SKINNERS, Company of (Her.) were incorporated in 1325, their armorial ensigns are, as in the annexed figure, “ Ermine, on a chief, gules, three crowns, or, with caps of the first." SKIP (Mus.) a term applied to any transition exceeding that of a whole tone.

SKIP-JACK (Ich.) the Gasterosteus saltatrix, a fish nearly allied to the Stickle-Back.

SKIPPER (Mar.) a familiar name for the master of a small Dutch merchant vessel.

SKIPPING-NOTES (Mus.) notes which do not proceed by conjoint degrees, nor in any regular course, but which lie at awkward and unexpected distances from each other. SKIPPOUND (Mar.) i. e. ship-pound; the dividend of a last of corn laden in a ship, containing from 300 to 400 lb. SKIRMISH (Mil.) in French escarmoucher; Spanish scarramucciare; Italian scaramuccia; a loose desultory encounter between small parties, who advance from the main body and engage with each other preparatory to a general battle.

SKULL (Anat.) vide Cranium.

SKULL-CAP (Bot.) the Scutellaria of Linnæus, a perennial. SKUNK (Zool.) an animal of the weasel tribe, the Viverra mephitis of Linnæus; so called because it defends itself by emitting an intolerable odour.

SKY-LARKING (Mar.) a term used among seamen for wanton play about the rigging and tops of a ship. SKY-SCRAPER (Mar.) a small triangular sail sometimes set above the royal.

SKY-LIGHTS (Archit.) glass frames placed in a roof to give light from the ceiling.

SLAB (Carpent.) an outside plank or board sawn from the sides of a tree, which is frequently of very unequal thick

ness.

SLAB (Mason.) a table of marble for hearths, &c. SLAB-LINE (Mar.) in French couillard, a small cord passing up behind a ship's main-sail or fore-sail. SLACK of a rope (Mar.) that part of a rope which hangs loose, having no strain or stress upon it.-Slack-rigging, a term applied to the shrouds, stays, &c. which are not so firmly extended as they ought to be.-Slack-water, the interval between the flux and reflux of the tide. SLAINS, Letters of, (Law) letters in the Scotch law heretofore subscribed by the relations of a person slain, declaring that they had received an assignment or recompence, and sought for pardon for the murderer. SLAM (Chem.) a substance frequently produced in the making of alum, by calcining it too much or too little. SLATCH (Mar.) the period of a transitory breeze of wind, or the length of its duration.

SLATE (Min.) a bluish fossile stone, which, being very soft when dug out of the quarry, is easily cut or sawed into thin squares to serve instead of tiles for the covering of houses, making tables, &c. The best sort of slates are brought from Wales, where they are distinguished according to their size, beginning with the smallest into Doubles, Ladies, Countesses, Dutchesses, Welsh Rags, Queens, Imperials, and Patent Slate.

SLAY (Her.) slea or reed, an instrument used by weavers, and borne as a part of the arms of the company of weavers in Exeter.

SLEDGE (Husband.) a carriage without wheels, but shod with iron, on which ploughs and other implements are drawn from place to place.

SLEDGE (Mech.) a similar carriage as that above-mentioned, which is used in Russia and the northern countries of Europe during the winter instead of wheel carriages. SLEDGE HAMMER (Mech.) the largest sort of hammer used by smiths with both hands in beating iron upon the anvil.

SLEEPERS (Mar.) those timbers which lie before and behind in the bottom of a vessel, their use being to strengthen and bind fast the timbers called futtocks and rings; as also to lie out and make the narrowing of the floor of the ship.

SLEEPERS (Carpent.) a row of horizontal timbers in a building, disposed next to the ground, transversely under the walls, ground joists, or the boarding of a floor. The same term is also applied to the undermost timbers of a gun or mortar battery.

SLEETS (Gun.) the parts of a mortar from the chamber to the trunnions, which serve to strengthen the piece. S'LENTANDO (Mus.) an abbreviation for silentando, Italian for, it slackens, to denote that the time of the passage decreases.

