left to run suddenly towards the ground, when, being stopped with a sudden jerk, his shoulders were dislocated. This was also one of the punishments of the inquisition, and of many criminals in Italy.

a

STRASBURG (anciently Argentoratum); a city of France, capital of Lower Rhine, formerly capital of Alsace, situated at the conflux of the Brusche and Ille, half a mile west of the Rhine; lon. 7° 45′ E.; lat. 48° 35' N.; population, 50,000, of which one third are Protestants. It is an ancient, strong, and commercial city, of semicircular form, built on plain, and divided into several parts, by canals, over which are several bridges. The houses are chiefly of a red stone, lofty, but often heavy and inelegant, built after the German manner; the language and customs of a majority of the inhabitants being still German. A few streets are wide and straight, but most of them are narrow. The fortifications are extensive, divided into the old and new. The citadel is a regular pentagon, lying to the east, and with its out-works extending almost to the Rhine. Strasburg is a bishop's see, and contains a cathedral, six Catholic churches, seven Lutheran, and one Reformed, two hospitals, two theatres, two public libraries, a botanic garden, a medical school, a high school, a royal and a Lutheran academy, or university. The cathedral, or minster, founded in 1015, and not completely finished till 1365, is one of the most distinguished specimens of Gothic architecture existing. Its tower, 474 feet high, is ascended by a stairway of 725 steps, and is a masterpiece of architecture, being built of hewn stone, cut with such nicety as to give it at a distance some resemblance to lace. The tower was planned and begun by Erwin of Steinbach, after whose death, in 1318, it was continued by his brother John. The clock is also a masterpiece of mechanism, for, besides the hour of the day, it describes the motions of the planets. The Protestant church of St. Thomas contains a splendid monument, erected by Louis XV, to marshal Saxe. This city is fainous in the history of the reformation; and the two principal Protestant seminaries in France are at Strasburg and Montauban. It is favorably situated for trade, in a fertile and well-cultivated country, the Rhine connecting it with Switzerland on the one side, and with Netherlands on the other. The exports are corn, flax, hemp, wine, and spirituous liquors; also linen, sail-cloth, blankets, carpets, hardware leather, cotton, lace, tobacco,

23

and snuff. Guttenberg (q. v.) is said to have invented the art of printing at Strasburg, in 1436. The ancient bishopric of Strasburg, in Alsace, lying on both sides the Rhine, has been secularized, and is now incorporated with France and Baden. (See Alsace.) It contained 500 square miles, with a population of 30,000 souls.

STRATEGY (from the Greek orparnyia, military command, military skill); the art and science of leading armies, the art of conducting military operations; a branch of military science, which has only of late been treated separately, and in a certain sense contradistinguished to tactics, which treats of the mode of disposing troops for battle, of directing them during its con tinuance, and of all the exercises, arms, &c., necessary to fit them for action. Some writers on strategy have run into extremes, as is usual in treating of subjects whose limits have not been settled. Bűlow (q. v.), for instance, has attempted to reduce this branch of the military art to the geometrical_calculation of angles, lines, &c., in his Theory of Modern Warfare-a work which was opposed by Henry de Jomini (q. v.) and other French wri ters. The latter, in his Traité des grandes Opérations Militaires, avoids Bülow's fault of theorizing, and founds his views more on the results of actual experience, especially on the campaigns of Frederic the Great and Napoleon, but falls, in his turn, into partial views, by insisting constantly on the principle of keeping forces concentrated, and leading them by the shortest possible way to meet the enemy. He has forgotten that all armies are not so trained for battle as the troops of those two great generals, and that the forte of all generals does not lie in the conduct of an engagement. His theory of internal lines of operations, therefore, though correct in certain cases, cannot hold good so universally as he represents. Though the principles of Bülow will never be adopted in their whole extent, yet he did considerable service to military science, by directing attention to what is now called strategy, as a particular branch. To the works mentioned in the articles Bülow and Jomini, we may add the archduke Charles's (q. v.) Principles of Strategy, illustrated by the Description of the Campaign of 1796, in Germany.

