SCINTILLATION (Lat. scintilla), a term applied to denote the sparkling or flickering of the stars. The phenomenon is not yet quite explained, bat that it is certainly due to the earth's atmosphere is proved by the following facts, which Embrace nearly all that is known on the subject. If, on a clear evening, we look at a bright star, such as ,irius,we observe that the intensity and color of its light arc constantly changhig—from great bril liancy to almost total•obseurity, from bright red to tine blue, and so on. A s it rises above the horizon, these appearances diminish in intensity; and stars near the zenith scarcely scintillate at all. Again, the amount of the scintillation depends upon the character of the weather—on sonic evenings, all large stars appear to scintillate strongly; on others, there is barely n trace of the appearance. It is commonly said that a planet can be dis tiugnished front a star by the absence of scintillation. This is nearly, but not quite, true; for feeble scintillations have been occasionally observed in Mars and Yen us, bill very rarely in Jupiter and Saturn. One of the reasons of the non-scintillation of planets seems to be their finite apparent size; for all the more conspicuous planets show a sensible disk even in a poor telescope, while no instrument that has ever been constructed has shown a real disk m a star. Thus, a single particle or vesicle of vapor may be large enough to conceal a star for an instant, while it could have no such effect on a ilimet. It is pretty certain that scintillation is not due to unequally heated masses of air, since it usually modifies only the appearance, not the position, of a star. Another cause is easily seen in the com paratively feeble light of the planets. It is well ascertained that the scintillation is much less when viewed from the top of it mountain.—For a good idea of what is known, and what we desire still to know on this subject, see a paper by prof. Dufour, Phassophisid Magazine, 1860 SCI'0, one of the most beautiful islands in the 2Egean sea, belongs to Turkey, and lies 7 in. off the coast of Asia Minor, at the entrance to the gulf of Smyrna. It is 32 M. long, and 18 m. in greatest breadth. Area, 400 sq.m.; pop. about CO,G00. It is moun tainous in the is. and is extremely fertile. Silk, figs, cheese, wool. and gunt-mtn tie sae its principal products; and its wine, which was famous in ancient tines, is dill esteemed. Kast to, the capital, a thriving and handsome town of 18,80,0 inhabitants, stands en the C. coos , lias a harbor, a castle, and two light-houses, and carries on a growing trade in fruits, confectiimery, and silk and woolen goods.
In early times. Selo formed one of the 12 Ionian states, and it contributed I CO ships to the Greek force that fought and was defeated by the Persians in the sea•Insht off Miletus (404 n.c.). In more recent times, the island Was• taken by the Genoese in 1346, and in 1566 by the Turks, in whose hands it has since, except for a short interval, ,remained. It was conferred as private property upon the sultana, enjoyed her protec tion. and eonsvemently prospered. After it had enjoyed a long penod of case and wealth, a dreadful calamity befell the island at the nutbreak of the Greek insurrection. A number of the Sciotes having, in 1822, joined the Samians, who had revolted. the island was attacked by a Turkish fleet and army, and the inhabitants, enervated by peace and wealth, were indiscriminately massacred ; 215,000 fell by the sword, 45.000 were sold as slaves, and 15,000 escaped from the island. Subsequently, however, many of the Sciote families returned, and now the island is fast recovering the blow it sustained. Trade is returning; and the vineyards and the olive, citron, and mastic groves are again flourishing.
SCIO (ante). On Sunday, Mar. 27, 1881, Scie was visited by an earthquake, and shocks continued to follow each other at intervals for the next ten days. The villages on the s, side of the island were completely wrecked, hardly a house being left standing. The district of Seio suffered most severely, the old Genoese fortress, containing about 400 Inhabited by Jews and Mussulmans, tiling destroyed by the first shock, and the ground depressed about 20 incites. The center of the volcanic action was near Nenita, overlooking Megalo hay on the e. coast of the island, where 800 persons per ished out of n population of 1200. On the w. side many houses fell, but no person was killed. The first shock was vertical, followed immediately by horizontal oscillations. The population of the island was at the time about 70,000, and the total number of the dead was about 4,000. Of the survivors, about 25 per cent were believed to have been injured. Seven of the principal villages, containing 8,570 people, lost 1327 killed. At least nine-tenths of the houses in thus. and s.e. portions of the island were destroyed. and 30,000 out of the entire population of the island were left without shelter. Subscriptions were immediately taken in the principal cities of Europe and America, and large sums were sent to the island for the relief of the wounded and the destitute, many thousands being in a starving condition.