SPAITLA, a town of Africa, in Tunis, which, according to Dr. Shaw, is one of the most remarkable places in Barbary, from the extent and magnificence of its ruins. It has a most sumptuous triumphal arch, of the Corinthian order, consisting of one large arch, with a smaller one on each side. From this arch all along to the city, there is a pavement of large black stones, with a parapet wall raised breast high, on each side; at the end of this pavement is a beautiful portico, built in the same style with the arch, which leads into a spacious court, where there are ruins of three temples, with many columus, tablatures, &c., perfectly entire. Spaitla is seated on a rising ground, shaded with juniper trees; 110 miles south-west of Tunis. It was anciently called Suffetula.

SPALATRO, a sea-port of Austrian Dalmatia, on the gulf of Venice, the see of an archbishop, who is also metropolitan of Croatia. It stands on a peninsula in the form of a crescent, connected with the main land by a narrow isthmus. The harbour is spacious and deep, though not protected from all winds. The town is fortified both on the sea and land side, being commanded by several eminences. Population about 7500. Here are manufactures of woollen, silk, and leather. The fishery on the Adriatic is considerable, as well as the shipping business. The Turkish caravans, from Bosnia and Servia to Venice, usually deposit their goods in the Lazaretto in this place. Spalatro contains several Roman edifices. Dioclesian, on abdicating the imperial crown, retired to Illyria, built a palace in the neighbourhood of Salona; and two-thirds of the present city of Spalatro stand within the walls which surrounded this retreat; and which form a regular quadrangle, with a gate on each side. The whole of this part of the city is full of ancient arches and monuments. The cathedral is in fact an ancient temple in remarkable preservation 110 miles north-west of Ragusa, and thirty south-east of Sebenico.

SPALDING (Charles), a late celebrated Scottish mechanician, a native (we think) of Edinburgh, who merits to be recorded in a dictionary of arts and sciences, for having made the most capital improvement that had then been, or probably has yet been made, upon the diving-bell. See DIVING-BELL. Of this useful improver of science we have met with no memoir; which seems rather ungrateful, as he lost his life in the public service, trying farther experiments and improvements upon his diving-bell in the harbour of Dublin; and, if report says true, he lost his life by the invidious and maliciously designed negligence of an Irishman, who was his competitor for fame in that art, and to whom he trusted to supply him with air, and to pull him up at the proper signals. This much of his history only is known to the writer of this article, from personal acquaintance, that, before he made his improvement on the diving bell, he was for several years in a respectable line of business, as a confectioner, in an elegant shop in the front of the Royal Exchange at Edinburgh; and where for several years after he had made his improvements, his wife kept up the business while he was absent at London, Dublin, or elsewhere, forwarding his experiments.

SPALDING, a market-town and parish in the district of Holland, Lincolnshire, situate near the mouth of the river Welland, twenty miles N. N. E. from Peterborough, and ninetyseven north from London. The Welland being navigable, the town carries on a considerable traffic in coals and corn, and supplies Yorkshire with large quantities of wool. The houses are neat, and the streets very clean. Great quantities of hemp and flax are grown close by. The church is an extensive ancient building, and in the town are five chapels for dissenters, a theatre, prison, and town-hall, where the quarter sessions and assemblies are held; a free-grammar school, charity-school, and some newly erected almshouses. A literary society, of which Sir Isaac Newton was a member, was established by Mr. Maurice Johnson, a native of the town; but since his death it has dwindled into insignificance, and is now merely a social club. For many centuries Spalding has been the principa seat of jurisdiction for the division of Holland In the Saxon times the courts of law were held here by the earls; and, subsequent to the Norman conquest, the priors were invested with the judicial authority. Spalding is a place of great antiquity. Its priory, which in succeeding times became a monastery of great consequence, was founded and endowed in 1051 by Thorold de Bukenhale. The market-place is very spacious; and has a large cattle-market on Tuesday. Fairs April 27th for hemp, flax, cattle, and sheep; June 29th for merchandise, cattle, and horses; August 28th for horses; September 25th for all kinds of goods and cattle, and December 6th. The church is a curacy.

SPALL. n. s. Fr. espaule. Shoulder. Out

of use.

