Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/688

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

scL

C 33 3

SGL

Knowledge, makes no defpicable Part of their Contempla- tion, who wou'd take a View of Human Knowledge in the whole Extent of it. This feems the firft, and moft general, as well as natural Divifion of the Objects of our Undemanding. For a Man can employ his Thoughts about nothing, but either the Contemplation of Things themfelves for theDifcovery of Truth ; or about theThings in his own Power, which are his Actions, for the Attain- ment of his own Ends ; or the Signs the Mind makes ufe f both in the one and the other, and the right ordering of them, for its clearer Information. All which Three, 5,/s. things, as they are in themfelves knowable ; AQions, as they depend on us in order to Happinels, and the right ufe of Signs, in order to Knowledge, being tottl Calo, different, they teem to be the Three great Provinces of the Intellectual World, wholly feparate and diflinil one from another.

SCIENTIFIC, fotnething relating to the pure, fubli- nier Sciences ; or, that abounds in Science or Knowledge. A Work, a Method, ££fc- is faid to be Scientifical, when 'tis founded on the pure Reaibn of Things, !$c. con- ducted wholly on Principles thereof. In which Senfe, the Word Hands oppoled to Narrative, Arbitrary, Opiniou- citive, &c.

SCILLA, or Squill, i Medicinal Plant, of the Onion- kind, but very large; chiefly brought from Spain : Ufed only' in Infufion, and that generally in Vinegar, which it renders Emetic. There are two Kinds, Male and Female ; the Male are whitifh, and the Female reddifh. Their Infufion, when boiled into the Confiilence of a Syrup, with Honey, called Oximel Sylliti'cum in the Shops, retains the lame Properties. They wonder- fully deterge and fcour off the vifcid Adhefions in the Bowels* and gently irritate the Stomach to Ejection. They are alfo, as all of the Onion Kind are, very Diure- tick and therefore in great Efteem,with ibme, in Dropfies : For' if their Infufion be mixed with Cinnamon- Water, they will leldom vomit, but work downwards, and very forcibly, by Urine : In Afthmas, and all Obstructions, or Infractions of the Lungs, which are to be removed by Deterfives and Expectoration, there is fcarce any thing more effectual. They are alio efteemed Jlex-ipharmicks, and upon that Account have a Place in the Theriaca Jndromachi.

SCIOGRAPHY, the Profile, or Section of a Building, tofhew the Infide tiiereof. SeeSECTioN and Profile. Sciocraphy, in Aftronomy, S?c. is a Term ibme Authors ufe for the Att of finding the Hour of the Day or Night, by the Shadow of the Sun, Moon, Stars, l$c. See DiAt. , . , < . .

SCIOMANTI A, or Sciomamy, a kind of Divination, othetwife called 'Pfychomancy. Sciotnancy, among the Ancients, was the Art of railing and calling up the Manes or Souls of deceafed Perfons; to inftruct them in Things to come. The Witch who conjured up the Soul of Samuel; to foretel Saul the Event of the Battle he was about to give, did it by Sciomamy. The Word is fonn'd from the Greek, nia., Shadow, ufed metaphorically for the Sail, and (ui.rriin, Divination. See Divination. SCIOPTRICK, a Sphere or Globe of Wood, with a circular Hole or Perforation wherein a Lens is placed : 'Tis fo fitted, that, like the Eye of an Animal, it may be turn'd round every Way ; to be ufed in nuking Experiments of the darken'd Room. See Camera Obscura.

SCIRE-FACIAS, is a judicial Writ, moft commonly to call a Man to ftiew Caufe to the Court whence it iffiies, why Execution of a Judgment paffed, Ihould not be made out. This Writ is not granted, until a Year and a Day be elapfed atter a Judgment given : Scire- fuias, upon a Fine, lies not but within the fame Time after the Fine levied, otherwife it is the fame with the Writ of Habere facias [eifinam.

SCLAVONIC, the Language of the Sclavi; ah An- cient People of Scytbia Europtca ; who, about the Year Si8, quitting their native Country, ravaged Greece, and eftabhlhed the Kingdoms of 'Poland and Moravia, and at 'aft fettled in Illyria ; which thence took the Name of Sdawnia. But the Modern Sclavonia is much narrower, being only a Province in Hungary. The Sclavonic is held, after the Arabic, the moft extenfive Language in the World : 'Tis fpoke from the Adriatic to the North Sea, a "d from the Cafpiau to Saxony, by a great Variety of People, alt, the Defcendants of the Ancient Sclavi, viz.

