466 
S P E 
S P E 
great compositions in English poetry, and has lost none of 
its value by antiquity. “ If its plan is singularly involved, 
its allegories often defective and obscure, and its adventures 
extravagant, it is, however, absolutely unrivalled for the 
fertility of its conceptions, and the vividness of its painting. 
SPENT, at Sea. The seamen say a ship hath spent any 
mast or yard, when it is broken down by foul weather. 
SPE'RABLE, adj. [ sperabilis , Lat.] Such as may be 
hoped. Not in use. —We may cast it away, if it be found 
but a bladder, and discharge it of so much as is vain and not 
sperable. Bacon. 
SPE'RATE, adj. [speratus, Lat.] Hoped to be not irre¬ 
coverable. Unused but good. —We have spent much time 
in distinguishing between the sperate and desperate debts of 
the clergy. Repr. to 2. Anne, in Ecton's St. of 2. Anne's 
Bounty , (1721). 
To SPERE, v. a. [ppipian, Sax.] To ask; to enquire. 
Still a northern word, and in some parts pronounced sper. 
SPERGULA [Dimin. aspargendo; from its throwing 
the seed about], in Botany, a genus of the class decandria, 
order pentagynia, natural order of caryophyllei.—Generic 
Character. Calyx: perianth five-leaved : leaflets ovate, ob¬ 
tuse, concave, spreading, permanent. Corolla: petals five, 
ovate, concave, spreading, bigger than the calyx, undivided. 
Stamina: filaments ten, awl-shaped, shorter than the corolla. 
Anthers roundish. Pistil: germ ovate. Styles five, from 
erect-reflex, filiform. Stigmas thickisb. Pericarp : capsule 
ovate, straight, one-celled, five-valved. Seeds very many, 
depressed-globular, girt with an emarginate rim. It is dis¬ 
tinguished from cerastium by its entire petals. Spergula pen- 
tandra has only five stamens.— Essential Character. Calyx 
five-leaved. Petals five, entire. Capsule ovate, one celled, 
five-valved. 
1. Spergula arvensis, or corn-spurrey.—Root annual, small, 
fibrous. Stems numerous, a foot in length, nearly upright, 
round, clammy and panicled on the upper part, leafy, 
jointed; joints swelling, globular. Stipules in pairs at the 
joints. Leaves in whorls, forming two bundles, about eight 
in each, the inner ones gradually smaller, linear; having a 
deep furrow on the back, blunt, and yellow at the tip. 
Panicle dichotomous, divaricating, many-flowered. Pedun¬ 
cles one-flowered, pubescent. Seeds kidney-shaped.—Native 
of Europe, in sandy soils; also of Barbary and Siberia. It 
flowers here from July to September. 
2. Spergula pentandra, or little corn-spurrey.—Leaves 
whorled; flowers five-stamened; seeds depressed, winged.— 
Native of Germany, France, Spain, and Ireland. 
3. Spergula nodosa, or knotted spurrey.—Leaves opposite, 
awl-shaped, even ; the upper ones in bundles: calyx nerve¬ 
less. Root perennial, fibrous. Stems several, four inches 
or more in length. This elegant little plant recommends 
itself to our notice by the beauty of its verdure, and the de¬ 
licacy of its flowers; the largeness and pure whiteness of 
which, joined to its place of growth, serve to distinguish it 
from those plants which have some resemblance to it in the 
foliage.—It is found in the greatest part of Europe, in moist 
situations, frequently among herbage, and sometimes out of 
walls, rocks or stones. It flowers in July and August. 
4. Spergula laricina, or larch-leaved spurrey.—Leaves op¬ 
posite, awl-shaped, ciliate, in bundles. Root perennial. 
Stem decumbent, branched, leafy, round.—Native of Si¬ 
beria. 
5. Spergula saginoides, or smooth awl-shaped spurrey.— 
Leaves opposite, awl-shaped, awnless, naked; peduncles 
solitary, very long, smooth. Stem procumbent, two inches 
high.—Native of Sweden, Switzerland, France, Siberia, and 
Scotland, on mountains. 
6. Spergula subulata, or ciliated awl-shaped spurrey.— 
Leaves opposite, awl-shaped, awned, ciliate; peduncles soli¬ 
tary, very long, somewhat hairy. Root perennial, fibrous. 
Stems several, an inch or two in length, procumbent and 
rooting, then upright.—Native of Denmark, Sweden, Ger¬ 
many, and Britain, on sandy commons, and dry gravelly 
pastures. 
