specular 
Hpffiilar tower (one serving as a lookout). 
[Archaic.] 
You teach (though we learn not) a thing unknown 
To our late timus. the use of specular stone, 
Through which all things within without were shown. 
Donne, To the Countess of Bedford. 
Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount. 
Milliin, P. K., iv. 236. 
Calm as the Universe, from specular towers 
Of heaven contemplated by Spirits pure. 
Wordsworth, Cave of Staffa. 
3. In nmitli., of or pertaining to the speculum 
of the wing; ocellar: as, the specular area; 
specular iridescence Specular Iron ore, a variety 
of hematite, or anhydrous iron sesquioxid, occurring In 
crystals and massive forms with a brilliant metallic luster. 
Finely pulverized and washed, it is used as a polishing 
Specuiaria (spek-u-la'ri-a), . [NL. (Heister, 
1748), < L. speculum in speculum Veneris, 'Ve- 
nus's looking-glass, 'a medieval name of S. Spe- 
culum, from the resemblance of its flowers set 
on their cylindrical ovary to the ancient round 
bronze mirror at the end of a straight handle : 
see speculum.] A genus of gamopetalous plants 
of the order Campanulacex. It is distinguished 
from the allied genus Campanula by its wheel shaped or 
shallow and broadly bell-shaped corolla and linear or 
narrowly oblong ovary. There are about 8 species, na- 
tives of the northern hemisphere, chiefly of southern 
and central Europe, with one in South America. They 
are annual herbs, either erect or decumbent, and smooth 
or bristly. They bear alternate entire or toothed leaves, 
and blue, violet, or white two-bracted flowers nearly or 
quite sessile in the axils. S. Speculum Is the Venus's 
looking-glass, formerly a favorite in English gardens; 
S. hybrida is there known as the corn-violet; and S. per- 
foliata, native in the United States, is remarkable for its 
dimorphous flowers, the earlier being minute and cllsto- 
gamic. 
speculate (spek'u-lat), .; pret. and pp. specu- 
lated, ppr. speculating. [< L. speculatus, pp. of 
speculari, spy out, watch, observe, behold (> It. 
speculare = Sp. Pg. especular = OF. speculer, F. 
speculer), < specula, a watch-tower. < specere, 
see : see species. Cf. speculum.] I. trans. If. 
To view as from a watch-tower or observatory ; 
observe. 
I shall never eat garlic with Diogenes in a tub, and 
speculate the stars without a shirt. 
Shirley, Grateful Servant, il. 1. 
2. To take a discriminating view of; consider 
attentively; speculate upon; examine; in- 
spect: as, to speculate the nature of a thing. 
[Rare.] 
We . . . conceit ourselves that we contemplate abso- 
lute existence when we only speculate absolute privation. 
Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions, p. 21. 
II. intrans. 1. To pursue truth by thinking, 
as by mathematical reasoning, by logical analy- 
sis, or by the review of data already collected. 
2. To take a discursive view of a subject 
or subjects; note diverse aspects, relations, or 
probabilities; meditate; conjecture: often im- 
plying absence of definite method or result. 
I certainly take my full share, along with the rest of the 
world, ... in speculating on what has been done, or is 
doing, on the public stage. Burke, Rev. in France. 
3. To invest money for profit upon an uncer- 
tainty ; take the risk of loss in view of possi- 
ble gain ; make a purchase or purchases, as of 
something liable to sudden fluctuations in price 
or to rapid deterioration, on the chance of sell- 
ing at a large advance : as, to speculate in stocks. 
speculation (spek-u-la'shon), n. [< OF. specu- 
lation, speculation, F. speculation = Pr. specu- 
lacio = Sp. especulacion = Pg. especulacao = It. 
speculazione, < LL. speculatio(n-), a spying out, 
exploration, observation, contemplation, < L. 
speculari, view: see speculate.] 1. The act or 
state of speculating, or of seeing or looking; 
intelligent contemplation or observation; a 
viewing ; inspection. [Obsolete or archaic, but 
formerly used with considerable latitude.] 
Thence [from the works of God] gathering plumes of per- 
fect speculation, 
To impe the wings of thy high flying mynd, 
Mount up aloft through heavenly contemplation. 
Spenser, Heavenly Beauty, 1. 134, 
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 
Which thou dost glare with. 
Shalr., Macbeth, iii. 4. 95. 
I am arrived to that perfection in speculation that I un- 
derstand the language of the eyes. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 354. 
2. The pursuit of truth by means of thinking, 
especially mathematical reasoning and logical 
analysis ; meditation ; deep and thorough con- 
sideration of a theoretical question. This use of 
the word, though closely similar to the application of 
speculatio in the Latin of Boethius to translate Scmpio, is 
chiefly due to 1 Cor. xiii. 12, "now we see through a glass, 
darkly," where ' glass ' is in the Vulgate speculum. But 
5812 
some writers, as Milton and Cowper, associate the meaning 
with specula, 'a watch-tower.' 
