Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/468

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SEXUALIST.E, among botanical authors, thofe Who have '| eftablifhed the clafles of plants upon the differences of the fexes, and parts of fr u&ification in plants, according to the modern method, as Linnteus, &c,

SEXUNX, in pharmacy, the weight of fix ounces, or half a pound troy.

SEYGAR, in the materia medica, a name ufed by fome au- thors for the nutmeg. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

SHACKLES, aboard a fhip, are thofe oblong iron rings, bigo-er at one end than at the other, with which the ports are'fhut faft, by thrufting the wooden bar of the port through them. There are alfo a fort oijhackles to lift the hatches up with, of a like figure, but fmalier. They are faftened at the corners of the hatches.

SHAD, alaufa, in zoology, the name of a fea-fifh of the her- ring-kind, called alfo the mother of herrings, and by fome authors clupea and trifla, and by the antients iricbis, or tri- chias. See Tab. of Fifties, N° 39.

It very much refembles the herring in its general form, but it is flatter and broader, and grows to a cubit long, and four inches broad. It is of the colour of the pilchard, of a bluifh black on the back, and a filvery white on the belly and fides, and the coverings of the gills are fometimes pur- plifh, and fometimes a little yellow. Near the gills it has alfo on each fide a large black fpot, and five or fix others on each fide, which are fmalier, and placed behind them. Thefe are all moft diftinguifhable when the fifh is fcaled. The fcales are large, and eafily fall off, and are dotted with fmall black fpots at their edges.

It is very common in many feas, and in fome of our large rivers which lie near the fea. They run up thefe in great numbers in the months of March and April, and are then very fat j in May they become lean, and then go down to the fea again. They ufually fwim in large fhoals together. IVillughby, Hift. Pifc. p. 227.

SHAFT (Cycl.) — Shaft, in mining, is the fame with a groove, or pit. Shafts are funk fome ten, fome twenty fa- thoms deep into the earth, more or lefs. Houghton's Compl. Miner, in the Explan. of the Terms.

EHAGGE, in zoology, a name by which we commonly call a water fowl common on the northern coafts, and called by Mr. Ray coruus aquaticus minor, or the lefler cormorant, be- ing properly a bird of the cormorant-kind. It is fomewhat larger than the common duck, and weighs about four pounds. Its beak is ftrait and flender, and is not flatted, but roundifh. It is four fingers breadth long, and is hooked at the end. Its mouth opens very wide, and its eyes are fmall. Its head, neck, and back are of a fine fhining black, with an admixture of a purplifh, or greenifh glofs, fliining like fattin. Its breaft is brown, and the middle of its belly greyifh. Its tail is ihort, and its wings, when fold- ed, reach juft to the end of it, and no farther. Its legs are covered with a cancellated fkin, not a congeries of fcales, and its toes are all connected by a membrane. It fwims with its head ere£r, and moft of its body under water, and is very fhy, and with difficulty fhot. It builds in trees as the common cormorant, and is evidently a fpecies of that bird, though different in fize, and in the colour of its belly. Ray's Ornitholog. p. 219.

SHAKER pigeon, a kind of pigeons, of which there are two forts, the broad tailed, and the narrow tailed. The firft is the fineft, and moft valued. It has a beautiful long thin neck, which bends like the neck of a fwan, lean- ing towards the back. It has a full breaft, a very fhort back, and a tail confifting of a great number of feathers, feldom lefs than four and twenty, which it fpreads in an elegant manner, like the tail of a turkey-cock, and bends it up fo, that it meets the head. It is commonly all white, but fometimes is red, yellow, or blue-pied. The longer the neck of this bird is, the more it is valued. The fecond, or narrow-tailed Jhaker, has a fhorter and thicker neck, and a longer back. It is efteemed by many a different fpecies, but feems only a mixed breed with fome other pigeon. They are called Jhakers, from a tremulous motion which they have with their necks when courting. Moore's Columbarium, p. 54.

SHAMBLE, in mining, a term ufed to exprefs a fort of nich, or landing place, left at certain diftances in the adits of mines. The method of digging the tin mines in Devon- shire, and fome parts of Cornwall, is this ; they fink their way in fuch a breadth, as is fufficient for them to ftand and work, and at every fathom they leave a fquare place vacant, to which the ore is to be thrown up with (hovels as it is dug. This they do from caft to caft ; that is, as far as a man can conveniently throw up the ore with his {hovel. Thus the ore, as it is dug by the beelmen, is thrown up by the fhovellers, who follow them from Jbamble to flxtmble. till it comes to the top of the mine. This, however, is but an inconvenient way, and the ufe of thefe Jhambles is ge- nerally fupplied by a winder at the opening of the mine, which manages two buckets, the one of which is fent down empty, while the other is fent up full ; and one man em- ployed below to load, and anoij(M| above to empty. Phil. Tranf. N° 69. See the article Digging.

