When sluices are made in the ditches of a fortress to keep up the water in some parts, instead of gates, shutters are made, so as to slide up and down in grooves; and when they are made to raise an inundation, they are then shut by means of square timbers let down into cullises, so as to lie close and firm. Particular care must be taken in the building of a sluice, to lay the foundation in the securest manner; that is, to lay the timber, grates, and floors, in such a form, that the weather cannot penetrate through any part, otherwise it will undermine the work, and blow it up, as it has sometimes happened: lastly, to make the gates of a proper strength in order to support the pressure of the water, and yet to use no more timber than what is necessary. Those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with this kind of work, may meet with satisfaction in L’Architecture Hydraulique, par M. Belidor; or in Mr. Millar’s Practical Fortification.
SMALL arms, musquets, fusils, carabines, pistols, &c.
SNAFFLE, a bridle without a curb bit.
SNICK and SNEE, a combat with knives, such as the Dutch carry.
SOBRIETY. General temperance. In a military consideration, abstinence from an inordinate use of strong liquors. However frequent the deviations from this great and uncommon virtue may be found among soldiers, nothing can excuse or exculpate an officer who should so far forget himself, especially upon service, as to give the least countenance to such excesses, even by an occasional, much less by an habitual dereliction of this estimable quality. Sobriety keeps the head cool, strengthens the nerves, and renders moderate abilities equal to great exertions. Drunkenness, on the contrary, unfits the man for the common functions of life, and makes an officer not only contemptible to his soldiers, and dangerous to the cause he has engaged to fight for, but an indirect spur to the enterprise of an enemy, who will soon know how to take advantage of his vice and weakness.
SOC, Fr. A machine made of leather, which is fixed near the stirrup, to receive the end of the standard staff in cavalry regiments. It is likewise called braïer, and is used by the persons who carry the colors either in infantry or cavalry regiments. In the former instance it is fixed to a leathern belt that comes over the shoulder or that is fixed to the waist.
SOCKET, generally means any hollow pipe that receives something inserted.
Socket of a bayonet. The round hollow part near the bent or heel of a bayonet, into which the muzzle of a firearm is received when the bayonet is fixed.
SODS, pieces of turf with which works are faced.
SOVAN, or Savan, Ind. The seventh month. It in some degree corresponds with July and August.