7. Spergula glabra, or smooth spurrey.—Leaves opposite, 
bundled, filiform, smooth; flowers ten-stamened; petals 
bigger than the calyx. Stems procumbent, round, knotted. 
—Native of Piedmont, in Alpine pastures. 
Propagation and Culture. —The usual time for sowing 
the seed of Spurrey for feeding cattle, is in July or August, 
that the plants may acquire strength before winter. As 
Spurrey will grow on the poorest sand, it may be cultivated 
in many places to good advantage, where no grass will thrive 
well; and by feeding it off the ground, the dung of the cat¬ 
tle or sheep will improve the land. 
For saving the seeds, they should be sown in April, that 
they may ripen in August. The crop must be cut before the 
heads are quite brown, otherwise the seeds will soon scatter. 
About twelve pounds of seed is sufficient to sow an acre. 
Harrow the ground well before the seeds are sown. In the 
Low countries, this plant succeeds a crop of corn. The se¬ 
cond sort is now much cultivated in Flanders; for though 
it is a much lower plant, they esteem it to be superior to the 
other. 
SPERLINGA, a small town of the north-east of Sicily, in 
the Val di Demona, remarkable for having afforded an 
asylum to some French refugees during the dreadful massacre 
in 1282, called the Sicilian Vespers. The town has a strong 
fortress situated on an eminence, and is 3 miles west of Ni¬ 
cosia, and ten south of Mistretta. 
SPERLING (Otto), son of a person of the same name, 
was born at Christiana, in Norway, in 1634. He received 
the early part of his education at Copenhagen; he afterwards 
studied at the gymnasium of Bordesholm, and then at the 
academy of Helmstadt. He became a member of the Royal 
Society of London, in 1700, and died in 1715. He was 
author of a great many works, among which were the fol¬ 
lowing: “ Monumentum Hamburgenese Benedictinum;’’ 
“ De Danicse Linguae ac Nominis antiqua Gloria et Praero- 
gativa inter Septentrionales,” See. Gen. Biog. 
SPERLONGA, a town of the north-west of the kingdom 
of Naples,-in the Terra di Lavoro. Population 1200; 10 
miles north-west of Gaeta. 
SPERM, s. [sperme, French; spernia, Lat.] Seed; that 
by which the species is continued.—There is required to the 
preparation of the sperm of animals a great apparatus of ves¬ 
sels, many secretations, concoctions, reflections, and circu¬ 
lations. Ray. 
SPERMACE'TI, s. [Lat.] Corruptly pronounced par - 
masitty. —A particular sort of whale affords the oil whence 
this is made; and that is very improperly called speryna , 
because it is only the oil which comes from the head of 
which it can be made. It is changed from what it is natu¬ 
rally, the oil itself being very brown and rank. The pecu¬ 
liar property of it is to shoot into flakes, not much unlike 
the chrystallization of salts; but in this state ’tis yellow, and 
has a certain rankness, from which it is freed by squeezing it 
between warm metalline plates: at length it becomes per¬ 
fectly pure, inodorous, flaky, smooth, white, and, in some 
measure, transparent. 2uincey. — Spermaceti was much 
used in medicine, but is quite inefficacious. It makes good 
candles. 
SPERMACOCE [so named by Dillenius, from a-Trepp.ee, 
a seed; and ca< a/<■/], a sharp point: these plants having 
prickly seeds], in Botany, a genus of the class tetraudria, order 
monogynia, natural order of stellatse, rubiaceae (Juss .)— 
Generic Character. Calyx: perianth small, four-toothed, 
superior, permanent. Corolla one-petalled, funnel shaped : 
tube cylindric, slender, longer than the calyx: border four- 
parted, from spreading reflexed, obtuse. Stamina: filaments 
four, awl-shaped, shorter than the corolla, or standing out. 
Anthers simple. Pistil: germ roundish, compressed, infe¬ 
rior. Style simple, but cloven above. Stigmas obtuse. 
Pericarp: capsules two, connate, oblong, gibbous on one side, 
flat on the other; obtuse, each two-horned. Seeds solitary, 
roundish. Spermacoce hispida has a turbinate-campanulate, 
erect corolla. R. It is manifestly one capsuled and two- 
celled; not two capsuled. M. Gsertner describes Sperma¬ 
coce tenuior as one capsuled. The fruit is always two- 
celled, bipartile when ripe, naked or covered with a thin 
crust. 
