STY 
STY 
thicker than in that genus; they are also 
placed close to each other; and the outward 
surface of the eye, when magnified) does not 
shew the least appearance of a reticulated 
structure. Below the head, on each side’, is a 
considerable compressed semicircular space, j 
the fore part of which is bounded by the co- 
vering of the gills, which covering seems to 
consist of a single membrane, of a moderately 
strong nature. Beneath this, on each side, 
are three small pair of branchiae The body 
is extremely long, and compressed very 
mych, and gradually diminishes as it approach- 
es the tail, which terminates in a string or 
process of an enormous length, and finishes 
in a very line point. This string, or caudal 
process, seems to be strengthened through- 
out its whole length, or at least as far as the 
eye can trace it, by a sort of double fibre or 
internal part. The pectoral fins are very 
small, and situated almost immediately be- 
hind the cavity on each side the thorax. The 
general colour of this lish is a rich silver, ex- 
cept on the flexible part belonging to the 
rostrum, which is of a deep brown : the fins 
and caudal process are also brown. There is 
no appearance of scales on this fish. 
STYL1TES, an appellation given to a 
kind of solitaries, who spent their lives seated 
on the tops of columns, to be, as they ima- 
gined, the better disposed for meditation, &c. 
Of these we find several mentioned in an- 
tient writers, and even as low as the eleventh 
century. The founder of the order was St. 
Simon Stylites, a famous anchoret in the fifth 
century, who took up his abode on a column 
six cubits high ; then on a second of twelve 
cubits ; a third, of twenty-two ; and, at last, 
on another of thirty-six. The extremity of 
these columns was only three feet in diame- 
ter, with a kind of rail or ledge about it that 
reached almost to the girdle, somewhat re- 
sembling a pulpit. 'there was no lying 
down in it. The faquirs, or devout people 
of the East, imitate this extraordinary kind of 
life even to this day, 
STYLO-CERALOIDES,') the names of 
STYLO-Glossus, I different mus- 
Stylo -Hi/oidctus, }*cles in the hu- 
$>ty LO-P han/ngaus, I man body. See 
STYLOIDES, J Anatomy. 
STYPTIC. See Pharmacy. 
STYRAX. See Resins. 
Styrax, the storax-tree, a genus of plants 
belonging to tiie class of decandiga, and to the 
order of monogynia, and in the natural sys- 
tem ranging under the 18th order, bicornes. 
The calyx is inferior ; corolla funnel-form ; 
drupe two-seeded. Linnaeus only mentions 
one species of this genus, the styrax officinale ; 
but Aiton, in his liortus Kewensis, has added 
two more; namely, the grandefolium, and 
lawigatum ; and a fourth may now be added, 
the styrax benzoin. 
The officinale usually rises about twenty 
feet in height ; it sends off many strong 
branches, which are covered with a roughish 
bark of a grey colour : the leaves are broad, 
elliptical, entire, somewhat pointed, on the 
upper surface smooth, and of a light-green co- 
lour, on the under surface covered with a 
whitish down ; they are placed alternately, 
and stand upon short footstalks: the flowers 
are large, white, and disposed in clusters upon 
short peduncles, which terminate the branches: 
the corolla is monopetalous ; the fruit is a 
pulpy pericarpium. 
The resinous drug called storax issues in a 
fluid state from incisions made in the trunk or 
branches of the tree,. Two sorts of this resin 
have been Commonly distinguished in the 
shops: 1. Storax in the tear, is scarcely, if 
ever, found in separate tears, but in masses, 
sometimes composed of whitish and pale red- 
dish brown tears, and sometimes of an uniform 
reddish yellow or brownish appearance ; unc- 
tuous and solt like wax, and free from visible 
impurities. This is supposed to be the sort 
which the antients received from Pamphylia 
in reeds or canes, and which was thence 
named calamita'. 
2. Common storax : in large masses, con- 
siderably lighter and less compact than the 
former, and having a large admixture of 
woodr matter like saw-dust. This appears 
to be the kind intended by the London col- 
lege, as (hey direct their styrax calamita to 
be purified, for medicinal use, by softening it 
with boiling water, and pressing it out from 
the feces betwixt warm ironplates: a process 
which the first does not stand in need of; 
and indeed there is rarely any other than 
this impure storax to be met with in the 
shops. 
Storax, with some of the antients, was a fa- 
miliar remedy as a resolvent, and particularly 
used in catarrhal complaints, coughs, asth- 
mas, menstrual obstructions, Sec. and from 
its affinity to the balsams, it was also prescrib- 
ed in ulcerations of the lungs, and other states 
of pulmonary consumption. And our phar- 
macopoeias formerly directed the pilulae e sty- 
race ; but this odoriferous drug has now no 
place in any of the officinal compounds; and 
though a medicine which might seem to pro- 
mise some efficacy in nervous debilities, yet 
by modern practitioners it is almost totally 
disregarded. 
