SCOLOPENDRA, in natural history, centipede, a genus of insects of the order Aptera. Antennæ setaceous; two feelers filiform, united between the jaws; lip toothed and cleft; body long, depressed, consisting of numerous transverse segments: legs numerous, as many on each side as there are segments of the body. There are thirteen species, found in almost all parts of the world; they live in decayed wood, or under stones, and some of them in fresh and salt water: they prey on other insects. The larger species are found only in the hotter regions of the globe; they are insects of a terrific appearance, and possess the power of inflicting severe pain and inflammation by their bite.

S. morsitans is a native of Asia, Africa, and South America. It is eight or ten inches long, of a yellowish brown; the head is armed on each side with a very large curved fang, of a strong or horny nature, these fangs are furnished on the inside, near the tip, with an oblong slit, through which, during the act of wounding, an acrimonous or poisonous fluid, is discharged: the eyes are numerous on each side the head, and are placed in a small oval groupe; it has twenty legs on each side the body.

S. electrica has seventy legs on each side; its body is linear; it inhabits many parts of Europe, in decayed wood, and shines in the dark; the body is very flat and tawny, with a black line down the back. The motions of this insect are tortuous and undulatory, seldom continuing long in the same direction. It is possessed of a high degree of phosphoric splendor, which, however, seems to be only exerted when the animal is pressed or suddenly disturbed, when it diffuses a beautiful light, so powerful as not to be obliterated by that of two candles on the same table. It is very tenacious of life, and will endure long in the closest confinement without food.

S. forficata is a very common insect found frequently under stones and flower pots; it has a very swift motion, and is furnished with fifteen legs on each side; it is of a chesnut colour, and is about an inch and a half long.

SCOLOPIA, in botany, a genus of the Icosandria Monogynia class and order. Essential character: calyx inferior, three or four-parted; corolla three or four-petalled; berry crowned with the style, onecelled, six-seeded; seeds arilled. There is only one species, viz. S. pusilla, a native of Ceylon, where it is called khatu kurundu, or thorny cinnamon.

SCOLOSANTHUS, in botany, a gentis of the Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Lurida. Rubiaceæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx four-cleft; corolla tubular, with a revolute border; drupe one-seeded. There is but one species, viz. S. yersicolor; this small shrub was discovered in the island of Santa Cruz, by Ryan.

SCOLYMUS, in botany, golden thistle, a genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Æqualis class and order. Natural order of Compositæ Semiflosculosa. Cichoraceæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx imbricate, spiny; pappus none; receptacle chaffy. There are three species, natives of the South of Europe.

SCOMBER, the mackarel, in natural history, a genus of fishes of the order Tho. racici. Generic character: head compressed, smooth; gill membrane with seven rays; body smooth, oblong; lateral line carinate behind; small fins, generally, both above and below, near the tail. There are twentyone species, of which we shall notice the following:

S. scomber, or the common mackarel. This is one of the most beautiful of fishes, and inhabits both the European and American seas. It is said by many to reside in winter near the North Pole, and as the spring advances, to move in immense shoals in a southerly direction, traversing a vast space in a short period, and proceeding nearly in a similar line of movement with that attributed to the herring, from the same extremities of the north. Some of the most eminent naturalists, however, have entertained doubts of these extensive voyages in both cases, and it is imagined by such that these fishes take up their residence during the rigour of winter, in the muddy or gravelly bottoms near the coasts where they abound so numerously in the spring. Shaw relates, that M. Pleville de Peley saw the bottoms near the coasts of Hudson's Bay, for a long space together, bristled with the tails of mackarel, all their other parts being imbedded in the gravel or mud. The mackarel is a fish highly admired, both for its beauty and excellence, and has in every age attracted particular notice and partiality from both these circumstances. The Romans prepared from it a condiment or essence for the table, which was in the highest estimation. The general length of this fish is fifteen inches, but specimens far larger have been occasionally met with.

