blind. This film grows in winter, and is east the beginning of summer. It is not often that a mackerel exceeds two pounds in weight, yet there have been instances of some that weighed upwards of five. The nose is taper and sharp pointed; the eyes large; the jaws of an equal length; the teeth small, but numerous. The form of this fish is very elegant. The body is a little compressed on the sides: towards the tail it grows very slender, and a little angular. It is a most beautiful fish when alive; nothing can equal the brilliancy of its color, which death impairs, but does not wholly obliterate. 2. S. thunnus, the tunny. These fish are caught in nets, and amazing quantities are taken; for they come in vast shoals, keeping along the shores. They frequent our coasts, but not in shoals, like the tunnies of the Mediterranean. They are not uncommon in the lochs on the west coast of Scotland; where they come in pursuit of herrings; and often during night strike into the nets, and do considerable damage. When the fishermen draw them up in the morning, the tunny rises at the same time towards the surface, ready to catch the fish that drop out. On perceiving it, a strong hook, baited with a herring and fastened to a rope, is instantly flung out, which the tunny seldom fails to take. As soon as hooked it loses all spirit; and after a very little resistance submits to its fate. It is dragged to the shore and cut up, either to be sold fresh to people who carry it to the country markets, or preserved salted in large casks. The pieces, when fresh, look exactly like raw beef; but when boiled turn pale, and have something of the flavor of salmon. One mentioned by Mr. Pennant weighed 460lbs. The fish was seven feet ten inches long: the greatest circumference five feet seven; the least near the tail one foot six. The body was round and thick, and grew suddenly very slender towards the tail, and near that part was angular. The irides were of a plain green; the teeth very minute. The tail was in form of a crescent; and two feet seven inches between tip and tip. The skin on the back was smooth, very thick, and black. On the belly the scales were visible. The color of the sides and belly was silvery, tinged with carulean and pale purple: near the tail marbled with gray. On the coast of Scotland they are called mackrelsture; mackrel, from being of that genus; and sture, from the Danish stor, great. SCOMM, n. s. From Lat. scomma. A buffoon. A word well out of use. The scomms, or buffoons of quality are wolvish in L'Estrange. conversation. Swift's Directions to the Butler. SCONE, or SCOON, an ancient town of Scotland, in Perthshire, remarkable for being the place where the kings were anciently crowned. Here was once an abbey of great antiquity, which was burnt by the reformers at Dundee. Kenneth II. upon his conquest of the Picts in the ninth century, having made Scone his principal residence, delivered his laws, called the Macalpine laws, from a tumulus named the Mote Hill of Scone. The old palace was begun by the earl of Gowrie; but was completed by Sir David Murray of Gospatric, the favorite of king James VI., to whom that monarch had granted it; and the new possessor, in gratitude to his benefactor, put up the king's arms in several parts of the house. It is built around two courts. The dining room is large and handsome; and has an ancient and magnificent chimney piece, and the king's arms, with this motto: Nobis hæc invicta miserunt centum sex proavi. Beneath are the Murray arms. In a small bedchamber is a medly scripture piece in needlework, with a border of animals, pretty well done, the work of queen Mary during her confinement in Loch Leven Castle. The gallery is about 155 feet long, the top arched, divided into compartments filled with paintings in water colors. Till the destruction of the abbey, the kings of Scotland were crowned here, sitting in the famous marble chair which Edward I. transported to Westminster Abbey, to the great mortification of the Scots, who looked upon it as a kind of palladium. Charles II., before the battle of Worcester, was crowned in the chapel. The old pretender resided for some time at Scone in 1715; and his son paid it a visit in 1745. Such was the palace of Scone, till about the year 1803, that part of it was taken down and rebuilt in a more modern style by the earl of Mansfield. The modern house, including a very small portion of the ancient palace, forms one of the most magnificent houses in Scotland. The church erected in 1784 was taken down, and a new one built in 1804 upon the same plan, decorated with an ancient family seat of the Stormont family, the ancestors of the earl of Mansfield, of very curious workmanship. Scone consists of two streets, one of them very wide, and lies forty-one miles north of Edinburgh, and two from Perth. SCOOP, n. s. & v. a. Fr. escope; Swedish scop; Belg. schoepe. A kind of large ladle; a vessel with a long handle used to throw out liquor; a surgical instrument: to use a scoop; to make hollow or like a scoop. As by the brook he