S C E 
' SCENT, 5 . [from sentio, Lat.] To discern by the senses. 
Our old word is serft .—The power of smelling; the smell.— 
A hunted hare treads back her mazes, crosses and confounds 
her former track, and uses all possible methods to divert the 
scent. Watts .—The object of smell; odour good or bad. 
Good scents do purify the brain. 
Awake the fancy, and the wits refine. Davies. 
Partake 
The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs. Milton. 
Chace followed by the smell.—He gained the observations 
of innumerable ages, and travelled upon the same scent into 
^Ethiopia. Temple. 
To SCENT, v. a. To smell; to perceive by the nose. 
So scented the grim feature, and upturn’d 
His nostrils wide into the murky air, 
Sagacious of his quarry from so far. Milton. 
To perfume; or to imbue with odour good or bad. 
Balm, from a silver box distill’d around, 
Shall all bedew the roots, and scent the sacred ground. 
Dryden. 
SCENT-BAGS, in Natural History, a name given by 
Tyson to those peculiar pouches, or bags, which certain ani¬ 
mals, as the civet-cat and musk animal, have for the receiv¬ 
ing the matter of their perfume. These bags are common to 
more animals than is generally supposed, and in all have 
much the same qualities, the matter they contain being, in 
most of them, fetid and disagreeable, while contained in the 
bag, and only becoming sweet and pleasant when dried, or 
taken at least from the animal, and smelt in small quantities. 
The weasel and polecat, with us, have bags of this kind; 
and the famous bag or pouch of the opossum is of the nature 
of these, though it serves also to the other great purpose of 
receiving and sheltering the young in time of danger. It 
contains, like the rest, a tough and viscous matter, which 
oozes out of the glands, and is of a very offensive smell while 
the creature lives; but as soon as it is taken out and dried, 
the smell changes into a fine perfume. The gland of the 
apermosckiferus, as Tyson calls it, is of this kind, contain¬ 
ing a glutinous humour of a very offensive smell when 
fresh, but when dried, becoming sweet and perfumed as 
musk. Philos. Trans. N° 239. 
SCE'NTFUL, adj. Odorous; yielding much smell. 
A maiden gathering on the plains 
A sccntfull nosegay. Browne. 
Quick of smell. 
The scentfull osprey by the rocke had fish’d. 
And many a pretty shrimp in scallops dish’d 
Some way convey’d her. Browne * 
SCE'NTLESS, adj. Inodorous; having no smell. 
SCEPASTRA, the name of a kind of bandage for the 
head, described by Galen. 
. SCEPTIC, s. [from cvceimico?, Gr.] One who doubts ; 
generally opprobiously applied to those who doubt the au¬ 
thority of revelation. 
SCEPTICISM, the doctrine and opinion of the Sceptics; 
called also Pyrrhonism, from the name of its author. 
The term Sceptic, in its original Greek, <TKi%liKo^, pro- 
.perly signifies considcrative, and inquisitive; or a man 
who is ever weighing the reasons one side and the other, 
without ever deciding between them. It is formed from the 
verb crKcixl'jy.ca, I consider, look about, deliberate. 
The ancient scepticism consisted in doubting of every 
thing, in affirming nothing at all, and in keeping the judg¬ 
ment in suspense on every subject. Sextus Empericus makes 
scepticism to consist in a faculty of opposing all appear¬ 
ances ; of making all, even contrary things, equally pro¬ 
bable ; and of proceeding, first to an erro^, or suspense of 
.mind, and then to entire undisturbedness or tranquillity. 
Hence, these great maxims of theirs: —Ov yaWov tovto ij 
(k avo, this is no more than that; IIam \vyu \oyot;, &c., 
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s C II 761 
every reason has another against it; and OtAev ooigu, 
I determine nothing. 
The proper character, then, of scepticism, is an a/rara- 
Ayihia., neutrality, or such a disposition of mind as does 
not, upon any occasion, incline to any thing more than the 
contrary thing. 
It is from this acatalepsia of the Sceptics, that Descartes 
seems to have borrowed his great principle of doubting of 
all things; as is owned by many of his followers. It must 
be confessed, indeed, that there is some difference between 
the doubting of the Sceptics, and that of the Cartesians. In 
physical matters, it is true, there does not seem a great deal 
of difference; and Descartes, in that respect, may, without 
much injustice, be deemed a Sceptic. But this may be said 
in his favour, that the great Socrates was so far a Sceptic 
himself: physical and sensible things, he held, were all 
dubious, and at best but probable. 
The origin of scepticism is somewhat obscure. Pyrrho, 
who lived under Alexander the Great, and made the tour of 
India in his retinue, is usually reputed its author: whence 
the words Pyrrhonians and Sceptics are ordinarily used in¬ 
differently. See Pyrrhonians. 
SCE'PTRE, s. [ sceptrum, Latin.] The ensign of 
royalty borne in the hand. 
How, best of kings, do’st thou a sceptre bear I 
How, best of poets, do’st thou laurel wear! 
But two things rare the fates had in their store, 
And gave thee both, to shew they could no more. B. Jonson. 
The sceptre is an ensign of royalty of greater antiquity 
than the crown. The Greek tragic and other poets put 
sceptres in the hands of the most ancient kings they ever 
introduce. 
Justin observes, that the sceptre, in its original, was an 
hasta, or spear. He adds, that in the most remote anti¬ 
quity, men adored the hastae, or sceptres, as immortal gods; 
and that it was upon this account that, even in his time, 
they still furnished the gods with sceptres. Neptune’s sceptre 
is his trident. 
Le Gendre tells us, that in the first race of the French 
kings, the sceptre was a golden rod, almost always of the 
same height with the king who bore it, and crooked at one 
end, like a crozier. Frequently, instead of a sceptre, kings 
are seen on medals with a palm in their hand. 
To SCEPTRE, v. a. To invest with the ensign of 
royalty.—Thy cheeks buffeted, thy head smitten, thy hand 
sceptred with a reed. Bp. Hall. 
SCE'PTRED, adj. Bearing a sceptre. 
The sceptred heralds call 
To council, in the city-gates. Milton. 
Denoting something regal. 
Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy 
In sceptred pall come sweeping by. 
Presenting Thebes, or Pelops’ line, 
Or the tale of Troy divine. Milton. 
SCHAAF (Charles), a learned orientialist, born at Nuys, 
in the electorate of Cologne, in 1646, was the son of a 
major in the Hessian service. He was educated for the 
church, and at the request of the students in theology at 
that university, he was nominated, in 1677, teacher of the 
Oriental languages. Three years after this, he occupied a 
similar post at Leyden. He was afterwards appointed to the 
chair as Oriental professor. On the whole, he taught in 
that department of literature, three years at Duisburg, and 
fifty at Leyden. He died in 1729, at the age of 83. He 
was author of “ Opus Aramaeum, complectens Grammati- 
cam Chaldaico-Syriacam cum Versione Latina,” 8vo. 1686: 
“ Novum Testamentum Syriacum cum Versione Latina,” 
4to. 1708: “Lexicon Syriacum concordantiale,” 4to. 1717: 
“ Epitome Grammatices Hebrseac,” 1716. He was engaged, 
in the year 1711, by the curators of the university of 
Leyden, to draw up a catalogue of Oriental books and 
manuscripts in its library. 
9 H SCIIABAT2, 
