was written on staves of eight lines, marked 
at the beginning with eight Greek letters ; 
the notes, or rather points, were on the lines, 
but uo use was made of the spaces. This, 
however, at most, only deprives Guido of the 
original invention of the stave, and still leaves 
him the credit of its great improvement by 
reducing it to live lines, and employing both 
lines and spaces. 
STAUROLITE, in mineralogy. This 
stone has been found at Andreasberg in the 
llartz. It is crystallized, and the form of its 
crystals has induced mineralogists to give it 
the name of cross-stone. Its crystals are two 
four-sided flattened prisms, terminated by 
four-sided pyramids, intersecting each other 
at right angles; the 'plane of intersection 
passing longitudinally through the prism. 
Sometimes these prisms occur solitary. Pri- 
mitive form, an octahedron with isosceles 
triangular faces. The faces of the crystals 
striated longitudinally. 
Its texture is foliated. Its lustre glassy. 
Brittle. Specific gravity 2.33 to 2.36. Co- 
lour milk-white. When heated slowly, it 
loses 0.15 or 0.16 parts of its weight, and 
falls into powder. It effervesces with borax 
and microcosm ic salt, and is reduced to a 
greenish opaque mass. Vv ith soda it melts 
into a frothy white enamel. When its powder 
is thrown on a hot coal, it emits a greenish- 
yellow light. 
A specimen analysed by Westrum was 
composed of 
44 silica 
20 alumina 
20 barytes 
16 water 
100 . 
Klaproth found the same ingredients, and 
nearly in the same proportions. 
A variety of stau.rolite has been found only 
once, which has the following properties : 
Its lustre is pearly, 2. Specific gravity 
2.361. Colour brownish-grey. With soda 
it melts into a purplish and yellowish frothy 
enamel. It is composed, according to Wes- 
trum, of 
47.5 silica 
12.0 alumina 
20.0 barytes 
16.0 wafer 
4.5 oxides of iron and manganese 
100 . 0 . 
STAY, in the sea-language, a strong rope 
fastened to the top of one mast, and to the 
foot of that next before it, towards the prow, 
serving to keep it firm, and prevent its tail- 
ing aftwards or towards the poop. All masts, 
top-masts, and flag-staves, have their stays, 
except the sprit-safl top-masts. That of the 
main-mast is called the main-stay. The main- 
mast, fore-mast, and those belonging to them, 
have also back-stays to prevent their pitching 
forwards or overboard. 
STEALING, the fraudulent taking away 
of another man’s goods, with an intent to steal 
them, against, or without, the will of him 
whose goods they are. See Burglary, 
Larceny, and Robbery. 
STEAM. See Water. 
Steam-engine. See Engine, steam. 
.STEATITES, in mineralogy, is usually 
amorphous, but sometimes crystallized in 
six-sided prisms. Its texture is commonly 
earthy: specific gravity 2.61 to 2.79; feels 
greasy ; seldom adheres to the tongue : co- 
lour white or grey, with a tint of other colours; 
the foliated green. Does not melt per se lie- 
fore the blowpipe. There are three varieties : 
specimens analyzed by Klaproth and Che- 
nevix, contained as follows; 
By Klaproth. By Chenevix. 
59.5 silica 
30.5 magnesia 
2.5 iron 
5.5 water 
60.00 silica 
28.50 magnesia 
3.00 alumina 
2.50 lime/ 
2.25 iron 
98.0 
97.25. 
STEEL, a carburet of iron, or that metal 
combined with a small portion of carbon. See 
Iron. 
STEERAGE, on board a ship, that part of 
the ship next below the quarter-deck, before 
the bulk-head of the great cabin, where the 
steersman stands in most ships of war. See 
the next article. 
STEERING, in navigation, the directing 
of a vessel from one place to another by j 
means of the helm and rudder. He is held j 
the best steersman who causes the least 
j motion in putting the helm over to and 
again, and who best keeps the ship from 
making yaws, that is, from running in and 
out. There are three methods of steering: 
1. By any mark on the land, so as to keep 
the ship even by it. 2. By the compass, 
which is by keeping the ship’s head on such 
a rhumb or point of the compass as best leads 
to port. 3. To steer as one is bidden or con- 
ned, which, in a great ship, is the duty of him 
that is taking his turn at the helm. 
