Shiraz
Shiraz, The Capital Of The Province Of Fars In Persia, In 29° 38' N., 52° 40' E., 53o M. By Road From Tehran And 18o M. N.e., By E. Of Bushire (112 M. Crowfly). The City Stands 5,200 Ft. Above Sea Level On The Right Bank Of A Small Stream, ...
Shire
Shire, A River Of East Central Africa, The Only Tributary Of The Zambezi Navigable From The Sea. The Shire (length About 37o M.) Issues From The Southernmost Point Of Lake Nyasa And Almost Immediately Enters A Shallow Sheet Of Water Called Malombe Or Pa-malombe, 18 M. Broad, And 12 Or ...
Shock
Shock And Collapse. A Severe Injury Which Is Not Sufficient To Kill May Yet So Derange The Mechanism Of The Body That Even A Casual Observer Can Correctly Judge How Little Extra Hurt Would Be Necessary To Cause Death. In Lesser Degrees Of In Jury A Trained Observer Is Able ...
Shoddy
Shoddy, In Origin Probably A Factory Term And First Applied To The Waste Thrown Off Or "shed" During The Process Of Wool Manufacture. It Is Now The Name Given To A Special Type Of Fab Ric Made From Remanufactured Materials, I.e., Materials Which Have Already Been Spun Into Yarn And ...
Shoe Or Boot
Shoe Or Boot Is A Covering For The Human Foot With A Somewhat Stiff Sole And A Top Of Lighter Material, Usually Leather, Though Many Other Materials Are Used. The Simplest Foot-protec Tor Is The Sandal, Which Consists Of A Sole Attached To The Foot, Usually By Leather Thongs. The ...
Shooting
Shooting. George Markland, In His Poem Pteryplegia (1727), Is The First Writer To Deal With This Field Sport From A Modern Standpoint. The First Authority Of His Own And Indeed Of Our Own Time Is Colonel Peter Hawker, Whose Instructions To Young Sportsmen In The Art Of Shooting Was Published ...
Shop Front Design
Shop Front Design. The Shop Front, Since The Earliest Days Of Barter, Has Been A Pertinent Problem In Design For The Obvious Reason That, Apart From The Requirement Of Presenting Merchandise Attractively, The Interest Of The Prospective Customer Has Had To Be Maintained. Because Of Their Importance As Public Arteries, ...
Shop Stewards
Shop Stewards. Prior To 1914, Shop Stewards In Great Britain Were Confined To Certain Of The Skilled Trade Unions. The Duties Of The Shop Steward Were To Inspect Trade Union Contri Bution Cards At Regular Intervals, To Recruit New Members For The Union, To Keep A Watch On Possible Encroachments ...
Shoring
Shoring Is The Scientific Placing Of Supports To Parts Of A Building Which Are Liable To Distortion Or Collapse Either Because The Fabric Of The Building Is Unsound—which May Be Evidenced By Failure Or Settlement—or To Guard Against The Disturbance Of Adjacent Parts Of A Structure And Adjoining Premises Where ...
Shorthand
Shorthand Is The Art Of Writing Legibly, By Means Of Brief Signs, At A Rate Sufficiently Rapid To Record Speech. It Has Been Variously Known As Stenography (close, Little Or Narrow Writing), Tachygraphy (swift Writing), Brachygraphy (short Writing). But The Term "shorthand" Is Now Almost Universally Applied To It. Shorthand ...
Shreveport
Shreveport, A City Of North-western Louisiana, U.s.a., At The Head Of Navigation On The Red River ; The Capital Of Caddo Parish. It Has A Municipal Airport ; Is On Federal Highways 71, 171 And 8o: And Is Served By The Illinois Central, The Kansas City Southern, The Louisiana And ...
Shrew
Shrew, A Term Applied To The Members Of The Family Soricidae Of The Mammalian Order Insectivora (q.v.). Sorex Araneus, The Common Shrew, Or Shrew-mouse (though It Does Not Resemble The Mouse In Structure Or In Habits) Is A Small Animal About The Size Of A Mouse, But Distinguished Externally By ...
