SPIRIT (lit. breath of life), in philosophy and theology is the Divine mind incarnating itself in the life of a man, and breathing in all he thinks and does, and so is as the life-principle of it; employed also to denote any active dominating and pervading principle of life inspired from any quarter whatever and coming to light in the conduct.

SPIRIT, THE HOLY, the Divine Spirit manifested in Christ which descended upon His disciples in all its fulness when, shortly after His decease, their eyes were opened to see the meaning of His life and their hearts to feel the power of it.

SPIRITUAL, THE, the fruit of the quickening and abiding action of a higher principle at the centre of the being, operating so as to suffuse the whole of it, pervade the whole of it, to its utmost limits, which, seating itself in the heart of the thoughts and affections, works and weaves itself into all the life tissues and becomes part and parcel of the very flesh and blood.  No idea, however true, however elevated or elevating one may feel it, is spiritual till it centralises in the heart and affects all the issues thereof.

SPIRITUALISM, a term that has two very different meanings, denoting at one time the doctrine that the only real is the SPIRITUAL (q. v.), and at another time a belief in the existence of spirits whom we, by means of certain media, can hold correspondence with, and who, whether we are conscious of it or not, exercise in some cases an influence over human destiny, more particularly of the spirits of dead men with whom in their disembodied state we can by means of certain mediums hold correspondence, and who, from their continued interest in the world, do in that state keep watch and ward over its affairs as well as mingle in them, forming a world of spirits gone from hence, yet more or less active in the sense world.

SPITHEAD, the eastern portion of the strait which separates the Isle of Wight from the Hampshire coast, 14 m. long, with an average breadth of 4 m.; is a sheltered and safe riding for ships, and as such is much used by the British navy; receives its name from a long “spit” of sandbank jutting out from the mainland.  See the SOLENT.

SPITZBERGEN, the name of an Arctic archipelago lying 400 m.  N. of Norway, embracing West Spitzbergen (15,260 sq. m.), North-East Land, Stans Foreland, King Charles land or Wiche Island, Barents Land, Prince Charles Foreland, besides numerous smaller islands; practically lies under great fields of ice, enormous glaciers, and drifts of snow, pierced here and there by mountain peaks, hence the name Spitzbergen; the home of vast flocks of sea-birds, of polar bears, and Arctic foxes, while herds of reindeer are attracted to certain parts by a scanty summer vegetation; there are no permanent inhabitants, but the fiord-cut shores are frequented in summer by Norwegian seal and walrus hunters.

SPLUeGEN, an Alpine pass in the Swiss canton of the Grisons; the roadway 24 m. long, opened in 1822, crosses the Rhaetian Alps from Chur, the capital of Grisons, to Chiavenna, in Lombardy, and reaches a height of 6595 ft.