Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/444

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tural bottom, as defcribed, that is of the fame nature with the ftrata in the body of the earth. The fimile the Count Marfigli has made, between the bafon of the fea and a caik of wine, is very expreflive and juft. When wine has been a icng time kept in a cafk, the whole internal furface of that cafk is fo covered and encruftated over with tartar, that it feems within to be really compofed of it ; yet as we know that this cafk is of wood, we are very certain that the true inner furface of it is of the fame texture and nature with the tree from which it was cut, though we cannot get off the accidental furface formed by the liquor kept in it, and wholly covering it.

We very frequently meet with fine and pure fand at the bot- tom of the fea, and in thefe places are apt to believe that we certainly have the true and original bottom, but this is rather to be looked on as a probability than a certainty ; and where the fand is more than ordinarily fine, there is always re;ifon to fufped that the courfe of fome fubterrane- an river has brought it there, by opening into the fea in this part j and that this is one of thofe particular bafons, which thefe rivers form to themfelves within the bafon of the fea, and which continue only to a fmall diftance from their fource. Marfigli, Hift. de la Mer. p. 15. The bottom of the fea is covered with a variety of matters, fuch as could not be imagined by any but thofe who have examined into it, efpecially in deep water, where the fur- face only is difturbed by tides and ftorms, the lower part, and consequently its bed at the bottom, remaining for ages perhaps undifturbed. The foundings, when the plummet firft touches ground on approaching the mores, gives fome idea of this. The bottom of the plummet is hollowed, and in that hollow there is placed a lump of tallow ; this being the bottom of the lead, is what firft touches ground, and the foft nature of this fat receives into it fome part of thofe fubftances, which it meets with at the bottom : this matter, thus brought up, is fometimes pure fand, fometimes a fort of fand made of the fragments of fhells, beat to a fort of powder, fometimes it is made of a like powder of the fe- veral forts of corals, and fometimes it is compofed of frag- ments of rocks ; but befide thefe appearances, which are natural enough, and are what might very well be expected, it brings up fubftances which are of the moft beautiful co- lours. Things of as fine a fcarlet, vermillion, purple, c3V. as the fineft paint could make them, and as yellow as a folution of gam- boge, are common ; and fometimes, though not fo frequently, the matter brought up is blue, green, or of a pure fnowy white- nefs. Thefe coloured matters fometimes feem to have made up the whole bottom or mafs of the furface, but more ufu- ally they have been formed upon other things, as upon the mud, or upon larger pieces of fhells, corals, and the like, in the manner of tartarous crufts, and thofe in fome degree refembling the cruftaceous coats of fome of the fea plants. The colours of thefe fubftances are not merely fuperficial and tranfient, but many of them are fo real and perma- nent, that they may be received into white wax melted, and poured upon them, or kept in fufion about them ; and when thus examined, they feem as if a proper care might make them of great value, as paints of the finer kinds, where little is to be ufed.

The fame coloured matters that thus coat the fubftances, found at the bottom of the fea in thefe places, are alfo fometimes found extended over the furface of fea plants of the harder kind, which grow in deep water. They are always, in this cafe, in a fort of liquid form, being lodged within, or embodied among a fort of jelly or glue of a tranfparent fubftance, which in thefe cafes perfectly coats over the whole plant. In this ftate it gives the naturalift, who is prefent at the fifhing up his treafures, a tranfient profpecT: of a very elegant kind j but this vanifhes while he admires it. A piece of coral, or other hard fea plant, thus coated over, appears, as it rifes to the furface of the water, of a delicate green, blue, or purple, but when taken above water, it is found that this fine colour is only in the coat of glue or jelly which covers the plant : as foon as this is wiped off, the colour is carried away with it, and the coral mews its own native tinge ; and it is to no purpofe to at- tempt the preferving it, by fuffering this glue to dry upon the plant, for the colour flies away by degrees, as the moif- ture evaporates, and the coral or plant, whatever it be is only fo much the lefs beautiful, than it naturally would have been, as it is covered with a dry yellowifh dirty looking horny matter. Thefe are beauties in the fubmarine plants therefore, which can be only icen by thofe who venture out in order to take them up.

