Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/548

 S T A

the manner of the bufh, it is to be fattened down, when near enough for the gun to kill from it. As birds however are apt to have fome apprehenfion of terror from feeing a tree or hedge move, thefe machines are to be carried on very fiowly ; and the refemblance of a real ani- rnal, as a horfe or cow, are better for the purpofe : thefe may be made of canvas, fupported on a flight frame, and with tails of hair. For pheafants, woodcocks, and the like foolifh birds, the common flat figure of a horfe wiU do; but the water fowl are generally much more ftiy, and it is ne- ceflary, for the getting near them, to have the body made hollow, and fluffed with hay, or fome other matter, to keep it out. The proper time to ufe thefe engines is either • early in the morning, or late in the evening ; for the fun fhine in the middle of the day very foon difcovers to the fowl the imperfection of the engine. STALKER, in brick-making. "See the article Brick. Stalkers, in our old writers, a kind of fifhing-nets. Stat.

13 Rich. II. cap. 20. Blount. STALLAGE, flallaghtm, in our old writers, the liberty, or right of pitching and erecting [talk in fairs or markets, or the money paid for the fame. Kenn. Gloff. Terms of Law. Blount, CoweL STALLION, in the manege, in French eialon, a ftone-horfe

kept to breed. See the articles Horse and Mare. STAMINA, {Cycl.) among botanlfts, the male organs of gene- ration .in flowers. They confift of two parts, a filament and anthera ; though fometimes the latter ftands alone. The filament is a flender body, fupporting a tumid one, which is the anthera, on its head or top. The anthera is the great male organ of generation, is hollow, and contains in it a fine powder, called farina fcecundans. See Generation and Farina. STAMINEOUS, [Cycl) in botany, a term ufed by authors for thofe flowers of plants which have no petals, or flower- leaves, but confift only of a number of ftamina and piftils placed in a cup. This cup is fometimes miftaken for a flower, and its leaves thought to be true petals ; but they remain when the ftamina are fallen, and become the cap- fules containing the feed, which is the true character of a cup, not of a flower. Town. Inft. p. 501.

STAMNOS, an urn, or vefiel, for holding water. Some au- thors have made it fignify the bucket-bead, as it is called, of thofe alembics which have no worm, but are cooled about the head by this means. '

STAMPS, in metallurgy, a fort of large peftles lifted up by water-wheels, and ferving to beat to powder the ores, and refufe of ores of metals. Ray's Englifh. Words, p. 116.

STANCH, or Staunch, a name given by the country peo- ple of Northamptonfhire, and fome other counties, to a fpecies of foflil called felenites, from its fuppofed virtue in flopping fluxes of blood. i#//'sHift. of Foff. p. 129. See the article Pachodecarhombis.

STANCHION (C)W.)-Stanchions, in a (hip, thofe pillars, which being fet up plllarwife, do fupport and ftrengthen the wafte trees.

STAND {Cycl} — Stand, in commerce, a weight from two hundred and a half to three hundred of pitch. Merch. Did.

STANDARD (Cyt/.)-— For the Roman ftandards, fee the ar- ticle SlGNA.

STANDEE, in our old writers, denotes a young flore oak- tree, which in time may make timber ; and twelve fuch young trees are to be left ftanding in every acre of wood, at the felling thereof. 35 Hen. VIII, cap. 17. 13 Eliz. cap. 25. Blount.

STANDING-«/«. See the article Coin.

STANDiNG-mamVrgr, in the law of Scotland, is ufed to ex- prefs one actually fubfifting, though perhaps reducible for adultery, or liable to be declared void for impotency, or conftingency of blood j that is, confanguinity, Bayne's Crim. Law.

Standing part of the /beat, in a fhip, that part of it which is made faff, to a ring at the fhip's quarter. When they fay overhale the foeat, they mean, hah upon the ftanding part ; but when they fay hale the jhcat barely, they intend only of the running part.

Standing part of a tackle, aboard a fhip, is the end of the rope where the block is feized or faftened j as the other, which is haled, is called fall.

Standing-«^«, in a fhip, thofe ropes which do not run in any blocks, but are fet taught, or let flack, as occafion ferves; as the fheat-ftays, back-flays, and the like.

STANNEL, in zoology, an Englifh name of a fpecies of hawk, more commonly known by the names of the keftrel, or the windhover; and called by Latin authors tinnunculus and cenchris. Ray's Ornitholog. p. 50. See the article Tinnunculus.

STANNUM, tin. See the article Tin.

STAPEDIUM, in anatomy, a name given by Albinus to the mufcle of the ftapes in the ear, called by others ftapidis mufcidus, and ftafidanus mufculus.