  • = toles, Muftovites, Bulgarians, Carimhians, Bohe-

mians, Hungarians, 'Pruffmis, SnaiianS, S?c. each of whoin, however, have their particular Dialect ; only the Sclavonic is the common Mother of their feveral Lan- S°ages, viz. the <Polip, Ruffian, Hungarian, (gc. By a Latin Chronicle of the Sclavi, compofed by Helmold, a Ftieft ofSuda. and Arnbiil Abbot of Ltibec, and corrected Py M. leibnitz, it appear^ That the Sclavi anciently '"habited the CoaftS of the Baltic-Sea, and' were divided

into Eaftem and IVeftern : In the latter whereof, were the Ruffians, Voles, -Bohemians, igc. And in the former, the Vandals. (Dorn. Maur. Orbini Raufer, Abbot of the Order of Malta, in an Italian Hiftory of the Sclavi, iri- titled, IlRfgno de gli Slavi, printed in 1601, will have them to be originally of Finland in Scandinavia. La'-tr. Triverc, a Dalmatian, in an exprefs Dilcourfe on the Origin of the Sclavi, maintains them to be originally of Thraaa, and the fame with the T'bracians, the Pofterity oflhiras, Seventh Son oS Japbet. Theed. 'Polycarpo'mtz, in a Greek, Latin and Sclavonic Dictionary, printed at Mfiow in 1704, obferves, That the Word Sclava, whence Sclavonic is form'd, fignifiesin their Language, Glen'.

SCLEROPHTHALMIA, a kind of Ophthalmia.' wherein the Eye is dry, hard, red and painful ; and the Eyebrows likewife ; fo as not to be opened after Sleep, without great Pain, by reaibn of their exceffise Drynefs.. See Ophthalmia.

SCLEROTICA, in Anatomy, £f?c. one of the common Membranes of the Eye, fituate between the Adnata and the Uvea: 'Tis very firm and opaque behind ; but tranfpa- rcnt before. In Striftnefs, 'tis only the hind-part is call'd Sclerotica; the fore-part being properly called the Cornea; See Cornea. The Sclerotica is a Segment of a larger Spha:roid than the Cornea. See Eye. The Word is form'd from the Greek nMfi t , hard.

SCLEROTICKS, Medicines, proper to harden and confofidate the Flefh, f£c. of Parts they are applied to. Such are Purflain, Jubarb or Houic-leek, Pfyllium, Morel or Garden -night-fhade, (£c.

SCOLDING: The Punifhment allotted by our Laws for Scolding Women, is, To be fet in a Trebuchet, com- monly called a decking Stool (probably from the French Coqmne, guean, and the German Stull, Chair) plated over i'ome deep Water, into which they are to be let down; and plunged thrice, under Water, to cool their Heat and Cooler.

SCOLOPOMACHAIRION, in Chirargery, a Kind of Scalpel, thus called, by the Greeks, from its refemblirig a Woodcock's Bill. Its Ufe is to open, and dilate, narrow Wounds of the Breaft, Abfceffes, &c. dquapendtnte re- commends it for Tapping in Dropfies. Tis ufually fur- niflied with a little Butron at the Point, that it may be ufed to open Wounds of the Breaft, without Danger of wounding the Lungs.

SCONCES are linall Forts, built for Defence of fbmc Pafs, River, or other Place: Sometimes they are made regular of four, five, or fix Battions ; others of fmallei Dimenfions, fit for Paffes, or Rivers, and likewife for the Field : Such are (1.) Triangles with half Baftiohs ; which may be all of equal Sides, or they may be fotne- thing unequal. However it be, divide the Sides of the Triangle into three equal Parts, one of thefe three Parts will fet off the Capitals and the Gorges ; and the Flanks, being at Right Angles with the Sides, make half of the Gorge. (2) Square, with half Baftiohs; whofe Sides' may be betwixt 100 and 200 Feet, and let one Third of the Side fet off the Capital and the Gorges, but the Flank (which raife at Right Angles to the Side) muft be but oni half of the Gorge or Capital, that is on the Sixth Part of the Side of the Square. (3.) Square with half Batti- ons and Long. (4.) Lon" Squares. (5.) Star Redoubt of four Points. (4.) Star Redoubt of five or fix Points. (7.) Plain Redoubts, which are. either fma'll or great. The fmall are fit for Court of Guards in the Trenches, and may be a Square of 20 Feet to 30. The middle Sorts of Redoubts may have their Sides from 30 to ,50 Feet ; the great ones front (o to 8n Feet Square. The Profiles (that is the Thicknels and Height of the Breaft- works) to be fet on thefe feveral Works, and the Ditches,' are alterable, and uncerrain ; for fometimes they are ufed in Approaches, and then the Widenefs of the Breaft- work, at the Bottom, may be 7 or 8 Feet, inward Height 6, and outward 5 Foot ; the Ditch may be 8 or 10 Feet, and fometimes J2 ; and for the Slopes, to be wrought according to the Nature of the Earth, they may fometimes be made 14 or 26 Feet wide at the Bot- tom, and the Height of 7,8. or 9 Feet, and to have z or 3 Afcents to faife to the Parapet; the Ditch may be 16 or 24 Feet wide, and 5 or 6 deep ; and fometimes they may come near the fmalleft fbrr of Ramparts, and have a Breaft-work Cannon Proof, with a Ditch of 50 or 60 Feet wide, and are thus made to fet upon Paffes or Rivers to endure. See Redoubt.

SCOPER-HOLES in a Ship, are Holes made through the Sides clofe to the Deck, to carry off the Watet that comes from the Pump, or any other Way. Thefe Holes in the Covert Deck, have round Leathers nailed over them, to keep the Sea W ater f rom c °ming up into' the Ship, which are called Scoper-Leathers ; and the fh.ort Nails, with broad Heads, which fatten thefe Lea- thers" down, are callecl Scoper Nails'. , .

|lj SCOR-