STRATFORD UPON AVON; a town in Warwickshire, England, upon the Avon, ninety-four miles north-west of London, celebrated as the birth-place and burialplace of Shakspeare. The house in

which he is said to have been born, is still shown; that in which he resided after his return to Stratford, and died, was pulled down, in 1759, by a clergyman who bought the place a few years before. The same person cut down the famous mulberry tree, planted by Shakspeare. The church contains the monument and bust of Shakspeare. The latter was originally colored to resemble life, and, in 1793, was painted white, by order of Malone. These coats of paint have much disfigured the characteristic markings of the bust. This monument was erected within seven years after his death, and contains the Latin distich cited in the article Shakspeare. On the grave-stone beneath are the following lines, attributed to himself:

Good friend, for Jesus' sake, forbear
To digg the dust encloased here;
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.

STRATH, in Scotland, is generally understood to mean a valley broader than a dale or glen, which receives its peculiar appellation from a river passing through it, as Strathbogie, Strathspey, &c., or some particular characteristic, as Strathmore, the Great Valley, &c., which traverses Scotland on the south side of the Grampian mountains.

STRATUS. (See Clouds.) STRAW. In the manufacture of straw hats, the culms of several kinds of grasses are used. The Leghorn straw is the culm of a sort of wheat sown on poor soils, and cut green. Rye straw is much used in this manufacture. The straw is cut at the joints; and the outer covering being removed, it is sorted of equal sizes, and made up into bundles of eight or ten inches in length, and a foot in circumference. They are then to be dipped in water, and shaken a little, so as not to retain too much moisture: the bundles are afterwards to be placed on their edges, for the purpose of bleaching, in a box which is sufficiently close to prevent the evaporation of smoke. In the middle of the box is an earthen dish, containing brimstone, broken in small pieces: this is set on fire, and the box covered over and kept in the open air several hours. It is the business of one person to split and select the straws for fifty others, who are braiders. The splitting is done by a small machine, made principally of wood. The straws, when split, are termed splints, of which each worker has a certain quantity: on one end is wrapped a linen cloth, and they are held under the arm,

and drawn out as wanted. Plaiters should be taught to use their second fingers and thumbs, instead of the forefingers, which are often required to assist in turning the splints, and thus much facilitate the platting; and they should be cautioned against wetting the splints too much. The finest hats are made in the neighborhood of Leghorn, whence they are exported in great numbers. The Dunstable manufactures in Bedfordshire, England, are of a fine quality. The plaiting of straw has also been recently carried on very extensively in Norfolk county, Massachusetts, and the plait is of excellent quality. In the English plait, the straws are flattened in a hand mill, previous to working; but in the Leghorn, the pressure is applied after the plaiting is made.

STRAWBERRY (fragaria). This is one of the most wholesome and most delicious of our fruits. The pulp is light, melting, and, notwithstanding, but little watery, and does not undergo the acetous fermentation in the stomach. It exhales a most delightful perfume, and the flavor is exquisite, especially immediately after being plucked from the stem. The plant belongs to the natural family rosaceœ, together with the rose and raspberry. The root gives out several long, slender, creeping shoots, which take root at intervals, and form so many new stocks; the leaves are composed of three leaflets, supported on a long foot-stalk, which is provided with stipules at the base. From the midst of the leaves arise two or three simple, slender, silky stems, from four to six inches high, and terminated by a few white flowers, disposed in a sort of corymb. After flowering, the receptacle increases, acquires a pulpy and succulent consistence, and finally a red color, when the strawberries have attained maturity. The strawberry is easily cultivated, and numerous varieties have been produced; some of great excellence have been obtained recently. It forces well, and, with a little trouble in choosing a succession of sorts, may be had almost every month in the year. An open situation, and rich, loamy soil, rather strong, is required for most varieties; and from their large mass of foliage and flowers, they must, till the fruit is set, have copious supplies of water. The row culture is most convenient, and frequent renewal ensures vigorous plants and large fruit. A palatable jam, wine and vinegar are prepared from strawberries; and they are sometimes preserved entire, in sirup or in

wine. Besides the cultivated strawberry, we have a wild species, common in most parts of the U. States.

