Thy eyes diffused a reconciling ray, From his modest and humble charity, virtues which rarely cohabit with the swelling windiness of much knowledge, issued this spiss and dense yet polished, this copious yet concise, treatise of the variety of languages. Brerewood. Bacon. Drawing wine or beer from the lees, called racking, it will clarify the sooner; for, though the lees keep the drink in heart, and make it lasting, yet they cast up some spissitude. Spissitude is subdued by acrid things, and acrimony by inspissating. Arbuthnot on Aliments. SPIT, n. s. & v. a. Į Sax. rpitan; Belg. spit; SPIT'TED, adj. Ital. spedo. A long prong on which meat is driven, to be turned before the fire: the depth of a spade in digging: to put on a spit; thrust through: spitted is shot out into length. A goodly city is this Antium; 'Tis I that made thy widows: then know me not, Lest that thy wives with spits, and boys with stones, In puny battle slay me. Shakspeare. Coriolanus. I see my cousin's ghost Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body Upon a rapier's point. Shakspeare. Whether the head of a deer, that by age is more spitted, may be brought again to be more branched. Bacon. Dryden. Swift. With Peggy Dixon thoughtful sit, Contriving for the pot and spit. SPIT, v. a., v. n. & n. s. Į Sax. гporan; Dan. SPITTLE, n. s. spytter; Swed. spata; Lat. sputo. To eject from the mouth: throw out spittle: the saliva of the mouth. He spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man. John ix. 6. And when he had spat on the ground, he anointed his eyes. Gospel. A large mouth, indeed, That spits forth death and mountains. Shakspeare. Very good orators, when they are here, will spit. A genius for all stations fit, Whose meanest talent is his wit: His heart too great, though fortune little, To lick a rascal statesman's spittle. Swift. Spit on your finger and thumb, and pinch the snuff till the candle goes out. Id. Rules for Servants. SPITCH'COCK, v. a. To cut an eel in pieces and roast him; or rather the eel so roasted: of Teut. speits kochen; i. e. that which is cooked on a spit. No man lards salt pork with orange peel, Or garnishes his lamb with spitchcockt eel. King. SPITE, n. s. & v. a. Fr. despit; Belg. spijt, SPITE FUL, adj. Ital. spetto. Malice; SPITE FULLY, adv. rancor; malignity; maSPITE FULNESS, n. s. levolence: 'in spite of' is in defiance of: to spite is to vex; treat with malice; offend: the adjective and adverb correspond. This breeding rather spite than shame in her, or, if it were a shame, a shame not of the fault but of the repulse, she did thirst for a revenge. Sidney. So with play did he a good while fight against the fight of Zelmane, who, more spited with that courtesy, that one that did nothing should be able to resist her, burned away with choler any motions which might grow out of her own sweet disposition. Id. The Jews were the deadliest and spitefullest enemies of Christianity that were in the world, and in this respect their orders to be shunned. Hooker. Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spighted, slain, Most detestable death, by thee. All you have done Hath been but for a wayward son, Spiteful and wrathful. I'll guard thee free, And save thee in her spite. Shakspeare. Id. Macbeth. Chapman. Our publick form of divine service and worship is in every part thereof religious and holy, maugre the malice of spiteful wretches who have depraved it. White. Bewray they did their inward boiling spite, Each stirring others to revenge their cause. Daniel. Done all to spite The great Creator; but their spite still serves His glory to augment. Milton's Paradise Lost. Twice false Evadne, spitefully forsworn! That fatal beast like this I would have torn. Waller. Darius, spited at the magi, endeavoured to abolish not only their learning but their language. Temple. In spite of me I love, and see too late My mother's pride must find my mother's fate. Dryden. The spiteful stars have shed their venom down, And now the peaceful planets take their turn. Id. Id. In fireworks give him leave to vent his spite; Those are the only serpents he can write. Blessed be such a preacher, whom God made use of to speak a word in season, and saved me in spite of the world, the devil, and myself. South. Contempt is a thing made up of an undervaluing of a man, upon a belief of his utter uselessness, and a spiteful endeavour to engage the rest of the world in the same slight esteem of him. Id. For thy loved sake, spite of my boding fears, I'll meet the danger which ambition brings. Rowe. The cause is plain, and not to be denied, And those the most, where neither has a right. Couper. SPITHEAD, a road between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, where the royal navy of Great Britain frequently rendezvous. SPITTLE, n. s. Corrupted from