Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/552

 S T E

S T E

StATUTO ftapula, a writ that lies to take the body to prifon, and feize upon the lands and goods of one who hath for- feited the bond called ftatuie fiaple. Reg. Orig. 151. Blount, CovjcL

STATUTUM de laborariis, an antientwrit for the apprehend- ing fuch labourers as refufe to work according to the fiatute. Reg. Judic. 27. Blount, Coiuet.

&TAVkSAC&E,ftapbifagria t in botany. See the article Sta-

PHISAGRIA.

Stave/acre grows in Provence, Languedoc, and many other parts of Europe. The leaves are large and finger'd, the flower blue, and fomewhat like that of the larkfpur. The feed, which is the only part of the plant ufed in medicine, is of a dufky brown, and very rough on the outfide, and of a pale yellow within, and of a bitter, difagreeable, and very acrid tafte. The feed fhould be chofen new, clean, and plump. Taken inwardly they are a violent purge and vo- mit, in a very fmall dofc, and are never prefer ibed j but outwardly they have always been famous for deftroying lice in children's heads. Some take it into their mouths alio for the tooth-ach, and others have ventured to ufe gargarifms of it to cure phlegm, and as an errhine, fnuffing it up the noftrils. It is alio commended for the cleanfing old ulcers. Lemeryz Diet, de Drog.

The chief ufe of ftavejacre, as a medicine, is the deftroying vermin in children's heads: to this end it is powdered and mixed with occulus indices, and feldom fails of fuccefs. It is a violent purgative, and therefore feldom ufed at pre- fent.

STAUROPHORT, E-raw^p., in church-hiftory, certain ec- clefiaftics, whofe bufinefs it was to carry the crofs in pro- ceffions. Hofm. Lex. in voc.

The word is compounded of ravj«f, a crofs, and 0»g«, ] carry.

STAUROPHYLAX, 2TavpoptA«*, in church-hiftory, a dig- nified officer in the church of Conftantinople, to whofe care \ the keeping of the crofs, found by Helena, was committed. Hofm. Lex. univ. in voc.

The word is derived from r*«g«ss a crofs, and <p«A«<rcrw, I keep.

STAXIS, a word ufed by the antient phyficians to exprefs a diftillation of blood in drops from the nofe. Aftaxis, in the doctrine of crifes, is juftly condemned as indicating a weaknefsand decay of ftrength in nature; where- as, on the contrary, free and copious difcharges of blood from the nofe are efteemed good indications, and often make happy crifes.

STAY (Cycl.) — Stay, in the manege. To flay, or fuftain your horfe, is to hold the bridle firm and high. We like- wife ftay or fuftain a horfe with the in-Ieg, or in-heel, when he makes his croupe go before his fhouldcrs upon volts : as alfo when we hinder him to traverfe, and ride him equally, keeping him always fubject, fo that his croupe can't flip out, and he can't lofe either his cadence, or his ground, but marks all his times equal.

STEAMS. Subterranean /teams often affect the furface of the earth in a very remarkable manner, and influence or prevent vegetation more than any thing elfe. The furface of fonie ground is fo hollow and light, and fo fwoln by a warm and continually working ferment, that it muff needs fend up a warming /team ; and that it does fo, even in the coldeft weather, is evident from the immediate melting of the fnow that falls on it : nay, in many places, the effect of this [team is fo great, that it melts the fnow before it reaches the ground, fo that it falls on it in form of rain. Some ftones alfo, and fome waters, impregnate the earth by their innate warmth, fending up a continual fucceffion of warm effluvia from all parts of their furfaces ; and other ftones have exactly a contrary effect, rendering the places where they lie barren and cold. Streams of water, which have in their fubterranean courfe run through beds of lime- ftone, marl, or chalk, are always enriched, and warmed by the /teams iffuing from thofe fubftances, and mixing with them as they pafs, and confequently thefe waters enrich the ground wherever they run ; and, on the contrary, fome waters are uliginous, or corrofive, from the /teams they have received in their channels from the veins of pyrites, or beds of metalline ores. It is even reported, that the very fub- ftances of metals and minerals are thus railed in /teams, and that the juices of plants are found loaded with them j thus wc are told, that in Italy crude quickfilver is found in the juices, and at the roots of plants j and that in Moravia, Hungary, and Peru, the fubftances of the metals are found in the bodies of plants, particularly lead and filver. The Mifcellanea Curiofa of Leipfick (peak of wonderful appear- ances of gold in the form of plants, which, if true, muft be owing to that metal's having been railed in /teams, and car- ried into the veflels of the plants in fuch quantity, as in fine to deftroy the vegetable appearance, and leave the figure of the plant in metal. Phil. Tranf. N" no.

