SCA
w hich is very fmall, and its Teeth, ufually, hot fet; its Ufe is to cut a round, or any other Compafs-Kerf: Hence, the Edge is made broad, and the Back thin, that it may have a Compafs to turn in.
The Chirurgeons likewife ufe a Saw, to cut off Bones : "Tis to be very fmall, and light, in order to be managed with the more Eafe and Freedom. The Blade exceed- ingly fine, and the Teeth exquifitely fharpened, to make its Way more gently, and yet with more Expedition in Amputations^ of Legs* Arms, &c.
The Saw is alio a Gardener's Inftrument, ufed in the pruning of Trees, £f?c. 'Tis chiefly applied in the cutting of old, dry, and, confequently, hard Woods, whether Roots or Branches, which might fpoil the Pruning-Knife; and big Branches, &c. which the Knife could not well take off at one Stroke. Except on thefe Occasions, §>ii'm- teizey will have us always ufe the Knife.
SAWING, the Application of the Saw, in the divi- ding of Timber, &c. into Boards, &c. See Saw. There ar e Wind-mills, and Water-mills, which do the Office of Saving, Wood, with infinitely more Expedition and Eafe than 'tis done by the Hand : They confift of ieveral pa- rallel Saws, which rife and fall perpendicularly, by means of one of the grand Principles of Motion. But a very few Hands are here needed, viz. only topufli along the Timber, which are laid on Rollers, or fufpended by Ropes, in Proportion as the Sawing advances. Thefe are frequently found abroad, and were lately begun to be introduced in England; but the Parliament, in Con- fideration of this, that they would fpoil the Sawyers Trade, and ruin great Numbers of Families, thought fit to prohibit them.
M. Felib'ten, in his Principles of Architecture, $$c. mentions a Kind of long Saws, invented by one Mijfon Infpe&or of the Marble Quarries in the <Pyreneam, by means whereof Stones are fawed even in the Rock itfelf whence they are taken. He adds, That fome of them are twenty-three Foot long, but does not defcribe either their Form or Application: He only fays, They are of Iron, without Teeth.
SAXIFRAGE, a Medicinal Plant thus called from its fuppofed Virtue in diffolving the Stone in the Bladder, from the Jjatin Sdxttm, & Frango, I break. Its Leaves are almoft round, indented, fat and mining, like thofe of Ivy. In the Middle of the Leaves rife Stalks, about a Foot high, which, at their Extremities, bear little white Flowers, confifting of five Leaves, difbofed in Form of a Rofe. Its Seed, which is very fmall, is inclofed in the Cafjula of a roundifh Pod. Its Root divides itfelf into feveral Fibres, at the Bottom whereof are found little •feddifh Tubercles, like Coriander Seed. 'Tis thefe Grains are commonly called the Seed of the Saxifrage, and are ufed in Medicine. The beft manner of ufing them is to take them infufed in White- Wine, or in a Decoflion in common Water. Some ufe the Decoction of the Root itfelf: 'Tis held a great Diuretick. Dr. ^uincy ob- ferves, That its Lithontriptic Vertue is but litde ieen in Practice. He adds, That the Simple Water thereof, fold in the Shops, is good for nothing $ the Virtue of the Plant, if it have any, confiding in fbmething too grofs to rife over the Helm. Some take it to derive its Name from its growing in the Clefts of Rocks, which it iecms to pierce througn. SAXON LANGUAGE. See English. SAY, or Saye, in Commerce, a kind of Serge, or a very light, crofs'd Stuff, all Wool!, much ufed abroad for Linings, and by the Religious for Shirts $ and with us, by the Quakers, for Aprons, for which Purpofe 'tis ufually green. There are very confiderable Manufactures hereof at Sedbury, near Colchefter; at Tpres, Houdfcot, l$c. in Flanders, &c. Thofe made in England, are chiefly ex- ported to 'Portugal, and Leghorn. SAYETTE. SeeSAGATHEE,
SCABELLUM, in the ancient Architecture, a kind of Pedeilal, ufually fquarc, fbmetimes polygonous, very high and (lender, commonly terminating in a kind of Sheath or Scabbard, or profiled in manner of a Ballufter. Its Ufe is tobearSr^o'i, Relivo's, &c. SCABIES, in Medicine. Sec Itch. SCABIOUS, a Medicinal Plant, very common in the tields, and flowers in July. It has a great Character amongft many Difpenfatory Writers, but feems to grow much out of ufe to what it has been : It pafles for a very great Perioral, and to do great Things in Afthma's and "leurifies, and Etmitller gives it the Pre-eminence in in- ward Abfcefles. It hath a Place alfo amongft the Akxi- fbamicks. But hardly any. thing is in better Eiteem for W) Itch, and other cutaneous Foulnefles; whence it has J ts ^iam.e,iy/:s. from Scabies, Itch, and upon which Account " is often met with in Decoctions, and fometimes in a ^yup, among fuch as are called Swcetncrs. Some call it 'he llidw's Flower.