stood, Id. Eneid. SCOPARIA, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, and tetrandria class of plants, natural order fortieth, personate: CAL. quadripartite COR. the same, and rotaceous: CAPS. unilocular, bivalved, and polyspermous. SCOPAS, a celebrated Grecian architect and sculptor, a native of Ephesus, according to Lempriere. He flourished about A. A. C. 430. He built the famous Mausoleum for Q. Artemisia, which was esteemed one of the seven wonders of the world. See ARTEMISIA. But his chief work was a statue of Venus, which he carried to Rome, where it was esteemed superior even to that of Praxiteles. SCOPE, n. s. Lat. scopus. Aim; intention; drift room; space; liberty. The scope of all their pleading against man's authority is to overthrow such laws and constitutions in the church, as depending thereupon, if they should therefore be taken away, would leave neither face nor memory of church to continue long in the world. Hooker. Now was time Your scope is as mine own, Shakspeare. Measure for Measure. Ah, cut my lace asunder, Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope, 'Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them For what I bid them do. As surfeit is the father of much fast, Id. Id. We should impute the war to the scope at which Raleigh. it aimeth. The scopes of land granted to the first adventurers were too large, and the liberties and royalties were Davies on Ireland. too great for subjects. He, in what he counsels, and in what excels, Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair And utter dissolution, as the scope Of all his aim. Milton's Paradise Lost. An heroick poet is not tied to a bare representation of what is true, but that he might let himself loose to visionary objects, which may give him a Dryden. freer scope for imagination. Had the whole scope of the author been answerable to his title, he would have only undertaken to prove what every man is convinced of; but the drift of the pamphlet is to stir up our compassion towards the rebels. Addison. These theorems being admitted into opticks, there would be scope enough of handling that science voluminously, after a new manner; not only by teaching those things which tend to the perfection of vision, but also by determining mathematically all kinds of phenomena of colours which could be proNewton's Opticks. duced by refraction. SCOPOLIA, in botany, a genus of the octandria order, and gynandria class of plants; natural order eleventh, sarmentaceæ: CAD diphyllous: COR. quadrifid: the antheræ coalesce in two columns, one placed above the other. Of this there is only one species, viz. S. composita. SCORBU TICAL, adj. Fr. scorbutique; Lat. scorbutus. DisSCORBU TIC, SCORBU TICALLY, adv. Seased with scurvy: the adverb corresponding. Violent purging hurts scorbutic constitutions; Arbuthnot. lenitive substances relieve. A person about forty, of a full and scorbutical body, having broke her skin, endeavoured the curing of it; but, observing the ulcer sanious, I proposed Wiseman. digestion. A woman of forty, scorbutically and hydropically affected, having a sordid ulcer, put herself into my Id. hand. SCORCE, n. s. Used by Spenser for discourse, or power of reason: in imitation perhaps of the Italians. Lively vigour rested in his mind, Saxon rcoɲcned; SCORCH, v. a. & v. n. Belg. schrocken, burnt. To burn superficially: be dried up or thus burnt. Power was given to scorch men with fire. Revelations xvi. 8, SCORDISCÆ, or SCORDISCI, an ancient people of Pannonia and Thrace, infamous for their barbarity during the reigns of the Roman emperors. They not only sacrificed their prisoners to their gods, but drank their blood.-Liv. Flor. Strabo. SCORDIUM, or water germander, in botany, is a species of teucrium. SCORE, n. s. & v. a. Isl. skora ; Goth. skor, a mark or notch. A notch, or long incision; a line drawn; account kept; reason; sake: to mark or set down in account. Hast thou appointed where the sun should rise, And with her purple light adorn the skies? Scored out the bounded sun's obliquer ways, That he on all might spread his equal rays? Sandys. Our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally: thou hast caused printing to be used. Shakspeare. Henry VI. He's worth no more: They say he parted well, and paid his score. Id. Macbeth. Id. Instead of five you scored me ten. SCORE, n. s. Sax. rcon. Twenty; because twenty, being a round number, was distinguished on tallies by a long score. How many score of miles may we well ride "Twixt hour and hour? Shakspeare. Cymbeline. The fewer still you name, you wound the more; Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score. Pope. For some scores of lines there is a perfect absence of that spirit of poesy. O bid him never tie them mair So may his flock increase, an' grow Watts. To scores o' lambs, an' packs o' woo'! Burns. SCO'RIA, n. s. Lat. scoria. Dross; recre The scoria, or vitrified part, which most metals, when heated or melted, do continually protrude to the surface, and which, by covering the metals in form of a thin glassy