hospital, and therefore better written spital. Hospital. It is still retained in Scotland. To the spittle go, And from the powdering tub of infamy That makes the waned widow wed again, She whom the spittle house, and ulcerous sores, Would cast the gorge at. Id. Timon. Cure the spittle world of maladies. Cleaveland. SPITTLE, in physiology. See SALIVA. SPITZBERGEN, or East Greenland, a name that has been given to a group of islands in the Northern Ocean, formerly supposed to make part of the continent. They are situated between 76° 30′ and 80° 30′ N. lat., and between 9° and 20° E. long. The land was first discovered by Sir Hugh Willoughby in the year 1553, who called it Groenland. In 1595 it was again visited by Barentz and Cornelius, two Dutchmen, who pretended to be the original discoverers, and called the country Spitzbergen, or Sharp Mountains, from the many sharp-pointed and rocky mountains with which it abounds. They alleged that the coast discovered by Sir Hugh Willoughby was some other country; which accordingly the Hollanders delineated on their maps and charts by the name of Willoughby Land; whereas in fact no such land ever existed; and, long before the voyage of these Dutchmen, Barrows, an English shipmaster, had coasted along a desolate country from lat. 78° to 80° 11' N., which was undoubtedly Spitzbergen. The sea in the neighbourhood abounding in whales, this country has been long the common resort of the fishing ships from different countries. But, till the voyage of captain Phipps in 1773, the situation of the country was erroneously laid down. This group extends further north than any other country yet discovered, and approaches within ten degrees of the pole. Spitzbergen is encompassed by the Arctic Ocean, and, though annually visited by vessels engaged in the whale fishery, it does not ever appear to have been permanently inhabited. The main-land stretches about 300 miles, nearly in the direction of the meridian, as South Cape is in lat. 76° 30′, and the opposite extremity in 80° 7′ of latitude; and even one of the islands reaches 80° 40'. The climate of these dreary regions is almost always intensely cold; and even in the three warmest months in the year, when the sun constantly shines, and the air is usually clear, the mean temperature is only about 34° 30′ of Fahrenheit's scale; while, during this period, the thermometer is often below the freezing point. The sun shines without setting for about four months in the year, and which has, therefore, been called their longest day. But, after he has passed the equinox, the approach of winter becomes very rapid. The sun sinks wholly below the horizon, and the temperature diminishes till the cold becomes intense. The birds of and the beasts that remain retire to their winter passage take their flight to milder regions, abodes. At this season the bear alone roams abroad. But man, as if determined to contest the sovereignty of desolation with this arctic monster, has even dared to winter on these bleak shores. Actuated by the prospect of gain to be derived from the opportunities of hunting and fishing during the winter, several adventurers annually proceed from Archangel and other ports on the White Sea, in small vessels fitted out for the purpose, and supplied with provisions and stores of all kinds that may be requisite for their support. Fuel, and huts ready constructed, are also taken out. These vessels either winter in some of the most obscure coves along the coast, or return with the members of the small colony, and the produce of their labors, that had been left the preceding year. As soon as they arrive at the place of their destination, the huts are erected, and the sailors remain on shore during the winter. Being accustomed to so severe a climate in their own country, they are seldom prevented from going abroad, unless when buried beneath the snow, which sometimes happens. In such cases they are obliged to make their way through the chimney to get out. The object of the adventurers is to kill whales, seals, seahorses, bears, rein-deer, and arctic foxes. Instead of receiving wages from their employers, they are supplied with provisions and other stores, and are entitled to a certain portion of the produce of their labors when they return. Some of them are even hardy enough to prolong their stay for two or three years; but in that case they often fall victims to the fatal effects of the scurvy, which is the great bane of those regions. Though the sun remains below the horizon for about four months in the year, it is seldom very dark during that season; for the brightness of the moon, which sometimes shines for nearly fourteen days together, the resplendent brilliancy of the stars, and the reflection of the aurora borealis, which often resembles a blaze of fire, afford