sou sou 
English feet Therefore the difference of sea-lead, and the hand-lead line. The hand- 
tlie measures of Derham and Cassini is 35 lead line, which is generally twenty fathoms 
English feet, or 33 French feet, in a second, in length, is marked at every two or three 
The medium velocity of sound therefore is fathoms, so that the depth of water may be 
nearly at the rate of a mile, or 5280 feet, ascertained either in the day or night. At 
in 4| seconds, or a league in 14 seconds, or the depth of two and three fathoms, there 
13 miles in a minute. But sea miles are to are marks of black leather ; at five fathoms, 
land miles nearly as 7 to 6 j and therefore there is a white rag ; at seven, a red mg , 
sound moves over a sea mile in 51 seconds at ten, black leather ; at thirteen, black 
nearly, or a sea league in 16 seconds. Fur- leather; at fifteen, a white rag; and at se- 
ther, it is a common observation, that per- venteen, a red rag. 
sons in good health have about 75 ptdsa- Sounding with the hand-lead, vvhich is 
tions, or beats of the artery at the wrist, in called heaving the lead by seamen, is gehe- 
a minute; consequently in 75 pulsations, rally performed by a man who stands in the 
sound flies about 13 laud miles, or 111 sea main-chains to windward. Having the line 
miles, which is about 1 land mile in 6 all ready to run out without interi uption, he 
pulses, or one sea mile in 7 pulses, or a holds it nearly at the distance of a fathom 
league in 20 pulses. And hence the dis- from the plummet, and having swung the 
tance of dbjeets may be found, by knowing latter backwards and forwards three or four 
the time employed by sound in moving times, in order to acquire tlie greater velo- 
from those objects to an observer. For city, he swings it round his head, and thence 
example: Oh seeing the flash of a gun at la*' forward as is necessary ; so that, by 
sea, if 54 beats of the pulse at the wrist H*® leads sinking while the ship advances, 
were counted before the report was heard ; *1*® 1***® n*ay be almost per])endicular when 
the distance of the gun will easily be found H reaches the bottom. The person sound- 
by dividing 54 by 20, whicli gives 2.7 ;**« H*®” Pfoclaims the depth of the water 
leagues, or about 8 miles. See Acocstics. i** ® kind ot song, resembling the ciies of 
Sound, in geography, denotes in general London hawkers. Thus, it the mark of 
any streight, or inlet, of the sea, between H''® fathoms is close to the surface of the 
two head lands. However, the name sound water, he calls, “ By the mark five,” and 
is given, by way of eminence, to tlie streight there is no mark at fonr, six, eight, &c. 
between Sweden and Denmark, joining the 1*® estimates those numbers, and calls, “ By 
German Ocean to the Baltic, being about H*® *1*1’ four.’’ If he judges it to be a quar- 
four miles over. 1®*“ e*' 1**11 niore than any particular 
Sound board, in an organ, is a reser- number, he calls, “And a quarter five and a 
voir into which the wind, drawn in by the half four,” &c. If he conceives the depth 
bellows, is conducted by a port-vent, and 1® 1*® tl**'®® quarters more tlian a particular 
hence distributed into the pipes placed number, he calls it a quarter less than the 
over holes in its upper part : this wind en- next : thus, at four fathoms and three quar- 
ters them by valves, which open by press- ters, he calls, “ A quarter less five, ’ &c. 
ing upon the stops or keys ; after drawing The deep-sea-lead is marked with two 
the registers, which prevent tlie air from knots at twenty fathoms, three at forty, four ‘ 
entering any of the pipes, except those it is at fifty, and so on to' the end. It js also 
required in. marked with a single knot in the middle 
SOUNDING, the operation of trying each interval, as at twenty-five, tliirty- 
the depth of the water, and the quality of forty-five fathoms, &c. To use this 
the ground, by means of a plummet sunk 1®**1 more effectually at sea, or in deep vva- 
froin a sliip to ttie bottom. For sounding f®*' ®** fl*® *®* coast, it is usual previously 
there are two plummets used, one of which f® bring-to the ship, in order to retard her 
is called the hand-lead, weighing about eight course ; the lead is then thrown as far as 
or nine pounds ; and tlie other, tlie^ deep- possible from tlie ship, on the line of her 
sea lead, weighing from twenty-live to tliir- drift, so that as it sinks, the ship drives 
ty pounds, and both are shaped like the mor® perpendicularly over it. The pilot, 
frustriim of a cone or pyramid. The for- feeling the lead stiike the bottom readily, 
mer is used in shallow wa'ters, and tlielat-, discovers the depth of the water by the 
ter at a great distance from tlie shore, par- mark on the line nearest its surface, 
ticularly on approaching the land after a S.OUP, a strong decoction of flesh or 
sea voyage. Accordingly, the lines em- other substances. Portable or dry soup Is 
ployed for this purpose are called tlie deep- a kind of cake formed by boiling the geia- 