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury (salop; Welsh Amwythig), An Ancient Mar Ket Centre And The County Town Of Shropshire, England. Pop. (1930 32,370. Its Position In Relation To The Routes Leading Into Wales And Along The Border Has Made It A Town Of Great Impor Tance. The Old Part Of The Town, Including Churches, ...
Shrimp
Shrimp, A Name Applied In General To The Smaller Crustacea Of The Sub-order Natantia Of The Order Decapoda. The Shrimps And Their Allies Are Distinguished From The Larger Macrurous Deca Poda Such As The Lobsters And Crayfishes, By Greater Development Of The Paddle-like Limbs Of The Abdomen Or Tail, Which ...
Shropshire
Shropshire (salop), A County Of England On The Welsh Border, Bounded North By Cheshire And A Detached Portion Of Flint, East By Staffordshire, South-east By Worcestershire, South By Herefordshire, South-west By Radnorshire, West By Mont Gomeryshire And North-west By Denbighshire. The Name Salop, In Common Use, Comes From An Early ...
Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday, The Day Before Ash Wednesday, The First Day Of Lent, So Called As The Day On Which "shrift" Or Con Fession Was Made In Preparation For The Great Fast. Shrove Tuesday Is Called In French Mardi Bras, "fat Tuesday," In Allusion To The Fat Ox Which Is Ceremoniously ...
Shuffle Board Or Shovel Board
Shuffle-board Or Shovel-board (originally "shove-board"), The Game In Which Wood Or Metal Discs Are "shoved" By The Hand Or With An Implement So That They Shall Come To A Stop On Or Within Certain Lines Or Compartments Marked On The "board"—a Table Or A Floor. It Was Formerly Very Popular ...
Shushtar
Shushtar, A Town In The Province Of Khuzistan, Persia, About 32° N. And 49° E., In The Angle Formed By The Bifurcation Of The Karun River Into The Ab I Gargar And Ab I Shatait, Some 40 M. Below The Point Where The Karun Debouches Into The Plains From The ...
Shwebo
Shwebo, Town And District In The Sagaing Division Of Burma. The Town Is Situated In The Midst Of A Rice Plain, 53 M. N.e. From Mandalay By Rail. Pop. (1931) 11,286. It Is Of His Toric Interest As The Birthplace And Capital Of Alompra, The Founder Of The Last Burmese ...
Si Kiang
Si Kiang, A River Of South China, Rising In The Plateau Of Yunnan, On Land Over 6,000 Ft. Above Sea-level. The Headwaters Flow First Of All Southward And Then Turn Northward, The Southern Boundary Of Kwei Chow. In This Section Of The Course It Is Gen Erally Known As Pa-ta-ho. ...
Siamese Language And Literature
Siamese Language And Literature. Sia Mese Belongs To The Tai Group Of The Siamese-chinese Family Of Languages. Its Connection With Chinese Is Distant But With Other Languages Of The Tai Group Very Close. It Is Spoken Throughout Central Siam, In All Of Southern Siam Except Patani Monton, In Northern Siam ...
Sibenik
Sibenik, A Port Of Dalmatia, Yugoslavia, On The Adriatic Sea (ital. Sebenico). Pop. (1931) 37,284, Over 98% Being Croatians. Sibenik, Full Of Venetian Gothic And Renaissance Architecture, Is Built On A Steep Hill, And Is Partly Walled. On The Seaward Side Are Two Forts, Now Dismantled, And The Castle Of ...
Siberia
Siberia, The Name In Russian Sibir, Of The Chief Settlement Of The Tatar Khan Kuchum, Isker On The Irtysh, Which Was Cap Tured By The Cossack Yermak In 1581. Subsequently The Term Was Used To Denote The Dominions Of Russia In Northern Asia, Which Were The First To Be Absorbed ...
Siberian Area
Siberian Area, An Administrative Unit Of Asiatic Russia, With An Area Of 4,028,615 Square Kilometers. The Arctic Ocean, From Gyda Bay To Khatanga Bay Forms Its Northern, And Mon Golia And The Kazakstan S.s.r. Its Southern Boundary. To The West Lies The Uralsk Area, And To The East The Yakutsk ...
