S P H
S P H
SPELTA, in the materia medica, a name ufed for the grain of the zea dicoccos, commonly called fpilt am. Dale's Pharm. p. 261. SPELTER (Cycl.)— This mineral has been applied lately to fo large a work as the cylinder of a fire-engine, by Mr. Ford of Colebrook Dale in Shropfhire : it runs eafier, and calls as true as btafs, and bores full as well, or better, when warmed a little. While cold it is as brittle as glafs, but the warmth of the hand will mske it fo pliant, that a fhaving of it may be wrapt round the finger like a bit of paper. This metal never ruffs, and therefore works better than iron ; the ruff of which, upon the leaft intermiffion of working refills the motion of the piffon. Philof. Tranf. N° 48 %. feft. 6.
SPENT, at lea. The feamen fay a fhip hath /pent any mil, or yard, when it is broken down by foul weather, or any fuch accident ; but if it be done by an enemy's mot in a fight, they fay, fuch a yard, or majl, was Jhot by the board.
SPERAGE, afparagus, in botany. See Asparagus.
The propagation of this ufeful plant is from (ced ; and as much of the fuccefs depends upon the goodnefs of the feed, it is much better to fave it than to buy it at the fhops. The manner of faving it is this : mark with a flick fome of the faireft buds, and when they are run to berry, and the ftalks begin to dry and wither, cut them up; rub off the berries into a tub, and pouring water upon them, rub them about with your hands, the hulks will break and let out the feed, and will fwim away with the water in pouring it off; fo that in repeating this two or three times, the feeds will be clean wafhed, and found at the bottom of the tub. Thefe muff be fpread on a mat to dry, and in the beginning of February muff be fown on a bed of rich earth : they muft not be fown too thick, and muff, be trod into the ground, and the earth raked over them fmooth ; the bed is to be kept clear of weeds all the fummer, and in October, when the ffalks are withered and dry, a little rotten dung muft be fpread half an inch thick over the whole furface of the bed.
The fpring following the plants will be fit to plant out for good ; the ground muft therefore be prepared for them by trenching it well, and burying a large quantity of rotten dung in the trenches, fo that it may lie at leaft fix inches below the furface of the ground : when this is done, level the whole plot exactly, taking out all the loofe ftones ; this is to be done juft at the time when the afparagus is to be planted out, which muft be in the beginning of March, if the foil is dry, and the feafon forward ; but in a wet foil, it is better to wait till the beginning of April, which is about the feafon that the plants are beginning to fhoot. The feafon being now come, the roots muft be carefully taken up with a narrow-pronged dung-fork, fliaking them out of the earth, and feparating them from each other, and obferving to lay all their heads even, for the more conve- nient planting them, which muft be done in this manner. Lines muft be drawn, at a foot diftance each, ftrait acrofs the bed, thefe muft be dug into/mall trenches of fix inches deep, into which the roots muft be laid, placing them againft the fides of the trench with their buds in a right pofition upwards, and fo, that when the earth is raked over them, they may be tv/o inches under the furface of the ground. Between every four rows a fpace of two feet and a half fhould be left for walking in, to cut the afparagus. When the afparagus is thus planted, a crop of onions may be fown on the ground, which will not at all hurt it. A month after this the afparagus will come up, the crop of onions muft then be thinned, and the weeds carefully cleared away. About Auguft the onions will be fit to pull up. In October following cut off the fhoots of the afparagus with- in two inches of the ground, clear well all weeds away, and throw up the earth upon the beds, fo as to leave them five inches above the level of the alleys. A row of col- worts may be planted in the middle of the alleys, but no- thing muft be now fown on the beds. In the fpring the weeds muft be houghed up, and all the fummer the beds kept clear of weeds. In October they muft be turned up, and earthed again, as the preceding feafon. The fecond fpring after planting, fome of the young afpa- ragus may be cut for the table. The larger fhoots fhould only be taken, and thefe fhould be cut at two inches under ground, and the beds every year managed as in the fecond year. Miller's Card. Diet.
SPERMACOCE, the name of a plant which, according to the Linmean fyftem of botany, makes a dittinct genus, the characters of which are ; that the calyx is a very fmall pe- rianthium, divided by four notches at its extremity, placed on the germen, and remaining when the flower is fallen. The flower confifts of one leaf, which forms a tube longer than the flower, with its extremity divided into four feg- ments, fomewhat bent back, and ohtufe. The ftamina are four pointed filaments, fhorter than the flower. The an- thers are funple. The germen of the piftil is roundifh, flatted, and fituated below the receptacle. The ftyle is fmgle, but bifid at the top. The ftigmata are obtufe. The fruit is compbfed of two oblong capfules growing together,
convex on one fide, and flat on the other, ol tufe, and each furnifhed with two horns. The feeds are fingle and roundifh. Linncti Gen. Plant, p. 25.
