S P I 
477 
S P I 
SPILOMA [so called by Acharius, from the Gr. a-iriXu/xa., 
a stain, or spot, in allusion to the appearance of the fructi¬ 
fication], in Botany, a minute and obscure genus of the 
lichens. See Lichen. 
SPILSBY, a market town of England, in the county of 
Lincoln, situated on an eminence overlooking to the south 
the extensive level of marsh and fen land which is bounded 
by Boston Deeps and the German ocean. It is the chief 
town in the southern part of Lindsey division, and consists 
mostly of four streets, uniting at the market-place. This 
forms a spacious square, intersected in the centre by a row 
of houses, with the market cross at the east end, and the 
town-hall at the west. The cross consists of a plain octa¬ 
gonal shaft, with a quadrangular base, the whole elevated 
on five steps. The town-hall was built in 1764. It is a 
plain brick building, standing on arches on the site of the 
old hall, which was pulled down. The general quarter 
sessions of the peace for the southern division of the ports 
of Lindsey, have been holden here for upwards of 100 years. 
The parish church, situated in the west end of the town, is 
an irregular building, consisting of north and south aisles, 
the latter being much larger than the rest of the building. 
Here is a chapel, in which are some ancient monuments 
belonging to the families of Beke, Willoughby, and Bertie. 
At the west end of the church is an embattled tower, of 
more modern date than the rest of the church. Spilsby 
contains a small free school, and a Sunday school. Market 
on Monday, and three annual fairs; 31 mileseast of Lin¬ 
coln, and 134 north of London. 
SPILSBY, a small island on the south coast of New 
Holland, in Spencer’s gulf. 
SPILT, part. adj. [perhaps intended for spelt, i. e. di¬ 
vided. See To Spelt.] Variegated. 
Though all'the pillours of the one were guilt, 
And all the other’s pavement were with yvory spilt. 
Spenser % 
SPILTH, s. Any thing poured out or wasted.—Our 
vaults have wept with drunken spilth of wine. Shakspeare. 
To SPIN, v. a. prefer, spun or s pan ; part. spun. [spin - 
7ian, Goth., ppinnan. Sax., spinnen, Germ, and Dutch; 
spinia, Icel., from spenna, to extend, to draw out. Sere- 
niusi] To draw out into threads.—The women spun goats’ 
hair. Ex. —To form threads by drawing out and twisting 
any filamentous matter.—You would be another Penelope; 
yet all the yarn she spun, in Ulysses’s absence, did but fill 
Ithaca full of moths. Shakspeare. —To protract; to draw 
out. 
Why should Rome fall a moment before her time ? 
No, let us draw’ her term of freedom out 
In its full length, and spin it to the last. Addison. 
To form by degrees; to draw out tediously.—Men of large 
thoughts and quick apprehensions are not to expect any thing 
here, but what, being spun out of my own coarse thoughts, 
is fitted to men of my own size. Locke.— To put into a 
turning motion, as a boy’s top. 
To SPIN, v. n. To exercise the art of spinning or draw¬ 
ing threads. 
Ten thousand stalks their various blossoms spread; 
Peaceful and lowly in their native soil, 
They neither know to spin, nor care to toil. Prior. 
[ Spingare, Ital.] To stream out in a thread or small 
current. 
Together furiously they ran. 
That to the ground came horse and man ; 
The blood out of their helmets span. 
So sharp were their encounters. Drayton. 
To move round as a middle. 
Whether the sun, predominant in heaven, 
Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun, 
He from the east his flaming road begin, 
Or she from west her silent course advance 
With inoffensive pace, that spintiing sleeps 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1585. 
On her soft axle, while she paces even 
And bears thee soft with the smooth air along. 
Solicit not thy thoughts. Milton. 
SPIN HAY, To, in Military Language, is to twist it up 
in very hard ropes, for an expedition; so that it may be the 
less bulky for the cavalry to carry behind them. 
