Sphenozamites 
most nearly analogous to Zatnia and Knrfiihalartos See 
Zamites. 
Sphenura (sfe-rnVra), . [NL,., < Gr. a ^- a 
wedge, + '/'. ;i tiiil.] 1. Iu nrnitli.,a, generic 
name variously applied. ( ) An Australian genus of 
aberrant reed warblers, with only ten tail-feathers and 
three pairs of strong recurved rU-tul bristles. It is quite 
i!! the . r| 8 ht . e ? u l'ie 
n the sphear of heaven 
SfAtHUra brachyftera. 
near Sphenasacus (which see), and in part synonymous 
therewith. There are 3 species, S. brach,,ptem, S l"n.;l 
rostns, and 5. broadbentl. LicMenslein 18->3 (6t) \ 
genus of South American synallaxine birds now called 
iusphenura and Thripophaga. Spi x , 1824; Svndemtt. 
Ifc35. (cl) A genus of Indian and African birds related 
to neither of the foregoing, now called Argya (or An/ia) 
and ilalcolmia. Bonaparte, 1854. 
2. In eiitom., a genus of coleopterous insects. 
Dejean, 1834. 
spheral (spher'al), a. [< L. gpltaeralis, of or 
pertaining to a sphere, globular, < spltatra, < 
Ur. ofupa, a ball, sphere: see sphere.] 1 
Bounded or formed like a sphere; sphere- 
shaped ; hence, symmetrical ; perfect in form. 
-2. Of or pertaining to the spheres or hea- 
venly bodies; moving or revolving like the 
spheres ; hence, harmonious. 
Well I know that all things move 
To the spheral rhythm of love. 
Whittier, Andrew Rykman's Prayer. 
The spheral souls that move 
Through the ancient heaven of song-illumined air. 
Swinburne. 
Oarlyle had no faith in ... the astronomic principle by 
which the systems are kept in poise in the spheral liar- 
The Century, XXVI. 538. 
spherality (sfe-ral'i-ti), H. [< spheral + -4tu.] 
Ine state of being spheral, or having the form 
of a sphere. [Rare.] 
spheraster (sfe-ras'ter), w. [NL., < Gr. m/nipa 
a ball, sphere, + aarijp, a star.] In sponges, a 
regular polyact or stellate spicule whose rays 
coalesce into a spherical figure, as in the genus 
treodta ; an aster with a thick spherical body 
W. J. Sollas. 
spheration (sfe-ra'shon), n. [< sphere + -ation.] 
Formation into a sphere; specifically, the 
process by which cosmic matter is formed into 
a globular or planetary body. [Recent.] 
The physical relations accompanying the spheration of a 
ring are not such as to determine uniformly either direct 
or retrograde motion. Winchell, World-Life, p. 123. 
sphere (sfer), . [Early mod. E. also sijhear, 
spheare, also sphan (with vowel as in L ) 
earlier (and still dial.) spere, < ME. spere, < 
OF. espere, later sphere, F. sphere = Pr. espern 
= Sp. esfera = Pg. csphera = It. sfera = D 
nfeer = G. sphare = Dan. sf&re = Sw. spher, < L. 
sphiera, ML. also sphera, .spera, < Gr. a<f>aipa, a 
ball, globe, sphere, applied to a playing-ball, 
a sphere as a geometrical figure, the terrestrial 
globe, the earth, also an artificial globe (so in 
Strabo, the notion that the earth is a sphere 
appearing first prob. in Plato), also a star or 
planet (Plutarch), also a hollow sphere, one 
of the concentric spheres supposed to revolve 
around the earth, also a ball (of the eye), a pill 
etc.; perhaps lit. 'that which is tossed about' 1 
(applied first to a playing-ball), for *aij>apya for 
"an-apya, < airelpcm, scatter, throw about (see 
sperm, sporei); or perhaps connected with 
amlpa, a coil, ball, spire (see spire 2 ).] 1. In 
fieom., a solid figure generated by the revolu- 
tion of a semicircle about its diameter. This is 
substantially Euclid's definition. The modern definition 
is a quadric surface having contact with the absolute 
throughout a conic, and therefore everywhere equidis- 
tant from a center. The surface of a sphere Is 4,rR-' 
where R is the radius ; its volume is j ^R' 1 . 
Hence 2. A rounded body, approximately 
spherical ; a ball ; a globe. 
5825 
3 An orbicular body representing the .-firth or 
the apparent heavens, or illustrating Hi, i 
tronomical relations. Hence 4. The visii,!.- 
supernal region; the upper air; the heavens ; 
the sky. [Poetical.] 
e glorious starres 
Sweet Echo, . " '""""'' (l ' : " K ' ' Sj ''' ''" 
Sweet queen of parley, daughter of the f,,ln;;: 
Milln,,, ( ,1,1,118, 1. 241. 
An eagle, clang an eagle to the sphere. 
Tennyson, Princess, 111. 
