the booty which the gang have accumulated, to his usual residence, and takes to ploughing the field, like a peaceable husbandman. In this alternation of agricultural and homicidal pursuits, the thug lives on, often undetected, till age obliges him to remain at home, and send out his son in his stead. "I am a thug of the royal records (meaning one of sufficient notoriety to have been recorded as such), and my forefathers before me, for seven generations, have followed this profession," was the boast of one of these wretches, who attach some pride to the number of generations through which they can trace the adherence of their family to this pursuit. In the wild and unsettled parts of the country, their associations assume a more distinct and separate character; and in such places the leaders are to be found, around whom, at the beginning of the season, the mere operative thugs assemble. The abodes of the latter, however, are often mingled with those of the inhabitants of the most civilized stations and villages, where their conduct is usually quiet and inoffensive. On assembling at the beginning of the season, the line of road which they are to pursue is settled, and then they separate into small parties, under all sorts of disguises, sometimes travelling as sepoys returning home on a furlough; sometimes appearing, one as a merchant and another as his attendant; sometimes personifying pilgrims. In these characters they insinuate themselves into acquaintance with travellers, and, if they find them to be rich, take an opportunity of despatching them, either by means of some stupefying drug, which they use in the tobacco of their hookahs, and the dagger, or else by throttling them with a pocket-handkerchief, when they have persuaded them to halt, at some convenient spot, under pretence of being fatigued, or wishing to take

rest.

The bodies of the victims are then buried, or thrown into a well or neighboring cavern. In this manner, a single gang, consisting of twenty-five thugs, has been proved, on trial, to have, in an excursion of six weeks, despatched thirty victims.

PHIGALIAN MARBLES; a series of sculptures, in alto relievo, in the British museum, so called because they were discovered in the year 1812, near Paulizza, supposed to be the ancient town of Phigalia, in Arcadia. They are from the temple of Apollo Epicurius; and the subjects represented are the battle of the Centaurs and the Lapithæ, and the contest between

the Greeks and Amazons. There is great ability displayed in the execution of these marbles, although some heaviness and disproportion are observable in the figures. The conception of the whole, and the composition of the various groups, are, however, remarkably fine, and compensate, in a great measure, for the defects above mentioned. The circumstance which renders these marbles particularly interesting is the knowledge of the time at which they were executed; for Pausanias (Arcad., c. 14) says that the temple of Apollo Epicurius was built by Ictinus, the architect who superintended the construction of the Parthenon at Athens; and, though the Phigalian marbles want the purity of design and execution which distinguish the Athenian works, the high qualities they do possess give them an elevated place among the remains of ancient art.

PHRYGIAN CAP. (See Mitre.)
PIE. (See Magpie.)
PINE-SNAKE. (See Serpent.)
PITHECUS. (See Ape.)
PITHYUSE. (See Baleares.)
PLEA, PLEADINGS. (See Issue.)
PLINLIMMON. (See Snowdon.)
PLUVIOMETER. (See Rain-Gauge.)
POLECAT. (See Skunk.)
POLIZIANO. (See Politianus.)
PONT DU GARD. (See Gard.)
PRAIRIE DOG. (See Marmot.)
PRESUMPTIVE HEIRS. (See Apparent.)
PRIMER SEISIN. (See Tenures.)
PTARMIGAN; a species of grouse. (See
Grouse.)

PTISAN. (See Tisan.)
PYCNITE. (See Topaz.)
PYRENEITE. (See Garnet.)
PYROPE. (See Garnet.)
PYROTARTARIC ACID. (See Tartaric

Acid.)

PYTHON. This enormous genus of serpents, which is very often confounded with the boas of the new continent, is found only in some of the hot regions of the eastern continent. The pythons have the ventral plates narrow, like the boas, but differ from the latter in having double plates under the tail. Their head has plates on the end of the muzzle; and there are fossets to their lips. Some species of this genus approach, and even equal, the boas in size; and the ancients appear to have had some acquaintance with several of them. Aristotle speaks of African serpents as long as vessels, by which a galley with three oars might be overturned. Pliny talks of Indian serpents capable of swallowing deer.

Ælian mentions dragons of eighty to one hundred cubits in length; and, finally, Suetonius mentions that there was exhibited at Rome, under Augustus Cæsar, a serpent of fifty cubits in length. With its enormous length twisted round a tree, the python awaits in ambuscade the arrival of its fated victim, which it immediately envelopes in its tortuous folds, and strangles in its murderous embrace. It then breaks its bones by squeezing it, extends it on the earth, covers it with a mucous saliva, and begins to swallow it head first. In this sort of deglutition, the two jaws of the serpent dilate excessively, so that it seems to swallow a body larger than itself. In the mean time, digestion begins to take place in the oesophagus. The serpent then becomes lethargic, and is very easily killed, as he neither offers resistance nor attempts to fly. Among the species of this genus, the one most worthy of remark is the ular sawa (P. amethystinus, Daud.), Java snake (col. Javanicus of Shaw). This serpent, which is as large as any boa, reaching to more than thirty feet in length, inhabits the island of Java. The meaning of its Japanese name is serpent of the rice-fields, because it lives in them habitually. Its bite is not venomous. It usually lives on rats and birds, but sometimes devours larger animals, which it finds in the mountains. Of the P. bora, Russel was the first who gave us any account. It is a native of Bengal, and not venomous, notwithstanding the assertion of the natives, who affirm that persons bitten by it have a cutaneous eruption over the entire body in the course of ten or twelve days.