SLIDER (Man.) a small leathern loop which runs upon the curb bridle, and serves to ease the hand. SLI'DING-RULE (Mech.) a mathematical instrument to be used without compasses in gauging. SLING (Mil.) a leathern strap attached to a musket, by which it is supported across the soldier's back. SLING (Surg.) a kind of hanging bandage, in which a wounded limb is sustained.

SLING (Mar.) a rope fitted to encircle a cask, jar, bale, or case, and suspend it whilst hoisting or lowering.-Boatslings, strong ropes, furnished with hooks and iron thimbles, whereby to hook the tackles, in order to hoist the boats in or out of the ship.-Slings of the yard, ropes which serve to suspend the yard.

SLINGING the yards for action (Mar.) securing them up close by means of iron chains, which are not so liable to be cut through by the enemy's shot as rope.

SLIP (Mar.) a place lying with a gradual descent on the banks of a river or harbour convenient for ship-building. "To slip the cable," [vide Cable]

SLIP-KNOT (Mar.) one which will not bear any strain, but will either become untied or will traverse along the other part of the rope.

SLIPPA (Law) signifies literally a stirrup; a tenure of land by holding the king's stirrup.

SLIPPED (Her.) an epithet for a flower or branch plucked from the stock.

SLIPPER, Lady's (Bot.) the Cypripedium of Linnæus, an annual.-Slipperwort, the Calceolaria of Linnæus, an an

nual.

SLIP-ROPE (Mar.) a rope used to trice the bight of a cable into the head; it is also employed in casting off a vessel till got in a tideway, &c.

SLIT-DEAL (Carpent.) a name for inch, or quarter-inch deal, cut into two leaves, or made into two boards. SLO'ANEA (Bot.) a tree of South America, so named by Plumier, after Sir Hans Sloane.

SLOATES of a cart (Carpent.) the under pieces which keep the cart together.

SLOE (Bot.) the fruit of the Prunus sylvestris of Linnæus. SLOOP (Mar.) a small vessel furnished with one mast, the mainsail of which is attached to a gaff above, to the mast on its foremost edge, and to a boom below.-Sloops of war, in French corvettes, are vessels in the navy commanded by officers in a mid-rank between a lieutenant and a postcaptain.

SLOPS (Mar.) a name given to all species of wearing apparel, bedding, &c. which are supplied to his majesty's ships in commission.

SLOT of a deer (Sport.) the view or print of a stag's foot on the ground.

SLOTH (Zool.) the Bradypus of Linnæus, an animal which is proverbial for the slowness of its motions, but it climbs more easily than it walks; it utters a miserable cry, and when alarmed sheds tears.

SLOUGH (Min.) the damp of a coal-mine, so called because of its moistness.

SLOUGH (Nat.) the porous spongy substance in the inside of the horns of oxen or cows; also the cast-off skin of a snake.

SLOUGH of a wild boar (Sport.) the soil or mire wherein he wallows; the place in which he lies in the day-time. SLOUGH-SILVER (Law) a rent formerly paid to the castle of Wigmore, instead of some days' work in harvest, performed for the lord of the manor.

SLOUTH (Sport.) a number of bears in company. SLOW in motion (Astrol.) a term applied to the motion of a planet when its daily motion happens to be less than its mean motion.

TO SLUE (Mar.) to turn any cylindrical or conical piece of timber about its axis without removing it from its situation; it is most commonly applied to the turning about a mast, boom, or spar in its cap or boom-iron.

SLUG (Mil.) a cylindrical or cubical piece of metal shot from a gun.

SLUG (Ent.) a variety of the snail tribe, the Limax of Lin

næus.

SLUICE (Archit.) a frame of wood set in a river to keep out the water.

SLUICE (Husband.) a vent or drain to carry land.

