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SPIELHAGEN, FRIEDRICH 26 SPINAL ANESTHESIA at Stralsund. From the gymnasium there he proceeded in 1847 to the univer- sities successively of Bonn, Berlin, and Greifswald, afterw^ard settling at Leip- sic in 1854 as a docent, at Hanover in 1859, and at Berlin in 1862, in the last two places till 1884 as a newspaper editor. His works, of which eight have been translated into English, are some 30 in number, in over 50 volumes, and include: "Klara Vere" (1857); "On the Dunes" (1858) ; "Enigmatical Natures" (1860) ; "The Von Hohensteins" (1863) ; FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN "Little Rose of the Court" (1864); "In Rank and File" (1866); "The Village Coquette" (1868) ; "Hammer and Anvil" (1868); "Ever Onward" (1872); "Ultimo" (1873) ; "The Freshet" (1876); "Quisisana" (1879-1880); "An- gela" (1881); "Uhlenhans" (1884); "Noblesse Oblige" (1888); "A New Pharaoh" (1889); "Susi" (1895); and many dramatic works and much mis- cellany. He died in 1911. SPIKE, in botany, that kind of inflores- cence in which sessile flowers, or flowers having very short stocks, are arranged around an axis, as in the greater plan- tain, common vervain, common lavender, and some species of sedge. In rye, wheat, barley, darnel, and many other grasses there is a sort of compound spike — i. e., the flowers or fruits are ar- ranged together in spikelets on short stalks, which again surround the top of the culm in the form of a spike. The catkin, the spadix, and the cone may be regarded as varieties of the spike. SPIKENARD, in botany: (1) Nardos- fachys jatamansi, called in Hindustan jatamansi and balckhar. The root, which is from 3 to 12 inches long, sends up many stems, with little spikes of purple flowers, which have four stamens. It grows in the Himalayas at an elevation of from 11,000 to 15,000, or in Sikkim to 17,000 feet. (2) Valeriana celtica, and in various countries other plants. In perfumes, an aromatic substance derived from the root of Nardostachys jatamansi. It was highly prized by the ancients, and used by them both in baths and at feasts as an unguent. The "oint- ment of spikenard" with which our Lord was anointed as He sat at meat in the house of Simon of Bethany was prepared from it. SPINACH, or SPINAGE, a wholesome though somewhat insipid vegetable, con- sisting of the leaves of Spinacia oleracea, a dioecious annual belonging to the nat- ural order Chenopodiacese. It is a native of Siberia, whence it passed W., reaching England more than three centuries ago. Three varieties are in cultivation — the round-seeded, the Flanders, and the prickly-seeded, which unitedly yield a continued supply from April to Novem- ber, and to a moderate extent through winter and spring. The plant is of rapid growth, but that the leaves may be suc- culent and properly flavored the soil should be rich and the situation open and airy. S. tetrandra, from the Caucasus, an annual and unisexual herb, is of equal value to the preceding, though less known. The name has also been given to several plants not belonging to Spina- cia. New Zealand spinach is Tetragonia expansa, a trailing plant with thick succulent leaves, natives of Australasia, South America, and Japan. Patience spinach {Rumex patientia) was for- ' merly common in gardens. The beet spinach {Beta cicla), a native of the sea- shores in southern Europe, has long been grown for its leaves, which are dressed in the same manner as spinach. SPINAL ANAESTHESIA, insensibility to pain produced by injecting an anaes- thetic into the spinal fluid. It was first used by Dr. Leonard Corning, of New York, in the year 1885, and in Europe by August Bier, of Berlin. It is chiefly of value where the health of the patient renders general anaesthesia inadvisable, as, for instance, in diseases of the respiratory organs, in alcoholism or diabetes. It is generally employed for operations on the lower part of the body, the injection being made through the fourth lumbar interspace while the pa- tient is sitting in an upright position. Jonnesco, of Bucharest, however, injected the anaesthetic into the dorsal region of the spinal canal, and was thus able to anassthetize and operate on the upper