SHO 
texture is foliated. Fracture uneven. Easily 
broken. Specific gravity. 3.53. Colour 
greenish or yellowish white ; sometimes sul- 
phur yellow*. Not altered by heat. Ac- 
cording to the analysis of Klaproth, it is 
composed ot 50 alumina 
50 silica 
100 . 
According to Vauquelin, of 52.fi alumina 
36.8 silica 
3.3 lime 
1.5 water. 
94.2 
SHORT-HAND. See Stenography, 
SHO T, a denomination given to all sorts 
• of balls for fire-arms ; those for cannon being 
of iron, and those for guns, pistols, of 
lead* 
Shot, case, formerly consisted of all kinds 
of old iron, nails, musket-balls, stones, &c. 
flsed as above. 
Shot of a cable, on ship-board, is the 
I splicing of two cables together, that a ship 
, may ride safe in deep waters and in great 
f roads ; for a ship will ride easier by one shot 
! of a cable, than by three short cables out 
ahead. 
Shot , grape. See Grape-shot. 
Shot , patent milled, is thus made ; sheets 
of lead, whose thickness corresponds with the 
size of the shot required, are cut into small 
pieces, or cubes, of the form of a die. A 
| great quantity of these little cubes are put 
into a large" hollow iron cylinder, which 
is mounted horizontally and turned by a 
winch ; when by their friction against one 
another, and against the sides of the cylinder, 
they are rendered perfectly round and very 
smooth. The other patent-shot is cast in 
moulds, in the same way as bullets are. 
Shot, common small, or that used for 
fowling, should be well sized ; for, should it 
be too great, then it flies thin and scatters 
j too much ; or it too small, then it has not 
weight and strength to penetrate far, and the 
bird is apt to fly away with it. In order, 
therefore, to have it suitable to the occasion, 
1 it not being always to be had in every place 
fit for the purpose, we shall set down the true 
method of making all sorts and sizes under 
the name of mould-shot, formerly made after 
j the following process: 
Take any quantity of lead you think fit, 
I and melt it down in an iron vessel ; and as 
I it melts keep it stirring with an iron ladle, 
skimming off all impurities whatsoever that 
' may, arise at top ; when it begins to look of 
a greenish colour, strew on it as much auri- 
i pigmentum or yellow orpiment, finely pow- 
i dered, as will lie* on a shilling, to every twelve 
or fourteen pounds of lead; then stirring 
them together, the orpiment will flame. The 
i ladle should have a notch on one side of the 
1 brim, for more easily pouring out the lead ; 
i the ladle must remain in the melted lead, 
; that its heat maybe the same with that of 
t! e lead, to prevent inconveniences which 
o herwise might happen by its being either 
too hot or too cold ; then, to try your lead, 
drop a little of it into water, and if the drops 
prove round, then the lead is of a proper 
heat ; if otherwise, and the shot have tails, 
then add more orpiment to increase the heat, 
till it is found sufficient. 
Then take a plate of copper, abou. the 
You. II. 
S H It 
size of a trencher, which must be made with 
a hollowness in the middle, about three 
inches compass, within which must be bored 
about 40 holes according to the size of the 
shot which you intend to cast ; the hollow 
bottom should be thin ; but the thicker the 
brim, the better it will retain the heat. Place 
this plate on a frame of iron, over a tube or 
vessel of water, about four inches from the 
water, and spread burning coals on the plate, 
to keep/ the lead melted upon it ; then take 
some lead and pour it gently on the coals on 
the plate, and it will make its way through 
the holes into the water, and form itself into 
shot ; do thus till all your lead is run through 
the holes of the plate, taking care, by keep- 
ing your coals alive, that the lead does not 
cool, and so stop up the holes. 
While you are casting in this manner, an- 
other person with another ladle may catch 
some of the shot, placing the ladle four or 
five inches underneath the plate in the water, 
by which means you will see if they are de- 
fective, and rectify them. Your chief care 
is to keep the lead in a just degree of heat, 
that it shall be not so cold as to stop up the 
holes in your plate, nor so hot as to cause the 
shot to crack; to remedy the heat, you must 
refrain working till it is of a proper coolness; 
and to remedy the coolness of your lead and 
plate, you must blow your fire ; observing, 
that the cooler your lead is, the larger will 
he your shot ; as, the hotter it is, the smaller 
they' will be. 