SPINA, in Botany and Vegetable Physiology, a thorn 
originating from the substance of the wood itself Linnaeus 
remarks, that a thorn is liable to disappear by culture, or 
richness of soil: whereas prickles, aculei, seated in the 
bark, are not affected by similar causes. 
SPINA BIFIDA, or Cloven Spine, in Surgery, fre- 
. quently named also Hydrorachitis. See Surgery. 
SPl'NACH, or Spi'nage, s. A plant— Spinnage is an 
excellent herb crude or boiled. Mortimer. —See Spinacia. 
SPINACH, Strawberry. See Blitum. 
SPINACIA [in Arabic, it is Hispanic; some derive it from 
Spina, the seeds being spiny in its wild state], in Botany, a 
genus of the class dioecia, order pentandria, natural order of 
Holoraceae, atriplices (Juss) —Generic Character. Male— 
Calyx: perianth five-parted: segments concave, oblong, 
obtuse. Corolla none. Stamina: filaments five, capillary, 
longer than the calyx. Anthers oblong, twin. Female— 
Calyx: perianth one-leafed, four-cleft, acute, with two op¬ 
posite segments very small, permanent. Corolla none. 
Pistil: germ round-compressed. Styles four, capillary. 
Stigmas simple. Pericarp none. Calyx unites and hardens. 
Seed one, roundish, covered by the calyx. Fruit round, or 
two-horned, or four-horned.— Essential Character. Male 
—Calyx, five parted. Corolla none. Female—Calyx four- 
cleft. Corolla none. Styles four. Seed one, within the 
hardened calyx. 
1. Spinacia oleracea, or garden spinach.—Fruit sessile. 
Root annual. Leaves sagittate Stem hollow-branching, 
herbaceous, about two feet high. The male flowers are her¬ 
baceous, in long spikes; they abound in pollen, which, when 
ripe, flies out when the plants are shaken, and spreads all 
round; after which the plants soon decay. The female 
flowers, which are on a separate plant, sit in clusters close to 
the stalks at every joint; they are small, herbaceous, and are 
succeeded by roundish seeds. 
There are two or three varieties of this, which differ in the 
size and shape of the leaves; and the more or less prickliness 
of the seeds, in one variety, the seed is quite smooth. 
The native place of growth is unknown. 
The etymology of this well-known pot-herb is involved 
in much obscurity. Latin names ending in aca, as Verbe- 
naca, Portulaca; or in acia, as Spinacia ; are deduced from 
something to which they bear a resemblance, as Verbena, 
portula, spina: hence our English names smallach, spinach, 
now commonly spelt smallage, spinage. 
2. Spinacia fera, or wild spinach.—Fruits peduncled. 
—Stem higher, smooth and even. Leaves deltoid-ovate, 
sometimes sinuate, obtuse, petioled. Fruits axillary, three or 
more, each on its peduncle, the length of its fruit, ovate or 
obovate, obtuse, somewhat keeled on each side, even, very 
blunt.—Native of Siberia. 
Propagation and Culture. —Prickly spinach was for¬ 
merly more cultivated in the English gardens than at present, 
because it is much hardier, so not in much danger from cold; 
therefore was generally cultivated for use in winter. 
The seeds should be sown upon an open spot of ground 
the beginning of August, observing if possible to do it when 
there is an appearance of rain. 
In October the spinach will be fit for use, when you should 
only crop off the largest outer leaves, leaving those in the 
centre of the plants to grow bigger; and thus you may con¬ 
tinue cropping it all the winter and spring, until the young 
spinach sowed in the spring is large enough for use, which is 
commonly in April; at which time the spring advancing, 
the winter spinach will run up to seed ; so that it should be 
all cut up, leaving only a small parcel to produce seeds if 
wanted. 
SPI'NAL, adj. [spina, Lat.] Belonging to the back 
bone. 
6 F Descending 