skin, causes these colours, is Newton's Opticks. much denser than water. SCORIA, among metallurgists, is the dross of metals in fusion; or the glass often produced by melting metals and ores: when cold it is brittle, and not dissoluble in water. SCÓRIFICATION, the art of reducing a body either entirely, or in part, into scoriæ. It is used by metallurgists, in order that any metal, imprisoned in a solid body, may, on account of its weight, descend and separate itself from it, and finally, if that be required by itself either wholly or in part, converted into scoriæ. It is often proper to make this scorification in a vessel that may absorb the scoriæ, and retain only the metallic part of the mass. ASSAYING. SCORN FULLY, adv. See CUPEL and French escorner ; Span. escannir; Ital. scornare. To des pise; slight; revile; to scoff; disdain; neglect: the noun substantive, adjective, and adverb, corresponding. My friends scorn me; but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. Job xvi. 20. Our soul is filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud. Psalm cxxiii. 4. Surely he scorneth the scorner, but he giveth grace unto the lowly. Proverbs. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision. Psalms. Common Prayer. If he do fully prove himself the honest shepherd Menalcas his brother and heir, I know no reason why you should think scorn of him. Sidney. They are very active; vigilant in their enterprises, present in perils, and great scorners of death. Spenser on Ireland. He said mine eyes were black, and my hair black; And, now I am remembered, scorned at me. Shakspeare. Id. We were better parch in Afric's sun Than in the pride and salt scorn of his eyes. He used us scornfully; he should have showed us His marks of merit, wounds received for's country. Id. Diogenes was asked in scorn, What was the matter that philosophers haunted rich men, and not rich men philosophers? He answered, because the one knew what they wanted, the others did not. Bacon. I've seen the morning's lovely ray Hover o'er the new-born day With rosy wings so richly bright, As if he scorned to think of night. Crashaw. This my long sufferance, and my day of grace, They who neglect and scorn shall never taste; But hard be hardened, blind be blinded, more. Milton. The scornful damsels shuns. The scorner should consider, upon the sight of a cripple, that it was only the distinguishing mercy of heaven that kept him from being one too. L'Estrange. For Numidia's grown a scorn among the nations, Scornful of winter's frost and summer's sun. Id. The sacred rights of the Christian church are scornfully trampled on in print, under an hypocritical pretence of maintaining them. Atterbury's Sermons. Fame, that delights around the world to stray, Scorns not to take our Argos in the way. Pope. SCORPÆNA, in ichthyology, a genus of fishes, of the order thoracici The head is large and sharp; the eyes are near each other; there are teeth in the jaws, palate, and fauces; and there are seven rays in the membrane of the gill. The species are three; viz. 1. S. horrida, 2. S. porcus, and 3. S. scrofa. The largest of these is the S. scrofa, of which the following are the distinguishing characters :Lower lip having two cirri; head large; eyes enormous, pupil black, iris yellow or reddish, with four brown rays, above which are three cirri; mouth large; cheeks and lower jaw cirrous; jaws equal; the tongue and palate armed with sharp, recurved teeth; aperture of the gills large, the cover with two large and many smaller spines; back brown; fins bluish, the rays varied, yellow, and brown, and mostly forked. This fish inhabits the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Northern Seas; it grows from three to four yards long, and is a most voracious fish, preying not only on other fishes, but also on sea-birds; body whitish-tawny, spotted with brown, and covered with large scales; the flesh is eaten in Italy. This fish is called by the people of Cornwall father-lasher. SCORPENA is also the name of another fish caught in many parts of the Mediterranean. It seldom grows to more than a pound weight. Its body is long, but not flatted, and is moderately thick. Its head is extremely large, and is armed with prickles, and it grows gradually less from thence to the tail. The prickles about the head are accounted venomous, and the fishermen usually cut them off as soon as the fish is caught. Its tail is rounded at the end. The belly and belly-fins are reddish. SCORPIO, in entomology, a genus of insects belonging to the order of aptera. It has eight feet, besides two frontal claws; the eyes are eight in number, three on each side of the thorax, and two on the back. It has two claw-shaped palpi, a long jointed tail, with a pointed weapon at the extremity; it has likewise two combs situated between the breast and abdomen. See ENTOMOLOGY. There are several species, all natives of warm climates. Of all the classes of noxious insects, the scorpion is the most terrible, whose size among the insects is enormous, and its sting often