SLUR (Mus.) a character marked thus

off water from

drawn over or under the heads of those notes which are meant in performance to be blended by a kind of smooth, gliding progression.

SLURRING (Mus.) performing in a smooth, gliding manner. SLUT-HOUND (Sport.) a dog in Scotland that has an excellent scent.

SMACK (Mar.) a small vessel, commonly rigged as a cutter, and used in the coasting or fishing trade, sometimes as a tender in the king's service.

SMALL of the anchor (Mar.) that part of the shank immediately under the square.

SMALL arms (Mil.) in French armes portatives; a general name for muskets, fusils, carabines, &c.

SMALL craft (Mar.) all such lines, nets, and hooks, as are used to catch fish; also all manner of small sea vessels, as catches, hoys, &c.

SMALLAGE (Bot.) the Apium graveolens of Linnæus. SMAʼLL-PIECE (Com.) a Scotch coin, worth about twopence farthing.

SMALL-POX (Med.) a well-known epidemic disorder, called by physicians variola.

SMALT (Paint.) a sort of blue colour used in painting. SMARAGDINÉ (Min.) papaydives, a transparent precious stone, of a beautiful green colour.

SMARAGDITES (Min.) a sort of marble resembling the emerald.

SMARAGDUS (Min.) pápaydes, the Emerald. Plin. 1. 37. SMART-MONEY (Mil.) or smarts, the different sums received by recruiting parties.

SMART-TICKET (Mar.) a certificate granted by the captain to any warrant or inferior officer, seaman, or other person in sea pay, when hurt or maimed, &c. to the end that he may receive the benefit of the chest at Greenwich. SMEAR-DAB (Ich.) one of the flat fish, the Pleuronectes lævis of Linnæus.

SMELLING (Anat.) one of the five senses, performed by the help of a soft, pulpy, vascular, porous membrane, which lines the whole internal cavity of the nostrils. This membrane, which is plentifully supplied with nerves, is thickest upon the septum, and principal cavity of the

nose.

SMELT (Ich.) a fish of the salmon tribe, the Salmo eperianus of Linnæus, which inhabits the shores of Europe,

ascends rivers in vast shoals in the spawning season, is very fertile, has a peculiar smell, and is subdiaphanous, from its shining silvery scales.

TO SMELT (Metal.) a term applied particularly to the melting of ores in a furnace adapted to the purpose, and called the smelting furnace.

SMEW (Orn.) a bird nearly allied to the goose tribe, a species of merganser, the Mergus albellus of Linnæus, otherwise called the White Nun.

SMILAX (Bot.) wina, a plant very similar to the ivy, which, according to Ovid, received its name from the youth who was changed into this flower. It was used by the Thebans as a coronary plant. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. 1.1, c. 10; Euripid. in Bacch, scen. 1; Dioscor. 1. 4, c. 144; Plin. l. 16, c. 35.

SMILAX, in the Linnean system, a genus of plants, Class 22 Dioecia, Order 6 Hexandria.

Generic Character. CAL. perianth six-leaved.-COR, none. —PIST. germ ovate; styles three; stigmas oblong.—Per. berry globular; seeds two.

Species. The species are perennials, as the-Smilax aspera, Rough Smilax.-Smilax sarsaparilla, Medicinal Smilax, or Sarsaparilla.-Smilax pseudo-china, China, seu Pseudo-china, Bastard Chinese Smilax, &c. Bauh. Pin.; Ger. Herb.; Park. Theat.; Raii Hist. SMILAX is also the name of the Cissampelos smilacina. SMI'RIS (Min.) a genus of siliceous earths, known in English by the name of Emery.

**

TO SMITE (Falcon.) is said of a hawk that wipes her beak. SMITHS (Her.) or Company of Blacksmiths, incorporated in 1577. Their armorial ensigns are, as in the annexed figure, "sable a chevron between three hammers argent, handled and crowned or.”