Sibylla
Sibylla, A Proper Name, Afterwards Used As A Common Noun (as We Say, "a Daniel") ; The Derivation And Meaning Are Unknown But Certainly Are Not Greek; They Are Possibly Semitic. In The Disturbed Period Preceding The Development Of The Full Classical Culture; I.e., About 800-600 B.c., Religious Movements Of ...
Sibylline Oracles
Sibylline Oracles, A Collection Of Apocalyptic Writ Ings, Composed In Imitation Of The Heathen Sibylline Books By The Jews And, At A Later Date, By The Christians In Their Efforts To Win The Heathen World To Their Faith. The Fact That They Copied The Form In Which The Heathen Revelations ...
Sicily
Sicily (ital. Sicilia), An Island Of The Mediterranean Sea Belonging To Italy, Separated From The Mainland By The Straits Of Messina, Which At Their Narrowest Part Are About 2m. In Width. In Shape It Is Roughly Triangular, Whence The Ancient Poetical Name Of Trinacria, Referring To Its Three Promontories Of ...
Siculi
Siculi, Ancient Sicilian Tribe (gr. Sikelc5i). In Historical Times It Occupied The Eastern Half Of The Island To Which It Gave Its Name. It Plays A Large Though Rather Shadowy Part In The Early Traditions Of Pre-roman Italy. There Is Abundant Evidence That The Siculi Once Lived In Central Italy ...
Sicyon
Sicyon (or Secyon, The Older Local Form), An Ancient Greek City In Northern Peloponnesus Between Corinth And Achaea, On A Low Triangular Plateau About 2 M. From The Corinthian Gulf, At The Confluence Of The Asopus And The Helisson. Between City And Port Lay A Fertile Plain With Olive-groves And ...
Sideboard
Sideboard. Originally The Sideboard Was What Its Name Implies—a Side-table, To Which The Modern Dinner-wagon Very Closely Approximates. Then Two- Or Three-tiered Sideboards Were In Use In The Tudor Period, And Were Perhaps The Ancestors, Or Collaterals, Of The Court-cupboard, Which In Skeleton They Much Resembled. Early In The I8th ...
Sidney Baron 1847 1922 Sonnino
Sonnino, Sidney Baron (1847-1922), Italian States Man And Financier, Was Born At Florence On March 11, Entering The Diplomatic Service At An Early Age, He Was Appointed Successively To The Legations Of Madrid, Vienna, Berlin And Versailles, But In 1871 Returned To Italy, To Devote Himself To Political And Social ...
Sidon
Sidon, Once The Principal City Of Phoenicia, Now The Princi Pal Town Of The Southern District Of Great Lebanon Under The French Mandate. Sidon Is To-day A City Of Io,000 Inhabitants, The Majority Of Whom Are Muslims. Its Houses Are Grouped Round A Castle Dominating A Promontory To The South ...
Siemens
Siemens. The Founder Of The Siemens Concern Was Werner Siemens, Who As A Young Artillery Officer In 1847 Started A Repair Shop For Telegraphy Apparatus In A Few Humble Rooms In The Back-yard Of A Berlin Apartment House. Scarcely One Year After Beginning Siemens Received An Order From The German ...
Siena
Siena, A City And Archiepiscopal See Of Tuscany, Italy, Capi Tal Of The Province Of Siena, 59 M. By Rail S. Of Florence And 31 M. Direct. The Population (1931) Of The City Was 47,688. The Area Of The City Within The Walls Is About Sq.m., And The Height Above ...
Sienkiewicz
Sienkiewicz (syen-kye'vich), Henryk (1846-1916), Polish Novelist, Was Born At Wola Okrzejska Near Lukow, In Siedlce, Russian Poland. He Studied Philosophy At Warsaw Uni Versity. His First Work, A Humorous Novel Entitled A Prophet In His Own Countty, Appeared In 1872. In 1876 Sienkiewicz Visited America, And Contributed An Account Of ...