STREAKS; the uniform ranges of planks on the bottom or sides of a ship, or the continuations of planks joined by the ends to each other, and reaching from the stem, which limits the vessel forward, to the stern-post and fashion-pieces, which terminate her length abaft.

STREETS, PAVEMENT OF. (See Pavement.)

STRELITZ (Russian, strielzi, or strelzi, guards); the life-guards of the Russian czars, until the reign of Peter the Great. They were instituted in the latter half of the sixteenth century, by Ivan Wasiliewitsch, and formed, also, the standing infantry of the empire, amounting, sometimes, to 40,000 men. Their numerous privileges and their frequent insurrections rendered them as formidable as the. Roman pretorians (q. v.), or the Turkish janizaries. (q. v.) Peter the Great dissolved the corps in 1697, in consequence of an insurrection, put several

25

east of Russia. They had extended the Moscovite territory to the chain of the Ural; and when the Mongolian conqueror of Siberia, Kutschjum, intended to destroy the settlements of the Stroganoffs, on the Kama, they received, May 30, 1574, a grant of the enemy's country, which allowed them to settle on the banks of the Tobol, to wage war with Kutschjumi, and to work mines. They offered five bands of robbers, commanded by revolted Cossack hetmanns, employment in their service, exhorting them to give up their dishonest mode of life. Thus the Cossack Jermack and his companions were induced to leave the Wolga, and, being joined by many additional forces collected by the Stroganoffs, entered Siberia. The country was conquered after three battles, and the taking of Kutschjum's camp by storm. The capital, Sibir, was captured, October 26, 1581. (See the Chronicle of the Stroganoffs, Müller's History of Siberia (in German), and Karamsin's History of Russia.)-A descendant of Anika, baron Gregory Stroganoff, since 1827 a

to Astrachan. Having been guilty of some disturbances here, they were entirely dispersed and destroyed in 1705.

STRETTO (Italian) signifies, in music, that the movement to which it is prefixed, s to be performed in a quick, concise

manner.

STRIKE; a measure of capacity, containing four pecks.

STRIKE, among seamen, is a word variously used. When a ship, in a fight, or on meeting with a ship of war, lets down or lowers her top-sails at least half-mast nigh, she is said to strike, meaning that she yields, or submits, or pays respect to the ship of war. Also, when a ship touches ground in shoal water, she strikes. And when a top-mast is to be taken down, the word of command is, Strike the topmast, &c.

STROGANOFF; a distinguished Russian family, descended from a merchant, Anika Stroganoff, who, in the sixteenth century, resided at Solwytschegodzka, and gave rise to the discovery of Siberia. The czar Ivan granted to Jacob and Gregory Stroganoff the desert country along the Kama, from Perm to the Ssülwa river, and on the banks of the Tschussowa. They were originally fur-traders, but, to defend themselves against the Siberian and Nogaian robbers, were allowed to build forts and, collect troops. They also administered justice, suppressed insurrections, and, in fact, protected the north3

VOL. XII

empire, is proprietor of the important salt and iron works in Perm, established by his ancestors. From 1805 to 1808, he was Russian ambassador at Madrid ; afterwards at Stockholm, and in the memorable period of 1821, at Constantinople, where he distinguished himself by talent, firmness and humanity, in the most critical conjunctures, and labored strenuously to protect the Greeks and the Greek church.

STROKE OF THE SUN (coup de soleil). When the direct rays of the sun, during the hot season of the year, are allowed to. strike for some time upon the skin, an inflammation is produced, accompanied with blisters and sharp pains. After a few days, the inflammation ceases, and the epidermis peels off. If the head is exposed to the sun, the brain is sometimes affected in a similar manner. The blood collects in great quantities, the vessels become swollen, the face and eyes appear red, and violent pains in the head follow. A feverish heat pervades the whole body; lethargy; or suffering which prevents sleep, apoplexy, with or without extravasation of blood, or an inflammation of the blood ensues, and often terminates fatally. Exposure by sleeping in the sun is particularly dangerous.

STROMBOLI. (See Lipari Islands.)