SMOKE-FARTHINGS (Law) the pentacostals or customary oblations made by the inhabitants within a diocese, on the occasion of their going annually in procession to the mother or cathedral church.

SMOKE-SAIL (Mar.) a small sail hoisted against the foremast when a ship rides head to wind, to give the smoke of the galley an opportunity of rising.

SMOKE-ŠILVER (Law) or smoke-penny, money paid annually to the minister, as a modus in lieu of tithe-wood. SMUGGLERS (Law) those who conceal prohibited goods, and get them fraudulently or clandestinely imported, without paying the king's customs.

SMUT (Bot.) a disease in corn, when it is covered with black

dust.

SMY'RNIUM (Bot.) prior, a plant so called because its root emitted a juice very similar to myrrh. Theophrast. Hist. Plant.; Dioscor. I. 3, c. 139; Columel. 1. 2, c. 3; Plin. l. 19, c. 8; Gal. de Simpl. 1. 2.

SMYRNIUM, in the Linnean system, a genus of plants, Class 5 Pentandria, Order 2 Digynia.

Generic Character. CAL. umbel universal unequal; partial erect.-COR. universal uniform; proper five-petalled.STAM. filaments five; anthers simple.-PIST. germ inferior; styles two, inferior; stigmas two, simple.—PER. none; fruit oblong; seeds two.

Species. Plants of this genus are mostly biennials, as the
-Smyrnium olusatrum, Hipposelinum, seu Macerone,
Common Alexanders.-Smyrnium perfoliatum, Perfoliate
Alexanders, &c. Dod. Pempt.; Bauh. Hist.; Bauh.
Pin.; Ger. Herb.; Park. Theat. Botan.; Raii Hist.
&c.

SNA'FFLE (Man.) a sort of bit for a horse's bridle.
SNAIL (Ent.) a well-known insect of the worm tribe, the
Limax of Linnæus.

SNAIL-FLOWER (Bot.) the Phaseolus caracalla of Linnæus. Snail Trefoil, the Medicago scutellata, an annual.

SNAKE (Zool.) an amphibious animal, the Anguis of Linnæus, of the Order Serpentes. SNAKE-GOURD (Bot.) the Tricosanthes anguina of Linnæus, an annual.-Snake-Pipe, the Equisetum arvense, a perennial. Snake Root, the Actea racemosa, a perennial.

Snake-Weed, the Polygonum bistorta, a perennial. SNA'KING (Mar.) the act of winding small ropes spirally round a large one, which is frequently termed worming. Snaking the stays, the act of seizing proportion-sized rope at angles from one stay or rope to the other. SNAP-DRAGON (Bot.) the Antirrhinum of Linnæus, a perennial.-American Snap-Dragon, the Achillea.-SnapTree, the Justicia hyssopifolia.

SNATCH-BLOCK (Mar.) a great block or pulley, having a shiver cut through one of its cheeks, for the ready receiving any rope; it is chiefly used for heavy purchases, where a warp or hawser is brought to the capstan. SNEEZEWORT (Bot.) the Achillea ptarmica of Linnæus, a perennial, so called from its sternutory property. SNEEZING (Med.) a convulsive action of the muscles of the chest, caused by the irritation of the nostrils. SNIPE (Orn.) a heath bird nearly allied to the woodcock; it is the Scolopax gallinago of Linnæus. SNITING (Falcon.) the sneezing of a hawk. SNOW (Nat.) a well-known meteor, formed by the freezing of the vapour in the atmosphere; it is distinguished from hail and hoar frost by being as it were crystallized, which they are not; and when examined through a microscope it appears to be composed of fine shining spicula, diverging like rays from a centre. $NO'W-BALL-TREE (Bot.) the Viburnum of Linnæus.Snow-Berry, the Chicoca racemosa.-Snow-Drop, the Galanthus nivalis.-Snow-Drop-Tree, the Chionanthus virginiaca, a shrub.

SNUBBING (Mar.) a term among seamen to denote the method of checking the sudden jerk of the cable or hawser after the anchor is let go, or otherwise.