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, A British Colony And Protectorate On The West Coast Of Africa, Bounded North And East By French Guinea And South By Liberia. Area Of The Colony Proper 4,000 Sq.m., Pop. (1931) 96,422, Of Whom 420 Were Europeans; Area Of The Protec Torate 27,670 Sq.m., Pop. (1921) 1,456,148. The ...
Sierra Nevada Mountains
Sierra Nevada Mountains [span. For "snowy Peaks"], A Geologically Young Mountain Range In Western United. States Which Begins At Tehachapi Pass In Southern California, Ex Tends Northward 43o M. As Part Of The Boundary Between Cali Fornia And Nevada, And Ends In Southern Oregon Where It Merges With The Klamath ...
Sieyes
Sieyes (se-a-yds), Emmanuel-joseph (1748 1836), French Abbe And Statesman, One Of The Chief Theorists Of The Revolutionary And Napoleonic Era, Born At Frejus, S. France, On May 3, 1748. He Was Educated For The Church At The Sor Bonne; But While There He Eagerly Imbibed The Teachings Of Locke, Condillac, ...
Sigebert
Sigebert (d. 575), King Of The Franks, Was One Of The Four Sons Of Clotaire I. At The Death Of Clotaire In 561 The Frankish Kingdom Was Divided Among His Sons, Sigebert's Share Comprising The Rhine And Meuse Lands And The Suzerainty Over The Germanic Tribes Beyond The Rhine As ...
Siger De Brabant
Siger De Brabant (c. French Philoso Pher And Leader Of Latin Averroism At Paris, First Came Into Notice In 1266 During The Conflict Between The Four "nations," When The Papal Legate Decided That Siger Was The Ringleader. In 127i He Was Involved In A Similar Struggle, The Minority Among The ...
Sight Singing
Sight-singing. The Statement Has Often Been Made That In Tudor Times Ability To Sing At Sight Was Regarded As An Ac Complishment Which Should Be Possessed By Every Educated Per Son. To What Extent This Ideal Was Actually Realized Is No Doubt Another Matter—certainly It Must Have Been Confined To ...
Sights
Sights. It Is A Matter Of Common Experience That, Owing To The Curvature Of Trajectories, It Is Necessary In Order To Propel A Missile To Any Considerable Distance, To Throw It Upward As Well As Forward, Or, To Use The Technical Term, To Give It Elevation. It Is Also Well ...
Sigismund
Sigismund Roman Emperor And King Of Hungary And Bohemia, Was A Son Of The Emperor Charles Iv. And Elizabeth, Daughter Of Bogislaus V., Duke Of Pomerania. He Was Born On Feb. 15, 1368, And In 1374 Was Betrothed To Maria, The Eldest Daughter Of Louis The Great, King Of Poland ...
Sigismund I 1467 1548
Sigismund I. (1467-1548), King Of Poland, The Fifth Son Of Casimir Iv. And Elizabeth Of Austria, Was Elected Grand-duke Of Lithuania On Oct. 21, 15o5 And King Of Poland On Jan. 8, 1506. He Had Served His Apprenticeship In The Art Of Government First As Prince Of Glogau And Subsequently ...
Sigismund Ii
Sigismund Ii. (152o-1572), King Of Poland, Was The Only Son Of Sigismund I. (q.v.), Whom He Succeeded In 1548, And Bona Sforza. At His First Diet (oct. 31, 1548), He Came Into Con Flict With The Szlachta, Now Becoming Powerful, Who, Secretly Supported By The Austrian Court And The Queen-mother, ...
Sigismund Iii 1566 1632
Sigismund Iii. (1566-1632), King Of Poland And Sweden, Son Of John Iii, King Of Sweden, And Catherine Jagiellonika, Sister Of Sigismund Ii. King Of Poland, Thus Uniting In His Person The Royal Lines Of Vasa And Jagiello. Educated As A Catholic By His Mother, He Was On The Death Of ...
Sign Board
Sign-board, Strictly A Board Placed Or Hung Before Any Building To Indicate Its Character. The French Enseigne In Dicates Its Essential Connection With What Is Known In English As A Flag (q.v.), And In France Banners Not Infrequently Took The Place Of Sign-boards In The Middle Ages. Sign-boards, However, Are ...