Acid.)

SACHTLEEVEN. (See Zafileeven.) SAINT CLAIR, STRAIT OF. (See Detroit River.)

SAINT LUCIA BARK. (See Caribbee Bark.)

SAINT UBES. (See Setuval.)
SALOP. (See Starch.)
SAMSCRIT. (See Sanscrit.)
SANCTION. (See Assent.)
SARDINE. (See Sprat)
SARDOIN. (See Sard.)

SARDONIC LAUGH; a convulsive affection of the muscles of the face and lips on both sides, which involuntarily forces the muscles of those parts into a species. of grinning distortion, and forms a species of malignant sneer. It sometimes arises from eating hemlock, or other poisons, or succeeds to an apoplectic stroke. SATI. (See Suttee.)

SAWS. [The following article is from the treatise on manufactures in metal in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia.] The saw is, undoubtedly, next to the axe, the instrument most effectual in the hands of man when the trees of the forest are to be appropriated to his convenience. The earliest and most obvious method of preparing timber for use would be to split the trunks with wedges, and afterwards to smooth and fashion the planks by means of the hatchet. This wasteful and slovenly process had allowedly one recommendation of no small importance in ages when the strength and management of timber were less perfectly understood than they are at present. In

riving, the separation of the boards or spars necessarily followed the direction of the grain; and hence the strength of the material was secured at its maximum ratio, the disruption of fibre being much less easily effected in split than in sawn timber. It is equally certain that wood cut in this primitive manner must often be crooked and irregular. This, however, in many respects, may be no disadvantage, but, for some purposes, a desideratum, as in ship-building; besides, the straightening of it would not always be impracticable. It is to the invention of the saw, however, that we owe the ease, economy and regularity, with which the largest trees are separated into useful portions by modern industry. That the saws of the Grecian carpenters were pretty similar in form to those at present in use, is satisfactorily inferred from a painting found at Herculaneum, in which two genii are represented at the end of a bench, consisting of a long table, each end of which rests upon two four-footed stools. The instrument in this representation resembles our frame saw it consists of a square frame, having in the middle a blade or web, the teeth of which stand perpendicular to the plane of the frame. The arms, too, in which the blade is fastened, have the same form as that which is at present given to them. The piece of wood which is to be sawn extends beyond the end of the bench; and one of the workmen appears standing and the other sitting on the ground. This is probably the most ancient authentic voucher extant, for the early existence of an instrument resembling our common saw. Montfaucon has given figures of two ancient saws, though too imperfectly delineated to allow their peculiar formation to be distinguished. Palladius describes saws fastened to a handle; and Cicero, in his oration for Cluentius, incidentally mentions one with which an ingenious thief sawed out the bottom of a chest. Since the fourth century, if not earlier, the working of large saws, with a reciprocating motion, by means of water power, has been more or less common in various parts of Europe, especially in Germany, Norway, and, at a later period, in England. A succinct account of these early saw-mills will not be out of place here. According to Beckmann, there were saw-mills at Augsburg as early as 1322. When settlers were first sent out to the island of Madeira, which was discovered in 1420, not only were the various kinds of European fruits carried thither, but saw-mills were erected for the purpose of cutting into deals the

many species of excellent timber with which the island abounded, and which were afterwards transported to Portugal. About the year 1427, the city of Breslau had a saw-mill which produced the yearly rent of three merks; and, in 1490, the magistrates of Erfurt purchased a forest, in which they caused a saw-mill to be erected; and they rented another mill in the neighborhood besides. In Norway, which is covered with forests, the first saw-mill was erected about the year 1530. This mode of manufacturing timber was called the "new art;" and, because the exportation of deals was by means thereof much increased, this circumstance gave occasion to the deal tithe imposed by Christian III, in the year 1545. ↑ In 1555, the bishop of Ely, ambassador from Mary, queen of England, to the court of Rome, having seen a saw-mill in the neighborhood of Lyons, the writer of his travels thought it worthy of a particular description, from which it appears that the motion of the blade was perpendicular; for, says the account, the wheel "being turned with the force of the water, hoisted up and down the saw." Peter the Great introduced the saw into Russia. For this purpose policy was necessary. The czar, during his residence in England, and while employed as a carpenter in one of the dock-yards, had, in all probability, both seen the advantages of the saw, and used it with his own hands. On his return to St. Petersburg, the capital of his dominions, among other things that attracted his attention as requiring reform, was the practice of riving timber. Peter saw the necessity of introducing a more rational mode. Instead, however, of interdicting the old method, he imposed a duty upon all the split timber that was floated down the Neva, while sawn deals were exempted from the impost. By this course, the rude practice of riving was soon superseded by the more effective operation of the saw wrought by machinery. In the sixteenth century, mills became general, in which, by working several saws parallel to each other, a plank was at once cut into several deals. The Dutch have claimed the invention of this improvement; and a great number of saw-mills of this kind might formerly be seen at Saardam, in Holland. The first mill, however, of this description, is believed to have been erected in Sweden, in the year 1653; and one of the wonders of that kingdom was a mill having the water-wheel twelve feet broad, and giving motion to seventy-two saws. The common hand-saw, similar to that so

