das, the two Elsters, the Queiss, &c. Saxony is rich in minerals; silver, cobalt, lead, iron, copper, zinc, arsenic and quicksilver are among the metallic productions; other minerals are topaz, chrysolites, amethysts, agates, cornelians, garnet, cinnabar, porcelain-clay, &c. The chief mining operations are carried on in the Erzgebirge, and are under excellent management. (See Freyberg, and Mine.) The value of the raw material produced is about 1,100,000 dollars, which, by the processes of industry, acquires a value of 3,000,000 dollars; 10,000 men are employed in mining, and 50,000 in the subsequent processes. Of the domestic animals, the chief attention has been bestowed on the sheep, which constitute one of the chief sources of national wealth in Saxony. The Merino breed was introduced into the country in 1765, and the native breed has been improved to a wonderful degree. The number of sheep in the kingdom is estimated at two millions, yielding annually upwards of 4,500,000 pounds of wool. Hogs are numerous, but not sufficient for domestic consumption. The inhabitants are, with the exception of 2000 Jews and 34,000 Wends, of German origin, and are distinguished for intelligence, industry and honesty. The language is intermediate between High and Low German (see German Language); that of the inhabitants of Dresden is the best, though it is an error to suppose that the purest German is spoken there. Saxony was the cradle of the reformation. (q. v.) The Lutherans are 1,348,100; Roman Catholics, 48,000; Greek Catholics, 100; Calvinists, 300; Herrnhutters, 1600. The royal house has been Catholic since 1697. The nobility enjoys exemptions from some taxes, tolls, &c., and some feudal rights and privileges. The peasants are some of them subject to feudal services, and in some instances are serfs. The Saxon peasant is loaded with taxes, and is not allowed to engage in the trades, which are carried on by the citizens or the inhabitants of the towns, who are not nobles. Literary men, preachers, professors and teachers likewise have particular privileges. In no country of Europe is education more attended to than in Saxony, and in no country, of equal extent, is the number of printing and book establishments so great. The university of Leipsic (q. v.) is the principal institution for education. There are common schools in all the parishes, and the lower classes are, very generally, taught to read and write; in some of the

larger towns, there are also free schools for the poor. In addition to these, there are two princely schools (Fürstenschulen), founded from the revenues of suppressed convents, for the higher branches of education, fifteen gymnasia, two teachers' seminaries, one mining academy, one forest academy, and three military schools. There are also numerous public libraries, among which are that of the university of Leipsic, and the royal library at Dresden, with 220,000 printed books and 2700 manuscripts. The manufactures and trade are of greater extent than in most inland countries. The weaving of linen is an employment of old date, and is carried on in almost every village: woollens are also manufactured in a number of towns; but both of these branches of industry have somewhat declined. Cotton spinning and weaving increased, to a great extent, towards the close of the last century; but the conveyance of the raw material is tedious and expensive. The manufactures connected with the mines are extensive. There are cannon founderies at Freyberg and Dresden; cobalt is made into smalt; blue-dye, verdigris and green-dye are among the articles of manufacturing industry. The exports consist of wool and minerals, in a raw state, and of linen, yarn, woollens and lace. The imports are silk, flax, cotton, coffee, sugar, wine, and sometimes corn. The revenue, which is derived partly from taxes, and partly from the regalia and royal domains, amounts to 4,500,000 dollars; the debt is 12,800,000. The peace establishment of the army consists of 13,300 men; the contingent to the German confederacy of 12,000. The government of Saxony is a monarchy, limited by the privileges of the estates. The margraviate of Upper Lusatia has separate estates. Those of the hereditary lands consist of the prelates and higher nobility, the gentry and the burgesses. The estates have the power of laying taxes and advising on subjects of public importance. The higher offices of administration are intrusted to a privy cabinet, with three cabinet ministers, for foreign affairs, for the home department, and for war; the privy council, the board of finance, the military board, the department of internal administration (Landesregierung), the court of appeal for judicial questions, the board of taxes, and the ecclesiastical council and supreme consistory. In June, 1831, a new constitution was promised. The king of Saxony has the fourth vote in the German diet, and four votes in the plenum. The present