Sigurd
Sigurd (sigur5r) Or Siegfried (m.h.g. Sifrit), The Hero Of The Nibelungenlied, And Of A Series Of Poems Of An Earlier Date In The Elder Edda, As Well As Of The Prose V Olsunga Saga, Which Is Based, In Great Part, Upon The Latter. According To Both The Scandinavian And German ...
Sikhs
Sikhs, A Sect Of Dissenters From Brahmanical Hinduism. It Originated In The Punjab, Where Most Of The Sikha, "disciples," Are Still To Be Found. Although The Fetters Of Brahmanism Have Long Been Firmly Riveted On India, Attempts To Loosen Them Date Back To Buddhism (q.v.) And Were Renewed By Many ...
Sikkim
Sikkim, A Protected State Of India, Situated In The Eastern Himalaya. Area 2,818 Sq. Miles. The Country Is A Mass Of Moun Tains And Consists Of Part Of The Main Chain Of The Himalayas And Of Ranges Projecting Southwards And Gradually Lessening In Height. On The West The Singalila Range ...
Silesia
Silesia, Formerly A Province Of The Austrian Monarchy, From 1918-38 A Part Of Czechoslovakia, Covering An Area Of 1,708 Sq.mi., Stretched Along The North-eastern Flank Of The Jesenik (or Gesenke) Mountains Across The Lowland Of The Upper Oder To The Northern Slopes Of The Jablunkovske Hory. A Tongue Of Mora ...
Silesia
Silesia, The Name Of A District In The East Of Europe, The Greater Part Of Which Is Included In The German Reich And Is Known As German Silesia. A Smaller Part, Called Austrian Silesia, Was Included In The Empire Of Austria Hungary. German Silesia, A Province Of Prussia, Is Bounded ...
Silica
Silica, In Chemistry, The Name Ordinarily Given To Amor Phous Silicon Dioxide, Si02. This Chemical Compound Is Widely And Most Abundantly Distributed In Nature, Both In The Free State And In Combination With Metallic Oxides, Constituting About 6o% Of The Solid Crust Of The Earth. Free Silica Constitutes The Greater ...
Silicon
Silicon, A Non-metallic Chemical Element. It Is Not Found In The Uncombined Condition, But In Combination With Other Ele Ments It Is, With The Exception Of Oxygen, The Most Widely Dis Tributed And Abundant Of All The Elements. It Is Found In The Form Of Oxide (silica), Either Anhydrous Or ...
Silicon Carbide
Silicon Carbide Is One Of The Small Class Of Solid Com Pounds Containing Only Non-metallic Elements. It Does Not Occur In Nature, But Was Discovered Accidentally In 1871 By Acheson, Who Gave It The Name Carborundum (q.v.). On Account Of Its Extreme Hardness (next To Diamond On Mohs's Scale), Its ...
Silicosis
Silicosis. Pneumoconiosis Is A Pulmonary Condition Re Sulting From Inhaled Dust. Most Forms Are Manifested Merely By Pigmentation With No Effect On Function. Two Kinds Of Dust, Free Silica And Asbestos, Produce Definite Pulmonary Disease. A Few Others May Provoke Changes Recognizable In Rontgenograms, But Proof Of Their Etiologic Significance ...
Silistra
Silistra, The Chief Town Of The Department Of Durostor In Rumania And The See Of An Archbishop, Situated On A Low-lying Peninsula Projecting Into The Danube, 81m. Below Ruschuk. Pop. (1930) 17,415. The Town Was Formerly A Fortress Of Great Strength, Occupying The North-east Corner Of The Famous Quadrilateral (ruschuk, ...
Silius Italicus
Silius Italicus, In Full Titus Catius Silius Italicus (a.d. 25 Or 26-101), Latin Epic Poet. His Birthplace Is Unknown. From His Cognomen Italicus The Conclusion Has Been Drawn That He Came From The Town Of Italica In Spain ; But Latin Usage Would In That Case Have Demanded The Form ...