SNUFF (Bot.) a well-known narcotic drug, prepared from the leaves of the Tobacco Plant, the Nicotiana tabacum of Linnæus.

SNYING (Carpent.) a term among shipwrights for a circular plank edgeways to work in the bows of a ship. SOAP (Chem.) sapo, a composition of oil or fat with an alkali; the Medicinal Soap, Sapo amygdalinus, is made of the oil of sweet almonds and half its weight of caustic alkali; Common, or Soft Soap, Sapo mollis, is made of potash and oil or tallow; Spanish, or Castile Soap, Sapo durus, of oil of olives and soda or barilla; Black Soap is a composition of train oil and an alkali.

SOAP-BERRY (Bot.) the Sapindus of Linnæus. SOAP-WORT (Bot.) the Saponaria of Linnæus. SOA'R-HAWK (Falcon.) a hawk so called from the first taking her from the airie till she has mewed or cast her feathers.

SOAVE (Mus.) Italian for soft or sweet, as applied to the style of performance.

SOC (Law) or soca. [vide Soke]

Soc (Mil.) a machine made of leather, which is fixed near the stirrup, to receive the end of the standard staff, in cavalry regiments.

SO'CAGE (Law) socagium, from the French soc, a ploughshare; a tenure of lands by or for inferior services of husbandry to be performed for the lord of the fee. SO'CAGERS (Law) vide Sokemen.

SOCCUS (Ant.) a Sock; a low and common sort of shoe which was worn on the stage by such as performed low characters; whence the term soccus was taken for comedy in distinction from the cothurnus, which was taken for tragedy. Mart. 1. 8, epig. 3.

An juvat ad tragicos soccum transferre cothurnos.

Hor. Art. Poet. v. 89.

Versibus ornari tragicis res comica non vult;
Indignatur item privatis, ac prope socco

Dignis, carminibus narrari cœna Thyesta.

Soccus (Bot.) the Articarpus integrifolia of Linnæus. SOCIETY (Lit.) another name for an academy, or an assemblage of literary men for the purpose of promoting useful knowledge. [vide Academy] The principal bodies of this kind so denominated are, the Royal Society, the American Philosophical Society, the Berlin Society, Brussels Society, Dublin Society, Edinburgh Royal or Philosophical Society, Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, &c.

SOCII (Ant.) a name given by the Romans to those states which they suffered to retain their own laws and governors, on condition that they assisted them in all their wars. Cic. pro Sext. c. 26; Tacit. Annal. 1. 2, c. 26; Suet. Jul. c. 11; Manut. de Civit. Rom. apud Græv. Thes. Ant. Rom. tom. 1. SOCI'NIANS (Ecc.) a sect of heretics, so called from one Socinus, in the 16th century, who asserted that our Saviour was a mere man, and impugned all the other fundamental doctrines of Christianity.

SOCKET (Mech.) any hollow pipe that receives something inserted. Socket of a bayonet, the round hollow part near the bent or heel of a bayonet, in which the muzzle of firearms is received.

SO'CLE (Archit.) or zockle; a flat square member under the bases of pedestals of statues, &c. to which it serves as a foot.

SO'CNA (Law) vide Soke.

SO'COME (Law) a custom of grinding at the lord's mill; it was distinguished into bond socome, when the tenants were bound to do it, and love socome, when they did it freely, out of affection for their lord.

SOCO TORINE (Bot.) an epithet for the best aloes, which are brought from Socotora.

SOCQUE (Archæol.) a sandal or wooden shoe worn formerly by monks.

SOD (Husband.) a sort of turf, or the superficies of a heath pared off.