king, Anthony I, born 1755, succeeded his brother in 1827. In consequence of the commotions in Dresden and Leipsic, in September, 1830, he associated his nephew Frederic Augustus (born 1797) in the government, as co-regent, the father of Frederic resigning his claims to the succession in favor of his son. His predecessor was Frederic Augustus, his brother, created king of Saxony in 1806. There are three Saxon orders; that of the Saxon crown (Rautenkrone), founded in 1807; that of St. Henry (1736), for military merit; and the civil order of merit (1815). We have already given a sketch of the early history of the country in the preceding article: we shall here continue the sketch from the foundation of the Albertine line, which now occupies the Saxon throne. Maurice (q. v.), grandson of Albert, was put in possession of the duchy of Saxony and the dignity of elector by Charles V. His brother Augustus (1553 -86) made important accessions to the Saxon territories, and introduced many useful changes in the administration of the government. John George, his grandson (1511–56), joined Gustavus Adolphus in the thirty years' war (q. v.); and the combined Swedish and Saxon forces defeated the imperialists, under Tilly, in the battle of Breitenfeld (1631), and, under Wallenstein, in that of Lutzen (1632). Misunderstandings between the elector of Saxony and the chancellor Oxenstiern (q. v.) threw the former into the arins of the emperor; and, by the treaty of Prague (May 30, 1635), Saxony obtained from Austria a cession of the two Lusatias, besides other advantages. Frederic Augustus I (1694–1733) embraced the Catholic religion (1697), to obtain the crown of Poland. But Charles XII (q. v.) conquered Poland, and occupied Saxony, subjecting it to heavy impositions; while, by the peace with Sweden, the latter country received no indemnification for its losses. (See Northern War.) Frederic Augustus II (1733-1763) also obtained the crown of Poland (as Augustus III, q. v.), after a war with France, and took part with Austria in the seven years' war. (q. v.) The peace of 1763 left the country, which had suffered severely during the war, loaded with a debt of more than twenty million dollars. It now became necessary for the government to renounce its ambitious schemes, and endeavor to lessen the pressure of the public burdens. Frederic Augustus III (1763-1827) reluctantly took part in the war of 1792, against France, and furnished only his contingent as a

member of the empire, when war was declared by the imperial diet (1793) In 1806, 20,000 Saxons were sent to the support of Prussia; but after the battle of Jena, a peace was concluded with France, and the elector acceded to the confederation of the Rhine, with the royal tite. Large additions were made to the Saxon territory, 1807 and 1809; but these acquisitions were merely temporary. In the war of 1813, Saxony was the scene of the great struggle between Napoleon and the northern powers. The battles of Lutzen and Bautzen, Dresden and Leipsic (see the articles, and Russian-German War. stripped the king of Saxony of his newly acquired territories. The king himself was twenty months a prisoner of the allied powers, and his dominions were governed by Russian and Prussian authorities. The fate of Saxony was long a subject of discussion at the congress of Vienna. It was at first proposed to unite it with Prussia; and nothing but the jealousy of Austria seems to have saved it from this fate. Its partition was finally resolved upon, February, 1815, and the king was obliged to cede more than half of his kingdom to Prussia. This cessiou included the whole of Lower Lusatia, part of Upper Lusatia, the circle of Wittenberg, and parts of those of Meissen and Leipsic, the greater part of Merseburg, &c., 8160 square miles, with a population of 875,578. After the king's return to Dresden, he immediately turned his attention to a system of public credit, and to the establishment of scientific and other useful institutions. By the partition, Saxony lost all its salt works, and its tinest grain districts and forests, with some valuable mining districts, but still retains the most populous manufacturing parts of the country, with the rich Freyberg mines. A prudent policy may heal the wounds she has received; but her independence is altogether precarious. (See Politz's History of the Kingdom of Saxony, and Engelhardt's Description of Saxony, in German.)

