\ 
12 SPIRAA. 
tive of Siberia, and was introduced to Britain in ' 
1759. It is a deciduous shrub of 3 or 4 feet in 
height. Its young branches are clothed with a 
purplish bark; its leaves are beautifully pin- 
nated, and closely resemble those of the service- 
tree; its folioles are oblong and uniformly ser- | 
rated, and generally amount to about four pairs 
on each leaf, and are exceedingly ornamental ; 
and its flowers grow in panicles at the ends of 
the branches, and are white, and bloom in August. 
A variety called the alpine, S..s. alpina, is com- 
paratively dwarfish. 
The opulus-leaved spirzea, or Virginian guelder 
rose, S. opulifolia, is a native of North America, 
and was introduced to Britain in 1690. Itisa 
deciduous shrub of 7 or 8 feet in height. The 
branches are covered with a dark brown bark, 
which peels off in winter, and discovers an inner, 
which is smooth and of a lighter colour ; so that 
in winter this shrub has a very ragged look. 
The leaves resemble those of the common currant 
bush, which- has occasioned its being called by 
some the currant-leaved guelder rose; they are 
for the most part lobed like them,—though all 
are not alike, some being divided into more than 
three lobes, whilst others are scarcely divided at 
all; and they are serrated and of a palish green 
colour, and stand irregularly on the branches, on 
long green footstalks. The flowers are produced 
in June, at the ends of the branches; they are 
white at their first opening, and afterwards re- 
ceive a reddish tinge, which is still heightened 
before they die off; and though each is rather 
small, and stands on a separate footstalk, many 
of them grow together in large umbels ; and they 
are succeeded by bunches of reddish, cornered 
fruit, which make a pretty show in autumn. A 
variety occurs called the small woolly,—S. a. to- 
mentella ; and this is propagated from suckers,— 
the normal plant from layers. 
The crenated-leaved spirea, S. crenata, is a native 
of Podolia, and was introduced to Britain in 1739. 
It is a deciduous shrub of from 2 to 4 feet in 
height. Its branches come out irregularly, and 
are covered with a dark brown bark ; its leaves 
are small, serrated, and of a pleasant green colour ; 
‘and its flowers grow in roundish bunches on the 
sides of the branches, and are so profuse and 
plentiful as to cover almost all the branched part 
of the shrub, and have a white colour, and bloom 
in April and May, and make a handsome appear- 
ance. 
Some of the most interesting of the remaining 
species are the germander-leaved, S. chamedri- 
folia, 20 inches high, white-flowered, blooming 
in June and July, introduced in 1789 from Si- 
beria, and comprising four or five varieties from 
Germany, Hungary, and Canada ; the elm-leaved, 
S. ulmifolia, 3 feet high, white-flowered, bloom- 
ing in June and July, introduced in 1790 from 
Carniola, and comprising a variety called the 
leafy ; the pretty, S. della, 2 feet high, red-flower- 
ed, blooming in July and August, and introduced 
SPLENT. 
in 1820 from Nepaul; the meadow-rue-like, S. 
thalictroides, 2 feet high, white-flowered, bloom- 
ing from May till July, and introduced in 1816 
from Dahuria; the smooth-leaved, S. levigata, 4 
or 5 feet high, red-flowered, blooming from April 
till June, and introduced in 1774 from Siberia ; 
and the three-lobed, S. trilobata, 3 or 4 feet high, 
white-flowered, blooming in May, and introduced 
in 1801 from Siberia. 
SPIRALEPIS. A genus of ornamental, Cape- 
of-Good-Hope plants, of the thistle division of the 
composite order. Four species, varying in height 
from 6 to 15 inches, all evergreens, classed by the 
old botanists with the genus gnaphalium, and 
severally carrying ‘flowers of red, brown, purple, 
and purple and green, have been introduced to 
the greenhouses of Britain ; and all love a mixed 
soil of sand and peat and loam, and may be 
treated in the manner of the other greenhouse 
“ everlastings.” 
SPIRANTHES. See Lapizs’ Traczs. 
SPIRIT. See Atconon. 
SPIRIT-LEVEL. See Lrveniine. 
SPIT DUNG. See Farm-Yarp Manure. 
SPLEEN. A spongy, honey-comb-like organ, 
comprising numerous little cells and multitudes 
of minute vessels, and lying along the left side of 
the stomach of some of the higher orders of ani- 
mals. It is one of the few organs whose precise 
functions have as yet baffled scientific research ; 
but has been supposed to serve as a reservoir for 
any excess of fluid which the stomach receives 
and does not immediately require for any pur- 
pose of digestion. It is sometimes very much 
enlarged, and has even been known to be ruptur- 
ed; but does not appear to be often or seriously 
the seat of disease. 
SPLEENWORT. See Aspientvum. 
SPLENT, or Sprint. A bony excrescence on 
the inside of the shank-bone of the horse. It 
seldom occasions lameness unless when so situ- 
ated as to interrupt the motion of the knee-joint, 
or to interfere with the back sinew or suspensory 
ligament of the leg. In all ordinary cases, it may 
be let alone, or merely bathed with camphorated 
spirit or with spirit and vinegar; or even when 
it occasions slight lameness, it may generally be 
sufficiently cured or controlled by being for some 
time kept constantly moist with camphorated 
spirit or with spirit and vinegar through a swath- 
ing of soft linen ; and only when it causes serious 
lameness or becomes very unsightly needs it be 
attacked with any appliance intended to remove 
it. The old barbarous practices of bruising a 
splent with a hammer, chopping it off with a 
mallet, cutting it off with a saw, boring it with 
a gimlet, sweating it down with hot oils, and 
slitting down the skin and the periosteum over 
it, are never necessary and ought to be avoided 
and abhorred. The strongest measure requisite 
for the removal of almost any bad recent splent 
is to shave off the hair, rub in a little strong mer- 
curial ointment for two days, and afterwards 
