S P 0 
488 S P 0 
other marine productions; and is thought, from the simila¬ 
rity which it bears to the spongia tomentosa, to be a variety 
of that species. ' 
12. Spongia fulva.—This species is irregularly formed, but 
slightly branched, fulvous, and it is very rigid.—It inhabits 
the American ocean ; is gelatinous, and brown between the 
fibres. 
13. Spongia tabularia.—Compressed, sessile, a little rigid 
and yellowish, with small longitudinal tubes.—This also is an 
American species, generally seated on rocks, frequently black¬ 
ish within. 
14. Spongia fibrillosa.—This species is irregularly shaped, 
a little flattened and tender, with divergent, crowded, in¬ 
terwoven fibres, and scattered toothed pores.—It inhabits 
the Indian ocean, is grey, soft, fan-shaped, or divided, or 
caulescent. 
15. Spongia fasciculata.—This is rigid, sub-globular, com¬ 
posed of fibrous, prismatic, branched, fastigiate bunches.— 
This is found in the Mediterranean sea; is pale, fulvous, or 
yellowish-grey. 
16. Spongia coalita.—This is very much branched, soft, 
tender, yellow; the branches are a little compressed.—It in¬ 
habits the North seas. 
17. Spongia lacustris.—Creeping, brittle, with erect, round, 
obtuse branches.—It is found at the bottom of lakes in Eng¬ 
land and Sweden, covered with scattered pores, in which 
are sometimes found, during autumn, small blueish shining 
globules. 
18. Spongia pulviatilis.—Green, erect, fragile, of many 
irregular branches.—It inhabits the fresh waters of this coun¬ 
try, Prussia, and other parts of Europe. It is of a dull green, 
with hardly the appearance of animal life, of a fishy smell, 
and with the pores full of green, gelatinous granulations; it 
very much resembles the last. 
SPONGINESS, s. Softness and fulness of cavities like 
a sponge.—The sponginess of it [wood] would suck up the 
blood. Fuller. 
SPO'NGIOUS, adj. [ spongieux , Fr.] Full of small ca¬ 
vities like a sponge.—All thick bones are hollow or sponge- 
ous, and contain an oleaginous substance in little vesicles, 
which, by the heat of the body, is exhaled through these 
bones to supply their fibres. Cheyne. 
SPONGY, adj. Soft and full of small interstitial holes. 
—The lungs are the most spongy part of the body, and 
therefore ablest to contract and dilate itself. Bacon. —Wet; 
drenched; soaked; full like a sponge 
When their drench'd natures lie as in a death, 
What cannot you and I perform upon 
Th’ unguarded Duncan ? What not put upon 
His spungy officers who shall bear the guilt ? Shakspeare. 
Having the quality of imbibing. 
SPONK, s. A word in Edinburgh which denotes a 
match, or any thing dipt in sulphur that takes fire : as, Any 
sponks will ye buy ? Touchwood. 
SPO'NSAL, adj. [sponsalis, Lat.] Relating to marriage. 
SPONSION, s. [sponsio, Lat.] The act of becoming a 
surety.—This is a great and weighty sponsion. Napleton. 
SPONSOR, s. [Latin.] A surety; one who makes a 
promise or gives security for another. 
The rash hermit, who with impious pray'r 
Had been the sponsor of another’s care. Harte. 
SPONTANEITY, s. [ spontaneitas , school Lat.; spon¬ 
taneity, Fr., from spontaneous.'] Voluntariness; willing¬ 
ness ; accord uncompelled —Necessity and spontaneity may 
sometimes meet'together, so may spontaneity and liberty; 
but real necessity and true liberty can never. Bramhall 
against Hobbes. 
SPONTANEOUS, adj. [spnntanee, Fr.; from sponte, 
Lat.] Voluntary; not compelled; acting without compul¬ 
sion or restraint; acting of itself; acting of its own accord. 
—Many analogical motions in animals, though I cannot call 
them voluntary, yet I see them spontaneous: I have reason to 
conclude, that these are not simply mechanical. Hale. 