For practise must agree with speculation, 
Belief & knowledge must guide operation. 
Time* ir/i/*rte (E. E. T. S.), p. 147. 
Thenceforth to speculations high or deep 
I turn'd my thoughts. Mil/mi, P. L., ix. 602. 
Join sense unto reason, and experiment unto speculation. 
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., ii. 6. 
From him [Pythagoras] Socrates derived the principles 
of virtue and morality, . . . and most of his natural specu- 
lations. Sir W. Temple, Ancient and Modern Learning. 
The brilliant fabric of speculation erected by Darwin can 
scarcely sustain its own weight. 
Dawsoii, Nature and the Bible, p. 240. 
3. In pliilos., sometimes, a purely a priori 
method of philosophizing: but commonly in 
philosophy the word has the meaning 2, above. 
4. The investing of money at a risk of loss 
on the chance of unusual gain ; specifically, 
buying and selling, not in the ordinary course 
of commerce for the continuous marketing of 
commodities, but to hold in the expectation of 
selling at a profit upon a change in values or 
market rates. Thus, if a merchant lays in for his regu- 
lar trade a much larger stock than h otherwise would 
because he anticipates a rise in prices, this is not termed 
speculation ; but if he buys what he does not usually deal 
in, not for the purpose of extending his business, but for 
the chance of a sale of the particular articles at a profit by 
reason of anticipated rise, it is so termed. In the language 
of the exchanges, speculation includes all dealing in fu- 
tures and options, whether purchases or sales. 
The establishment of any new manufacture, of any new 
branch of commerce, or of any new practice in agriculture, 
is always a speculation from which the projector promises 
himself extraordinary profits. 
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, I. x. I. 
A vast speculation had fail'd, 
And ever he mutter'd and madden'd. 
Tennyson, Maud, i. 3. 
5. A game at cards, the leading principle of 
which is the purchase of an unknown card on 
the calculation of its probable value, or of a 
known card on the chance of no better appear- 
ing during the game, a part of the pack not 
being dealt. Latham, ^syn. 2. Hypothesis, etc. See 
theory. 
speculatist (spek'u-la-tist), . [< speculate + 
-ist.] A speculative philosopher; a person who, 
absorbed with theoretical questions, pays little 
attention to practical conditions. 
Such speculating, by expecting too much from friendship, 
dissolve the connection. Ooldsmith, Friendship. 
Fresh confidence the speculatist takes 
For every hare-brain'd proselyte he makes. 
Cowper, Progress of Error. 
speculative (spek'u-la-tiv), a. [= F. speculatif 
= Sp. Pg. especulativo = It. speculative, < LL. 
speculativus, pertaining to or of the nature of 
observation, * L. speculari, view : see speculate.] 
If. Pertaining to or affording vision or out- 
look: a meaning influenced by Latin specula, 
' a watch-tower/ 
Now roves the eye ; 
And, posted on this speculative height, 
Exults in Its command. Coioper, Task, 1. 289. 
2f. Looking; observing; inspecting; prying. 
My speculative and officed instrument. 
Shalr., Othello, I. 3. 271. 
To be speculative into another man, to the end to know 
how to work him or wind him or govern him, proceedeth 
from a heart that is double and cloven. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 
3. Given to speculation ; contemplative; theo- 
retical. 
He [Washington] was not a speculative, but a practical 
man ; not at all devoted to Ideas. 
Theodore Parker, Historic Americans, Washington, p. 114. 
Speculative men are deemed unsound and frivolous. 
Emerson, Misc., p. 12. 
4. Purely scientific ; having knowledge as its 
end; theoretical: opposed to practical; also 
(limiting a noun denoting a person and signify- 
ing his opinions or character), in theory, and not, 
or not merely, in practice ; also, cognitive ; intel- 
lectual. In this sense (which has no connection with 
speculation), speculative translates Aristotle's Ofuipirrucos, 
Thus, speculative science is science pursued for its own 
sake, without immediate reference to the needs of life, and 
does not exclude experimental science. 
I do not think there are so many speculative atheists 
as men are wont to imagine. 
Boyle, Christian Virtuoso, part i. 
It is evidently the intention of our Maker that man 
should be an active and not merely a speculative being. 
Reid, Active Powers, Int. 
When astronomy took the form of a speculative science, 
words were invented to denote distinctly the conceptions 
thus introduced. 
Whemll, Philos. of Inductive Sciences, I. liii. 
A distinction merely speculative has no concern with 
the most momentous of all practical controversies. 
J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 51. 
speculum 
5. Inferential; known by reasoning, and not by 
direct experience: opposed to intnitin : also, 
improperly, purely a priori. This meaning was in- 
troduced into Latin by Anselm, with reference to 1 Cor. 
xiii. 12, where the Vulgate has speculum. Speculative cog- 
nition is cognition not intuitive. 