sufficient light to read by. The surface of Spitzbergen presents a scene of rugged nakedness and desolation, which is, perhaps, unparalleled. Buried beneath almost perpetual snow, its vegetable productions are nearly all of the incumbent classes. A few mosses, lichens, and other arctic plants, make up the scanty catalogue. The only semblance of a shrub is the dwarf willow, which, in comparison, towers above all the other tribes, though seldom rising to more than two inches in height. The scenery of Spitzbergen is strikingly sublime and awfully grand; but it is a brilliancy of desolation, which rather astonishes than pleases -a chaotic confusion that chills while it delights, and rather overwhelms than elevates the mind. distance seldom exceeds a small portion of the If Mr. Scoresby, in his late very interesting and valuable work on these regions, to which he had previously made seventeen voyages, thusly towards the shore, the atmosphere becomes a describes the general appearance of Spitzbergen. little hazy, or even dark and cloudy, the vessel The principal objects which strike the eye are may appear to be further distant than when the innumerable mountainous peaks, ridges, preci- land was first seen.' This Mr. Scoresby thinks pices, or needles, rising immediately out of the satisfactorily accounts for the conduct of the sea, to an elevation of 3000 or 4000 feet, the Danish Captain, Hogens Heinson, who was a color of which, at a moderate distance, appears renowned seaman of that time, and was sent in to be blackish shades of brown, green, gray, and search of the lost colony in Greenland. After purple, snow or ice, in striæ or patches, occu- surmounting many difficulties, he perceived the pying the various clefts and hollows in the sides coast of Greenland, and with a clear sea, a of the hills, capping some of the mountain sum- favorable wind, and a fresh gale, he sailed for mits, and filling with extended beds the most several hours towards it; but, not appearing considerable valleys; and ice of the glacier to be any nearer the land, he became alarmed, form, occurring at intervals, all along the coast, tacked about, and returned to Denmark, saying in particular situations, as already described, in that his ship had been stopped in her course by prodigious accumulations. The glistening, or 'some load-stone rocks hidden in the sea.' vitreous appearance of the iceberg precipices; the purity, whiteness, and beauty of the sloping expanse, formed by their snowy surfaces; the gloomy shade presented by the adjoining or intermixed mountains and rocks, perpetually covered with a mourning veil of black lichens, with the sudden transition into a robe of purest white where patches or beds of snow occur, presents a variety and extent of contrast altogether peculiar; which, when enlightened by the occasional ethereal brilliancy of the polar sky, and harmonised in its serenity with the calmness of the ocean, constitute a picture both novel and magnificent. There is indeed a kind of majesty, not to be conveyed in words, in these extraordinary accumulations of snow and ice in the valleys, and in the rocks above rocks, and peaks above peaks, in the mountain groups, seen rising above the ordinary elevation of the clouds, and terminating occasionally in crests of everlasting snow, especially when you approach the shore under the impenetrable density of a summer fog; in which the fog sometimes disperses like the drawing of a curtain, when the strong contrast of light and shade, heightened by a cloudless atmosphere, and powerful sun, burst on the senses in a brilliant exhibition, resem bling the productions of magic.'-The highest summit that was determined by Captain Phipps was 4500 feet, and Captain Scoresby ascertained the elevation of one of these peaks, in 1815, that rose to the height of 4395 feet above the level of the sea. The most remarkable circumstance attendant on these regions is the deception they present in reference to the distance of objects. When a person most accustomed to judge of distances in other places approaches Spitzbergen, his experience seems to vanish, and his estimate of the Mr. Scoresby, in the description of one of his excursions on shore, thus delineates the appearance of that part of the country, as seen from the summit of one of the mountains. The prospect was most extensive and grand. A fine sheltered bay was seen on the east of us, an arm of the same on the north-east, and the sea, whose glassy surface was unruffled by a breeze, formed an immense expanse on the west; the icebergs, rearing their proud crests almost to the tops of the mountains, between which they were lodged, and defying the power of the solar beams, were scattered in various directions about the sea coast and in the adjoining bays. Beds of snow and ice filling extensive