Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/553

* SPUR. 475 SPXJKBY. Originally spurs were made with a single point or prick and were known as the 'prick-spur' or goad-spur, but they soon developed into the rowel. In some instances the spur proper consisted of a ball from which projected a sharp point. Al- though the rowel is first met with in the thir- teenth century, it was not common until the middle of the fifteenth century. In the Middle Ages the use of the spur was limited entirely to knights, who were granted their spurs as a sym- bol that they had won their right to kniglitliood. Similarly, the hacking oft' of his spurs denoted the public disgrace and degradation of the knight. During the age of chivalry, to serve a pair of spurs on a dish before a knight was a pointed declaration on the part of the host that he de- sired his guest to leave as speedily as possible. In the United States Army the spurs of mount- ed officers are of yellow metal or gilt, with orna- mentation, while the rank and file wear the same pattern spur made of steel with a plain surface. Throughout Europe generally, the gilt spur de- notes an officer of field rank, and the steel spur a mounted officer of regimental rank. The use of the spur is not nearly so common in these days of lightly equipped horsemen and intelli- gently bred horses. SPURGE ( OF. spurge, espurge, from espurger, from Lat. cxpnryare, to purge, cleanse, from ex, out + purgare, to cleanse, from piirus, pure + agere, to drive, to do). Euphorbia. A genus of about 600 spe- cies, mostly tropical shrubs or trees or tem- perate climate herba- ceous species of the natural order Euphor- biacesE, characterized by a resinous, milky, usu- ally acrid juice. Some of the green-stemmed, fleshy, and spin,v Afri- can species so resemble certain cacti in their habit of growth as to render their identifica- tion more or less uncer- tain when not in flower. The leaves are either •wanting or fall off earl,y, and the functions of assimilation are per- formed by the stems. The flowers of many species, especially of Poinsettia, have bright-colored bracts that make them very ornamental. About forty species are indigenous or introduced in the Eastern United States. SPUR'GEON, Charles Haddon (1834-9'2). A celebrated English preacher. He was born at Kelvedon, Esse.x, attended school at Colchester, and spent a few months at an agricultural col- lege at Maidstone. His family intended him for an Independent minister, but his own sym- pathies drew him toward the Baptists, whose connection he joined in 1850. The same year he became a school-teacher, and, removing to Cam- bridge, began to deliver cottage sermons in the Vol. XVIII.— 31. CYPRESS BPITBQE (Euphorbia cyparisBias). neighborhood. The popularity of the 'boy preach- er' was almost immediately established, and at the age of eighteen he had charge of a small Bap- tist congregation in the village of Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. In 1854 he entered upon the pastorate of the New Park Street Chapel, London, where his preaching proved so attractive that in two years' time the building had to be greatly enlarged. The Surrey Music Hall was for some time engaged for his use, and finally his follow- ers built for him the well-known 'ftletropolitan Tabernacle' in Newington Butts, opened in 1861. Man}' evangelistic and philantliropic agencies grew up in connection with tliis inuucnse chapel, such as the Stockwell Orphanage; a pastor's col- lege, where hundreds of young men were trained for the ministry under Spurgeon's care; the Gold- en Lane Mission, etc. He was compelled in his later years to stop his work frequently because of ill health, and died at Mentone, France. His sermons were published weekly from 1854, and ,vearly vol- umes were issued since 1856. They had an enor- mous circulation, and many of them were trans- lated into various languages. He also published many volumes, including: The Saint and His Saviour (1857) : Morning by Morning, and Even- ing by Evening (1866-68); John Ploughman's Talks (1869); The Treasury of David (a com- mentary on the Psalms, largely from Puritan writers, 1870-85) ; Lectures to My Students (1875-77); Commenting and Commentaries (1876); John Ploughman's Pictures (1880); and after 1865 he edited a monthly magazine, Sword and Trowel. In theology he was a pronounced Calvinist, in biblical science an extreme conservative, in policy an open communion Baptist, in politics a Liberal Unionist, in all things independent. He attacked the Low Church Party in the Church of England because it countenanced, he asserted, the teaching of baptismal regeneration in the Prayer Book, and in 1864 withdrew from the Evangelical Al- liance because it was supported by it. He at- tacked his own co-religionists for their alleged rationalistic views and withdrew in 1887 from the Baptist L'nion. As a preacher he knew how to enchain the attention of his hearers through sermons of great length, by a flow of vigorous English and a mingling of tenderness and stern- ness, humor and soberness. A biography by his wife and private secretary was published in Lon- don in 1897-98. SPURRY (OF., Dutch spurrie, MDutch sporie, spurie, speurie, spurrie, spurrey; of un- certain etymology). Plants belonging to the genera Spergula and Buda of the order Cary- ophyllaceie. The species of Spergula are natives of Europe, those of Buda of America. Spurry is a weed sometimes cultivated as a forage crop. Corn spurry or common spurry (Spergula ar- vensis) is an annual from 6 to 1'2 inches high, producing a tangled mass of succulent stems with numerous whorled linear leaves. It prefers sandy or stony soil, upon which it is often planted as a green manure and as a soiling crop for sheep and cattle. The plant readily re-seeds the ground, but need not become a pest on well-tilled farms, where it is often welcomed as a catch crop. Giant spurry (Spergula maxima), by many botanists not regarded as a species distinct from the abov^e, is similar to, but larger than, common spurry.