SHE

SHAMBRIER, in the manege-, is a long thong of leather* made faft to the end of a cane, in order to animate a norfe* and punifh him, if he refufes to obey the rider.

SHANK of an anchor, on board a fhip. See Anchor.

Shank, in the manege, is that part of a horfe's fore leg, which lies between the knee and the fetlock, or paftern-joint!

Shank, or Shank-painter, in a fhip, is a fhort chain faft- ened under the foremaft-fhrowds, by a bolt, to the fhip's fides, having at the other end a rope faftened to it. On this Jhank-painter the whole weight of the aft part of the anchor refts, when it lies by the fhip's fide. The rope, by which it is haled up, is made faft about a timber-head.

SHARE, the name of that part of the plough which cuts the ground, and the wood to which it is fixed. The extremity of the iron forwards is called the point of xh& Jhare, and the end of the wood behind is called its tail. The length of the whole jhare, from point to tail, fhould be three feet nine inches ; at the top of the iron it has an upright piece, called the fin, and near the iron, at the other end, there is an oblong fquared hollow, called the focket - 9 the ufe of which is to receive the bottom of the fheat. Near the tail there is a thin plate of iron, well rivetted to the wood; by means of this plate the tail of the Jhare is held firmly to the hinder fheat of the plough by a fmall iron pin, with a fkrew at the end, and a nut flrewed on it, on the inner or right fide of the fheat.

The point of the Jhare is that part in which It does not run up into the fin : this point is generally made of three inches and a half in length, and fhould be flat underneath, and round at the top, and the lower part of it muft be of hard fteel. The edge of the fin fhould alfo be well fteeled, and fhould make an acute angle with the Jhare. The focket is a fort of mortife ; it fhould be a foot lone-, and about two inches deep : the fore end of it muft not be perpendicular, but oblique, conformable to the end of the fheat which enters into it. The upper edge of the fore part muft be always made to bear againft the fheat ; but if this end of the focket fhould not be quite fo oblique as the fheat, it may be helped, by paring off a fmall part of the wood at the point. Tail's Hufbandry, p. 140. See the article Plough.

SHARK. We know two different fifh under the fame name of Jhark, with the addition of their colour, blue and white. See Tab. of Fifhes, N° 2, 3, 4. The blue Jhark is that fpecies of fqualus called gtaucus, and galeus glomus, by authors, and diftinguifhed by Artedi by the name of the fqualus with a triangular dent, or furrow, in the extremity of the back, and with no foramina about the eyes. See Galeus.

The other is the lamia, or cams carcharias of authors, com- monly called by us fimply the Jhark. This is diftinguifhed by Artedi by the name of thejqualus with a flat back, and with numerous teeth, ferrated at the edges. See the article Sqiia-

LUS.

The white Jhark, or lamia, is a very dreadful and voracious fifh,, the largeft of all the Jharks. They have been feen of four thoufand weight, with throats capable of.fWallowmg a lufty man whole; nay, men have been found whole in them when opened. Some have, for this reafon, imagined this, and not the whale, to have been the fi/li in whofe belly the prophet Jonah lay. Its teeth are very fharp and terrible ; they are difpofed in fix rows, and are all triangular, and notched like a faw on their edges. Thefe are, in the whole, a hundred and forty four in number, and are placed in va- rious directions. Their number is not exactly determinate. Its back is fhort and broad, in comparifon of the other fifh of this kind, and its tail compofed of two fins of a cubit in length each. Its fkin is rough, and its eyes large and round. It is found both in the Ocean and Mediterranean, and is of all fifh the moft voracious of human flefh. It has its name from the Greek, Xoiftos, a voracious feeder, or glutton. The foffile bodies, called glojfopctra, or ferpents tongues, and fuppofed to be real frones, are the teeth of this fifh. Willughby, Hift. Pifc. p. 47.

Hammer-headed Shark. Seethe article ZyoiENA.

SHARP {Cycl.) — Sharp, in the fea language, is to hale taut. Thus when they fay, Jharp the bow line, it fignifies to hale it taut.

Sharp third, in mufic, the third major. See the article In- terval.

SHARPLING, in ichthyology, the Englifh name of the gaf- terofteus. See Gasterosteus.

SHASTRAM, the name of the bible of the Bramins. See the article Bramins.

SHAW, in our old writers, a grove of trees, or a wood. It is mentioned 1 Inft. 4. Blount.

SHEAR off, in the fea language, the fame as to get away.

SHEARING {Cycl)— The beft time for Jhearing of fheep is about the middle, or the latter end of June, becaufe it is good for them to fweat in the wool before it is cut. They muft be very well wafhed before the Jhearing, for this is a great addition to the price of the wool : after the wafm'ng, let them go three or four days in a clean dry ground. When they are cut, the (hearer muft be vtry careful not to wound

their