hollows, and giving an enamelled coat to adjoining valleys, one of which, commencing at the foot of the mountain where we stood, extended in a continued line towards the north as far as the eye could reach; mountain rising above mountain, until by distance they dwindled into insignificancy; the whole contrasted by a cloudless canopy of deepest azure, and enlightened by the rays of a blazing sun, and the effect aided by a feeling of danger seated as we were on the pinnacle of a rock, almost surrounded by tremendous precipices; all united to constitute a picture singularly sublime. Here we seemed elevated into the very heavens, and, though in a hazardous situation, I was sensible only of pleasing emotions, heightened by the persuasion that, from experience in these kind of adventures, I was superior to the dangers with which I was surrounded. The effect of the elevation, and the brightness of the picture, were such that the sea, which was at least a league from us, appeared within reach of a musket-shot; mountains a dozen miles off seemed scarcely a league from us, and our vessel, which we knew was at the distance of a league from the shore, appeared in danger of rocks.' The atmosphere has a remarkable antiseptical effect. Animal and vegetable substances, exposed to the influence of the air, remain for a long period unchanged. Martens, in the account of his voyage to Spitzbergen, says, "That a man buried ten years before, still retained his perfect shape and dress.' M. Bleau also remarks, in his Atlas Historique, that the bodies of the seven Dutchmen who perished in Spitzbergen, in 1635, were found twenty years afterwards, without having suffered the least putrefaction. Wood and other vegetable substances are preserved in a similar manner. Mr. Scoresby says that when he attempted to explore the shores of Spitzbergen, in 1818, he saw several huts, and some coffins made entirely of wood. 'One of the latter,' he says, appeared, by an adjoining inscription, to contain the body of a native of Britain who had died in the year 1788; and though the coffin had lain completely exposed, except when covered with snow, during a period of thirty years, the wood of which it was composed not only was undecayed, but appeared quite fresh and new. It was painted red; and the color even seemed to be but little faded. Things of a similar kind have been met with in Spitzbergen, which have resisted all injury from the weather during the lapse of a century. One of the most interesting appearances on these coasts is the iceberg. It frequently extends several miles in length, and rises perpendicularly above the sea to the height of 400 or 500 feet, exhibiting various shades, from an emerald green to an appearance of cliffs of white marble. Islands in the adjacent seas are Moffen Island, situated in lat. 20° 1', and long. 12° 43′ east. It is a small island, and of comparatively low land. Low Island is nearly in the same latitude, but about 5° more to the east. Hope Island, on the south-east coast of Spitzbergen, is in lat, 76° 20′, and long. 20° east. Cherie Island is in the same longitude, but is situated about 2° further south than Hope Island.-Jan Mayen Island is in lat. 71° and long. about 8° west. It is ten leagues in length, but not more than three leagues broad; and derives its name from the Dutch captain by whom it was discovered, in the early part of the seventeenth century highest point of this island is the peak of Beerenberg, which rears its icy summit far above the clouds. The height Scoresby determined in 1817 to be 6870 feet. Besides the islands already described, the Russians possess various others on the east of Asia, situated between the coasts of Asia and America, and some near the shores of the latter continent. These islands have many excellent bays and anchorages. SPIXWORTH, a town of England, near Norwich. The SPLACHNUM, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class of cryptogamia, and order of musci. The antheræ are cylindrical, and grow on a large colored apophysis or umbraculum. The calyptra is caducous. The female star grows on a separate stem. There are six species; viz. 1. Splachnum ampullaceum; 2. Angustatum; 3. Luteum; 4. Rubrum; 5. Sphæricum; and, 6. Vasculosum. Two of these are natives of Britain; viz. 1. S. ampullaceum, the crewet splachnum, is found in bogs and marshes, and often upon cow-dung. It grows in thick tufts. and is about two inches high. The leaves are oval lanceolate, terminated with a long point or beard. The top of the filament or peduncle swells into the form of an inverted cone, which Linnæus terms an apophysis or umbraculum; upon the top of which is placed a cylindrical antheræ, like the neck of a crewet. The calyptra is conical, and resembles a small extinguisher. 