SPALLANZANI (Lazarus), a late eminent naturalist, born at Scandiano, in Modena, on the 10th January, 1729. He was son of John Nicholas Spallanzani, an esteemed lawyer, and of Lucia Zugliani. He studied in his own country, and at the age of fifteen went to Reggio to improve himself. The Jesuits instructed him in the belles lettres; but his passion for knowledge led him to Bologna, where his relation, Laura Bassi, a woman justly celebrated for genius, eloquence, and skill in natural philosophy and mathematics, was one of the most illustrious professors of the Institute, and of Italy. He soon availed himself of that lady's wise counsels. He studied his own language with care, and perfected himself in the Latin, but attached himself to the Greek and the French. Homer, Demoshenes, St. Basil, were his favorite authors. He applied himself to jurisprudence at the instance of a father whom he tenderly loved, and was upon the point of receiving the degree of L. Civ. D., when Anthony Vallisneri, professor of natural history at Padua, persuaded him to renounce his vocation, and obtained the consent of his father. Spallanzani was soon famed all over Italy. The university of Reggio, in 1754, chose him to be professor in logic, metaphysics, and Greek. He taught there for ten years; but consecrated all the time he could spare to the obser

vation of nature. His observations upon the animalculæ of infusions fixed the attention of Haller and Bonnet; the latter assisted him in his glorious career. In 1760 Spallanzani was called to the University of Modena, and had offers of those of Coimbra, of Parma, and of Cesena; but his patriotism made him prefer his own country. He remained at Modena till 1768, and he saw raised by his care a generation of men constituting at this time the glory of Italy; particularly Venturi, professor of natural philosophy at Modena; Belloni, bishop of Carpi; Lucchesini, ambassador of the late king of Prussia; and the poet Angelo Mazzo of Parma. At Modena Spallanzani published, in 1765, Saggio di Osservazioni Microscopiche concernente il Systema di Needham e Buffon. He therein establishes the animality of what had been called, but not generally assented to, microscopic animalculæ, by the most ingenious, and at the same time, solid experiments. He sent this work to Bonnet, who from that moment formed the most intimate acquaintance with him, and it lasted during their lives. In 1765 he also published a dissertation truly original: De Lapidibus ab Aqua resilientibus. In that work he proves, by satisfactory experiments, contrary to the commonly received opinion, that the ducks and drakes (as they are called) are not produced by the elasticity of the water, but by the natural effect of the change of direction which the stone experiences in its movement, after the water has been struck by it, and that it has been carried over the bend or hollow of the cup formed by the concussion. In 1768 he prepared the philosophers for the surprising discoveries he was about to offer them, by publishing his Prodromo di un Opera da Imprimersi sopra le Riproduzioni Animali. He therein laid down the plan of his work; but this simple prospectus contained more real knowledge than all the former books on the subject, because it taught the method to be followed in this dark research, and contained many unexpected facts; such as the pre-existence of tadpoles at the fecundation, in many species of toads and frogs; the reproduction of the head cut off from snails, which he had communicated to Bonnet in 1766, and which was disputed for some time, in spite of the repeated confirmation of this phenomenon by Herissant and Lavoisier. He demonstrated it again afterwards in the Memoire della Societa Italiana; as also the renewal of the tail, the limbs, and even the jaws, taken from the aquatic salamander. These facts continue to astonish even at this day, though now familiar. The physiology of Haller, that Spallanzani studied, fixed his attention upon the circulation of the blood, in which he discovered several remarkable phenomena. He published, in 1768, a small tract, Dell' Azione del Cuore ne' Vasi Sanguigni nuovi Osservazioni; and he reprinted it in 1773, with three new dissertations, De' Fenomeni della Circolazione osservata nel' Giro universali de' Vasi; De' Fenomeni della Circolazione Languente; De' Moti del Sangue, independente del Azione del Cuore e del Pulsare delle Arterie. This work contains a series of observations and experiments of the most ingenious and delicate nature, upon a subject of

