Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 19, Scripture-SUG

-Skating,
Skeleton.
S' K E ' . t 384 ]
towards that fide, which will neceffarily enable them to round,
form a femicircle. In this, much affillance may be de¬
rived from placing a bag of lead-(hot in the pocket next
to the foot employed in making the outfide ftroke, which
will produce an artificial poife of the body, which after¬
wards will become natural by praftice. At the com¬
mencement of the outfide ftroke, the knee of the em¬
ployed limb fhould be a little bended, and gradually
brought to a re6HHneal pofition when the ftroke is com¬
pleted. When the pra&itionef becomes expert m form¬
ing the femicircle with both feet, he is then to join them
together, and proceed progreflively and alternately n ith
both feet, which will carry him forward with a grace¬
ful movement. Care fhould be taken to ufe very little
mufcular exertion, for the impelling motion fhould pro¬
ceed from the mechanical impulfe of the body thrown
into fuch a pofition as to regulate the. ftroke. At taking
the outfide ftroke, the body ought to be thrown forward
eafily, the. unemployed limb kept in a direft line with
the body, and the face and eyes diredly looking for¬
ward : the unemployed foot ought to be ftretched to¬
wards the ice, with the toes in a direft line with the leg.
In the time of making the curve, the body muft be gra¬
dually, and almoft imperceptibly, raifed, and the unem¬
ployed limb brought in the fame manner forward-, fo
that, at fin idling the curve, the body will bend a fmall
degree backward, and the unemployed foot will be
about two inches before the other, ready to embrace the
ice and form a correfpondent curve. J he mufcular
movement of the whole body muft correfpond with the
movement of the fkate, and fhould be regulated fo as
to be almoft imperceptible to the fpeftators. Particular
attention fhould be paid in carrying round the head and
eyes with a regular and imperceptible motion -, for no¬
thing fo much diminifhes the grace and elegance of fka-
ting as fudden jerks and exertions, which are too fre¬
quently ufed by the generality of fkaters.. I he manage¬
ment of the arms likewife deferves attention. . 1 here is
no mode of difpofing of them more gracefully in fkating
outfide, than folding the hands into each other, or ufing
a muff. . .
'I'here are various feats of activity and manoeuvres
ufed upon fkates ; but they are fo various that w^e can¬
not pretend to detail them. Moving on the outfide is
the primary objeft for a fkater to attain ; and when he
becomes an adept in that, he will eafily acquiie^a fa¬
cility in executing other branches of the art. There
are few exercifes but will afford him hints of elegant
and graceful attitudes. For example, nothing can be
more beautiful than the attitude of drawing the bow
and arrow whilft the fkater is making a large circle on
the outfide : the manual exercife and military falutes
have likewife a pretty effeft when ufed by an expert
fkater.
SKELETON, in Anatomy, the dried bones of any
animal joined together by wires, or by the natural liga¬
ment dried, in fuch a manner as to fhow their pofition
when the creature wras alive.
We have, in the Philofophical Tran factions, an ac¬
count of a human fkeleton, all the bones of which were
fo •mited, as to make but one articulation from the back
to the os facrum, and downwards a little way. On faw-
ing feme of them, where they were unnaturally joined,
they were found not to cohere throughout their whole
fubftance, but only about a fixth of an inch deep all
S K U
The figure of the trunk was crooked, the fpinse Skeleton
making the convex, and the infide of the vertebrae the H
concave part of the fegment. The whole had been . ^
found in a charnel-houfe, and was of the fize of a full
grown perfon.
SKIDS, or SKEEDS, in fea-language, are long com-
pafling pieces, of timber, notched below fo as to fit clofe-
ly upon the wales, extending froin the main-wale to
the top of the fide, and retained in this pofition by
bolts or fpike-nails. They are intended for preferying
the planks of the fide, when any heavy body is hoifted
or lowered.
SKIE, Isle of. See Skye.
SKIFF, a fmall boat referobling a yawl, ufually em¬
ployed for paffing rivers.
SKIMMER, Black. See Rhynchops, Ornitho-
LOGY Index.
SK1MMIA, a genus of plants belonging to the te-
trandria clafs j and in the natural method ranking under'
the 40th order, Ferfonatce. See Botany Index.
SKIN, in Anatomy, the general covering of the body
of any animal. See Anatomy-, N° 74.
Skin, in Commerce, is particularly ufed for the mem¬
brane ftripped off the animal to be prepared by the tan-
ner, fkinner, parchment-maker, &c. and converted into
leather, &c. See Tanning. * . ' _
SKINNER, Stephen, an Englifh antiquarian, was
born in 1622. He travelled, and ftudied in feveral fo¬
reign univerfities during the civil wars j and in 1654,
returned and fettled at Lincoln, where hepradliftd phy-
fic with fuccefs until the year 1667, when he died of a
malignant fever. His works were collefted in folio m
1671', by Mr Henftiaw, under the title of Etymologicon
Linguce Anglican#, &c.
SKIPPER, or Saury, a fpecies of fifli. See Esox,
Ichthyology Index.
SKIRMISH, in War, a flight engagement between
fmall parties, without any regular order and is there¬
fore eafily diftinguifhed from a battle, which is a general
engagement between two armies continued for fome
time. • . .
SKIRMISH Bay, the name given by Lieutenant
Broughton to a bay in an ifland which was diicovered
by him in latitude 430 48' fouth, and in longitude 183
eaft. The Chatham armed tender worked up into the
bay, and came to anchor about a mile from the ff.ore.
When the captain and fome of the people landed, they
found the natives fo extremely inhofpitable,thatfelf-pre-
fervation made it neceffary to fire upon them. '1 he land
is of confiderable magnitude, whether ifland or conti¬
nent, and what they faw of it extendedi nearly 40 miles
from eaft to weft/and the appearance of the country
they regarded as very promifing. I he natives refemble
thofe of New Zealand, from which they are diftant
about 100 leagues, but their Ikins were deftitUte of any
marks, and they feemed to be cleanly in their perions.
Their dreffes were of feal Ikin, while fome had fine mats
faftened round the waift. Mr Broughton fays, “ on our
firft landing, their furprife and exclamations can hardly
be imagined 5 they pointed to the fun, and then to us,
as if to alk whether we had come from thence . e
arms they made ufe of were clubs, fpears, and a ima
weapon refembling the patoo of New Zealand.
SKULL, in Anatomy, the bony cafe in which the
brain is enclofed. See Anatomy, N ii, &c*
SKLLR-