SAXONY, THE PRUSSIAN DUCHY OF; a province of the kingdom of Prussia, chiefly composed of the cessions made by th kingdom of Saxony to Prussia, at the congress of Vienna, in 1815, together with. other territories north of Anhalt and west of the Elbe and Havel. It is divided into the three governments of Magdeburg, Merseburg and Erfurt, and comprised, in 1828, 9653 square miles, with 1,400,38 inhabitants. It is very productive.

SAXON SWITZERLAND; a name which

has been improperly given, for about thirty years, to the eastern part of the circle of Meissen, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the Elbe. It is a group of mountains of sandstone, with valleys and rivers of the most picturesque character, extending from Liebethal to the Bohemian frontier, about twenty-four miles long, and equally wide. Some of the rocks are 1800 feet high. It is one of the most charming spots on earth, and, on account of its vicinity to Dresden, so much resorted to for its treasures of art, attracts many visitors in summer. (See Götzinger's, Hasse's and Lindau's descriptions.) The name is improper, because the region does not resemble Switzerland, even in miniature; and such comparisons lower the object compared.

SAY, Jean Baptiste, a distinguished political economist, was born at Lyons in 1767, and went to Paris at an early period of the revolution, occupying himself with literature. He was subsequently one of the establishers of the Décade (Revue) Philosophique, with which he was, however, connected but a short time. In 1799, he was a member of the tribunate, but, being removed by Napoleon, declined subsequent offers of office from him, devoting himself entirely to his literary labors. His chief works are his Traité d'Économie politique (5th ed., 3 vols., 1826), translated into English by C. R. Prinsep, and his Cours complet d'Économie politique pratique (4 vols., 1829). (See Political Economy.), The third edition of his Catéchisme d'Economie politique appeared in 1826. One of his most ingenious works is Le petit Volume contenant quelques Aperçus des Hommes et de la Société (1817). His statistical treatises, De l'Angleterre et des Anglais (1815),and Des Canaux de Navigation dans Etat actuel de la France, are also esteemned.

SBIRRI. In Italy, particularly in the States of the Church, there were formerly certain police officers, with a military organization, who were called by this name. They were abolished in 1809.

SCABIOUS (Scabiosa); an extensive genus of plants, exclusively belonging to the eastern continent, and most of the species to Europe and the countries about the Mediterranean. The stems are herbaceous, and the flowers are united in heads at the extremities of the stems and branches, and resemble compound flowers. The S. succisa is remarkable for having the root suddenly truncated, and as if bitten off; whence the name of devil's bit is applied to it.

SCEVOLA. (See Mucius.)

SCAGGERAC (i. e. Scagen's reef); a sand-bank, which extends from cape Skagen, on the northern part of Denmark, a great way into the sea, on which account a large coal fire is constantly kept up there in the winter nights, as a mark for ships to avoid it. For this purpose, in the year 1753, a new tower, sixty-four feet high, was erected opposite to this sand-bank, on the spot where the former light-house stood, which had been demolished by the violence of the sea. The Scaggerac sea forms the communication between the German ocean and the Cattegat. (See Baltic Sea.)

SCAGLIOLA; a mixture of fine gypsum and powdered selenite (pietra specolare), made into a paste with glue, and serving to form paintings of a stony hardness. The process is as follows:-Upon a tablet of white stucco (consisting of this gypsum paste), the outlines of the work designed are traced with a sharp instrument, and the cavities thus made are filled up with successive layers of paste, of the same composition, but colored. The application of the different layers is continued until all the varieties and shades of color required are produced, and the surface of the whole is then polished. Scagliola work has the advantage over mosaic of being susceptible of the greatest possible variety of coloring, and, from the sameness of its material, of forming a more compact mass, so that the painting can receive a higher polish; by which means the colors are better preserved. The invention of this process is ascribed to Guido del Conte, or Fassi (1584-1649), an ingenious mason of Cari, near Correggio, in Lombardy. But we have some ancient specimens (as the Ilian tables) in white stucco; and inscriptions of the middle ages show that the art was never lost. Bologna, such works continued to be made from ancient times, with glue prepared from parchment, like that of the ancients. Guido's scagliola is a complete imitation of marble. Annibal Griffoni, his pupil, imitated small pictures, engravings, and oil paintings, in scagliola. Giovanni Gravignani, who represented the rarest sorts of marble intersected with figures, carried the art still further. The true object of these works, however, is the imitation of marble. There are some fine specimens of scagliola in the gallery at Florence, by Paolini.