which the surface only is known. It merits the attention of physiologists. When the University of Padua was re-established upon a larger scale, the empress Maria Theresa directed the count de Firmian to invite him to fill the chair, as professor of natural history. He accepted, and his success was as great as his merits. Spallanzani united a vast extent of knowledge to a fine genius. His ardent love of truth made him discuss with care the theories which prevailed, to discover their weak sides. An eloquence, at once plain and lively, animated his discourses. At the university, Spallanzani took the Contemplation de la Nature of Bonnet for his text book; he translated it into Italian, and enriched it with notes; he prefixed a preface to it, wherein he pointed out the subjects of the vegetable and animal economy to the attention of his pupils, with the means of succeeding in their researches. He published the first volume of his translation in 1769, and the second in 1770. He published, in 1776, the two first volumes of his Opuscoli di Fisica Animale e Vegetabile, in farther explanation of the microscopic observations which had already appeared. Needham, not satisfied with the microscopic observations of Spallanzani, challenged the professor of Reggio to a reperusal of what he had written. Spallanzani has received much praise for the politeness with which he carried on this controversy, and for the severe logic with which he demonstrates to Needham the causes of his error, and proves that the animalcula of infusions are produced by germs; that there are some of them which defy, like certain eggs and seeds, the most excessive cold, as well as the heat of boiling water.

Spallanzani was placed at the head of the university's cabinet of natural history, but its treasure no longer existed. He laid the foundations, however, for its renewal, and by his care it is become one of the best in Italy. He enriched it through his repeated travels by land and sea, in Europe, in Asia, across the Appennines, the Alps, the Krapacks, at the bottom of mines, on the top of volcanoes, at the mouth of craters. In 1779 Spallanzani ran over Switzerland and the Grisons; he then went to Geneva, where he spent a month with his friends. He returned to Pavia and published, in 1780, two new volumes of his Dissertazione di Fisica Animale e Vegetabile; wherein he illustrates two very obscure phenomena concerning the vegetable and animal economy. He made some experiments upon digestion; he repeated Reaumur's experiments upon the gallinaceous birds; and he observed that the trituration, which is in this case an aid to digestion, could not, however, be a very powerful means. He saw that the gizzard of those birds which pulverise the stones of fruit to pieces did not digest the powder so formed; that it was necessary it should undergo a new operation in the stomach, before it could become fit chyle for affording the elements of the blood and other hu

table, by mixing the chewed aliments with the gastric juice of animals, which he extracted from their stomachs. This subject is one of the most difficult in physiology. Spallanzani, in this work, analysed the facts to discover their causes with certainty, and invented resources for surmounting obstacles. This work put John Hunter out of humor; and he published, in 1785, Some Observations upon Digestion, wherein he threw out some bitter sarcasms against Spallanzani, who took ample revenge by publishing this work in Italian, and addressing to Caldani, in 1788, Una Lettera Apologetica in Risposta alle Osservazione del Signor Giovanni Hunter. He exposes with moderation, but with an irresistible logic, the oversights of the Scottish physiologist, and points out his errors in a manner which left him no room to reply. The second volume treats of the generation of animals and plants. He shows the seed in the flowers before the emission of their farina; and by a subtle anatomy, of which one can hardly.form an idea, exhibits to the eye in the flower of the spartium junceum, the siliqua, its seeds, with their lobes, and the embryo plant: he pursues them in their expansion before and after fecundation, and leaves not a doubt but that the seeds and the pericarpia existed long before the blossoming of the buds, and consequently a long time before they could have been fecundated. He has repeated these observations upon various species of plants, with the same results; in short, he has raised the individuals of plants with female flowers which have borne fecundated seeds, although they were out of the reach even of suspicion of a communication with the farina of the male flowers. Such is the series of surprising phenomena Spallanzani adds to the history of nature. He availed himself of the academical vacation of 1781, to make a journey, the object of which was to add to the cabinet of Pavia. He set out in July for Marseilles, where he commenced a new history of the sea, which had presented him with a crowd of curious facts upon numerous genera of the inhabitants of the ocean. He went likewise to Finale, to Genoa, to Massa, and to Carrara, to observe the quarries of marble so famous with the statuaries; he returned to Spezzia, and thence brought to Pavia an immense number of fishes, crustaceous and testaceous, which he deposited in that cabinet. He also visited the coasts of Istria in 1782; the Appennine mountains in 1783, where he noticed the terrible hurricanes, and the surprising vapors which rendered that year so famous in meteorology. The cabinet of Pavia thus became the object of a stranger's admiration, and particularly Spallanzani, who had collected every part of it. The emperor Joseph III. had a conversation with Spallanzani and presented him with his medal in gold. The university of Padua offered to Spallanzani, in 1785, the chair of natural history, vacated by the death of Anthony Vallisneri; but the archduke doubled his pension, and sent him to accompany to Constantinople the chevalier Zuliani, ambassador from the republic of Venice. He left this city the 21st of August; and during his voyage made observations upon the marine productions of those climates, as well as upon the meteorologi