STEATITES, in the hiftory of folfils, a name given by late authors to a fubftance called mlLngWfh foap-eartb, and which, though the authors on thefe fubjects had not taken notice

of that circumftance, was the very fubftance called Cimolia purpurafcens, or purple earth of Cimolus, by the antients. The later ages finding the purple Cimolian earth of the old writers to be wholly different from their white kind, have given that name (though it is not eafy to guefs why) to the common fuller's earth, which has no tinge of purple in its whole fubftance.

This earth however, called by us foap-earth, and fteattfes, is well worth enquiring after, as a fubftance for imitating the fine porcelain ware of China. Dr. Woodward much recommends it on this account, and repeated trials have been made of it fince his time, and fome of them very lately ; in all which it has afforded the fineft earthen-ware ever made with us, and promifes fair, with good management, for the equaling any in the world.

It is dug in many parts of Devonfhire and Cornwall, and the neighbouring counties ; the cliff" of the Lizard point is almoft wholly compofed of it, and the adjacent little iflands abound with it ; and from all thefe places it might be brought, at fmall expence, in any quantities. It is known fronf all other earths by thefe characters. It is compofed of extremely fine particles, and is of a firm, equal, and regular texture, and great weight. It is very firm and hard as it lies in the earth, but when it has been fome time expofed to the air, it becomes almoft of a ftony hardnefs. It is of a perfectly fine, fmooth, and gloffy furface, fofter to the touch than any other fpecies of earth, and does not at all adhere to the tongue, or ftain the fingers in handling ; but drawn along a rough furface, as a piece of cloth, or the like, it marks it with a fine and even white line. In colour it is a clear white, veined and variegated very beautifully with purple of different degrees of deepnefs; and is of fo fine a ftructure of parts, that when cut into thin pieces it is in fome degree tranfparent. It makes no effervefcence with acids, and burns to a pure white, even in its purple parts. Hill's Hift. of Foff p. 22. See Terra Cimolia.

STEATOCELE, a term ufed by the antients to exprefs a fort of rupture, occafioned by a large quantity of fat or fuety matter lou'ged in ;he fcrotum.

STEEL (Cycl.) — The difference between fleet and iron is, that fteel being much the harder, will not yield to the ham- mer, hut is brittle, inftead of being ductile, and refifts the file. Malleable iron grows rigid by being fimply extin- guished in cold water, but it yet retains a confiderable de- gree of ductility in the cold, and may be extended in all dimenfions with the hammer.

Steel, however, if heated again, and cooled by flow degrees, may be filed, and extended more or lefs by the hammer. But there are many degrees in the hardening of fteel; for if It has been made extremely red-hot, and is then quenched in cold water in motion, it becomes greatly harder than if it had been but moderately red-hot, and had been quenched in warm water.

Steel is alfo of a darker colour than iron, and the furfare of it, when broken, appears to confift of fmaller granulated, or even ftriated particles, than the iron it was made of. This appears moft diftinctly, when fteel is welded to the fame iron of which it was made, and the mafe made red-hot, and well incorporated by hammering. If then you harden it again, by extinguifhing it in cold water, and polifh it, the veins of iron are eafily diftinguifhable from thofe of the fteel; the iron ones being whitifh, and of a filver-like hue, the fteel ones blackifh, or like water ; and when broken, the fize of the particles is found extremely different. Cramer's Art of Affiiying, p. 34.6.

The manner of making iron into fteel had remained very long a fecret, but many authors of late date have given the procefs, though it does not appear the fame in all, and in many is encumbered with circumftances, intended only to difguife it. Mr. Reaumur has taken greater pains, than al- moft any man, to come at the truth j but to be rightly in- formed of his reafons, we ought to begin where he did, that is, at the origin of the iron in its pure metallic ftate. The ores of this metal are mixed bodies, compofed of fome particles truly metallic, and of others fulphureous, faline, and terrene; this compound mafs is put in fufion by the fire, and on this operation the metallic parts being heavieft, fubfide to the bottom of the veffel, or furnace, and are then eafily feparated from the lighter fubftances which float at the top. This feparation, however, is not fuppofed to he per- fect, but the metal, after this its firft fufion, retains many heterogene particles, which prevent it from being malleable. It is after this to be refined, that is, to be melted again, and that ever fo often performed, the metal becomes yet more and more pure and perfect, fome heterogene matter being every time depofited, or thrown off, and this is ufu- ally much lefs after every fufion.

The metal, when thus purified by melting, yet remains hard and brittle: thefe are two qualities which we do not wane in iron, and this hardnefs' and friability are no incompatible qualities, fmce their origin is this, that the iron in this ttfitc is compofed of a multitude of fmall granules, every one of which is very firm and compact in its own texture, though

they