5. One of the supposed concentric and ec- 
centric revolving rigid and transparent shells 
called crystalline, in which, according to the 
old astronomers (following Eudoxus), the stars 
sun, moon, and planets were severally set, and 
by which they were carried iu such a manner 
as to produce their apparent motions. The term 
is now generally restricted to the sphere of the fixed stars 
id is recognized as a convenient fiction. It is also loosed 
applied to the planets themselves. 
After shewede he hym the nyne speres; 
And after that the melodye herde he 
Ihat cometh of thilke speres thryes three 
That welle is of ruusik and melodye 
In this world here and cause of harmonye. 
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 69. 
Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven ! 
Marlowe, Doctor f'austus, v. 4. 
Hence 6f. An orbicular field or course of 
movement ; an orbit, as that of a heavenly body 
or of the eye ; a circuit. 
As Mars in three-score yeares doth run his spheare 
ihe spheare of Cupid fourty yeares container 
Spenser, Sonnets, Ix. 
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres. 
Shak., Hamlet, i. 5. 17. 
7. Place or scene of action ; the space within 
which movement is made or operations are car- 
ried on ; a circumscribed region of action: as, 
the sphere of a mission; the spheres (fuller 
spheres of influence) of the different European 
powers and trading companies in Africa. 
The foure elementes wherof the body of man is com- 
pact e ... be set in their places called spheris, higher or 
lower accordynge to the soueraintie of theyr natures 
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, i. 1. 
All this while the King had mov'd within his own 
Sphere, and had done nothing out of the Realm. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 403. 
Our South African sphere seems better suited for Eu- 
ropean settlement than is the Tunisian protectorate of 
Jiance. Sir C. W. DMe, Probs. of Greater Britain, v. 
8. Position or rank in society ; position or class 
with reference to social distinctions. 
Pleas'd or not pleas'd, if we be Englands King, 
And mightiest in the Spheare in which we moove 
Weele shine alone, this Phaeton cast downe 
Heywood, Royal King (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 2fl). 
I saw her [Marie Antoinette] just above the horizon 
decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began 
to move in - Burke, Rev. in France 
9. Circuit or radius, as of knowledge, influ- 
ence, or activity; definite or circumscribed 
range; determinate limit of any mental or 
physical course : as, the sphere of diplomacy. 
This being wholly out of my sphere, I can give no ac- 
count of them. Dampier, Voyages, II. I. 120. 
Nature to each allots his proper Sphere. 
Conyreve, Of Pleasing. 
spherical 
loliBhur to :, tetrahedron in which llu-fom pcipcmliclllars 
Iron, the summit,, upon the opposite faces intersect in 
one point, tnta iphen passing through the four feet of 
these perpendlcnuv .|,i, mlv also through the 
LVttj of the four faces, an.i through 'he mid- 
points ( the lines from the Venice., to the common inter- 
ernonsof the IM rpendlculars aforesaid. (/,) MO,, 
ally, a sphere (discovered in ] S s-l by the Kalian mall 
lelan IntrigUa) belonging t., any tetrahedron, and pass- 
ing tnruogh the four feet of the perpendiculars from the 
sunn, ills upon the opposite faces, and , onscnuentry also 
through the mid-points of the lines from the summits to 
the center of the hjrperboloid ,,f bid, these perpendicu- 
tkins",',, these''"',",',!'-""' 1 """"''' "'" '""""-"""j' l>l"j"<" 
sphere (sfer), c. t.- pret. and pp. ^,l,<ml, ppr 
sphering. [< */,/,-,-, .] 1. f make into a 
sphere; make spherical; round, or round out; 
fill out completely. 
Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek 
Outswell the colic of pult'd Aquilo,,. 
S/iak.,T. andC.,lv. 5. 8. 
2. To place in a sphere or among the spheres- 
ensphere. 
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol 
In noble eminence enthroned, and sphered 
Amidst the other. Shak., T. and C., 1. 3. 90. 
Light . . . from her native east 
To journey through the aery gloom began, 
Sphered in a radiant cloud ; for yet the sun 
Was not - Hilton, P. L., rii. 247. 
Because I would have reach'd you, had you been 
Sphered up with Cassiopeia. Tennyson, Princess, IT. 
3. To inclose as in a sphere or orbit ; encircle : 
engirdle. 
When any towne is spher'd 
w ith siege of such a foe as kits men's minds. 
Chapman, Iliad, xviii. 185. 
4. To pass or send as in a sphere or orbit; cir- 
culate. [Bare.] 
Wei still sit up, 
Sphering about the wassail cup 
To all those times 
Which gave me honour for my rhimes. 
Herriclr, His Age. 
sphere-crystals (sfer'kris'talz), ,,. p t. In bot 
same as spharaphides. 
sphereless (sfer'les), a. [< sphere + -less.] 
Having no sphere ; wandering; unrestrained. 