cal events of every day; among which he had the advantage of beholding a species of waterspout. He touched at several islands in the Archipelago; went ashore at Troy, to visit the places sung by Homer; and made some geological observations and memoirs, which have appeared in the Memoire della Societa Italiana, upon the water-spouts at sea, the stroke of the torpedo, divers marine productions, and the island of Cytherea, where he discovered a mountain composed of various species of fossils. He arrived at Constantinople 11th of October and remained there eleven months. The physical phenomena of this country fixed his attention; he climbed up the neighbouring hills; visited the island of Chalki, where he made known to the Turks'a mine of copper. He went to the Principi Island, a few miles from Constantinople, where he discovered an iron mine. He returned to Europe loaded with spoils from the east, having set out on his return for Italy the 16th of August 1786. When he arrived at Bucharest, he was detained there nine days by the celebrated Mauroceni, hodospar of Wallachia. This prince, the friend of Science, received him with distinction, presented him with many of the rarities of his country, furnished him with horses for travelling, and gave him an escort of thirty troopers throughout his dominions. Spallanzani passed by Hermanstadt in Transylvania and arrived at Vienna the 7th of December, after having viewed the numerous mines of Transylvania, Hungary, and Germany, which lay near his route. Spallanzani remained five days in Vienna, had two long audiences with the emperor Joseph II, was well received by the nobility, and visited by the men of letters. At length, arrived at Pavia, he was received by the students with every demonstration of joy. He had in the course of this year above 500 students. Spallanzani had acquired glory enough to merit the attacks of envy, which called in question his uprightness in the administration of the cabinet of Pavia, though the whole was the fruit of his own labors; but the integrity of Spallanzani appeared even more pure after the juridical examination of the tribunals. Determined to investigate the nature of volcanic matters he set out for Naples in summer, 1788, and ascended Mount Vesuvius: he looked attentively into its crater, examined and took notes, and embarked for the Lipari islands. In this investigation he exhibited the intrepidity of a warrior defying the most imminent dangers. He had the boldness to walk over that sulphureous crust, cleft with chinks, trembling, smoking, and burning, with every risk of falling into the volcano. He passed into Sicily, where he climbed up to Etna, and coasted its immense crater. He examined the stones and the mountains of Sicily, and discovered many new marine animals; he approached Scylla and Charybdis, and in a boat crossed the frothy billows of those deadly rocks, celebrated for so many shipwrecks; but in the very midst of their frightful waves he discovered the cause of their fury. See SCYLLA. Thus, at the age of sixty, he picked up those valuable anecdotes which fill his voyages in the two Sicilies; and compared the description which Homer, Pindar, Virgil, Diodorus Siculus, and

