son 
sou 
sou 
tvemely common in some of the northern 
parts of Europe and Asia, does not seem to 
have been very distinctly understood by mo- 
dern naturalists. 
According to Dr. Pallas, it chiefly inhabits 
the rver \ Volga and the adjacent lakes, from 
Novogorod to Saratof; and is not found in 
Russia, nor does its existence in Lapland 
seem well ascertained. It is said to be very 
seldom seen on land ; confining itself to lakes 
and rivers, in the banks of which it occasion- 
ally burrows to a great distance. The gene- 
ral length of the animal is about seven inches 
from nose to tr.il, and of the tail eight inches: 
but it is sometimes found of a larger size. The 
tail, except at its base, is perfectly naked, 
marked out into scaly divisions, and is of a 
brown colour ; it is also of a laterally com- 
pressed form, and gradually tapers to the ex- 
tremity ; near the base of the tail are situated 
several small follicles, or glandular recep- 
tacles, in which is secreted a yellowish fluid, 
resembling in smell the strongest civet ; of 
this substance about the quantity of a scruple 
may, it is said, be obtained from each animal. 
These creatures are said sometimes to be 
seen swimming about in considerable num- 
bers on the surface of lakes and rivers, and 
may often be heard to snap their mouths 
with a sound not unlike that of a duck ; feed- 
ing on worms, leeches, water-in&ects, &c. as 
well as occasionally on vegetable substances. 
In some particulars this animal makes a 
distant approach to that most singular of 
quadrupeds, the platypus. 
The musk-shrew is a slow-paced animal, 
and easily taken, if accidentally found on 
land. The skins are said to be sold in Russia 
to put into chests in order to drive away 
moths ; and so common is the animal in the 
neighbourhood of Nizney Novogorod, that 
the peasants are said to bring five hundred 
apiece to market, where they are sold for a 
ruble per hundred. 
In the twelfth edition of the Systema Na- 
ture this animal is placed in the genus castor 
©r beaver, under the title of castor moschatus. 
See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 368. 
3. Sorex radiatus, Canada shrew. This 
animal may with great propriety be termed 
sorex radiatus, since the snout, which is long 
and slender, has a dilated cartilaginous ex- 
tremity, furnished with a circular series of 
sharp-pointed processes or soft tendrils, dis- 
posed in the manner of the rays in a spur. 
The whole animal is of a long form, and its 
habit immediately pronounces it to belong to 
the genus sorex, and not to that of talpa. Its 
body is longish, and covered with black 
coarsish hair ; the feet far less than those of 
a mole; the eyes hid under the skin; the 
snout edged on each side with upright vibris- 
sae ; the radiated tentacula at the end of the 
nose are of a bright rose-colour, and moveable 
at the pleasure of the animal, so as either to 
be brought together into a tubular form, or 
expanded in the form of a star. 
It is said to inhabit Canada, but not to be 
very common there. It occasionally bur- 
rows somewhat in the manner of a mole, but 
far less strongly, or more slowly, and is said 
to pass a considerable portion of its life be- 
neath the surface of the snow. 
4. Sorex c:mdescens, perfuming shrew, 
measures from nose to tail near eight inches; 
and the tail is about three inches and a halt 
long. This animal diffuses a musky smell, 
so extremely powerful as to penetrate almost 
every substance which it touches. It inhabits 
fields, but is said sometimes to come into 
houses. It is found in the East Indian islands, 
as well as in India, occurring in Java, &c. &c. 
and is said to feed chiefly on rice. 
5. Sorex minutus, minute shrew, is an ex- 
tremely small animal, which inhabits moist 
places in Siberia, and makes its nest of 
lichens and mosses under the roots of trees, 
living on grains and seeds, &c. It is of a 
subferruginous brown colour above, and 
whitish below; the head is large ; the snout 
very long and slender, and beset with a row 
of long whiskers on. each side, reaching as 
far as the eyes. It has no tail ; the eyes are 
small, and the ears short and naked. It is 
said to run swiftly, and to have a voice like 
that of a bat. It weighs about a dram. 
SORITES, in logic, a species of reasoning 
in which a great number of propositions are 
so linked together, that the predicate of the 
one becomes continually the 'subject of the 
next following, till at last a conclusion is 
formed by bringing together the subject of 
the first proposition and the predicate of the 
last: such is the following argument : “God 
is omnipotent ; an omnipotent being can do 
every thing possible ; a being that can do 
every thing possible, can do whatever in- 
volves not a contradiction ; therefore, God 
can do whatever involves not a contradic- 
tion.” 
SORREL. See Rumex. 