gy were favorite pursuits with him. His collection which he brought from Europe was, perhaps, the first well-assorted cabinet imported into the U. States. He contributed papers to Cox's Medical Museum, relating to the chemical composition of the atmosphere, the extraction of the metal from the sulphuret of zinc, &c., and discovered the best mode of refining camphor. In 1818, he published, under the patronage of congress, his large work, entitled Statistical Annals, embracing Views of the Population, Commerce, Navigation, &c., of the United States of America, founded on Official Documents, commencing March 4, 1789, and ending April 20, 1818. In May, 1819, he went to Europe, travelled in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Ireland, and returned to the U. States, August, 1821. In October, 1824, he made a third voyage to Europe, by which a chronic disorder, supposed by the physicians in Paris to be an inflammatory affection of the pylorus, was much aggravated. He died at Paris, May 2, 1825. It having been his opinion that some of the unfortunate convicts, who are discharged from the Philadelphia penitentiary, after having undergone the penalty of the law, without having the means to procure a morsel of food or a night's lodging, might be prevented from the commission of further crimes, were they provided with a moderate sum of money, he therefore bequeathed $500 to the penitentiary, on condition that the citizens should make further contributions for that purpose before the expiration of six months; but no additions were made towards establishing said fund. SHEE. In the article on him, it was erroneously stated that he died in 1830. He is at present president of the royal academy.

SHELDRAKES. (See Duck. SHERIBON. (See Cheribon., SHIPPEN, William, was born in 1736, in Philadelphia, and was the son of an eminent physician. He graduated, in 1754, at the college of New Jersey. He delivered the valedictory oration at the commencement, when he took his bachelor's degree, and acquitted himself so well, that the celebrated preacher Whitefield, who happened to be present, addressed him publicly, and, declaring that he had never heard better speaking, urged him to devote himself to the pulpit. His inclinations, however, led him to the study of medicine; and, after prosecuting it for three years, under the care of his father, he went to Europe, at the age of twenty

one. He continued his studies at London, paying particular attention to comparative anatomy, under the guidance of the famous John Hunter (in whose family he resided), and also to midwifery. He then went to Edinburgh, where he took his medical degree. In 1762, he returned to his native country. In the autumn of the same year, his first course of anatomy began. He gave three courses unconnected with any institution, when, in 1765, a medical school was established under the auspices of the college of Philadelphia, and he was chosen professor of anatomy and surgery. His anatomical lectures were regularly delivered until the winter of 1775, when they were suspended by the revolution. In 1776, he entered the medical department of the army, and, in 1781, resigned the post of director-general of that department, to which he had been a second time appointed. He had previously, in 1778, resumed his lectures. During ten or twelve years subsequently, he continued to practise, with great success, as an accoucheur, surgeon and physician; but the death of an only son, in 1798, affected him so much as to cause his almost entire abandonment of his duties as a practitioner and lecturer. He partially recovered his spirits, and delivered a course of lectures in 1807; but his health was greatly broken, and in July, 1808, he died at Germantown. As a lecturer, especially as a demonstrator of anatomy, doctor Shippen was highly distinguished; and as a physician he ranked with the first of the day.

SHUBEN ACADIE. (See Acadia.)
SIDE-SADDLE FLOWER. (See Sarra-

cenia.)

SIEYES died at Paris, Nov. 30, 1830, in the eighty-second year of his age. SIGLE. (See Abbreviations.) SINGAPURA. (See Sincapore.) SKYPETARS. (See Albania.)

SLIDE is the name given to an inclined plane for facilitating the descent of heavy bodies by the force of gravity. In general, they have been objects of no great importance; but one erected, some years since, at Alpnach, in Switzerland, excited great interest throughout Europe. For many ages, the craggy sides and the deep ravines of Pilatus, a lofty mountain near Lucerne, were thickly clothed with vast and impenetrable forests of spruce fir, of the largest size and the finest quality, surrounded on every side by the most terrific precipices, inaccessible to all but a few daring hunters, who, at the risk of their lives, scaled these precipitous