STAPES {Cyd.)— This bone is very well denominated from its refemblance to a ftirrup ; it is divided by anatomifts into I

S T A

its head, legs, and bafisi The head is placed Upon a fhort flatted neck, the top of it being fometimes flat, fometimes a little hollow. The two legs, taken together, form ait arch like that of a flirrup, in the concave fide of which is a groove, which runs through their whole length ; ' one of the legs is longer, more bent, and a little broader than the other.

The bafis refembles that of a ftirrup, both in its oval fhape, and union with the legs, except that it is not perforated, as the ftirrups now are, but folid, like thofe of the antients. Round its circumference, next the legs, is a little border, which makes that fide of the bafis appear a little hollow; the other fide is pretty fmooth, and one half of the circum- ference is fomething more curve than the other. The fuh- je6t being in an erect pofture, the ftapes is to be confidered as lying on its fide with the head turned downward, near; the extremity of the leg of the incus ; the bafis inward be- ing fixed in the feneftra ovalis, the longeft leg backward^ the ihorteft forward, and both in the fame place. By this fituation it is eafy to know the ftapes of each ear. IPinJlow's Anatomy, p. 49. STAPKYLE, a word ufed by the old Greek writers, fome- times to exprefs a grape ; and fometimes a diforder of the uvula, which confifts in an extenuation of its fuperior part* and a tumor of the inferior, whence it hangs down in the fhape of a grape. The uvula, or gargareon, is alfo thus called by fome writers. STAPHYLEPARTES, the name of a chirurgical inftrument, in ufe among the antients for elevating the uvula. It is mentioned by Paulus ./Egineta. STAPHYLINUS, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the common daucus fylveftris, wild carrot* or bird's neff. Dillen.Czt. GifT. 150. STAPHYLIS, a name given by fome authors to a fort of cup or- boat, made for feeding young children, and contrived with a fpout in form of a grape or nipple. STAPHYLODENDRON, the bladder-nut, in botany, ths name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the rofaceous kind, being compofed of a number of leaves difpofed in a circular form. The cup is compofed of one leaf, divided into many fegments at the edge; and from this arifes the piftil, which finally becomes a membranaceous fruit, inflated in the manner of a bladder, and containing hard feeds. See Tab. i. of Botany, Clafs 21. The fpecies of ftaphylodendron, enumerated by Mr. Tourne- fort, are thefe. 1. The common ftaphylodendron, or bladder- nut. 2. The trifoliate Virginian ftaphylodendron, called by fome the wild piftacia, or the trefoil Virginian piftacta. Tourn. Inft. p. 6:6. STAPHYLOMA, in furgery, the name of a diftemperature of the eye, which is of two kinds: in one the cornea is more than ufually protuberant ; and in the other the uvea breaks forth, and forms an unfightly tumor on the cornea, either from internal caufes, or from fome wounding inftrument forced through the coat ; in which Iaft cafe, the fight of the eye is ufually deftroyed.

This is a very dangerous diforder, as it not only deforms the face, and deftroys the fight of the eye, but very often it induces violent inflammations, headachs, reftlefnefs, afa- fcefTes, and fometimes a cancer in thefe parts. In the cure of this diforder, the tumor and deformity are to be relieved by the application of comprefles dipped in alum-water, to- gether with a plate of lead and a bandage, or fome proper inftrument. If the uvea protrudes itfelf through a wound in the cornea, it fhould be returned with a probe, and the pa- tient muft be ordered to lie in a fupine pofture, and the wound muft conftantly be dreffed with the white of an egg, and a mucilage of quince-feeds, till it is healed ; and by this means the fight is often reftored.

If this diforder is become inveterate and inflexible to all re- medies, a needle, armed with a double thread, muft be pafTed through the middle of the tumor, and the two ends of the thread are then to be tied on a knot, firft on one fide, and then on the other, by which means the tumor will gra- dually wither, and fall off" along with the threads; but as this method occafions a continued pain, and from thence fome- times arife inflammations, it is better ftill to cut off the tu- mor with a fcalpel, or fciflbrs. Heiftcr's Surgery, p. 423. STAPIDACEUS mufculus, in anatomy, a name given byDu- verney, Douglafs, and many others, to the mufcle of the ftapes of the ear, called by others ftapedts mufculus, and by Albinus ftapedium. See the article Ear. STAR {Cycl)— Mr. Flamftead had obferved different diftances of the pote-ftar from the pole at different times of the year ; and thefe obfervations were, through miftake, looked upon by fome as a proof of the annual parallax of the fixed ftnrs. On the whole, Mr. Flamftead concluded that the po\e-ftar was 35% 4o"a or 45' nearer the pole in December, than in May or July.

Dr. Hook had alfo communicated feveraJ obfervations on the apparent motions of the fixed ftars ; and as this was a matter of great importance in afironomy, feveral of the learned were defirous of verifying and confirming his obfer- vations. An inftrument was accordingly contrived bv Mr.

George