fatal. In several parts of the continent of Europe it is but too well known, though it seldow grows above four inches long; but in the warm tropical climates it is seen a foot in length, and in every respect as large as a lobster, which it somewhat resembles in shape. The scorpion's head seems, as it were, jointed to the breast, in the middle of which are seen two eyes and a little more forward two eyes more, placed in the fore part of the head; these eyes are so small that they are scarcely perceivable; and it is probable the animal has but little occasion for seeing. The mouth is furnished with two jaws; the undermost is divided into two, and the parts notched into each other, with which it breaks its food, and thrusts it into its mouth; these the scorpion can at pleasure pull back into its mouth, so that no part of them can be seen. On each side of the head are two arms, each composed of four joints; the last of which is large, with strong muscles, and formed in the manner of a lobster's claw. Below the breast are eight legs, each divided into six joints; the two hindmost of which are each provided with two crooked claws, and here and there covered with hair. The belly is divided into seven little rings; from the lowest of which is continued a tail composed of six joints, which are bristly, and formed like little globes, the last being armed with a crooked sting. This is that fatal instrument which renders this insect so formidable; it is long, pointed, hard, and hollow; it is pierced near the base by two small holes, through which, when the animal stings, it ejects a drop of poison, which is white and caustic. The reservoir in which this poison is formed and kept is a small bladder near the tail. If this bladder be greatly pressed the venom will be seen issuing out through the two holes above mentioned; so that it appears, that when the animal stings, the bladder is pressed, and the venom issues through the two apertures into the wound. Galen observes that a person who had not witnessed the fact would not suppose that so small an injury as the sting of a scorpion, or the bite of a poisonous spider, could produce the violent effects which they do in the whole body. He says the aculeus or sting of a scorpion ends in the minutest point; and has no perforation through which any poison can pass into the wound. Yet, he says, we must suppose the venom to be some spiritual substance or moisture, in which a great power is concentrated in a small compass. Before I had an opportunity,' says Dr. Moseley, 'of examining this subject, my respect for the opinion of Galen made me doubt the accuracy of Leuwenhoek, Redi, Mead, and others, who assert that there is an aperture near the cuspis of a scorpion's sting; and that through this aperture a liquid poison is injected when a wound is inflicted. Repeated experiments, with the best glasses, have never enabled me to discover any foramen or opening whatever.' There are few animals more formidable, or more truly mischievous, than the scorpion. As it takes refuge in a small place, and is generally found sheltering in houses, it must frequently sting those among whom it resides. In some of the towns of Italy, and in France, in the ci-devant province of Languedoc, it is a terrible enemy; but its malignity in Europe is trifling, when compared to what the natives of Africa and the east are known to experience. In Batavia, where they grow twelve inches long, there is no removing any piece of furniture without the utmost danger of being stung by them. Bosman assures us that along the Gold Coast they are often found larger than a lobster; and that their sting is inevitably fatal. In Europe, however, they are by no means so large, so venomous, or so numerous. The general size of this animal does not exceed two or three inches. Maupertuis, who made several experiments on the scorpion of Languedoc, found it by no means so invariably dangerous as had till then been represented. He provoked one of them to sting a dog in three places of the belly, where the animal was without hair. In about an hour after the poor animal appeared greatly swollen, and became very sick; he then cast up whatever he had in his bowels, and for about three hours continued vomiting a whitish liquid. The belly was always greatly swollen when the animal began to vomit; but this operation always seemed to abate the swelling, which alternately swelled, and was thus emptied for three hours successively. The poor animal after this fell into convulsions, bit the ground, dragged himself along upon his fore feet, and at last died, five hours after being bitten. He was not partially swollen round the place which was bitten, as is usual after the sting of a wasp or a bee; but his whole body was inflated, and there only appeared a red spot on the places where he had been stung. Some days after, however, the same experiment was tried upon another dog, and even with more aggravated cruelty, yet the dog seemed in no way affected by the wounds; but, howling a little when he received them, continued