SO'DA (Bot.) the Salsola soda of Linnæus; a plant so called because soda was first procured from its ashes. SODA (Chem.) an Arabian word which is now employed by chemists to denote a mineral alkali, which is obtained from several sources, but principally from plants growing on the sea coast. It is also to be met with in the mineral kingdom, combined with sulphuric, muriatic, boracic, and carbonic acids. In Spain soda is obtained from different species of the Salsola and Salicornia, and the Batis maritima. The alkali thus procured is more or less pure, according to the nature of the particular plant from which it is obtained: for the most part, however, it is a subcarbonate of soda.

Soda, though very similar to potash, yet differs from it in certain particulars, namely, that it is rather more fusible, and when it comes into the air it crumbles into powder instead of liquefying, as potash does. It is not altered by light, attracts sulphur and sulphuretted hydrogen more feebly, adheres less strongly to acids, and fuses and dissolves alumine more easily. All its other properties, namely, its volatilization by a very high degree of heat, its acrid causticity, its solubility, its combination with sulphur, &c. resemble those of potash, though they are not exactly the same in degree.

SODA'LES (Ant.) members of any collegiate body, particularly of the priests, who were distinguished into the Sodales Titii, Augustales, Antoniani, Helviani, Alexandriani, &c. Ursat. de Not. Rom. apud Græv. Thes. Antiq. Rom.

tom. xi. &c.

SOLE of the foot (Vet.) a plate of horn in a horse's foot, which, encompassing the flesh, covers the whole bottom of the foot.

SOLE Tenant (Law) a man or woman who holds land in his or her own right, without any other joined with them. SO'LEA (Ant.) a sort of sandals, without upper leathers, covering only the soles of the feet, and fastened above with straps and buckles. They were worn only by women, or by men who indulged themselves in effeminate habits; but they were mostly put off when they lay down to their

meals.

Per. Sat. 5, c. 169.

Nugaris; solea, puer, objurgabɛre rubra.

Mart. 1. 3, ep. 50.

Deposui soleas.

Plaut. Truc. act. 2, scen. 4.

Cedo soleas mihi, properate, auferte mensam.

Cic. de Harusp. Resp. c. 21; et in Verr. act. 5, c. 33; Plin. 1. 35, c. 6; Stuck. Ant. Convic. 1. 2, c. 27, &c. SO'LECISM (Rhet.) σoxious, solæcismus, an impropriety of speech, so called from the Soli, a people of Attica, who, being transplanted to Cilicia, quite lost the purity of their native tongue.

SO'LEN (Surg.) a hollow chirurgical machine, in which a broken leg or thigh is placed; a cradle.

SOLEN (Con.) a genus of animals, Class Vermes, Order Testacea; the animal of which is an Ascidia; shell bivalve. This tribe of animals is distinguished in English by the name of the Razor-Sheath. SOLENA'RIUM (Surg.) a catheter. SO'LFA-ING (Mus.) singing the notes of the scale to the monosyllables applied to them by Guido. SOLFEGGIAMENTI (Mus.) an Italian word denoting exercises for singing at sight, of which the syllables do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, form the subject.

SOLI (Mus.) two or more instruments playing their respective parts singly.

SOLICITOR (Law) solicitator, a person employed to follow and take care of suits depending in courts of equity. SO'LID (Phy.) a body whose minute parts are so connected together as not to yield readily to the impression of external force, in distinction from a fluid. SOLID (Geom.) a magnitude extended in the dimensions of length, breadth, and thickness, in distinction from at plane. The extremes of solids are surfaces, that is, they are terminated either by one surface, as a globe; or by several surfaces, plane or curved. Regular solids are terminated by regular and equal planes; as the tetraedron, hexaedron, or cube, octaedron, &c. [vide Body]-Irregular solids, all such as do not come under the definition of regular ones.-Solid Angle, vide Angle.-Solid Place, vide Locus.-Solid Problem, one which cannot be constructed geometrically.

SOLID Bastion (Fort.) vide Bastion.