S. thynnus, or the tunny, is sometimes

ten feet long, and on the Scotch coast one was taken which weighed four hundred and sixty pounds. In the Indian ocean it is said to exceed even this enormous size. It is recorded by Pliny, who was sufficiently attached to the marvellous, that the fleet of Alexander met with no slight obstruction from a host of tunnies, which it required considerable manoeuvering to break through. These fishes are not particularly admired for food in this country, in which, indeed, they are rarely seen, approaching the British coast only in straggling parties, or rather as solitary individuals. By the ancients, fisheries were established for taking and preserving them on the coasts of the Mediterranean, in which sea they particularly abound, and there are at present on the same coasts very extensive establishments for this purpose. Indeed to the

inhabitants on those shores the movements of tunny are watched and expected with as much eagerness as those of the herring or mackarel, in the north. The small fishes are generally carried fresh to market, and the large ones are cut up into pieces of a particular size, and preserved in salt in barrels. The tunny is a very voracious fish, and a great persecutor of the common mackarel.

SCONCE, in fortification, a small field-fort, built for the defence of some pass.

SCOPARIA, in botany, a genus of the Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Personatæ. Scrophularia, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx fourparted; corolla four-parted, wheel-shaped; capsule one-celled, two valved, many-seeded. There are three species.

SCOPOLIA, in botany, so named in honour of Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, professor of chemistry and botany at Pavia, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Essential character: calyx fivecleft; nectary none; stigma capitate; capsule berried, five-celled; seeds solitary. There are two species, viz. S. aculeata and S. inermis.

SCOPUS, the umbre, in natural history, a genus of birds of the order Grallæ. Generic character: bill long, thick, compressed, a little hooked; nostrils linear, oblique; feet four-toed, cleft. The only species, the umbretta, or tufted umbre, is about as large as a crow, and twenty inches in length; its bill three inches and a half long; its body of a uniform brown colour, whence it derives its name. It is supposed

to be a native of the Cape of Good Hope, but no circumstances of interest have been detailed by travellers of its residence, babits, and manners.

SCORPÆNA, in natural history, a ge.. nus of fishes of the order Thoracici. Generic character: the head large, aculeated, cirrhose, obtuse, without scales; somewhat compressed; eyes near each other; teeth in the jaws, palate, and throat; gill membrane, seven rayed; body thick and fleshy; dorsal fin single, long, with the rays of the fore part spinous. There are nine species enumerated by Gmelin, and fourteen by Shaw. We shall notice only the following:

S. porcus, or the porcine scorpæna, is about fourteen inches long, and an inhabitant of various parts of the Mediterranean, in considerable numbers. It lies near the shores under the stones, apparently in ambush for its prey, which consists particularly of small fishes and sea insects. It eats also sea weeds. The rays of its dorsal fin are furnished with strong spines, with which it often inflicts painful, if not dangerous wounds.

S. horrida, is found in the Indian seas, and is about thirteen inches long. The head and body, the pectoral and the dorsal fins, are covered with numerous abrupt cirri or beards; all the fins are supplied, on the fore part, with strong rays, and those of the dorsal extend almost completely along the back. In various other particulars of its form it is singularly uncouth, and altogether presents one of the most repulsive objects which can meet the eye.

SCORPIO, in natural history, a genus of insects of the order Aptera. Generic character: eight legs, besides two claspers, or hands, seated on the fore-part of the head; eight eyes, three placed on each side. of the thorax, and two on the back; two feelers projecting cheliform; the lip is bifid, and the tail long, jointed, and terminated by a sharp, crooked sting; on the underside, between the breast and abdomen, are two instruments resembling a comb. There are ten species, all of which are armed with a slightly pungent sting; and in hot climates some of them are highly dangerous: they prey upon worms, spiders, flies, &c. and even on one another. S. afer, or great African scorpion, is the largest and by far the most formidable of the whole genus: it is held in great dread by the inhabitants: its poison is evacuated through two very small oblong foramina, situated on each side the

tip of the sting. Scorpions are viviparous insects, producing a very considerable number of young at once: these are at first entirely white, but acquire their dusky colour in the space of a few days: they are ob. served to cast their skin from time to time, in the manner of spiders: the larva and pupa are eight-footed, nimble, and resembling the perfect insect.

