Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/440

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The fpecies of fcorptoides, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, ■ere thefe. I. The fcorpiiides with beuplcurum, or hare's ear leaves. 2. The bcupleurum leaved fcorp'toides with rough, and more contorted horns. 3. The fcorp'toides with thick pods. 4. The fcorpioides with bcupleurum leaves, and with fmooth pods. 5. The fcorpioides with cochleated and fili- ated pods. Tourn. Inft. p. 402. SCORPION {Cyd.)~ The opinions of authors are very diffe- rent as to the fling of this creature ; fome averting that there is an opening in it, through which a poifonous liquor
 * s thrown into the wound made by it, as is the cafe in the

tooth or" the viper, &V. and others affirming that there* is no fuch opening.

Galen affirms that there is none, but mod of the writer? of the middle ages affert that there is. But the whole is fet in the cleareft light by Segnior Rcdi, who took the pains of examining microfcopically the flings of fcorpions brought alive from Tunis, Egypt, and Italy. Thefe he nicely ex- amined by the beft glades in the Mufeum of the Great Duke of Tufcany, and could find no aperture: but not fa- tisfied with this, he prefTed the flings, to try if he could make any liquor flow out of them ; they were ? however, fo hard and horny, that fqueezing could have no effect on them; and finally he caufed zfcorphn to ftrike upon a plate of iron, but no liquid was found thereon ; fo that he began to conclude Galen's opinion right, when he accidentally dif- covered an exceedingly final! drop of white liquor upon the fling, and this he afterwards found in all the trials he made with feveral fcorpions. And Mr. Lewenhoek difcovered an opening on each fide of the fting of this creature, for the emifiion of the poifon, which he fuppoies is not discharged, till the fting is buried in the wound. Baker's Microfcope,

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Mr. de Maupertuis, having caufed fcorpions to bite feveral animals, of which very few died, or differed any more than the pain of the fting, is of opinion, that oil of fcorpions and other vulgar antidotes to the poifon of thefe animals, have rather got their reputation from the innocence of the fting of thefe creatures, than from any confiderable virtue in the medicines. Mem. de l'Acad. Scienc. 1731. Water Scorpion, fcorpio palujtris, a name given to a very re- markable fpecies of water infect. It is a very thin and light little creature, yet is but a very flow mover. Its head is very final], and is hard to the touch, and of a paler brown than the reft of the body ; and this is terminated by a very fine and (harp hollow probofcis, of the fame colour and tex- ture. The eyes are fmali, but prominent, and are very hard and black. The fhoulders are broad and flat; they are of the fame colour with the head, and are wrinkled on the furface. The triangular fpot between the wings is black and mining, the body is of a bright red lead colour on the back, and of a faint dufky. brown on the belly, and is com- pofed of fix joints, covered with a fort of fcales. The outer wings are very haid and firm, and lie very far over one an- other ; they are opake, and of a dark muddy brown, with- out any variations : the inner wings are of a dufky white, veined with a red lead colour. The two fore legs are broader and thicker than the reft, and end in fhort blunt claws ; . thefe the creature never walks with, but always ufes them as arms : the hinder pair are the longeft, and both they and the middle ones end in a fharp claw; they are all of a pale brown, and fomewhat tranfparent. The tail is long and ftrait, it is compofed of two {lender briftles, of a pale brown ; the creature fcarce ever feparates thefe. It lives among the weeds in clear {landing waters, and is continually watching for its prey. It feeds on other infects, and is particularly fond of the cicada aquatica, or worm of the great libella. It feizes its prey with the fore legs, and holds it faft in them while the probofcis pierces into the body, and fucks the juices. See Tab. of Infects, N° 8. Scorpion f,y, in natural hiftory, a name given by Mouffet . and other writers to a kind of fly, remarkable for carrying the end of its tail turned up in form of the fcorpion's fling.

There are two very beautiful fpecies of thefe. The one ha: . Silvery wings, variegated with three tranfverfe ftreaks of black toward the ends ; the head is black, and the breaft, fhoulders and feet whitifh ; the reft of the body is black. The tail, which reprefents a fting, has five joints, three of which are red, and the others black ; the end of the tail alio is forked, and the forks black, and turned up like the ftino- of a fcorp'ton.

The other refembles this in many refpects, but the end of the tail is thicker, and the forks blunter; the head is dun- ifli, the mouth long, and each wing variegated with fix black fpots, of a large fize. SCORPIUS, in ichthyology, the name of a fifh caught in the Mediterranean, of a long and rounded body, not Hatted, and with a very large head, from whence it gradually grows imaller to the tail. See Tab. of Fifties, N° 6r. It grows to three or four pounds weight, and is of a reddifh colour, variegated with brown and blackifh fpots.. It has feveral ftiort filaments or beards about its mouth, and the coverings of the gills are armed with feveral prickles. .

