STO 
bristly at the base ; the feathered awns are 
a beautiful and remarkable feature, at once 
distinguishing this from all other grasses. 
STIPULA, in botany, straw, one of the 
fulcra or supports of plants, defined by Lin- 
n®Hs to be a small leaf, stationed on each 
side the base of the foot-stalks of the fiower 
and leaves, at their first appearance, for 
the purpose of support. Linnajus considers 
the stipulse as essential characters, in dis- 
criminating the species : they exhibit the 
same variety in form and structure as the 
leaves, at whose insertion they are fre- 
quently placed. The greater number of 
plants have two stipulsfy one on each side 
of the foot-stalk. Some stipulse fall before 
the leaves, as in the cherry ; others are 
permanent, or continue till the fall of the 
leaves, as in the rose, raspberry, &c. In^ 
most plants, the stipulae are detached from 
the stalk ; but in the rose, raspberry, &c. 
they grow close to the plant. By means 
of the stipute, we have frequently capital 
means of distinguishing the species ; as an 
example, the African and Ethiopian species 
, of honey-flower .are essentially distinguished 
* from one another, by the number and situa- 
tion of the stipul®, which, in the former, 
are single, and grow to the stalk ; in the 
latter double, and detached from it. 
STOCKING, that part of the clothing 
of the leg and foot which immediately co- 
vers their nudity, and screens them from 
the cold, &c. Anciently, the only stock- 
ings in use were made of cloth, or of milled 
stuffs sewed together; but since the in- 
vention of knitting and weaving stockings 
of silk, wool, cotton, thread, &c. tlie use 
of cloth stockings is quite laid aside. The 
modern stockings, whether woven or knit, 
are a kind of plexuses, formed of an infinite 
number of little knots, called stitches, 
loops, or meshes, intermingled in one ano- 
ther. Knit stockings are wrought with 
needles made of polished iron or brass wire, 
which interweave the threads, and form the 
meshes the stocking consists of. This ope- 
ration is called knitting, the invention 
whereof is. commonly attributed to the 
Scots, on this ground, that the first works 
of this kind came from thence. It is ad- 
ded, that it was on this account that the 
company of stocking-knitters, established 
at Paris in tSW, took for their patron St. 
Fiacre, who is said to have been the son of a 
king of Scotland. Woven stocjtings are 
ordinarily very fine ; they are manufectured 
OB a frame, or machine of polished iron. 
STO 
Tire English and French have greatly 
contested the honour of the invention of 
the stocking-loom; but we are assured, 
whatever pretensions the French claim to 
this invention, that the same was certainly 
devised by William Lee, of St. John’s Col-' 
lege, Cambridge, in the year 1589, though 
it is true, that he first made it public in 
France, after despairing of success in his, 
own country. 
STOCKS, or Public Funds in England. 
By the word stock was originally me^mt a 
particular sum of money contributed to the 
establishing of a fund to enable a com- 
pany to carry on a certain trade, by means 
of which the person became a partner in 
that trade, and received a share of the pro- 
fit made thereby, in proportion to the 
money employed. But this term has been, 
extended further, though improperly, to sig- 
nify any sum of money which has been 
lent to the government, on condition of re- 
ceiving a certain interest till the money is 
repaid, and which makes a part of the na- 
tional debt. As the security both of the 
government and of the public companies 
is esteemed preferable to that of any pri- 
vate person, as the stocks are negotiable 
and may be sold at any time, and as the in- 
terest is always punctually paid when due ; 
so they are thereby enabled to borrow- 
money on a lower interest than what could 
be obtained from lending it to private per- 
sons, where there must be always some 
danger of losing both principal and inte- 
rest. But as every capital stock or fund of 
a company is raised for a particular pur- 
pose, and limited by parliament to a certain 
sum, it necessarily follows, that when that 
fund is completed, no stock can be bought 
of the company ; though shares already 
purchased may be transferred from one 
person to another. This being the case, 
there is frequently a great disproportion 
between the original value of the shares and 
what is given for them when transferred ; 
for if there are more buyers than sellers, a 
person who is indifferent about selling will 
not part with his share without a consi- 
derable profit to himself ; and on the con- 
trary, if many are disposed to sell, and few 
inclined to buy, the value of such shares 
will naturally fall in proportion to the im- 
patience of those who want to turn their 
stock into specie. See Funds. 
For the sake of those who deal much in 
the stocks, we shall give a Table showing 
the comparative value per cent, of the seve- 
S 2 
