After defeating Claudius Pulcher, Spartacus routed and slew Cossinius, legate of P. Varinius Glaber, the prætor; then he worsted Varinius himself in several engagements, capturing his lictors and the very horse on which he rode. All the southern part of the peninsula now fell into his hands; the country was devastated, the cities either pillaged or garrisoned. After the defeat and death of his lieutenants, who had separated from him, B.C. 72, he marched northward through Picenum toward the Po, overthrew first one consular army under Cn. Cornelius Lentulus and then another under Gellius Poplicola, and at the head of a large force meditated a march upon Rome. Servile indecision saved the city. Spartacus was forced by his followers to retreat south, and took up his winter headquarters at Thurii. In B.C. 71 the proconsul, C. Cassius Longinus, and the proprætor, Cn. Manlius, were defeated; in Picenum, Mummius, a legate of Crassus, was utterly routed; at last, however, Crassus succeeded in forcing Spartacus into the narrow peninsula of Rhegium. Crassus now built lines of circumvallation to hem him in and force him to surrender; but one stormy winter night Spartacus broke out of the toils prepared for him, and resumed the offensive. Near Petelia, Spartacus once more defeated his adversaries; but seeing clearly that with such wretched materials as he had he could not hold out much longer, he made a dash for Brundusium, hoping to seize the shipping in the harbors, and get safely across the Adriatic to his native shore, but was baffled by the presence of Lucullus (q.v.). There was nothing left for Spartacus but to die gallantly as he had lived. Drawing up his army in battle array, and solemnly slaying his war-horse, he began his last fight in a spirit of heroic desperation, and after performing prodigies of valor he fell unrecognized among the heaps of his slain foes. After his death the slave insurrection was at an end.
SPAR′TANBURG. A city and the county-seat of Spartanburg County, S. C., 93 miles northwest of Columbia; on several branches of the Southern and the Atlantic Coast Line railroads (Map: South Carolina, C 2). It has the Kennedy Public Library, and is the seat of Converse College, a non-sectarian institution for women, opened in 1890. Wofford College (Methodist Episcopal, South), opened in 1854, and the State Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute. Spartanburg is situated in a rich cotton-growing and farming section, which also has deposits of gold, limestone, and granite, and other mineral wealth. It is the centre of a large cotton-manufacturing district, containing some 30 mills with more than 400,000 spindles. There are several large cotton mills in the city and suburbs; also iron works, lumber mills, and manufactories of brooms and soap. The government, under the charter of 1901, is vested in a mayor, chosen every two years, and a unicameral council. Population, in 1890, 5544; in 1900, 11,395.
SPARTEINE (from Neo-Lat. Spartium, from Lat. spartum, sparton, from Gk. σπάρτον, Spanish broom, cable). A volatile, oily liquid alkaloid obtained from the tops of the broom-plant (Cytisus Scoparius), a European shrub of the order Leguminosæ. Sparteine is odorless, very bitter, soluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform, but insoluble in water. Its sulphate, which is used in medicine, is a colorless, crystalline powder, soluble in water and in alcohol. It is a cardiac stimulant, acting at times when others fail, and used under these circumstances or when it is necessary to obtain a substitute for other drugs of its class. It increases the amount of urine excreted.
SPARTIUM, spär′shĭ-ŭm. A genus of plants. See Broom.
SPASM (Lat. spasmus, from Gk. σπασμός, spasmos, σπασμα, spasma, spasm, from σπᾶν, span, to draw, rend). Involuntary and sudden muscular contraction, due to central nerve disturbance, to peripheral irritation, or to reflex conditions from irritation of other parts. There are two kinds of spasm: tonic and clonic. Tonic spasm is a prolonged involuntary rigidity of a muscle or a group of muscles. Such spasm occurs at the beginning of an epileptic attack, during hysteria major, tetanus, angina pectoris, and meningitis. It also occurs in the muscles of the calves of the legs in swimmers, attended with pain, when it is called cramp (q.v.). Clonic spasm is an involuntary contracting and relaxing of groups of muscles, causing twitching, jerking, and rolling movements and contortions. It is the common convulsion, or fit. Such a spasm occurs in epilepsy, hysteria major, uræmia, chorea, hydrophobia, and in some cases of indigestion and worms. In asthma (q.v.) there is spasm of the muscles controlling the bronchial tubes, as also in whooping cough (q.v.), together with hyperæsthesia. Spasm occurs also in colic.
The treatment of spasm consists of the use of antispasmodics such as asafœtida, galbanum, musk, sumbul, valerian, belladonna, cannabis indica, opium, the bromides, and stramonium, and the administration by inhalation of choloroform or amyl nitrite, or by outward application of heat in a prolonged hot bath.
SPAVIN, Bog (OF. esparvain, esparvent, Fr. éparvin, spavin; possibly from Goth, sparwa, OHG. sparo, sparwe, AS. spearwa, spearewa, Eng. sparrow; in allusion to the hopping gait of a spavined animal). A lesion of the true hock-joint of the horse, consisting in distention of the capsule inclosing the joint. It usually arises suddenly from a sprain in action, from overwork, or wounds.
SPAVIN, Bone. An inflammation of and bony deposit on the flat bones of the lower and inner part of the hock-joint of the horse. At first there is tenderness, local heat, swelling, and lameness, but as the inflammatory stage passes the lameness is less perceptible, although the horse still continues to go stiffly. If the lameness is only slight it usually disappears after a little exercise. The animal should be given rest.
SPAWN-EATER. The spotted-tailed minnow (Notropis Hudsonius). See Minnow.
SPEAKER. The name given to the presiding officer in various legislative bodies. In the English House of Commons the office of Speaker seems to have existed as early as the reign of Henry III., but the title Speaker was first given to Sir T. Hungerford in the reign of Edward III. (1377). The Speaker of the House of Commons presides over the deliberations of the House, and enforces the rules for preserving order. He puts