SPERMATOPOZA, a name given to fuch medicines as are fuppofed to encreafe the femen.
SPERVERIOS, in zoology, a name by which Bellonius, and fome other authors, have called the fparrow-hawk, more commonly known by the names of nifus, and aaipiter frin- gillarius. Ray's Ornitholog. p. 52. See the article Frin- gillarius accipiter.
SPHACELUS (Cycl.)— In cafes of a perfea fphacelus, or mor- tification, where the parts arc become abfolutely dead, and wholly without fenfe, and foft, fo as to retain the impreffi- ons of one's fingers ends, and are plainly fetid and cor- rupted, all the medicines in the world will be ineffectual to reftore the part to its life and fenfe again ; and all that re- mains to be done, is the one miferable remedy of prcferv- ing the reft of the body, by cutting off that part, to pre- vent the mortification from fpreading farther. A different method is to be taken, however, in this operation, accord- ing to the degree of the fymptoms, and nature of the part affected.
If only fome extremity of the foot, farms, mctatarfus, or inftep, or only the bare fkin and fat arc fphacelated, which is fometimes the cafe, the whole foot is not to be ampu- tated in that cafe, but preferving the limb entire, the fur- geon is only to remove that part which is vitiated ; and that is frequently belt of all done by fuppuration, or if not to be effected by that means, may be attempted by the cauftic. When it is to be done by fuppuration, that is to be brought on as faft as pofftble, and when it is done, the cruft or efchar of the ulcer is to be feparated from the found parts with proper caution.
To haften effeaually a fuppuration in thefe cafes, nothing is fo ferviceable as the making numerous long and deep fca- nfications near the found parts; and afterwards the incifed parts are to be well anointed with the common digeftive ointment, and after that treated with the balfamic" cata- plafms and fomentations, in common ufe on the like occa- fions.
A fomentation, alfo very ferviceable in thefe cafes, is made by mixing, in a quart of a decodtion of fcordium, or of barley-water, vinegar of rue fix ounces, fpirit of wine with Venice treacle four ounces, and an ounce, or two ounces of common fait : this is to be applied hot with compreffes to the part, and frequently repeated, till it is Teen that the diforder fpreads no farther ; which is known to be the cafe, when we fee the tumor of the vitiated parts fubfide, and the edges of the found parts become tumid all round ; and on the fecond or third day after this a fuppuration is ufually formed, and the found parts gradually become feparated from the vitiated. After this, to foften and promote a fpeedy fe- paration of the efchar, the following cataplafm is always found highly ferviceable. Take of fcordium two handfuls, mallows, marfhmallows, and henbane, of each one handful' lavender-flowers half a handful ; let thefe be boiled to the confidence of a cataplafm in vinegar, or oxycrate, and vhen in that ftate add to 8hS!fi three ounces of flour of linfeed, one ounce of linfeed oil, and two ounces of fal armoniac. This is to be applied warm over the whole, and retained in a proper degree of heat, as long as fhall be found neceffary, by means of a brick boiled in water, and applied wrapped in a linnen cloth, or fome other like means. After thefe me- thods have been ufed, and the whole furrounding fkin is gently tumefied with rednefs, a cruft, or efchar is then formed by degrees, and the found flefh begins to feparate from the reft : by this we know that the diforder has done fpreading, and that an entire reparation of the vitiated parts will very fhortly follow.
When this reparation fhews itfelf beginning, it muft be pro- moted as much as poffible, by dreffing the part with the common digeftive, either alone, or mixed with Venice treacle, which muft be retained on between the found and dead parts. To make way for this, it is fometimes neceffary to divide them a little by the lancet ; and when that is done, and the dreffing has been applied, the before defcribed cataplafm fhould be again laid on warm ; and in all the fuc- ceeding dreffings, whatever is found loofe of the dead part muft be carefully removed. And if it be neceffary, from the adhefion of the vitiated parti to the found, to ufe the fciffors, or fcalpel, to divide them, this is always to be done with very little, either of pain or of danger ; it will then be proper to drefs the part with the digeftive, and a plafter of diachylon, or the like, over it, till the corrupted parts are entirely caft off, and the ulcer appears perfeflly well cleanfed, and then the cure is eafily perfedted in the common way.
This is the gentler, and more common method ; fome fur- geons, however, from the tedioufnefs of it, have recourfe diredlly, in thefe cafes, to the cauftic. They anoint either the edges only, or elfe the whole of the corrupted part, every day, with butter of antimony, or the cauftic ftone li- quefied, till the living parts are furrounded by a fort of ef- char, applying afterwards the cataplafms before defcribed, or
others