Strabo, have given of these famous places with that which he made himself. He now gave, in his voyages, a new volcanology, and illustrates his theory by artificial pumice stones. He concludes with some interesting enquiries into the nature of swallows, their mild dispositions and rapid flight; suggesting that an advantage might be drawn from them in the way of aerial post; their migrations determined by the temperature of the air, and the birth of insects it occasions; in short, he discusses the famous problem of their remaining benumbed during winter; and proves that artificial cold, much greater than that ever naturally felt in our climates, does not render these birds lethargic. He next speaks of a species of owl hitherto ill described; and, lastly, of eels and their generation, which is a problem still in some measure to be solved. Spallanzani early adopted the new system of chemistry. The solidity of its principles, and the accuracy of its conclusions, led him to anticipate with pleasure the triumph that it was about to obtain. In 1791 Spallanzani published a letter addressed to professor Fortis, upon the Pennet Hydroscope; but confesses that he is not decided upon the reality of the phenomenon. In 1795 he made a discovery, which he published in his Lettere sopra il sospetto d'un nuovo senso nei Pipistrelli; viz., that the bats, if blinded, act in every respect with the same precision as those which have their eyes; that they in the same manner avoid the most trifling obstacles, and that they know where to fix themselves on ceasing their flight. These extraordinary experiments surprised him; but the anatomical details of professor Jourine, upon the organ of hearing in this singular bird, made him conclude that the sense of hearing might in this case supply that of sight. Spallanzani concluded his literary career, by a letter addressed to the celebrated Giobert; Sopra la piante chiuse ne' vasi dentro l'aqua e l'aria esposte a l' immediàta lume solare e a l'ombra. These numerous works did not contain all Spallanzani's labors. He had been occupied a considerable time upon the phenomena of respiration in a great number of animals; and he was busily employed in reducing to order his researches upon this subject. He has left a collection of experiments and observations upon animal productions, upon sponges, the nature of which he determines, and upon a thousand interesting phenomena which he knew how to draw out of obscurity. He had almost finished his Voyage to Constantinople, and had amassed considerable materials for a History of the Sea, when, on the 4th of February, 1799, he was seized with a retention of urine, and in the morning lost all powers of reason, which he never recovered but during short intervals. His intimate friends, Tourdes, a French physician, and the celebrated professor Scarpa, did every thing which could be expected from genius, experience, and friendship, to save him; but he died on the 17th, after having edified those around him by his piety, much regretted by his family, friends, and disciples. Spallanzani was undoubtedly a very great man. France, Germany, England, all were eager to avail themselves of his works by translations. He was admitted into the acade

mies and learned societies of London, Stockholm, Gottingen, Holland, Lyons, Bologna, Turin, Padua, Mantua, and Geneva. He was a correspondent of the academy of sciences of Paris and of Montpelier; and received from the great Frederick himself the diploma of member of the academy of Berlin.

SPALMADORI, an island in the Grecian Archipelago, between Scio and the continent of Asia. SPAN, n. s. & v. a. Sax. span, rponne; Ital. spanna; Goth. span. Perhaps originally the expansion of the hand. The space from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger extended; nine inches: to measure in this way, or generally.

Will you with counters sum
The vast proportion of his infinite,
And buckle in a waste most fathomless
With spans and inches so diminutive
As fears and reasons?

You have scarce time

Shakspeare. Troilus and Cressida. To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span, To keep your earthly audit.

Id. Henry VIII. Hath shewed him gold; my life is spanned already. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal Shakspear.

This soul doth span the world, and hang content From either pole unto the centre; Where in each room of the well-furnished tent He lies warm, and without adventure. Herbert

Harry, whose tuneful and well-measured song
First taught our English musick how to span
Words with just note and accent, not to scan
With Midas' ears, counting short and long. Milion.
When I removed the one, although but at the dis-
tance of a span, the other would stand like Hercu-
Browne.
les's pillar.

So well she acted in this span of life.
The virgin's part, the mother, and the wife,

Waller.

A foot, the length of it, is a sixth part of the fabreadth, one twenty-fourth; a thumb's breadth, or thom; a span, one-eighth; a palm, or hand's inch, one seventy-second; and a fore-finger's breadth, one ninety-sixth.

Holder on Time.

Then conscience, unrestrained by fears, began To stretch her limits, and extend the span. Dryden. Life's but a span, I'll every inch enjoy.

Farquhar. And span the distance that between us lies. Tickel. Oft on the well-known spot I fix my eyes,

The SPAN is estimated at three hand's breadths or nine inches.

SPANDAU, a fortified town in the Middle Mark of Brandenburg, Prussia, at the confluence of the Havel and Spree. The manufactures are inconsiderable, but the town contains a large workhouse, and a manufactory for government of arms. The citadel is a regular square outside of the town, with four ramparts forty feet high, and good casemates. It is chiefly used as a state prison. It was taken by the Swedes in the year 1631, but restored in 1634. In 1806 it was taken by the French. Inhabitants 5000, mostly Protestants. Eleven miles N. N. E. of Potsdam, and eight west of Berlin.

SPAN'COUNTER, n. s. Į From span, counSPAN FARTHING. }ter, and farthingA play at which money is thrown within a span

or mark.