STRONG, Caleb, LL. D., a governor of Massachusetts, was born in 1744, at Northampton, in that state. He gradu

ated at Harvard university, in 1764, and, after studying law, commenced its practice in his native place. In the beginning of the revolution, he took an active part in the cause of liberty. In 1775, he was a member of the committee of safety, and, the following year, of the state legislature. Of the convention which formed a constitution for the state in 1779, he was also a member, and, on the organization of the government, was elected a senator. Two years afterwards, he was offered a seat on the bench of the supreme court, but declined it. In 1787, he was chosen a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the U. States, and likewise of the state convention by which it was adopted. When the general government went into operation, he was chosen a senator in congress. In 1800, he was chosen governor of Massachusetts, and continued in that station for seven consecutive years. In 1812, he was reëlected to it, and retained it until 1816. He then retired from public life, and died in November, 1820. In the discharge of all the various functions with which he was intrusted, governor Strong was distinguished for wisdom, uprightness, and patriotism, whilst he possessed, in an equally eminent degree, the virtues adapted especially to private life. He was an accomplished scholar, jurist and statesman.

STRONG BEER. (See Brewing.) STRONTITES; a peculiar earth, discovered in 1793, and thus named by doctor Hope, of Edinburgh, in allusion to its having been first noticed in a mineral brought from Strontian, in Argyleshire. Klaproth examined the mineral the same year, without a knowledge of the experiments of doctor Hope, and called the earth strontian. Pure strontites is of a of a grayish-white color, possesses a pungent, acrid taste, and, when powdered in a mortar, the dust that rises irritates the lungs and nostrils. It is an unusually heavy earth, approaching barytes in specific gravity. It requires rather more than 160 parts of water at 60° to dissolve it; but of boiling water much less. On cooling, it crystallizes in thin, transparent, quadrangular plates, seldom exceeding a quarter of an inch in length, and frequently adhering together. These crystals contain about 68 parts in 100 of water; are soluble in little more than twice their weight of boiling water. The solution of strontites has the property of converting vegetable blues to green. It tinges the flame of a candle of a beautiful red color. The experiment may be made by putting

a little of the salt composed of nitric acid and strontites into the wick of a lighted candle, or by setting fire to alcohol hold ing muriate of strontites in solution.* Sir H. Davy decomposed this earth by means of the same processes as he employed in the decomposition of the other earths. To the metallic base of it he gave the name of strontium, which is a white, solid metal, much heavier than water, and bears a close resemblance to barium in its properties. When exposed to the air, or when thrown into water, it rapidly absorbs oxygen, and is converted into strontian. The salts of strontites are in general more soluble than the salts of barytes, but less so than the salts of lime. The sulphate of strontites is of a pure white color, and is not sensibly soluble in water. Anhydrous nitrate of strontites may be prepared by dissolving carbonate of strontites in nitric acid, evaporating the solution to dryness, redissolving and evaporating slowly, till the salt crystallizes. It crystallizes in regular octahedrons, which are perfectly transparent. It is soluble in little more than its own weight of water, at the temperature of 60°; but is insoluble in alcohol. The hydrous nitrate of strontites is formed occasionally, when a solution of nitrate of strontites, sufficiently concentrated, is set aside for crystallization. Its crystals are oblique, rhombic prisms. About one quarter of its weight is water. The carbonate of strontites is slightly soluble in water impregnated with carbonic acid. It is easily formed by pouring an alkaline carbonate into a solution of nitrate of strontites. Muriate of strontites is formed by dissolving carbonate of strontites in muriatic acid, and concentrating the solution till it crystallizes. The crystals are very long needles, consisting, most commonly, of six-sided prisms. Water, at the temperature of 60°, dissolves one and a half times its weight of this salt. Boiling water dissolves any quantity whatever. The crystals slowly deliquesce in a moist atmosphere. When heated, they undergo the watery fusion, and then are reduced to a white powder. In a strong red heat, it melts into a liquid.

