Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/518

 S P E

teiObJjietiis. There are fome few inftances of the different /pedes of the fame genus having the fame number of verte- brae, but this is very rare. Artedi tells us that he never ob- ferved it but in a few of the cyprini ; and thofe which have no diftindion in this chara&er, he obferves, have fuch very remarkable external differences, that it is not needful to look for others.

Species aromatic*, a new name given in the late London Difpenfatory to the compofition ufually called /pedes diam-. bra. The College obferved, that the intention of this me-; dicine was beft anfwered, by compofmg it of fuch iptces as the daily experience of the table mews were moft grate- ful to the ftomach, and by avoiding all ingredients which, though of the aromatic kind, are accompanied with any' thing naufeous and difguftful in their flavour ; and therefore have ordered it to be now made in the following manner. Take cinnamon two ounces, cardamom feeds, ginger, and long pepper, of each an ounce ; make all together into a fine^ I powder. Pen/bcrton's Lond. Difp. p. 318.

Species e /cardie, the ingredients of the diafcordium electuary in a dry form. The recipe is fomething altered in the late London Pharmacopoeia, and ftands thus: take bole armenic four ounces, fcordium two ounces, cinnamon an ounce and half, ftorax, roots of tormentil, biftort, gentian, dittany of Crete, galbanum, and gum arabic and red rofes each an ounce, long pepper and ginger each half an ounce, opium three drachms ; this may be left out at pleafure ; and all arc to be beat to a fine powder. Pemberton's Lond. Difp. p. 319.

Species, in mufic, Here, as in other arts, /pedes denotes the fubdivifions of the genus. The;antients had three genera, the enharmonic, chromatic, and diatonic. The enbannonic had no fubordinate /pedes. The chromatic^ genus was di- vided into three /pedes, viz. the moile, /c\ qui alter um, and io\ niaum ; or, as others call them, molle, bcmiolium, and toni- citm c. And laftly, the diatonic genus was fubdivided into the molle, and the inten/um\ fo that the antients' had fix /pedes, or divifions of the fourth in ufe. Some of thefe are alfo in ufe among the moderns, but others are unknown,' as yet, in theory or practice d. — [ c Wallisz Append. Ptolem.< Harm. p. 164. d Vid. Phil. Tranf. N° 481. p. 271, feq.1 See the articles Enharmonic, Chromatic, and Dia- tonic. See alfo Genus.

Species is alfo applied, in antient muficians, to-the different difpofitions of the tones and femitones in a fourth, fifth, or octave. Hence they fay there are three fpecies of fourths, four of fifths, feven of octaves. fPallis's Append. Ptolem. Harm. p. 171.

The Grecians exprefTed this fenfe of the term /pedes by ii&f, or by crxvpa- e. The Latin word, figura f, has alfo been taken in the fame fenfe. — [ c Arijlox. p. 6, 74. Ed. Meib. f Wallis, ibid. p. 170.]

Change 0/ Species. The change 0/ /pedes is a term ufed in hufbandry to exprefs an expedient the 1 farmer often has re- courfe to, in order to procure good crops : this is the fow- ing firft one kind of plant, then another, and then a third, and fo on, upon the fame land : by this means the moft is made of the foil; and it is found, when it will no longer. give a good crop of the firft corn planted on it, it will itill, give a good one of fome other /pedes ; and finally, of pcafe after all.- After this laft change 0/ /pedes, it is found neceiTary, in the common method of husbandry, to renew, the land with fallowing and manure, in order to its produc- ing any thing again. See Soil.

This change 0/ /pedes has been a practice of the farmers of all times, and is recommended, and judged necefTary, by moft of the writers on this fubjedt ; but Tull, in his New Syftem of Horfehoeing Hufbandry, proves, that it is not ne- cefTary, and that the land only wants proper tillage, when exhaufted by one fort of corn, to enable it to produce as good crops of the fame corn again. The three fundamental propofitions he lays down to prove this, are, I. That plants of the moft different nature feed on' the fame forts of food. 2. That there is no plant but what muff, rob every other plant, within its reach, of a part of its nourifhment. And 3. that a foil, which is once proper for any kind. of vegetable, will continue to be always proper for it, in re- fpe<£t to the fort of food it gives. If only any one of thefe propofitions were true, it would follow, that there is no need of a change 0/ /pedes from year to year; and as they are all fo, this truth is yeu the more inconteftible, and ex- perience proves it yet more evidently, for the fame land will produce crops of wheat every year, without any change, only by the practice of the horfehoeing hufbandry, inftead of the common. TulH Hufbandry. See the articles Food 0/ plants and Husbandry.

SPECIFIC (Cyrf.)— Specific operation 0/ medicines. Dr. Mar- tin endeavours to defend the doctrine of the /pecific operati- ons of cathartic medicines, from the different nature of the drugs, and by an appeal to experience. See his EiT. Phyf. and Medic.