Its head alfo has feveral prickles about it, and the wounds they make are (aid to be very venomous. "I lie fifh is how- ever eaten, and accounted very well taiUd. Gefh&% ue Fife. p. 1017. SCORTIUM, among the Romans, a meafuie of capacity of a round form, which ufed always to be heaped. Piiifc. Lex. Antiq. in voc. SCORZONERA, in botany, the name of a gsnus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the fe- miflofcular kind, being compofed of a number of femifiof- cules {landing on the embryo feeds, and contained in one general oblong cup. The embryos ufually ripen into feeds, which are covered with a fort of coat or hulk, and are winged with down.

The fpecies of feorzomra, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. I. The fcorzonera with broad finuated leaves. 2. The fcorzonera with broad finuated leaves, and bitter roots. 3. The double flowered fcorzonera with broad finu- ated leaves. 4. The Dutch broad leaved fcorzonera. 5. The fcorzonera with nervous leaves. 6. The low Jcorzofiera with broad nervous leaves. 7. The common narrow leaved fcor- %onera. 8. The lower narrow leaved forzonera. 9. The narrow leaved fcernozera with little roots. 10. The narrow leaved fcorzonera wirh biuifh flowers, n. The thick leaved Montpelicr fcorzonera: 12. The dufty flowered marfh_/iw- zonera. 13. The forzonera with jagged leaves. 14. The fcorzonera with capillaceous leaves. 15. The plantain leaved Fortugal fcorzonera. 16. The grafs leaved Portugal fcorzo- nera with pale vellow flowers. Tourn. Inft. p. 476. The root of this plant is ufed in medicine, and is efteemed an alexipharmic and fudorific. It is given in malignant fe- vers, and is by fome recommended in epileplies, vertigoes, and diforders of the womb ; but it is not frequently pre- fen bed in the prefent practice. SCOTAL, or Scotale, is ufed where any officer of a foreft keeps an alehoufe within the foreft, by colour of his office caufing people to come to .his houfe, and there fpend their money, for fear of his difpleafure. We find it mentioned in the Charter of the Foreft, cap. 8. Nullus forcjlarhts faciat fcotallas, vel garbas coll/gat, vel aliquant csllc clam facial, &e. Manwood, lib.

The word is compounded of feat and ale, and by tranfpofi- tion of the words, is other wife called a/rJJjot. Terms of Law. Blount, Gowel. SCOTER, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of duck, called alfo in fome places the black diver.

It is nearly of the fize of the common duck, but of a rounder body, and is all over of a deep fhiniiig and beautiful black ; in fome the moulder feathers are of a yet deeper black than the reft; and in others there is a flight admixture of grey- ifhnefs in the middle of the breaft. The wings are black, without any variegation, and the beak is black, but has a little yellownefs near the noftrils : the feet alfo arc black. It is very common on the fhbres of Lancafhire, and fome other counties. It lives only about fait waters, and is a very great diver. Ray's Ornitholog. p. 80. SCOTINUS, in botany, the name of a fhrub called by the Latins cotinus, and cot'mus cortaria, to diftinguifh it from the coiinus, *»ii*off, of the Greeks, which was the ohajler^ or wild olive.

The Italians call the cotinus cor/aria fomctimes [cotinus, and fometimes f cot anus ; the latter word feems an erroneous way of writing the former, which is only the Roman name of the fame tree, with an / put before the firft letter: ;nJ this is very common 'with the Italians, in their adopting Latin words; what theRomans called phalangium, they c-A\fpha- langio ; what they called conchy-Hum, thefe call fongiglio-> and fo of a number of other words. SCOTODINOS, a term ufed by medical writers to exprefs a vertigo, or dizzinefs of the head, attended with a dimnefs of fight. SCOTOMA, a word ufed by forne in the fame {enfa as fco-

todlnct, to exprefs a vertigo with dimnefs of fight. SCOUP duck, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of duck, fomewhat fmaller than the common duck, and of a ftrange diverfity of colours, even in the different birds of the fame fpecies, infomuch that it is not ezCy to find any two' per- fectly alike in a flock of forty or fifty. The beak is blue, and its moft general colours are thefe : the head, and part of the neck, are of a green ifh black ; the lower part of the neck has fome whitenefs, and the breaft is black; the belly is white, with an admixture of yellow in its lower part, and near the anus it becomes black ; the upper part of the neck is of a footy black ; the middle of the back is white, va- riegated with dufky brown ifh lines, and the rump and tail are brown, as are alfo the wings, but thefe have fome tranfverfe ftreaks of white. The tail is not above two inches long ; the le^s are biuifh. Ray's Ornitho p-279. SCRATCH, in the language of the fait- workers of our coun- try, the name of a calcarious earthy or ftony fubftance, which feparates from fea water in boiling it for fait. This forms a thick cruft in a few days- on the fides and bot- toms of the pans, which they are forced to be at the pains

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