golden- 
green colour, with the wing-shells varied 
towards the lower part by a few slight, trans- 
verse, white streaks. This beautiful specie* 
is not uncommon during the hottest part of 