SOUND is produced by a vibrating mo- 
tion, excited in a sonorous body by a blow 
or a shock trom another body ; and the same 
motion is communicated by this sonorous 
body to the air which surrounds it, and trans- 
mitted by this fluid to tiie ear, which is an 
organ admirably adapted to receive its im- 
pression. 
From this definition it follows, that sound 
should lie considered in three different views; 
first, with respect to the sonorous body ; which 
produces it ; secondly, as to the medium 
which transmits it ; and, thirdly, as to the 
organ which receives the impression. 
Those bodies are properly called sonorous 
which afford a sound distinct, and of some 
duration ; such as bells, the strings of a violin, 
&c. and not those which cause only a con- 
fused noise, such as a stone produces when 
it falls upon a pavement. When bodies are, 
strictly speaking, sonorous, they are neces- 
sarily elastic, as will be afterwards proved ; 
and their sound, as to its force and duration, 
is proportionate to their vibrations. 
Suppose, for example, the bell of a clock 
to be struck by any solid body, a kind of un- 
dulating or tremulous motion is imparted to 
the minute particles; and this motion may 
be even perceived by the hand or fingers 
when applied to the bell. 
To understand (bis more completely, let us 
conceive that a bell is composed of a series of 
circular zones, decreasing in diam ter ail the 
way to its top, each of which may be con- 
sidered as a flat ring, composed of as many 
concentric circles as its thickness will admit 
of. If this ring is struck at the point a (Elate 
Miscel. fig. 219), the part so struck tends to- 
wards o-, and at the same time the parts b 
and cl tend towards i and m, and this action 
in these parts necessarily causes the point c 
to approach towards e. By their elastic power, 
<5S 7 
however, these parts presently regain the 
position in which they were before the bell 
was struck ; but as they return with an ac - 
celerated force, they generally go beyond the 
point where thev ought to rest. The part a, 
therefore, after having returned from g to a, 
tends towards/, the part c towards h, and the 
parts b and d towards k and l ; whence it hap- 
pens that the bell, at first of a circular form, 
really becomes alternately elliptical in two 
different directions ; it follows then, that in 
those parts where the curvature is the great- 
est, their exterior points depart from each 
other. 
The same circumstance happens to the- 
musical chord of a harp, or other stringed in- 
strument, when it is touched : for, in order to 
become angular, as BCD or BED (fig. 220) 
it is necessary that the string be stretched 
or lengthened, and consequently its particles- 
be in some measure removed irom the point 
of contact. 
There are then two vibrations which take 
place in sonorous bodies : the general vibra- 
tion, which changes the form of the body ; 
and the particular vibration, which affects the 
minute particles, in consequence of the for- 
mer. M. de la Hire has proved, that the 
sound is not owing to the general vibration, 
but rather to the vibration of the particles : 
for whenever the two vibrations can be sepa- 
rated, it is found that the former produces 
no sound; but when the general vibration is 
accompanied with a vibration of the particles, 
it is the latter that regulates the duration, 
the force, and the modulation of the sound ; 
if, on the contrary, these vibrations are 
stopped or interrupted by touching the so- 
norous body, the sound immediately ceases. 
On this account clock-makers attach to the 
hammer which strikes the bell of the clock 
a small spring, which elevates it again the 
moment it has struck, and prevents it from 
remaining upon the bell, which would con- 
siderably deaden or destroy the sound. 
Acute sounds are produced, when the vi- 
brations of the sounding body are more fre- 
quent ; grave or deep sounds, when they are 
less so ; no medium between acute and grave 
sounds can be found. Sonorous bodies are 
said to be in unison when they vibrate witii 
the same frequency; when one vibrates 
twice as fast as the other, they differ by an 
octave ; and other ratios, with respect to the 
quickness of vibration, are distinguished by 
otlier names. Chords which are short and 
tightly stretched, produce acute sounds ;. 
those which are long and lax, grave sounds. 
The motion or vibration of bodies at a dis- 
tance from us would not atfect our sense of 
bearing without the medium of some other 
body, which receives an impulse from this 
motion, and communicates the vibration to> 
our organs. Thus a hard blow upon an 
anvil or upon a bell could not be heard by 
us, even at a very small distance, if there 
was not a medium between those objects and 
us capable of transmitting the vibrations to 
our auditory nerves. Elastic fluids are the 
most effective mediums for this purpose, and 
consequently the air is the most common 
vehicle of sound ; which is very easily proved 
by ringing a bell under the receiver of an air- 
pump, the sound it affords being found gra- 
dually to diminish as the air becomes ex- 
hausted, til at Lugth it ceases to be heard 
