SPERMACETI
1797
SPHINX
same body. In all groups of plants, except the seed-plants, the sperm is chiefly a ciliated, free-swimming cell. In Thattophytesfthe cilia are variously disposed. In Bryophytes each sperm has a pair of cilia at its anterior end. In Pteridophytes the body of the sperm is large and spirally coiled, tapering into a long, slender beak which bears numerous long cilia. In Spermatophytes ciliated sperms do not occur, except in Cycads and Ginkgo, the male cells being transferred through pollen tubes.
Spermaceti (sper'ma-se'ti) is a waxy substance obtained from the oil found in the head of a sperm-whale. The oil in the head of an ordinary-sized whale will fill 12 barrels. The oil is drained off, and the spermaceti washed with hot water and weak boiling lye. It is a white substance, looking like wax, without taste and with very little odor. It is used for candles and in medicine.
Sper'mary, the male organ of plants, that is the organ which produces the sperms. It is the same as Antheridium (q. v?), but is substituted for it by those who wish to emphasize the fact that an antheridium holds no relation to the anther of flowering plants.
Spermatophytes (s per'md-to-fits), the highest of the four great divisions of the plant-kingdom, characterized by the production of seeds. The name means seed-plants. This great group has received numerous other names, as flowering plants, Anthophytes, Phanerogams, Phaenogams, Phenogams, Siphonogams etc. The seed-plants form the most conspicuous vegetation on the earth's surface, and are the plants most usually noticed. They have been evidently derived from Pteridophytes, differing from them chiefly in the production of seeds. The condition which has resulted in the formation of a seed is the presence and retention of a single megaspore (embryo-sac) in the megasporangiuni (ovule). The two great lines of Spermatophytes are gymno-sperms and angiosperms. In gymnosperms (naked seeds) the ovules and seeds are exposed upon the face of the open scale, as in pines, spruces, cypresses, junipers etc. In angiosperms (inclosed seeds) the ovules and seeds are inclosed in an enveloping carpel or group of carpels. The gymnosperms are a very ancient race, being represented only by about 400 living species; while the angiosperms are modern, containing more than 100,000 described species. See GYMNOSPERMS and ANGIOSPERMS.
Spermatozoid (sperfma-td-zo'id) (in plants). See SPERM.
Sperm=Whale. See WHALE.
Sphagnum (sfgag'num). A genus of mosses known as the bog-mosses. They are large and pallid forms, which occur in great masses in boggy regions, especially at the north. The sphagnum-bogs are great peat-formers^ and associated with the sphagnums
are many strange seed-plants, as carnivorous plants, the rarer orchids, heaths etc. This association of plants of strange habits seems to be due to the fact that the waters of the bog are poor in nitrogen-containing salts, and only those plants which have learned to endure such conditions are found. The genus sphagnum is so peculiar that it forms one of the two great groups of mosses, the other and much larger group being called the true mosses. Sphagnum is an intermediate form, combining characters which belong to liverworts and true mosses. See Musci.
Sphinx, The. The sphinx at Gizeh, the oldest of known statues is a colossus having the head of a man and the body of a lion. It is chiseled from the living rock, 1,800 feet distant from the great pyramid. Some say it was hewn by the Hor-shesu, servants of Horus, before the reign of King Meiia of the first dynasty and was in need of repair at the time Khufu built the great pyramid. The sphinx faces east that he may be the first to catch sight of Ra, his father, the rising sun. It was known to the ancient Egyptians as Hu or Seheps, and to the "sons of the desert" it was Abul-Hoe (father of terrors). Binion, in Ancient Egypt or Mizraim gives the measurements as follows: Height of head from top of head to bottom of chin 19 It.; horizontal diameter on level of forehead 23 ft; circumference at level of forehead 72 ft.; horizontal diameter near broadest part of wig 29 ft.; circumference near broadest part of wig 91 ft.; height of neck 5 ft.; horizontal diameter 22 ft.; circumference of neck 69 ft.; total height, present state (Bey) 65 ft.; ear 6 ft. 5 in.; nose 5 ft. 10 in.; the mouth 7 ft. 8 in.; face, widest part across, 13 ft 7 in.; whole length of body 140 ft.; outstretched paws 50 ft. The execution of this masterpiece shows the product of a mature people; of a nation that had been in development for generations and generations. Notwithstanding the devastation that has befallen this powerful statue — the lower part of the head-dress fallen; the neck diminished until the massive head seems almost to totter on the verge of downfall; the nose and head broken off by fanatics; and the paws and breast that were restored by the Ptolemies and the Caesars also in a state of decay — it still is rapt in profound thought and tranquillity behind which great strength and power seem to live in perfect command. G. Mas-pero, in speaking of the great sphinx in his Manual of Egyptian Arch<zology> says: "The art which conceived and carved this prodigious statue was a finished art an art which had attained sell-mastery and was sure of its effects."
Other sphinxes are found in Egyptian ruins of a later date during the age of temple-building, and are much smaller and of three kinds; namely, androsphinx, which