SCORPION, Scorpio, in astronomy, the eighth sign of the zodiac, denoted by the character m. The stars in the constellation scorpio, in Ptolemy's catalogue, are 20; in Tycho's 10; and in Mr. Flamsteed's 49.

SCORPION, in the ancient art of war, an engine chiefly used in the defence of the walls of fortified places, by throwing arrows, fire-balls, or great stones.

SCORPIURUS, in botany, caterpillar, a genus of the Diadelphia Decandria class and order. Natural order of Papilionacea or Leguminosa. Essential character: legume divided by isthmuses, or transverse partitions, revolute cylindrical. There are four species, all natives of the south of Europe.

SCORSONERA, in botany, viper's grass, a genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia qna lis class and order. Natural order of Compositæ Semiflosculosa. Cichoracea, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx imbricate with scales, scariose at the edge; pappus feathered, sessile; receptacle naked. There are nineteen species.

SCOT, a customary contribution laid upon all subjects according to their abilities. Whoever were assessed to any contribution, though not by equal portions, were said to pay scot and lot.

SCOTLAND. By 5 Anne, c. 8, the union of England and Scotland was effected, and the twenty-five articles of union, agreed to by the parliaments of both nations, were ratified and confirmed as follows: viz. the succession to the monarchy of Great Britain shall be the same as was before settled with regard to that of England. The united kingdoms shall be represented by one parliament. There shall be a communication of all rights and privileges between the subjects of both kingdoms, except where it is otherwise agreed. When England raises 2,000,000!. by land-tax, Scotland shall raise 48,000l. The standards of the coin, of weights, and measures, shall be reduced to those of England throughout the united kingdoms. The laws relating to trade, customs, and the excise, shall be the same in Scotland as in England. But all the

other laws of Scotland shall remain in force, though alterable by the Parliament of Great Britain; and, particularly, laws relating to public policy are alterable at the discretion of Parliament. Laws relating to private right are not to be altered, but for the evident utility of the people of Scotland. Sixteen peers are to be chosen to represent the peerage of Scotland in Parliament, and forty-five members to sit in the House of Commons. The sixteen peers of Scotland shall have all privileges of Parliament, and all peers of Scotland shall be peers of Great Britain, ranking next after those of the same degree at the time of the union, and shall have all privileges of peers, except sitting in the House of Lords, and voting on the trial of a peer.

It was formerly resolved by the House of Lords, that a peer of Scotland, claiming and having a right to sit in the British House of Peers, had no right to vote in the election of the sixteen Scotch peers; and that if any of the sixteen Scotch peers are created peers of Great Britain, they thereby cease to sit as representatives of the Scotch peerage, and new Scotch peers must be elected in their room.

SCOTOGRAPH, an instrument to enable a person to write in the dark, invented by Mr. John Isaac Hawkins, and included in a patent taken out by him in 1803 for several other inventions relating to the graphic art.

Plate Scotograpli explains the construction of this instrument. Fig. 1 is a plan of it; fig. 2, 3, and 4, parts; and fig. 5, a perspective view of the whole put together. ABDE is a small box, covered with morocco leather, to be carried in the pocket: its lid, FG, is made in two pieces, joined together by hinges in the middle, so as to turn back, as shown in fig. 5, and is kept shut by a small spring catch. aa, (fig. 1) is a small brass shelf, fixed along one side of the box, at about one-half of its depth from the bottom, it is also seen in the end section (fig. 4.) b'def, is a small pentagraph made of brass; one end of the rod, b, is jointed to a small hinge, g, by which its motion allows the whole pentagraph to be lifted up; the other end of the rod, b, is jointed to the rod f, and the small handle, h, or pencil, which the writer holds in his hand when in use, is attached to the other end by an universal joint, which allows it to move in any direction, to imitate as much as possible the motion of a pen; e and d are the other two bars, completing the pentagraph; i is the