t *$ ]
SCA
SCAFFOLD, a Timber. Work, raifed in manner of an Amphitheatre to place Spectators upon for the eommsdi -
ous viewing of fome Shew ot Ceremony - The Word
is Mieufcd for a little Stage, or Theatre, raffed in fome publ.ck Place, to execute Criminals uron, either by be- heading or breaking upon the Wheel.— Alio for ao
Aflemblage of Planks and Boards attained by Treffels or by Pieces of Wood fixed in the Wall, whereon Hi-' fons, Sculptors Painters, Jfe ihnd to work in high I laces, Wells, Ceilings, {&. Menage derives the Word from the German Schmvhaujacb, and Guyet derives it Horn the Kalian Cttttfa/eo, which fignifies the fair- thing Zte Cange, from Bfitafaudus, a Word in the corrupt Latin, iignifying a Tribunal or Pulpit. He adds That It might come from Cata, a Wooden Machine uicd to carry Earth to fill up Ditches, and carry over the Sol- diers to the Attack; whence the Italians formed their Latafalcc, the old French their Ooafaut, and the Emlilb their Scaffold. " J
SCALA, in Anatomy, the Canal or Cochlea of the Ear ,s divided by a Septum into two Canals called icate 5 whereof the one, looking towards the Tympanum, is called the Sccla Tympani; the other, having a Com municat.on with the Veitibulum, is called the Safe W- Jliinlt. See Ear.
Scala, in the Ancient Architecture, is what in the Modern we call a Stair-cafe. See Stair-case.
SCALADO, or Scaiade, an AtTault made on a City to be liirprked, by mounting the Walls thereof with Scaling-Ladders. Cities are now no longer taken by Scalane., fince the Walls have been flank'd.
SCALE, in Mufick, a Series of Sounds riling or fal- ling^ towards Acutenels or Gravity, from any given Pitch of Tune to the greater! Dillance that is fit or practica- ble, through luch intermediate Degrees as makes the Succeflion moll agreeable and perfect, and in which we have all the harmonical Intervals molt coimfiodioufly di- vided. This Scale is otherwile called an Vniverfal Syffem as including all the particular Syttemj belonging to"Mu- fick. See System.
Origin and Conjlruclion of the 9c axe of Muf.ck.
Every Concord or harmonical Interval, is refolvable into a certain Number of Degrees or Parts; the Octave, for Inftance, into three greater Tones, two lets Pones, and two Semi-Tones; the greater Sixth, into two greater Tones, one leis Tones, and two Semi-Tones; the lets- Sixth, into two greater Tones, one left Tone, and two Semi Tones; the Fifth, into two grea*cr Tones one lets Tone, and one Semi-Tone; the Fourth, into one greater Tone, one lets Tone, and one Semi-Tone; the greater Third, into one greater Tone, and one lefs Tone; and the lels Third, into one greater Tone, and one lefs Tone. 'Tis true, there are Variety of other Intervals or Decrees, betides greater Tones, lefs Tones, and Semi-Tones, into which the Concords may be divided; but thefe three are preferred to all the reft, and thefe alone are in Uie : For the Rcafon whereof, tee Tone. Further, 'Tis not any Order, or Progteffion, of theft Degrees, that will pro- duce Melody : A Number, for Inftance, of greater Tones- will make no Mufick, becaufe no Number of them is equal to any Concotd, and the fame is true of the other Degtees: There is a Ncceflity, therefore, of mixing the Degrees to make Mutic, and the Mixture mult be luch, as that no Two of the lame Kind be ever next each other A natural and agreeable Order of thefe Degrees Mr. Malcolm gives us in the following Divifion of the Interval of anOftave; wherein, (as ail the left'cr Con- cords are contained in the greater) the Divilions of all the other fimple Concords are contained. Under the Series are the Degrees between each Term, and the next. In the fir!} Series, the Progreffion is by the lels Third 5 in the latter, by the greater Third. '
great i* gr. 3 d 4 ' h 5 H> 6 i\
%<*>
Key or great lefs Semi- great lefs great Semi- Fund. Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone.
great Second.
Key or great Semi- lefs great Semi- great lefs Fund. Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone.
Now, the Syflcm of Ottare, containing all the Origi- nal Concords 5 and the Compound Concords being only [G] tbi
