Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/19

LEFT sow THISTLE SPAIN SOW THISTLE, the popular name given to a species of a genus of com- posite plants, Sonchus. There are about 50 species, mostly herbaceous, but some forming shrubs or small trees. Some of the first may be considered cosmopolitan, v/hile the woody sorts are almost re- stricted to the Canaries and to the island of Madeira. The most common species in Great Britain is the common sow thistle, Sonchus oleraceus. It is very abundant as a weed, is greedily fed upon by many animals, and is sometimes used on the European continent as a pot-herb. It grows to a height of two or three feet, with a branching stem and small yellow flowers. The 5. alpinus forms a tall and fine plant, with fresh and sharply defined foliage and large heads of beau- tiful blue flowers. The S. arvensis is found in Massachusetts and southern New York. SPA, or SPAA, a town of Belgium, and a watering place of world-wide celebrity; in a romantic valley amid hills which form part of the Ardennes chain, 27 miles S. E. of Liege, and 22 miles S. W. of Aix-la-Chapelle. The prettily-built town consists almost entirely of inns and lodging houses. The mineral springs are efficacious in complaints of the liver, nervous diseases, dyspepsia, etc. Spa water is exported to all quarters of the globe. Spa is also famed for the manu- facture of wooden toys, which are stained brown by being steeped in the mineral waters. It was frequented as a watering place as early as the 14th cen- tury, and has given its name to many mineral springs. Here the German Great Headquarters were established in 1918, where consultations were held con- cerning the armistice and from whence the German delegates set out for the French lines to meet Marshal Foch and sue for peace. SPACE, in geometry, the room in ^hich an object, actual or imaginary, ex- ists. All material objects possess length, breadth, and thickness; in other words, they exist in space of three dimensions. Plane surfaces have only two dimensions — length and breadth, and straight lines but one dimension — length. Hence we have notions of space of one dimension and of two dimensions, as distinguished from the three dimensional space in which we live. The question has arisen, and has been warmly discussed, as to whether space of four, and perhaps of higher dimensions exists. Zollner be- lieves that it does, and that some persons have some of the power of be- ings living in space of four dimensions, and thus accounts for many of the phe- nomena of Spiritualism. For example, while a being living in space of two di- mensions could only get in or out of a square by passing through one of ita sides, a human being could enter the square from above; so, he argues, a per- son having the properties of a four-di- mensional being could enter or leave a closed box or room on its fourth-dimen- sional side. In metaphysics, a conjugate of material existence. Empirical philos- ophers maintain that notions of space are derived from our knowledge of ex- istence; transcendentalists that these no- tions are innate. In music, one of the four intervals be- tween the five lines of a staff. They take their names from the notes which oc- cupy them ; thus, the spaces of the treble staff, counting upward, are F, A, C, and E, and of the bass, A, C, E, and G. In physics, the room in which the Cos- mos or universe exists. In printing, the interval between words in printed matter; also pieces of type-metal shorter than type, used to produce such spaces or to separate let- ters in words, of varying thickness, so as to justify the line. SPAIN, a kingdom in the S. W. of Europe, forming with Portugal the great S. W. peninsula of Europe. It is sepa- rated from France on the N. E. by the chain of the Pyrenees, and is otherwise bounded by Portugal and the Atlantic and Mediterranean. In greatest breadth N. and S. it measures 540 miles; greatest lengrth E. and W., 620 miles. Continental area, 190,055 square miles. Including the Canary and Balearic islands and north and west African possessions, 194,- 783 square miles. Pop., about 20,400,000. The war with the United States deprived her of Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippine and Sulu islands, and Guam; and a treaty with Germany, Feb. 8, 1899, of the Marianne (or Ladrone), Caroline, and Pelew islands. On Nov. 8, 1900, Spain sold the islands of Cagayan and Sibutu to the United States for $100,000. Her last remaining colonies are in Africa with pop. 292,000. Spain formerly com- prised the ancient kingdoms and provinces of New and Old Castile, Leon, Asturias, Galicia, Estremadura, Anda- lusia, Aragon, Murcia, Valencia, Cata- lonia, Navarre, and in the Basque Provinces. These since 1854, for admin- istrative purposes, have been divided into 49 provinces, including the Balearic and Canary islands. The capital is Madrid; next in population are Barcelona, Valen- cia, Seville, and Malaga. Physical Features. — The coast line is not much broken, but sweeps round in gentle curves, presenting few remark- able headlands or indentations. The