point which forms the letters; is screwed into the bar d: FG is a piece of wood glued to the bottom of the box, with a small piece of ivory fastened upon the top of it, to support the paper while it is written upon: the surface of this ivory is about the same height as the brass shelf, a a, as is seen in the section fig. 4: H and I are two small rollers, (one of which is shown separately in fig. 2) on which the paper is rolled; it is fastened to them at both ends, by a small brass lever, k, (fig. 2) which shuts down in a groove made in the roller: when the paper is put under this lever, and shut down, it is held fast, and by turning the roll is wound upon it: Im are two small milled heads, one on each roll, to turn them: at one end of the roll, I, a small rachet wheel, t, of six teeth, is fixed; it is turned round by a click, k, (fig. 4) jointed to a small lever, 1, which is thrown up by a spring, m: n (fig. 1) is a piece of brass plate screwed to the side of the box: it is shown separately in fig. 3, and has two branches, to receive the pivots of the two rollers, HI; these arms are elastic, and press against the ends of the rollers, and causes them to turn rather stiffly, so that they will not be liable to be moved by the elasticity of the paper which is rolled upon them. The pentagraph is of the common kind: the three points, gi, and the end of h, being all in one line, as explained in the article PENTAGRAPH: the point i, which forms the letters, is a short piece of silver wire, screwed into the bar d, and pointed at the end to make this mark: the paper is rubbed over with whiting, or chalk; and when at any time the point is worn away, it may be renewed by screwing it through the bar a little further: the point is always made to project so far, that when the blunt point at the end of the pencil, h, rests upon the brass shelf, a a, the pentagraph will be set a little upon the strain, and by that means press' upon the paper with a proper degree of force to write legibly. In using the machine, the lid, FG, is to be half shut, as shown in fig. 5, and thus form a support for the hand while writing; the pencil, h, is held in the hand, and pressed down to touch the brass shelf, a a, and used in the same manner as a common pen or pencil, taking care to always begin at the end of the shelf; the side of the box, and a small ledge upon the edge of the shelf, limits the height of the letters. When the pencil arrives at the end of the shelf, it is to be brought back again, and the end of it is to be placed upon the

end of the lever, 1, and forced down the click, k, then takes into one of the teeth of the wheel, t, and turns it round one tooth; the pressure is then to be removed, and the spring, m, lifts up the lever, l, just the proper height to catch the next tooth of the wheel, as is shown in fig. 4: this operation moves the paper forward just the proper space to write another line. One of the uses of the pentagraph is to reduce the writing to half the size that it is made on the brass shelf, whereby double the number of lines are contained on a slip of paper that would be if written the full size, and the lines are but half the length, so that room is left at the ends of the rollers for the rachet wheel and milled nuts. The rollers will hold a slip of thin paper twenty inches long, and contain 100 lines, each of two inches long: this will contain a considerable quantity of information, and when it is all written, and rolled upon the roll, I, the lever, k, (fig. 2) of the other roller will be exposed to view; then the pentagraph is to be lifted up upon its hinge, g, and the lever raised up by putting the nail under the end of it: this releases one end of the paper; and by pulling it the other roll will be unwound; and when the small lever of that roller is taken up, the paper will be quite loose: another piece will be fixed with equal ease, by first fixing it to the roll H, and rolling it upon it, and then fastening it to the other. If at any time any particular line of the writing is wanted, it will be easily brought into view, by turning the rollers by their nuts, 1, m.

This instrument would be particularly, useful to persons who have occasion to make memorandums while on horseback, or travelling in a coach, as any degree of pressure may be given upon the brass shelf while writing, so as to avoid being disturbed by the most violent shocks, which cannot be done upon common paper for fear of breaking the pencil point, or of piercing the paper by it. Its use to blind people who have learned to write is very obvious.