Specific gravity 0/ metals. See Metals.

Specific names, in natural hi'ftory, are thofe epithets com- pofed each of one or more terms, and placed after the ge-

S P E

nerical name, in the denomination of any fpecies of plant, animal, or mineral, exprefling thofe characters by which it differs from all the other fpecies of that genus. The more accurate of the modern naturalifts have, in their feveral provinces, fet about the reformation of the /pecific names of things. They firft obferve, that many of the [■pecific names of the antients no way anfwercd the intent of their formation, but exprefTed the more trivial diftinctions, or accidents, while they omitted the realities, and more ef- fential grounds of diftinction. On this foundation the critical writers of our times diftinguifh the old /pecific names into the genuine, or true, and the fpurious, or faife ones.

The genuine names are thofe which exprefs thofe characters, by means of which the thing becomes a different fpecies; thefe are invariable, and by thefe names the thing is, in. fome fort, defcribed. The falfe ones are thofe /pecific name* which do not, nor cannot diftinguifh the fpecies, called by them, from the others of the fame genus, which may as well belong to fome other fpecies as to that, and which therefore are of no ufe to the ftudent. The true formation of- thefe names is on the real characters of the body to be named'; but inftead of this thefe falfe ones are formed, from the fol- lowing accidental, or variable diftincTions. : -

1. From the fifh being common, or fcarce. On this dif- ference are founded the diftinctions of fifh, for inftancey in their /pecific names, into vulgaris and rara ; and thus authors abound with .acus vulgaris, lupus vulgaris, boops rara, and the like. Names are meant to convey fome idea of the nature of the thing, but what do thefe convey ? or how is the perfon, who is fliewn a fifh he does not know, to find out whether it be fcarce or common ?

2. From the number of the fpecies of fome genus. Thus we find acus prima, and acus altera, and the a/ellus primus, ficundus, tertius, and fo on, in many other genera :• thefe convev even lefs than the former.

3. Some, of the /pecific names of the antients are formed of the place, or habitation of the creatures.' Of this .nature

' are' the albumus lacujhis, the apua phalerica, ■ the brama ma- rina, the lampetra fiuvi'atilis, and a thoufand others ; either alluding to the nature of the water, or peculiar place where the fifh firft met with, of this genus, chanced to be found.

4'. Some are formed on the value or bafenefs of the fifh. Of this kind are the /a Imo nobilis, the albula lauta, the a/dlus lufcus, the/almo /pur'tus, fo called, from its not having the fine flavour of the other, and fo on.

5. The different bignefs is another foundation of thefe names : thus we have the acus major, albula parva, bughj/us maximus, harengus minor, and the like.

6. The colour, though very variable, or only confined to one part of the fifh, has given occafion to others ; and in thefe it has been exprefTed, as if generally diffufed over the fifh. Thus the albula c*rulea has only a part blue, though the name feems to exprefs that the whole is fo : the a/ellus

fiave/cens, and virefcens, are names of the fame kind, the yellow and green exprefTed in them not being general,- but only partial : the torpedo maculofa, and non maculo/a, feem to exprefs two fpecies different only in the fpots, whereas thefe fpots appear and difappear at times in the fame /pedes. All thefe, and many hundred others, founded on the fame principles with thefe, are falfe and fpurious, and not at all anfwering the intent of /pecific names, nor diftinguifh in g the fifties one from another. An unknown fifh carries no fi- gures of 1, 2, 3, &c. marked on it, to fay whether it be the firft, fecond, or third of the author who defcribes it; nor can it be known, at fight, whether it be a native of fait or of frefh water, whether it lives in rivers or in ponds, and whether it be of American, Afiatic, or European origin ; neither can the tafte, the nature, or the manner of life of the fifh, be feen on the outfide of its body : all thefe, therefore, are to be banifhed from the names, though they make a proper part of the hiftbry of the fpecies. On firft meeting with a fifh, can any man judge whether it be the greateft, the middle, or the fmalleft of its kind, or fay whether it is longer or broader than the reft, before he knows them ? nor can the mention of a colour fignify any thing, when it is not faid what part of the fifh is tinged with it. As the properties, on which thefe /pecific names are founded, cannot be known till the fifh is well known, and as the ufe of the name is the leading the perfon, yet ignorant, to know it, it follows that all thefe names are falfe, frivolous, and abfurd, and yet thefe are the names by which almoft all the old authors have called them. The true, and genuine /pecific name, on the other hand, is that which diftinguifbes the fifh called by it, at 'firft fight, from all the others of the fame genus ; or which, if it re- quire thought and deliberation, yet requires no perfon's knowledge of the fifh.

Thefe /pecific names are to be taken from fome external part, which in that peculiar fpecies differs from thofe of all the others, either- in regard to excefs, defect, number, propor- tion, or invariable colour.

the