After you have done casting, take them out 
of the water, and dry them over the fire with 
a gentle heat, stirring them continually that 
they do not melt ; when dry, you are to se- 
parate the great shot from the small, by the 
help of a sieve made for that purpose, ac- 
cording to their several sizes. But those 
who would have very large shot, make the 
lead trickle with a stick out of the ladle into 
the water, without the plate. If it stops on 
the plate, and yet the plate is not too cool, 
give but the plate a little knock, and it will 
run again ; care must be had that none of 
your implements are greasy, oily, or the like ; 
and when the shot, being separated, are found 
too large or too small for your purpose, or 
otherwise imperfect, they will serve again at 
the next operation. 
Shot, tin-case, in artillery, is formed by 
put ting a great quantity of small iron shot into 
a tin cylindrical box called a cannister, that 
just fits the bore of the gun. Leaden bullets 
are sometimes used in the same manner ; and 
it must be observed, that whatever number or 
sizes of the shots are used, they must weigh 
with their cases nearly as much as the shot 
of the piece. 
SHREW-MOUSE. See Sorex. 
SHRIMP. See Cancer. 
SHRINE, in ecclesiastical history, a case 
or box, to hold the relics of some saint. 
SHROUDS, See Shrowds. 
SHROWDS, or Shrouds, in a ship, are 
the great ropes which come down both sides 
of the m ists, and are fastened below to the 
chains on the ship’s side, and aloft to the top 
of the mast ; being parcelled and served, in 
order to prevent the mast’s galling them. 
The topmast shrowds are fastened to the 
puttock-plates, by dead-eyes and laniards, 
as the others are. Some of the terms relat- 
ing to the shrowds are : ease the shrowds ; 
5 1 D 605 
that is, slacken them : and, set up the 
shrowds ; that is, set them stiffen 
SHUTTLE, in the manufactures, an in- 
strument much used by weavers, in the mid- 
dle of which is an eye, or cavity, wherein is 
inclosed the spool with the woof. See 
We a vi n g. 
SI, in music; a seventh note or sound, 
added by Le Maire to the six antient notes 
invented by Guido Aretine, viz. ut. re, mi, 
fa, sol, la, si, 
SIBBALDIA, a genus of plants belong- 
ing to the class of pentandria, and. to the 
order of pentagynia; and in the natural 
method ranking under the 35th order, senli- 
cosae. The calyx is divided into ten seg- 
ments. The petals' are five, and are insert- 
ed into the calyx. The styles are attached 
to the side of the germens. The seeds are 
live. There are three species belonging to 
this genus, the procumbens, erccta, and al- 
taica. The procumbens, or reclining sib- 
baldia, is a native of North Britain. 
SIBTHORPIA, a genus of plants belong- 
ing to the class of didynamia, and to the 
order of angiospermia ; and in the natural 
system classed with those the order of which 
is doubtful. The calyx is spreading, and 
divided into five parts, almost to the base. 
The corolla is divided into five parts in the 
same manner, which are rounded, equal, 
spreading, and of the length of the calyx. 
The stamina grow in pairs at a distance from 
each other. The capsule is compressed, or- 
bicular, bilocular, the partition being trans- 
verse. There is one species ; the Euro j 
piea, or bastard monev-wort, a native of 
South Britain. It blossoms from July to 
September, and is found in Cornwall oa 
the banks of rivulets. 
SICE-ACE, a game with dice and tables, 
whereat five may play; each having six meh, 
and the last out losing, At this game, they 
load one another with aces ; sixes bear away ; 
and doublets drinks, and throws again. 
SICYOS, a genus of plants belonging to 
the class of moncecia, and to the order of 
syngenesia ; and in the natural system ar- 
ranged under the 34th order, cucurbitaceae. 
The male flowers have their calyx quinque- 
dentated, their corolla quinquepartite, and 
there are three filaments. The female flow- 
ers have their caiyx and corolla similar; but 
their style is trifid, and their drupe mond- 
spermous. There are three species, the angfi- 
lata, laciniata, and garcini, which are all fo- 
reign plants. 
SlDA, yellow or Indian mallow : a genus 
of plants belonging to the class of monadel- 
phia, and to the order of polyandria; and in 
the natural system ranking under the 37th 
order, columniferse. The calyx is simple 
and angulated ; thestyde is divided into many 
parts ; there are several capsules, each con- 
taining one seed. There are 99 species, ail 
natives of warm climates ; and most of them 
are found in the East or West Indies. The 
Chinese make cords of the sida abutilon. 
This plant loves water, and may be advan- 
tageously' planted in marshes and ditches, 
where nothing else will grow. The mace- 
ration of the smaller stalks is finished in about 
fifteen days ; of’ the larger in a month. The 
strength and goodness of the thread appears 
to be in proportion to the perfectioii of the 
vegetation, and to the distance the plant is 
kept at from other plants. The fibres [lie 
