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

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S O 'L
Salfalng, Thus from_/a to fol is a tone, alio from fol to la, and
Solfaterra. from t() without diftinguithing the greater or lets
^ tone j but from la to fa, alfo from mi to fa, is only a
femitone. If then thefe be applied in this order,/</,/&/,
la, fa, fol, la, mi, fa, &c. they exprefs the natural feries
from C j and if that be repeated to a fecund or third
o&ave, we fee by them how to exprefs all the different
orders of tones and femitones in the diatonic kale ; and
kill above mi will Hand fa, fol, la, and below it the fame
inverted la, fol, fa, and one mi is always dillant trom
another an oftave •, which cannot be faid of any of the
reft, becaufe after mi afcending come 'Aways fa, fol, la,
which are repeated invertedly defceuding.
To conceive the ufe of this, it is to oe remembered,
that the firft thing in learning to fing, is to make one
raife a kale of notes bv tones and femitones to an oc¬
tave, and defcend again by the fame •, and then to rile
and fall by greater intervals at a leap, as thirds and
fourths, &c. and to do all this by beginning at notes of
different pitch. Then thofe notes are reprefented by
lines and fpaces, to which thefe fyllables are applied,
and the learners taught to name each line and ipace
thereby, which makes what we call folfaing; the ufe
whereof is, that while they are learning to tune the de¬
grees and intervals of found expreffed by notes on a line
or fpace, or learning a fong to which no words are ap-
plied, they may not only do it the better by means of
articulate'founds, but chiefly that by knowing the
degrees and intervals expreffed by thofe fyllables, they
may more readily know the places of the femitones, and
the true diftance of the notes. See the article Sing¬
ing. . ...
SOLFATERRA, a mountain of Italy in the king¬
dom of Naples, and Terra dl Lavoro. This mountain
appears evidently to have been a volcano in ancient
times j and the foil is yet fo hot, that the workmen em¬
ployed there in making alum need nothing elfe befkes
the heat of the ground for evaporating their liquids.
Of this mountain we have the following account by Sir
■William Hamilton. “ Near Aftruni (another moun¬
tain, formerly a volcano likewife) rifes the Solfaterra,
which not only retains its cone and crater, but much
of its former heat. In the plain within the crater,
fmoke iffues from many parts, as alfo from its fides :
here, by means of ftones and tiles heaped over the cre¬
vices, through which the fmoke paffes. they colltft in
an awkward manner what they call fale armomaco ;
and from the fand of the plain they extraft fulphur and
alum. This fpot, well attended to, might certainly
produce a good revenue, whereas I doubt if they have
hitherto ever cleared 20cl. a-year by it. The hollow
found produced by throwing a heavy ftone on the plain
of the crater of the Solfaterra, feems to indicate that it
is fupported by a fort of arched natural vault ; and one
is induced to think that.there is a pool of water be¬
neath this vault (which boils by the heat of a fubter-
raneous fire (till deeper), by the very moift fleam that,
iffues from the cracks in the plain of the Soltaterra,
which, like that of boiling water, runs off a fword or Solfatet;
knife, prefented to it, in great drop.. On the outfide, II
and at the foot of the cone of the Solfaterra, towards, ^
the lake of Agnano, water rufhes out of the rocks io
hot as to raife the quickfilver in Fahrenheit’s thermo¬
meter to the degree of boiling water (a) a laft of
which I was mylelf an eye-wilnefs. I his place, well
worthy the oblervation oi the curious, has been taken
little notice of ; it is called the Pifciarelli. The com¬
mon people of Naples have great taith in the efficacy of
this water ; and make much uie of it in all cutaneous dii-
orders, as well as iyr another diforder that prevails here.
It feems to be impregnated chiefly with fulphur and
alum. When you approach your ear to the rocks of
the Pifciarelli, from whence this water ouzes, you hear
a horrid boiling noife, which teems to proceed from
the huge cauldron that may be fuppofed to be under
the plain ot the Solfaterra. On the other fide of the
Solfaterra, next the fea, there is a rock which has com¬
municated with the fea, till part of it was cut away to
make the road to Puzzole ; this was undoubtedly a con-
fiderable lava, that ran from the Solfaterra when it was
an adlive volcano. Under this rock ot lava, w hich, is
more than 70 feet high, there is a ftratum of pumice
and allies. 1 bis ancient lava is about a quarter of a
mile broad *, you meet with it abruptly before you come
in fight of Puzzole, and it finiffies as abruptly within
about 100 paces of the town. I he ancient name of
the Solfaterra was Forum Vulcani; a ftrong proof of its
origin from fubterraneous fire. The degree of heat
that the Solfaterra has preferved for fo many ages,
feems to have calcined the ftones upon its cone and in
its crater, as they are very white and crumble eaffiy in
the hotteft parts.
SOLICITOR, a perfon employed to take care of and
manage fuits depending in the courts of law or equity.
Solicitors are within the ftatute to be fworn, and ad¬
mitted by the judges, before they are allowed to prac-
tife in our courts, in like manner as attorneys.
There is alfo a great officer of the law, next, to the
attorney-general, who is ftyled the king’s folicitor-ge-
neral ; who holds his office by patent during the king’s
pleafure, has the care and concern of managing the
king’s affairs, and has fees for pleading, befides other
fees arifing by patents, &c. He attends on the privy-
council •, and the attorney-general and he were anciently
reckoned among the officers of the exchequer they
have their audience, and come within the bar in all
other courts.
SOLID, in Philofophy, a body whole parts are to
firmly conneded together, as not eafily to give way or
flip from each other 5 in which fenfe/o/ft/ Hands oppoied
to fuicl. , . , r
Geometricians define a folid to be the third fpecies
of magnitude, or that which has three dimenfions, viz.
length, breadth, and thicknefs or depth.
Solids are commonly divided into regular and irregu¬
lar. The regular folids are thofe terminated by regular
(A) “ I have remarked, that after a great fall of "f "> tb.e
which will account for what Padre Torre faya (in W book rnt.tled Someter,
■when he tried it in company with Monfieur de la Condamine, the uegree 0 . , _
•^as 68°.