alert and well after them; and soon after was set at liberty without showing the smallest symptoms of pain. So far was this poor creature from being terrified at the experiment, that he left his own master's house to come to that of the philosopher, where he had received more plentiful entertainment. The same experiment was tried by fresh scorpions upon seven other dogs, and upon three hens; but no deadly symptom ensued. Hence it appears, that many cirsumstances, which are utterly unknown, must contribute to give efficacy to the scorpion's venom. In the trials made by Maupertuis he employed scorpions of both sexes, newly caught and seemingly vigorous and active. These experiments may serve to show that many of the boasted antidotes which are given for the cure of the scorpion's sting, owe their success rather to accident than their own efficacy. They only happened to cure when their sting was no way dangerous; but in cases of actual malignity they might probably be utterly unserviceable. The scorpion of the tropical climates, being much larger than the former, is probably much more venomous. Helbigius, however, who resided for many years in the east, assures us that he was often stung by the scorpion, and never received any material injury from the wound; a painful tumor generally ensued, but he always cured it by rubbing the part with a piece of iron or stone, as he had seen the Indians practise before him, until the flesh became insensible. Seba, Moore, and Bosman, however, give a very different account of the scorpion's malignity; and assert that, unless speedily relieved, the wound becomes fatal. No animal in the creation seems endued with such an irascible nature; they have often been seen, when taken and put into a place of security, to exert all their rage . against the sides of the glass vessel that contained them. They will attempt to sting a stick when put near them, and attack a mouse or a frog, while those animals are far from offering any injury. Maupertuis put three scorpions and a mouse into the same vessel together, and they soon stung the little animal in different places. The mouse, thus assaulted, stood for some time upon the defensive, and at last killed them all, one after another. He tried this experiment, in order to see whether the mouse, after it had killed, would eat the scorpions; but the little quadruped seemed satisfied with the victory, and even survived the severity of the wounds it had received. Wolkemar tried the courage of the scorpion against the tarantula, and enclosed several of both kinds in glass vessels for that purpose. The spider at first used all its efforts to entangle the scorpion in its web, which it immediately began spinning; but the scorpion rescued itself from the danger, by stinging its adversary to death; it soon after cut off, with its claws, all the legs of the spider, and then sucked all the internal parts at its leisure. The fierce spirit of this animal is equally dangerous to its own species, for scorpions are the cruellest enemies to each other. Maupertuis put about 100 of them together in the same glass; and they scarcely came into contact before they began to exert all their rage in mutual destruction; there was nothing to be seen but one universal carnage, without any distinction of age or sex; so that in a few days there remained only fourteen, which had killed and devoured all the rest. He next enclosed a female scorpion, big with young, in a glass vessel, and she was seen to devour them as fast as they were excluded; there was but one only of the number that escaped the general destruction, by taking refuge on the back of its parent; and this soon after revenged the cause of its brethren, by killing the old one in its turn. Such is the terrible and unrelenting nature of this insect. It is even asserted that, when driven to an extremity, the scorpion will destroy itself. The following experiment was ineflectually tried by Maupertuis:- But,' says Mr. Goldsmith, I am so well assured of it by many eye-witnesses, who have seen it both in Italy and America, that I have no doubt remain ing of its veracity. A scorpion newly caught is placed in the midst of a circle of burning charcoal, and thus an egress prevented on every side; the scorpion, as I am assured, runs for about a minute round the circle, in hopes of escaping; but, finding that impossible, it stings itself on the back of the head, and in this manner the undaunted suicide instantly expires.' This, however, wants further confirmation. The male and female of this insect are very easily distinguishable; the male being smaller and less hairy. The female brings forth her young alive, and perfect in their kind. Redi, having bought a quantity of scorpions, selected their females, which by their size and roughness, were easily distinguishable from the rest, and putting them in separate glass vessels, he kept them for some days without food. In about five days one of them brought forth about thirty-eight young ones, well shaped, and of a milk white color, which changed every |