Native salts of strontites.-1. Celestine is found in right rhombic prisms of 104°--the primitive form of the species-which

*The beautiful red fire, which is now so frequently used at the theatres, is composed of the following ingredients:-40 parts dry nitrate of strontites, 13 parts of finely powdered sulphur, & parts of chlorate of potash, and 4 parts of sulphu ret of antimony. No other kind of mixture thar rubbing together on a paper is required,

ale sometimes terminated by dihedral summits, and also have their acute lateral edges truncated, besides presenting various other partial modifications. Cleavage takes place readily, parallel with all the faces of the primary figure; lustre vitreous, inclining to resinous, sometimes, also, a little to pearly, upon the lateral faces of the prism; color white, passing to sky and smalt-blue; also reddish-white; transparent or translucent; brittle; hardness between calcareous spar and fluor; specific gravity 3.8. Besides occurring in perfect crystals, celestine is found in broad, foliated, in columnar and fibrous masses, as well as compact; the latter, however, appears to be a mixture of celestine and common limestone. It is composed of strontites 56, and sulphuric acid 42. Before the blow-pipe, it decrepitates and melts, without perceptibly coloring the flame, into a white, friable enamel. Reduced to powder, it phosphoresces upon red-hot iron. Celestine is most commonly found in kidney-shaped masses, disseminated through the more recent limestones, sandstones and amygdaloidal rocks. It also occurs in gypsum rocks, along with marl. Beautiful crystals, of a prismatic form and massive columnar varieties, occur in the sulphur mines of Sicily; also, under the same circumstances, at Bex, in Switzerland, and near Cadiz, in Spain. Tabular crystals and lamellar masses are found at Monte Viale, and in the Bristol channel, in England. But the most magnificent crystals come from Strontian island, in lake Erie. Handsome blue foliated specimens are also found at Lockport, in New York. It is also found in several other countries.-2. Strontianite is found regularly crystallized in the form of six-sided prisms, modified on the edges, and terminated in a pyramid. It affords, on cleavage, a right rhombic prism for its primary form, whose angles are 117° 32′ and 62° 28'. But regular crystals are very uncommon. Lustre vitreous, slightly inclining to resinous; color asparagus or apple-green, pale yellowish-brown, yellow and gray; white; streak white; transparent or translucent; hardness intermediate between calc-spar and fluor; specific gravity 3.6. Strontianite is found, for the most part, in fibrous masses, the fibres slightly diverging. It is composed of

27

It

It is soluble with effervescence in the muriatic and nitric acids; and paper dipped into this solution, and afterwards dried, will burn with a red flame. melts before the blow-pipe, and intumesces, at the same time phosphorescing with a red light. It is dissolved by borax, with a violent effervescence, into a clear globule. Strontianite occurs in metallic veins, traversing primitive and transition mountains. It is found at Strontian, in Scotland; at Braunsdorf, in Saxony; at Leogang, in Salzburg; and also in Peru.

STROPHADES; four small, rocky islands in the Mediterranean, west of the Peloponnesus; according to the ancient poets, the residence of the Harpies. The largest abounds in olives and other fruits, and produces a little corn, hardly sufficient for its few inhabitants; 26 miles south of Zante; lon. 21° 12′ E.; lat. 37° 29′ N.

STROPHE (from the Greek orpoøn, from orpεow, I turn); a systematic union of several verses. According to the prevailing metre in the verses, strophes are called alcaic, Asclepiadæan, &c. The dithyrambus with the Greeks was confined to no precise rhythm, and rolled along without any division into strophes But the hymns and choruses, with which the tragedies were interspersed, consisted mostly of long strophes and antistrophes, of uniform measure, with which, also, sometimes alternated pro-odes, mesodes, or epodes, of various measure. The single verses of such poems, considered as mere members of strophes, were called cola. As the length of the verses is determined by the number of feet, so the length of strophes is determined by the number of cola. Monocola are lyric poems, in which verse of a uniform character is used, without division into strophes. Dicola are poems in which the strophes contain verses of but two different kinds. Sometimes these verses interchange in equal number: sometimes two or three verses of the same kind are followed by one of a shorter measure. So there are tricola, tetracola, &c. The system of strophes, antistrophes, &c., appears to be most developed in the dramatic choruses of the Greeks. The singing of the strophes on the stage, was accompanied with a motion or turn from right to left, towards the images of the gods placed on the sides of the orchestra (in the ancient sense of this word); but the singing of the antistrophe, with a contrary motion, from the left to the right; hence the appellations of strophe and