SCRATCH, in the language of the saltworkers of our country, the name of a calcareous, earthy, or stony substance, which separates from sea-water in boiling it for salt. This forms a thick crust, in a few days, on the sides and bottoms of the pans, which they are forced to be at the pains of taking off once in a week, or ten days, otherwise the pans burn away and are destroyed.

SCREW, one of the five mechanical powers. See MECHANICS.

SCRIBING, in joinery, &c. is a term used when one side of a piece of stuff is to be fitted to another that is irregular. In order to make these join close all the way, they scribe it; that is, they lay the piece to be scribed close to the other they intend to scribe it to, and opening their compasses to the widest distance these two pieces stand from each other, they bear the point of one of the legs against the side they intend to scribe to, and with the other point draw a line on the stuff to be scribed. Thus they form a line on the irregular piece parallel to the edge of the regular one; and if the stuff be cut exactly to the line, when these pieces are put together they will seem a joint.

SCROPHULARIA, in botany, figwort, a genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia class and order. Natural order of PersoScrophulariæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calix five-cleft; corolla subglobular, resupine; capsule two celled. There are twenty-two species.

natæ.

SCROTUM. See ANATOMY. SCROWLS, or SCROLLS, in architecture, the same with volutes.

SCRUPLE, a weight equal to the third part of a dram, or to twenty grains. Among goldsmiths it is equal to twenty-four grains.

SCUDDING, in naval affairs, is the movement by which a ship is carried precipitately before a tempest, and is either performed with a sail extended on her foremast; or, if the storm is excessive, without any sail, which is then called scudding under bare poles. In sloops and schooners, and other small vessels, the sail employed for this purpose is called the square-sail. In larger ships it is the fore-sail.

SCULPTURE. It is beyond human research to ascertain when this art was first practised, and by what nation. We may, however, safely conjecture that it was almost one of the original propensities of man, and may be said to have been born with him in every climate. This will still appear in the ardent and irresistible impluse of youth to make representations of objects in wood, and the attempts of savages to embody their conceptions of their idols. If a command from the Author of our being was necessary to prevent the ancient Israel. ites from making graven images, it may be naturally inferred that the inhabitants of the rest of the earth possessed similar propensities. The descriptions of the scriptures demonstrate that the art had been brought to great perfection at the period of which

they treat; but they could not be so parti cular as to enable us to judge whether their excellence approached the remains we possess derived from other sources.

To proceed methodically on this subject, it becomes necessary to make a distinction between carving and sculpture; the former belonging exclusively to wood, and the latter to stone. It is extremely probable that every essay at imitating animated objects was in each nation made in wood originally, and it is vain to suppose the tools were any other at first than the sharp edges of broken stones or flints; a visit to the British Museum will afford the curious spectator a competent idea of what the nearest descendants of Adam accomplished in the art of carving with instruments of the above description in the figures of the South sea idols. The least enlightened nations possess individuals of superior observation, who see the defects of their neighbours, and by instruction or ridicule produce an attempt at reformation: this has evidently been the case amongst the Egyptians and Greeks, who of all the people of antiquity made the earliest and greatest progress in the art of sculpture. If the former commenced their imitation of nature in wood, it is probable they soon discovered that it was incapable of a durability commensurate with their wishes, they therefore adopted a close grained and beautiful granite, which not only required tools of iron, but those of the most perfectly tempered steel, to cut it; and with such they have left us at this very distant time vast numbers of excavated figures, as complete and as little injured as if executed within our own memory.

In examining the various sculptures of the Egyptians, we find that a general character prevails throughout their outlines, which demonstrate that the sculptors were natives of Egypt, and that they rigidly copied the expression and character of their countrymen. Had the persons employed in decorating the numerous magnificent works, the ruins of which still surprise the spectator, been invited from other countries, a variation of style in the drawing would have been readily discovered. The circumstance of their figures, both male and female, strongly resembling each other in every instance, proves that this people were not deficient in genius; and their spirited imitations of animals adds to our conviction, that had nature been more kind to the Egyptian in their forms and features, their sculptors were fully competent to give an accurate repre