SKA 
tained to an advanced period of life ; but 
to become an expert skater, it is necessary 
to begin the practice of the art at a very 
early age. It is difficult to reduce the art 
of skating to a system. It is principally by 
the imitation of a good skater that a young 
practitioner can form his own practice. 
Those who wish to be proficients, should 
begin at an early period of life, and should 
first endeavour to throw off the fear which 
always attends the commencement of an 
apparently hazardous amusement. They 
will soon acquire a facility of moving on the 
inside; when they have done this, they 
must endeavour to acquire the movement 
on the outside of the skates, which is no- 
thing more than throwing themselves upon 
the outer edge of the skate, and making 
the balance of their body tend towards that 
side, which will necessarily enable them to 
form a semicircle. In this much assistance 
may be derived from placing a bag of lead 
shot in the pocket next to the foot em- 
ployed in making the outside stroke, which 
wilt produce an artificial poise of the body, 
which afterwards will become natural by 
practice. At the commencement of the 
outside stroke, the knee of the employed 
limb should be a little bended, and gradu- 
ally brought to a rectilinear position when 
the stroilie is completed. When the prac- 
titioner becomes expert in forming the 
semicircle with both feet, he is then to join 
them together, and proceed progressively 
and alternately with both feet, which will 
carry him forward with a graceful move- 
ment. Care should be taken to use very 
little muscular exertion, for the impelling 
motion should proceed from the mechanical 
impulse of the body thrown into such a po- 
sition as to regulate the stroke. At taking 
the outside stroke, the body ought to be 
thrown forward easily, the unemployed 
limb kept in a direct line with the body, 
and the face and eyes directly looking for- 
ward; the unemployed foot ought to be 
stretched towards the ice, with the toes in 
a direct line with the leg. In the time of 
making the curve, the body must be gradu- 
ally, and almost imperceptibly raised, and 
the unemployed limb brought in the same 
manner forward ; so that, at finishing the 
curve, the body will bend a small degree 
backward, and the unemployed foot will 
be about two inches before the other, ready 
to embrace the ice, and form a correspon- 
dent curve. The muscular movement of 
the whole body must correspond with the 
Bioyement of the skate, and should be re- 
SKY 
gulated so as to be almost imperceptible to 
the spectators. Particular attention should 
be paid in carrying round the head and 
eyes with a regular and imperceptible mo- 
tion ; for nothing so much diminishes the 
grace and elegance of skating as sudden 
jerksand exertions, which are too frequently 
used by the generality of skaters. The 
management of the arms likewise deserves 
attention. There is no mode of disposing 
of them more gracefully in skating out- 
side, than folding the hands into each other, 
or using a muffi 
SKELETON, in anatomy, an assem- 
blage or arrangement of all the bones of a 
dead animal, dried, cleansed, and disposed 
in their, natural situation, and kept in tliat 
order by means of wires, tSec. 
Skkleton, natural. This is so termed 
in opposition to an artificial skeleton, when 
the bones are retained in their proper places 
by their natural ligaments, which are dried 
upon the articulations. Natural skeletons 
of frogs, mice, birds, and other small ani- 
mals, are easily made by putting them into 
a box, perforated with holes, and burying 
them in or near a large ant hill. The larger 
ihe species of ant, tlie more quickly will 
the work be performed. These animals will 
completely remove the muscular parts, and 
leave the skeleton in the posture in which 
it was originally placed. 
SKIFF, or Squiff, the least of two 
ship-boats, serving chiefly to go ashore in, 
when the ship is in harbour. 
SKIMMIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. 
Essential character : calyx four-parted ; pe- 
tals four, concave; berry four-seeded. There 
is but one species, viz. S. japonica, a native 
of Japan, near Nagasaki. 
SKIN. See Cutis. 
SKINNER, one who works in skins. 
SKIRMISH, in war, a disorderly kind 
of combat or encounter, in presence of 
two armies, between small parties or per- 
sons, who advance from the body for that 
purpose, and introduce to a general and 
regular fight. See Tactics. 
SKULL, in anatomy, that part of the 
head which forms its great bony cavity ; 
and in a living subject contains the brain. 
See Anatomy. 
SKY, the blue expanse of air and at- 
mosphere. The azure colour of the sky 
Sir Isaac Newton attributes to vapours be- 
ginning to condense there, arid which have 
got consistence enough to reflect the mos^ 
reflexible rays. 