The styrax benzoin, see Plate Nat. Hist, 
fig. 382, has been characterised by oblong 
acuminated leaves, which are downy under- 
neath, and nearly of the length of the raeemi. 
This tree, which is a native of Sumatra, is 
deemed in six years of sufficient age foy af- 
fording the benzoin, or when its trunk ac- 
quires about seven or eight inches in diame- 
ter; the bark is then cut through longitudi- 
nally, or somewhat obliquely, at the origin of 
the principal lower branches, from which the 
drug exudes in a liquid state, and by exposure 
to the sun and air soon concretes, when it is 
scraped oil from the bark with a knife or chi- 
sel. The quantity of benzoin which one tree 
affords never exceeds three pounds, nor are 
the trees found to sustain the effects of these 
annual incisions longer than ten or twelve 
years. The benzoin which issues first from 
the wounded bark is the purest, being soft, 
extremely fragrant, and very white ; that 
which is less esteemed is of a brownish co- 
lour, very hard, and mixed with various im- 
purities, which it acquires during its long con- 
tinuance upon the trees. 
The benzoin which .we find here in the 
shops is in large brittle masses, composed 
partly of white, partly of yellowish or light- 
brown, and often also of darker-coloured 
pieces ; that which is clearest, and contains 
-the most white matter, called by authors 
benzoe amygdaloides, is accounted* the best. 
This resin has very little taste, impressing on 
the palate only a slight sweetness; its smell, 
especially when rubbed. or heated, is ex- 
SUB 7^5 
tremely fragrant and agreeable. It totally 
dissolves in rectified spirit (the impurities ex- 
cepted, which are generally in a very small 
quantity) into a deep yellowish-red liquor, 
and in this state discovers a degree ot warmth 
anil pungency, as well as sweetness. It im- 
parts, by digestion, to water also a consider- 
able share of its fragrance, and a slight pun- 
gency : the’ filtred liquor, gently exhaled, 
leaves not a resinous or mucilaginous extract, 
but a crystalline matter, seemingly ot a saline 
nature, amounting to one-tenth or one-eighth 
oftiie weight of the benzoin. Exposed to the lire 
in proper vessels, it yields a quantity ot a white 
saline concrete, called tlores benzoes, ol an 
acidulous taste and grateful odour, soluble in 
rectified spirit, and in water by the assistance 
of heat. 
The principal use of this fragrant resin is in 
perfumes, and as a cosmetic; for which last 
purpose, a solution of it in spirit of wine is 
mixed with so much water as is sufficient to 
render it milky, as twenty times its quantity 
or more. It promises, however, to be appli- 
cable to other uses, and to approach in vir- 
tue, as in fragrance, to storax, and balsam of 
tolu. It is said to be of great service in dis- 
orders of the breast, for resolving obstruc- 
tions of the pulmonary vessels, and promoting 
expectoration: in which intentions the flow- 
ers are sometimes given from three or four 
grains to fifteen. The white powder, preci- 
pitated by water from solutions of the ben- 
zoin in spirit, has been employed by some as 
similar and superior to the flow ers, but ap- 
pears to be little other than the pure benzoin 
in substance : it is not the saline, but the re- 
sinous matter of the benzoin, that is most dis- 
posed to be precipitated from spirit by wa- 
ter. The flowers, snuffed up the nose, are 
said to be a powerful errhine. 
SUBALTERN, a subordinate officer, or 
one who discharges his post under the com- 
mand and subject to the direction of another: 
such are lieutenants, sub lieutenants, cornets 
and ensigns, who serve under the cap tain : but 
custom has now appropriated the term to 
those of much lower ranks, as serjeants, See. 
We also say subaltern courts, jurisdictions, 
&c. such* are those of inferior lords, with re- 
gard to the lord paramount ; hundred-courts 
with regard to county -courts, &c. 
SU BC LAV I AN. See A n atomy., 
SUBCOSTAL MUSCLES. See Ana- 
tomy. 
SU B0UPLE RATIO, . is when any num- 
ber or quantity is contained in another twice: 
thus 3 is said to be subduple of 6, as 6 is du- 
ple of 3. 
SUBDUPLICATE RATIO of any two 
quantities, is the ratio of their square roots. 
SUBER. This name has been introduced 
into chemistry by F.ourcroy, to .denote the 
outer bark of the quercus sober, or the com- 
mon cork, a substance which possesses pro- 
perties different from all other vegetable bo- 
dies. 
It is exceedingly light, soft, and elastic; 
very combustible, burning w ' b a bright white 
flame, and leaving a light black bulky char- 
coal ; and when distilled it y ields a little am- 
monia. Nitric acid gives it a yell w colour, 
corrodes, dissolves, and decomposes it,- con- 
verting it partly into suberic acid, partly into, 
a substance resembling wax. 