2. S. vasculosum, the acorn-shaped splachnum, is found upon bogs and cow-dung, and upon the points of rocks on the top of the Highland mountains, as on Ben-Lomond, and in the Isle of Sky, and elsewhere. This differs little from the preceding, and perhaps is no more than a variety. The filaments are about an inch high. The leaves oval acute, not so lanceolate and bearded as the other. The apophysis, and the anthera at the top of it, form together nearly an oval figure, not unlike an acorn in its cup, the apophysis being transversely semi-oval, and of a blood-red color, the anthera short and conical. The calyptra is the same as that of the other. The operculum is short and obtuse, and the rim of the anthera has eight large horizontal cilia. The anthera of the other is also ciliated, but not so distinctly. It is an elegant moss, and very distinguishable on account of its orange-colored filaments and darkred capsules. SPLAY FOOT, adj. SPLAY MOUTH, n. s. foot turned inward: mouth. Splay, or display, and foot. Having the an unnaturally wide The splenick vein hath divers cells.opening into it near its extremities in human bodies; but in quadrupeds the cells open into the trunks of the splenick veins. Ray on the Creation. This daughter silently lowers, t'other steals a kind look at you, a third is exactly well-behaved, and a fourth a splenetick. Tatler. The spleen with sullen vapours clouds the brain, And binds the spirits in its heavy chain; Howe'er the cause fantastick may appear, Th' effect is real, and the pain sincere. Blackmore. Animals spleened grow salacious. Arbuthnot. If the wound be on the left hypochondrium, under the short ribs, you may conclude the spleen wounded. Wiseman. SPLEEN. The use of the spleen remains a problem, towards the elucidation of which the investigations of so many anatomists and physiologists have hitherto afforded very imperfect data. Haller admonishes his reader that he is plunging into the region of mere conjecture,' darker than in the case of any other viscus. We might have hoped to derive some light from the diseases under which it frequently suffers, and from the experiments in which it has been removed in animals. The inferences, however, to which we arrive in this way, are only of the negative kind; they enable us to destroy or refute, but not to build up or establish. The spleen may be found considerably altered in texture where the individual has enjoyed good health before death, or has died of other comout materially affecting the health; and, on the plaints. It is often enormously enlarged, withother hand, where ill-effects are produced, they have no peculiar character, affording illustration of the use of the organ. The experiment of removing the spleen seems to have been performed very anciently. Pliny says that animals will live after this part has been torn out (lib. xi. c. 30); and the same fact is noticed in the Talmud (Ginzburger, Medic. Talmud. p. 11). Haller cites various instances in which the spleen has been lost in the human subject; particularly Leon. Fioravanti, tesoro della vita humana, 1. ii c. 8. Phil. Trans. No. 451. The removal of it from the dog is an experiment repeated over and over again. See Haller, t. vi. p. 421. We find that animals, and even human subjects, have lived Sometimes the experiment has been fatal, but not without a spleen, and enjoyed tolerable health. from the loss or interruption of any function that could be ascribed to the spleen. We find that dogs have been lively, fat, and even plethoric; that they have had good appetites; that bitches have produced young. Some thought they were more salacious; others that they made water more frequently. In some cases appearances were noticed that might be referred to imperfection in the digestive process, as borborygmi. The liver is said to have suffered in a few instances; in most, however, there seems to have been good bile made; and generally no particular ill effect was experienced. The inference, then, to be collected from these sources, is that the function of the spleen is of so little importance, that the alteration of its texture by disease is not marked by any unequivocal symptom, and even that its entire removal is hardly followed by any sensible effect. It has been a generally received notion that the office of the spleen is related to that of the liver; that the blood, either by its retarded motion through the serpentine splenic vessels, its stagnation in the splenic cells, or other changes wrought in it by the actions of the spleen, acquires peculiar properties, rendering it fit for the secretion of bile in the liver. It is supposed that the splenic blood is loaded with carbon, which the action of the liver separates from it. We do not usually meet with such arrangements as these in the animal economy; indeed no instance could be adduced of the like |