The fmall quantities of thefe elegant colours, which we thus find fpread over the furfaces of plants and other bodies, as we approach deep water, may give a rational idea of what we fhould find, were we able to examine the bottoms of the fea in its deep and unfathomable reccfles. It is eafy to con- ceive, that in thefe places we fhould find great quantities of the moft beautiful fubftances. MarfirtL Hift. Phvf. de la Mer. J & *

Dead Sea. Dr. Perry made feveral experiments on the water of the Dead fia, in order to find what particles it contain-

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ed. Upon infilling fome fcrapings of galls in it, it becomes of a bright purple colour, but that not till it has flood a con- fiderable time. On adding oil of tartar per deliquium to it, it becomes turbid, and looks as if globules of fat were flufluating in it ; this unctuous matter, upon its long Hand- ing in repofe, comes together in form of a fediment at the bottom. On pouring fpirit of vitriol into it, it depofits a milk-white greafy fediment, which, after Handing twelve hours, occupies about one fifth part of the liquor. On put- ting a fmall quantity of faccharum faturni to it, it depofits a fmall quantity of a greyifh powder. Being feverally and feparately mixed with a folution of fublimate, with fpirit of fal armoniac, and with fugar of violets, it neither ferments, nor depofits any fediment, nor changes colour, except with the fugar of violets, with which it becomes green. It is highly faturated with fait, fo that it is to common water in fpecific gravity, as five to four ; and it has fo acrid and ftyp- tic a tafte, that on being held in the mouth, it conftringes it in the manner of alum.

From all thefe experiments it appears, that this water is impregnated with a fort of an acrid and alkaline nature, and a matter partly of a fulphureous, partly of a bituminous na- ture. Philof. Tranf. N° 46a. p. 50.

Sea adder, an Englifh name for a fea fifh of the acus kind, called by Willughby the acus lumbricifirmis. It is a fmall fifh of a cylindric fhape, without fcales, and of a greenifh brown colour, with fome admixture of a red- difh yellow. The fnout is long and hollow, and the mouth opens upwards at its end. The eyes are fmall, and their itis red. The gills are four on each fide, but are covered by a membrane, and the whole body divided into rin<»s like the common earth-worm. It is ufually about three or four inches long, and of the thicknef's of a goofe quill. It has but one fin, which is fituated on the back. The anus is much nearer the head than the tail ; and under the fnout there is always a flefhy tubercle. The fifh is common on the coaft of Cornwall. Willughly, Hift. Fife. p. 160.

Sea breaches, a term ufed by the farmers to exprefs the over- flowing of their low lands near the fea by the fea water. Sea fait, moderately ufed, is a great improvement to all lands, but too much of it kills all forts of vegetables, ex- cept fuch as nature has intended to live among it. The fea breaking in upon lands thus, injures them greatly. The owner is to flop the breach by which it entered with all poffible diligence, and then trenches and drains muft be cut through all parts of the land, to carry the fait water into fome one low place, from which it may be emptied by means of an engine ; or if it be fmall in quantity, it may be laded out by hand over the bank ; or if yet lefs, the fun and winds may dry it away : but in either cafe, the place where it was fuffered to reft muft be covered with a large quantity of frefh earth, to take off from the too great faltnefs of the other ; and the whole land fhould be plowed for three or four years, to let in the rains and air to freihen it. Mor- timer's Hufbandry.

Sea bream, in ichthyology, the Englifh name for the fifh call- ed by the generality of authors the pagrus and phagrus. Ac- cording to the new fyftem of Artedi, it is a (pedes of the fpari, and is diftinguifhed by the name of the red fparus with the fkin carried into a fmus at the roots of the back fins, and the pinna ani. SeePACRus and Sparus.

Sea calf, vhulus marinus, in zoology. SeePHOCA.

Sea caw, the Englifh name of the manati, a fpecies of fifh fo different from all the other of the cetaceous tribe, to which it properly belongs, that Artedi, in his new fyftem of ich- thyology, allots it a peculiar generical name, which is thri- cechus.

It is called by Herrera taurus marinus, or the fea bull, and by others the taehas and la donna. The French call it la- mantin, or namantin, and the Portuguefe pezze mouller. It may feem ftrange, that fo ill fhaped a creature as this fhould have given rife to the ftories of the fyrens and mer- maids, theyiamen and fea women, yet there is great reafon to believe, that all the fabulous accounts of thefe monfters are owing to the feeing this animal raife its head and lhoul- ders above the water. See Sea man.

Sea crow, in zoology, a name given by the common people of many counties of England to the^«w'r. See the article Pewit.

Sea devil, in ichthyology, an Englifh name for the ranapifca- trix, or lophius. See Rana pifcatrix.

Sea fox, an Englifh name for a fifh of the fqualus kind, called alfo the feci ape ; both names being given on occafion of the length of its tail in proportion to the body. It is a very lingular fifh, and, according to the new Arte- dian fyftem, is a fpecies of fqualus, diftinguifhed by that au- thor by die name of the fqualus Cauda longiore quant ipfum corpus.

The old Greek writers have called it alopecia, and the later vulpes marina, and fimia marina, whence the names fea fox, mi fea ape. See the articles Vulpes and SqjTALus.

SnA-gate, at fea. When two fhips are aboard one another, by means of a wave or billow, the feamen fay they lie aboard one another in a fea-gate.

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