STELLAR l A, stichwort, a genus of 
plants belonging to the class of decandria, 
and order of trigynia, and in the natural sys- 
tem arranged under the 22d order, caryo- 
phylleae. The calyx is pentaphyllous and 
spreading. There are live petals, each di- 
vided into two segments. The capsule is 
oval, unilocular, and polyspermous. There 
are 17 species; three of these are British 
plants. 1. Nemorum, broad-leaved stich- 
wort. 2. Holostea, greater stichwort ; it is 
common in woods and hedges. 3. Graminea, 
less stichwort. The stem is near a foot high. 
It is frequent in dry pastures. 
STELLATE. See Botany. 
STELLERA, German groundsel, a genus 
of plants belonging to the class of octandria, 
and order of monogynia, and in the natural 
system arranged under the 31st order, vepre- 
cuke. There is no calyx ; the corolla is qua- 
drifid. The stamina are very short ; there is 
only one seed, which is black. The species 
are two in number, passerina and chamae- 
jasme. 
STEM. See Botany. 
Stem of a ship, that main piece of timber 
which comes, bending from the keel below, 
where it is scarfed, as they call it, that is, 
pieced in ; and rises compassing right before 
the forecastle. This stein it is which guides 
the rake of the ship, and all the butt-ends of 
the planks are fixed into it. This, in the 
section of a first- rate ship, is called the main 
stem. See Ship-building. 
STEMMATA, in the history of insects, are 
three smooth hemispheric dots, placed gene- 
rally on the top of the head, as in most of the 
hymenoptera and other classes. 
S1EMODIA, a genus of plants belonging 
to the class of didynamia, and order of angi 
| ospermia, and in the natural system ranging 
under the 40th order, personatae. The calyx 
is quinquep'artite ; the corolla bilahiated ; 
there are four stamina ; each of the filaments 
is bifid, and they have two anther®. 'The 
capsule is bilocular. There are four species, 
herbs of the East and West Indies. 
STENPG R A P H Y . The art of steno- 
graphy, or short-hand writing, was known 
and practised by most of the antient civilized 
nations. The Egyptians, who were distin- 
guished for learning at an early period, at 
first expressed their words by a delineation of 
figures called hieroglyphics. A more concise 
mode of writing seems to have- been after- 
wards introduced, in which only a part of the 
symbol or picture was drawn. This answered 
the purpose of short-hand in some degree. 
After them the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the 
Romans, adopted different methods of abbre- 
viating their words and sentences, suited to 
their respective languages. The initials, the 
finals, or radicals, often served for whole 
words;, and various combinations of these 
sometimes formed a sentence. Arbitrary 
marks were likewise employed to determine 
the meaning, and to assist legibility ; and it. 
seems, probable that every writer, and every 
author of antiquity, had some peculiar me- 
thod of abbreviation, calculated to facilitate 
expression of his own sentiments, and intelli- 
gible only to himself. 
It is also probable, that some might by 
these means take down the heads of a dis- 
course or oration ; but few, very few', it is 
presumed, could have followed a speaker 
through all the meanders of rhetoric, and 
noted with precision every syllable, as it 
dropt from his mouth, in a manner legible 
even to themselves. To arrive at perfection 
in the art was reserved for more modern 
times, and is still an acquisition by no means, 
general. 
In every language of Europe, till about the 
close of the 16th century, the Roman plan of 
abbreviating (viz. substituting the initials or 
radicals, with the help of arbitrary characters 
for words), appears to have been employed. 
Till then no regular alphabet had been in- 
vented expressly for stenography, when an 
English gentleman of the name of Willis in- 
vented and published one ; since which we ; 
have had a multitude of others by Mason,. 
Gurney, Byrom, Palmer, &c. &:c. The fol- 
lowing is extracted from Dr. Mavor’s trea- 
tise on the art, which has met with general 
approbation : 
Rules for Orthography in Short hand. 
1.. All quiescent consonants in words are to* 
be dropped ; and the orthography to be 
directed only by the pronunciation : which, 
being known to all, will render this art at- 
tainable by those who cannot spell with pre- 
cision in iong hand. 2. When the absence 
of consonants, not entirely dormant, can be 
easily known, they may often be omitted 
without the least obscurity. 3. Two, or 
sometimes more consonants, may, to promote - 
greater expedition, lie exchanged for a sin- 
gle one of nearly similar sound ; and no am- 
biguity as to the meaning ensue. 4. When 
two consonants of the same kind or same 