SPONTANEOUSLY, adv. Voluntarily; of its own ac¬ 
cord.—Whey turns spontaneously acid, and the curd into 
cheese as hard as a stone. Arbuthnot. 
SPONTANEOUSNESS, s. Voluntariness; freedom of 
will; accord unforced.—The sagacities and instincts of 
brutes, the spontaneousness of many of their animal motions, 
are not explicable without supposing some active determinate 
power connexed to and inherent in their spirits, of a higher 
extraction than the bare natural modifications of matter. 
Hale. 
SPONTO'ON, [esponton, French.] A military weapon, 
a kind of half pike, or halberd.—Says Johnson, in a tone of 
admiration, How the little fellow brandished his spontoon ! 
There is nothing in it, replied Goldsmith, starting up with 
impatience; Give me a spontoon ; I can do it as well my¬ 
self. Murphy. 
SPOOL, s. [spule, German; spohl, Dutch.] A small 
piece of cane or reed, with a knot at each end ; or a piece of 
wood turned in that form to wind yarn upon ; a quill. 
To SPOOM, v. n. [Probably from spume, or foam, as a 
ship driven with violence spumes, or raises a foam.] To go 
on swiftly; a sea term. 
When virtue spooms before a prosperous gale, 
My heaving wishes help to fill the sail. Dry den. 
SPOON, s. [spaen, Dutch ; spone, Danish; sponn, Ice¬ 
landic.] A concave vessel with a handle, used in eating 
liquids. 
Or o’er cold coffee trifle with the spoon. 
Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon. Pope. 
To SPOON, v. n. In sea language, is when a ship being 
under sail in a storm cannot bear it, but is obliged to put 
right before the wind. Bailey. 
SPOON RIVER, a river of the United States, which, 
after a course of 100 miles, falls into the Illinois. 
SPO'ONBILL, s. A bird. See Platea. —The shoveller, 
or spoonbill; the former name the more proper, the end of 
the bill being broad like a shovel; but not concave like a 
spoon, but perfectly flat. Grew. Mus. 
SPO'ONFUL, s. As much as is generally taken at once 
in a spoon.—A medical spoonful is half an ounce.—Prescribe 
him, before he do use the receipt, that he take such a pill or 
a spoonful of liquor. Bacon. —Any small quantity of 
liquid.—Surely the choice and measure of the materials of 
which the whole body is composed, and what we take daily 
by pounds, is at least of as much importance as what we take 
seldom, and only by grains and spoonfuls. Arbuthnot. 
SPO'ON-MEAT, s. Liquid food; nourishment taken 
with a spoon.—We prescribed a slender diet, allowing only 
spoon-meats. Wiseman. 
Wretched 
Are mortals born to sleep their lives away l 
Go back to what thy infancy began. 
Eat pap and spoon-meat; for thy gewgaws cry, 
Be sullen, and refuse the lullaby. Dryden. 
SPO'ON-WORT, s. Scurvy-grass. 
Spoon-wort was there, scorbutic to supply. 
And centaury to clear the jaundic’d eye. Harte. 
SPORADES, in Astronomy, a name which the ancients 
gave to such stars as were not included in any constellation. 
SPORADES, the name of one of the ancient divisions, 
of the islands of the Grecian archipelago, comprising those 
scattered irregularly along the shores of Europe and Asia, in 
contradistinction to the Cyclades, which were grouped cir¬ 
cularly around Delos. 
SPORA'DICAL, adj. [a-itooodiiKos, Gr.; sporadique, Fr.] 
Opposed to epidemical; in medicine.—A sporadical disease 
is—what in a particular season affects but few people. Ar¬ 
buthnot. 
SPORLE, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 2k miles 
north-east of Swaffham. Population 576. 
SPORLING’S ISLAND, a small island near the coast of 
New Zealand, a little to the north-east of Gable End Fore¬ 
land. 
SPORLIVOI, 