SOLID Foot (Arith.) vide Foot.-Solid Numbers, those which arise from the multiplication of a plane number, by any other number whatever; thus 18 is a solid number produced from the plane number 6 and 3, or from 9 and 2. SOLIDA'GO (Bot.) a genus of plants, Class 19 Syngenesia, Order 2 Polygamia superflua.

Generic Character. CAL. common oblong.-COR. compound radiate proper; of the hermaphrodites funnelform; of the females ligulate.-STAM. in the hermaphrodites; filaments five; anthers cylindrical.-PIST. in the hermaphrodites and females; germ oblong; style filiform; stigma in the hermaphrodites and in the female two-reflex.-PER. none; seeds solitary.

Species. Plants of this genus are distinguished in English

by the name of the Golden-Rod, on account of their yellow flowers and long spikes. They are mostly natives of North America.

SOLIDAGO is also the name of the Amellus umbellatus. SOLIDITY (Phy.) a property of matter or body, by which it excludes every other body from that place which is possessed by itself.

SOLIFIDIAN (Ecc.) an epithet sometimes applied to those who hold faith only to be necessary to salvation. SO'LINS (Carpent.) the spaces which are between the joists or rafters above the beams of a roof. SOLLECITIO (Mus.) a term formerly used to signify a pathetic style of performance. SOLMIZATION (Mus.) vide Solfa-ing.

SO'LO (Mus.) a composition for a single voice or instrument. SO'LOMON'S-SEAL (Bot.) the Convallaria of Linnæus, a perennial.

SOLSTICE (Astron.) solstitium, from sol, the sun, and sto, to stand, because the sun seems to stand still at those points; the time when the sun is at the greatest distance from the Equator, namely, 23° 28', at which, when the sun arrives, he appears not to change his place as to declination either way. The solstices are either summer or winter. The summer solstice is when the sun enters the Tropic of Cancer, which is about the 21st of June, or the longest day. The winter solstice is when he enters the Tropic of Capricorn, or the first degree of Capricorn, which is about the 21st of December, or the shortest day. SOLSTITIAL Points (Astron.) the two points in the Ecliptic, namely, the first of Cancer and the first of Capricorn, when the solstice happens.-Solstitial Colure, that colure which passes through the solstitial points. SOLUBLE (Chem.) an epithet for bodies that may be dis

solved in any menstruum.

SOLVENDO Esse (Law) a term which signifies to be in a solvent state.

SOLVENT (Law) an epithet for a man who has wherewithal to pay all his debts.

SOLVENT (Chem.) any menstruum, or corrosive liquor, which I will dissolve bodies.

SO'LVERE Pœnas (Law) to pay the penalty. SO'VIT ad diem (Law) a plea in action of debt on bond, &c. that the money was paid at the day limited. SOLUTION (Chem.) the intimate mixture of a solid body with a fluid by its component parts being dissolved; also the fluid itself which is produced thereby. SOLUTION of Continuity (Surg.) a dissolving the unity and continuity of parts; as in wounds, fractures, &c. SOLUTION (Math.) the answering or resolving any problem or question that is proposed.

SULUTIONE feudis militis Parliamenti (Law) a writ whereby knights of the shire or burgesses might recover their wages or allowance if it were denied. SOLUTIVA (Med.) laxative medicines. SOMMEILS (Med.) a name by which the airs in old serious operas were distinguished, so called because they were so grave as to induce sleepiness. SO'MMERS (Carpent.) vide Summers. SOMNA'MBULISM (Med.) walking in one's sleep. SO'MO (Bot.) the Illicium anisatum of Linnæus. SO'NA (Mus.) Italian for the word Sound. SON Assault demesne (Law) i. e. his own assault; a plea or justification in an action of assault and battery; because the plaintiff made the first assault, and what the defendant did was in his own defence.

SONATA (Mus.) an instrumental composition, consisting of several movements, calculated to display the powers and expression of the instruments for which it is written. SONATINA (Mus.) Italian for a short sonata. SO'NCHORUS (Bot.) the Kaempferia galanga of Linnæus.