Let the horsemen's scimitars 
Wheel and flash, like sphereless stars, 
Thirsting to eclipse their burning 
In a sea of death and mourning. 
Shelley, Masque of Anarchy, at, 79. 
sphere-yeast (sfer'yest), n. In bot., an aggre- 
gation of certain sprouting forms of the genus 
Muc^r: formerly so called from a resemblance 
in shape to the saccharomycete of yeast. 
J. ~ -~j -T- -j-*. j j v. v/J. JJ-Cl IjOilLHUK I 
ball, < ofaipa, a ball, sphere: see sphere.] Of 
or pertaining to a sphere or the spheres ; sphere- 
like; spherical. 
Up the tpheric circles, circle above circle. 
Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile. 
Let any sculptor hew us out the most ravishing combi- 
nation of tender curves and spheric softness that ever 
stood for woman. S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 278 
The Lieutenant's evidence was as round, complete, and 
lucid as a Japanese tpherr of rock-crystal. 
O. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 6:,. 
tin) 
ArmUlary sphere. See annitlary. Axis of a sphere 
Seefmsi.-clrcleof thesphere. See circle.- Colloid' 
dialing, direct sphere. See the qualifying words ' 
Copernican sphere, an armillary sphere with the addi- 
tion of a second sphere representing the sun, central to a 
divided circle representing the ecliptic. Doctrine of 
the sphere, the elements of the geometry of figures 
drawn upon the surface of a sphere Epidermic 
spheres. Same as epithelial pearls (which see under 
peorp.-Oeometry of spheres, a branch of geometry 
in which the lines of Plucker's geometry of lines are re- 
placed by spheres, and the intersections of lines by the 
contact of spheres. Harmony ormusic of the spheres 
See harmany.- Logical sphere, the subject or ultimate 
antecedent of a statement, or the objects which a term 
denotes.-Maglc sphere. See magic.- Oblique sphere, 
the sphere of the heavens, or another sphere representing 
tnat, as it appears at a station where the angle between 
the equator and the horizon is oblique. The right sphere 
is the same sphere for an equatorial station where the 
angle is a right angle, and the parallel sphere is the same 
where the angle vanishes that Is, for a polar station 
Osculating sphere of a non-plane curve, the sphere 
through four consecutive points of the curve. Parallel 
circles on a sphere. See parallel. Parallel sphere 
See oblique sphere. Power of a sphere In regard to 
another, the squared distance of the two centers less the 
sum of the squares of the radii. Clifford. Projection of 
the sphere. See map-projection, \\nderprojection. Radi- 
cal sphere, a sphere orthogonally cutting four spheres 
having their centers at the summits of the tetrahedron of 
coordinates.- Right sphere. See oblique sphere. Sec- 
tor of a sphere, see sector. Segmentation sphere 
See segmenlation. Segment of a sphere. See MUfmnt. 
Sphere at infinity. See infinity, 3. Twelve-point 
sphere, (a) A sphere (discovered by Prouhet in 1>3) be- 
spherical (sfer'i-kal), a. [< spheric + -al ] 1 
Bounded by or having the form of the surface 
ot a sphere: as, a spherical body; a spherical 
surface; a spherical shell. 
We must know the reason of the ipherical figures of the 
drops - Glanville. 
2. Pertaining or relating to a sphere or spheres 
or to sphericity : as, a spherical segment or sec- 
tion; spherical trigonometry. 3f. Relating to 
the planets; planetary, in the astrological 
sense. 
We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and 
the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; foo s by 
heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers by 
spherical predominance. Shak., Lear, 1. 2. 134. 
Adjunct spherical function. See /mutton.- Center 
i, S 5 lle 1 rlcal curvature. See wnteri.-Concave 
spherical mirror. See mirror, 2.- Line of SDhertcal 
curvature. See to**. -Spherical ablrratfoi 
aberration, 4- Spherical angle. See anyltx. -Spheri- 
cal bracketing in arch., an arrangement of brackets for 
the support of lath-and-plaster work forming a snheri 
cal surface. Spherical compasses, a kind of calipers 
for measuring globular bodies, variously constructed 
Spherical complex, the aggregate of all the spheres' in 
space fulfilling a single geometrical condition. -SDheri- 
ca 1 congruence, the aggregate of all the spheres in space 
fulfilling two geometrical conditions. Spherical conic 
section, see,*.- spherical coordinatei See^rf' 
ti^Sj r cal curva , tur e. epicycloid, excess, func- 
tion, geometry. See the nouns Spherical cvclic n 
curve which is the intersection of a spnere wi"h a quadric 
surface -Spherical group, the spherical complex deter- 
mined by a linear equation between the coordinates and 
the power of the center of the variable circle. Spherics 1 
harmonic. Same as Laplace's function (which see, nn 
*%f <*"" --Spherical indlcatrix. See ndieatrtx.- 
Spherical inversion. See geometrical inversion, under 
