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forty-seventh order in Linnaeus’s Fragments 
of a Natural Method, consisting of plants 
with two naked seeds, and leaves disposed 
round the stem in the form of a radiant 
star. In this order are found the Anthos- 
permnm, amber tree : Galium, ladies bed- 
straw, &c. This order contains herbs, 
shrubs, and trees. The herbs are chiefly 
annual, and creep along the surfece of the 
ground : the shrubs and trees are evergreens, 
which rise erect, and are of an agreeable 
conic form. 
STELLERA, in botany* so named in 
memory of George Wilh. Steller, adjunct of 
the Academy at Petersburgh, a genus of the 
Octandria Monogynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Vepreculae. Thymelaeae, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx none ; co- 
rolla four-cleft; stamens very short; nut 
one, beaked. There are two species ; viz. 
S. passerina, flax-leaved Stellera; and S. 
chamaejasme, Siberian Stellera. 
STEM, in botany, that part of a plant 
arising out of the root, and which sustains 
the leaves, flowers, fruits, &c. 
Stem i^a ship, that main piece of timber 
which come^ bending from the keel below, 
where it is scarfed, as they call it; that is, 
pieced in ; and rises tompassing right before 
the forecastle. This stem it is which guides 
the rake of the ship, and all the but-ends of 
the planks are fixed into it. This, in the 
section of a first-rate ship, is called the 
main-stem. 
STEMODIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Didynamia Angiospermia class and order. 
Natural order of Personatae. Scrophula- 
riae, Jussieu. Essential character : calyx 
five-parted; corolla two lipped; stamens 
four, each filament bifid, two-anthered ; 
capsule two-celled. There are four spe- 
cies. 
STEMPLES, in mining, cross-bars of 
wood in the shafts which are sunk to mines. 
In many places the way is to sink a perpen- 
dicular hole or shaft, the sides of which they 
strengthen from top to bottom with wood- 
work, to prevent the earth from falling in ; 
the transverse pieces of wood used for this 
purpose, they call stemples, and by means 
of these the miners, in some places, descend 
without using any rope, catching hold of 
these with their hands and feet. 
STERBECKIA, in botany, so named in 
memory of Francis van Sterbeck, a genus of 
the Polyandria Monogynia class and order, 
Natural order of Guttiferae, Jussieu. Essen- 
tial diaracter; calyx three or five-leaved; 
corolla three or five-petalled ; capsule corti- 
STE 
cose, not opening, legume-shaped, many 
seeded ; seeds imbricate, nestling in pulp. 
There is only one species ; mz. S. lateriflora. 
This is a scandent shrub ; leaves sub-oppo- 
site, petioled, elliptic, acuminate, quite en- 
tire, veined, smooth ; peduncles many- 
flowered, very short, lateral; flowers w'hite 
and small. It is a native of the woods of 
Guiana. 
STERCULIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Dodecandria Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order of Tricocc®. Malvacete, 
Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five- 
parted ; corolla none ; nectary bell-shaped, 
five-toothed, staminiferous, fastened to the 
column of the germ ; germ pedicelled ; cap- 
sules five, one-celled, opening by the inner 
side, many-seeded. There are eight species, 
among which we shall notice the S. bajang- 
has : this is a tall tree, with a stem of two 
feet in diameter, tliick branches, covered 
with an ash-coloured bark, furnished with 
alternate, smooth, veined, lanceolate leaves, 
which are produced only at the upper part 
of the shoots, and are in general about nine 
inches long and three broad; the flowers 
are produced in sparse fascicles at the tips 
of the shoots; the capsules are rather large, 
smooth, ovate, standing by fives in a stellat- 
ed direction ; each capsule containing six, 
seven, or eight moderately large round 
seeds. It is a native of Malabar, Am- 
boyna, &c. 
STEREOGRAPHIC projection, is the 
projection of the circles of the sphere on the 
plane of some one great circle, the eye be- 
ing placed in the pole of that circle. 
STEREOGRAPHY, the art of drawing 
the forms and figures of the solids upon a 
plane. 
STEREOMETRY, that part of geome- 
try which teaches how to measure solid bo- 
dies, i.e. to find the solidity or solid content 
of bodies, as globes, cylinders, cubes, ves- 
sels, ships, &c. 
STEREOTYPE printing. See Print- 
ing, stereotype. In the beginning of that 
article an error escaped our notice, for 
the Jesuits,” read “say the Jesuits.”' 
■We take likewise this opportunity of add- 
ing to the article, that though there ,have 
unquestionably issued many beautiful spe- 
cimens of printing from the stereotype 
press ; yet, as the beauty of a book must 
depend as well in the stereotype, as in move- 
able types, on the form and excellence of 
the letter, it is evident that the same letter 
from which the stereotype plate is cast, 
will in common printing produce as beaufi- 