6. Pertaining or given to speculation in trade ; 
engaged in speculation, or precarious ventures 
for the chance of large profits ; of the nature 
of financial speculation : as, a s^ 
investments or business. 
The speculative merchant exercises no one regular, es- 
tablished, or well-known branch of business. 
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, I. x. 1. 
Speculative geometry, philosophy, reason, theol- 
ogy, etc. See the nouns. 
Speculatively (spek'u-la-tiv-li), adv. In a spec- 
ulative manner ; as or by means of speculation, 
in either the intellectual or the material sense. 
speculativeness (spek'u-la-tiv-nes), . The 
state of being speculative, or of consisting in 
speculation. 
speculativism (spek'u-la-tiv-izm), n. [< spec- 
ula tire + -ism.] The tendency to speculation 
or theory, as opposed to experiment or prac- 
tice ; a theorizing tendency. Pop. Sci. Mo., 
XIII. 269. [Recent.] 
speculator (spek'u-la-tor), n. [= F. speciilit- 
teur = Sp. Pg. especulador = It. speeulatore, < 
L. speculator, an explorer or scout, a searcher, 
an investigator, < speculari, pp. speculatus, spy 
out, watch, observe, view : see speculate.] If. 
An observer or onlooker; a watcher; a look- 
out; a seer; in a specific use, an occult seer; 
one who looks into mysteries or secrets by magi- 
cal means. 
All the boats had one speculator, to give notice when 
the fish approached. Broome. 
2. One who engages in mental speculation; a 
person who speculates about a subject or sub- 
jects; a theorizer. 
The number of experiments in moral science which the 
speculator has an opportunity of witnessing has been in- 
creased beyond all calculation. Macaulay, History. 
3. One who practises speculation in trade or 
business of any kind. See speculation, 4. 
speculatorialt (spek'u-la-to'ri-al), a. [< L. 
speculatorius, pertaining to a scout or observer 
(see speculatory), + -al.] Speculatory. 
speculatory (spek'u-la-to-ri), a. [< L. specu- 
latorius, pertaining to a scout or observer, < 
speculator, an observer: see speculator.] If. 
Practising or intended for oversight or outlook ; 
overseeing; overlooking; viewing. 
My privileges are an ubiqultary, circumambulatory, 
speculatory interrogatory, redargutory immunity over all 
the privy lodgings. Carew, Ccelum Britannicum. 
Both these [Roman encampments] were nothing more 
than speculatory outposts to the Akcman-street. 
T. Warton, Hist. Kiddington, p. 66. 
2. Given to, or of the nature or character of, 
speculation; speculative. [Rare.] 
speculatrix (spek'u-la-triks), n.; pi. speculatri- 
ces (spek'u-la-tri'se'z). [L., fern, of speculator : 
see speculator.] A female speculator. [Rare.] 
A communion with invisible spirits entered into the 
general creed I in the sixteenth century] throughout Eu- 
rope, and crystal or beryl was the magical medium. . . . 
Persons even of ordinary rank in life pretended to be what 
they termed speculators, and sometimes women were spec- 
ulatrices. I. D'Israeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 297. 
speculum (spek'u-lum), . ; pi. specula (-la), 
sometimes speculum^ (-lumz). [< L. speculum, 
a mirror, a copy or imitation (cf. specula, a 
watch-tower, lookout), < specere, look at, be- 
hold: see species.] 1. Something to look into 
or from ; specifically, a mirror or looking-glass. 
2. An attachment to or part of an optical 
instrument, as a reflecting telescope, having 
a brightly polished surface for the reflection of 
objects. Specula are generally made of an alloy called 
speculum-metal consisting of ten parts of copper to one of 
tin, sometimes with a little arsenic to increase its white- 
ness. Another speculum alloy is made of equal weights 
of steel and platinum. Specula are also made of glass 
covered with a fllm of silver on the side turned toward the 
object. 
3. Inornith.: (a) An ocellus or eye-spot, as of a 
peacock's tail. See ocellus, 4. (6) The mirror 
of a wing, a specially colored area on some of 
the flight-feathers. It is usually iridescent-green, 
purple, violet, etc., and formed by a space of such color 
on the outer webs of several secondaries, toward their 
end, and commonly set in a frame of different colors 
formed by the tips of the same secondaries or of the great- 
er wing-coverts, or of both. Sometimes it is dead-white, 
as in the gadwall. A speculum occurs in various birds, 
and as a rule in ducks, especially the Anatinse, being in 
these so constant and characteristic a marking that some 
breeds of game fowls are named duclnnng in consequence 
of a certain resemblance in the wing-markings. See silver- 
duclmring. Also called mirror. See cuts under Chaulelas- 
mu* and mallard. 