In

SCALDS, OF SKALDS, like the rhapsodists of ancient Greece and the bards of the Celtic tribes, were at once the poets and historians of the Scandinavian race, the

Icelanders, Danes, Norwegians. They sang the praises of the gods, and celebrated the exploits of the national heroes. (See Northern Mythology, Edda, Sagas, and Scandinavian Literature.) The scalds were the companions and chroniclers of the chiefs, whom they accompanied to battle, and at whose court they resided in time of peace. A sacred character was attached to them, and they performed the office of ambassadors between hostile tribes. They were often richly rewarded for their songs, and even married the daughters of princes. A regular succession of the order was perpetuated, and a list of 230 of the most distinguished in the three northern kingdoms, from the reign of Ragnar Lodbrok to that of Valdemar II, is still preserved in the Icelandic language, among whom are several crowned heads and distinguished warriors of the heroic age. See Wheaton's History of the Northmen (Philadelphia, 1831, chap. iv.).

SCALE; a mathematical instrument, containing several lines, drawn on wood, brass, silver, &c., and variously divided, according to the purposes it is intended to serve; whence it receives various denominations, as the plain scale, diagonal scale, plotting scale, Gunter's scale, &c.,

SCALE (from the Latin scala); the name given at first to the arrangement made by Guido of the six syllables, ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la; also called gamut. (q. v.) The word scale is likewise used to signify a series of sounds, rising or falling from any given pitch or tone, to the greatest practicable distance, through such intermediate degrees as are determined by the laws of music. (See Tone.)

SCALIGER, Julius Caesar. The history of this celebrated scholar is involved in some obscurity, through his vanity. According to his own story, he was descend ed from the celebrated house of the Scaligers (Scalas), princes of Verona, and was born at the castle of Riva, on lake Garda, became a page of the emperor Maximilian, whom he served in war and peace for seventeen years, then received a pension from the duke of Ferrara, studied at Bologna, commanded a squadron under the French viceroy, applied himself to the study of natural law, and, in 1525, accompanied the bishop of Agen to his diocese in France, where he settled. This account found credit with some learned men, anong whom was De Thou, the friend and admirer of his sou Joseph; but others, even in his own day, as, for instance, Scioppius, ridiculed it, and treated it as wholly

or mainly fabulous. According to Tiraboschi, Scaliger was the son of Benedetto Bordone, a Paduan, who carried on the trade of a miniature painter in Venice, and received the name della Scala either from the sign or the situation of his shop. Scaliger resided in Venice or Padua till his forty-second year, occupied with study and the practice of medicine, and pub lished some works under the name of Giulio Bordone. Either some promise, or the hope of bettering his condition, induced him to remove to Agen, where he passed the rest of his days. In 152, he appears not to have formed any such design of giving himself out as a descendant of that princely family, for he was then styled, in his act of naturalization, Julius Cæsar della Scala di Bordone, doctor of medicine, of Verona in Italy. He must, however, have appeared with some distinction in Agen, as, in 1530, he married a young lady of a rich and noble family there. It was from this period that he began to assert his princely descent, without furnishing any proof of the truth of his pretensions. But his name acquired celebrity by his writings, which gave him a high rank among the scholars of his age, although his arrogance made many enemies. The boldness and freedom of some of his works rendered his faith suspected; but he died a good Catholic, October 21, 1558, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. Scaliger was certainly a man of uncommon abilities; and although he was one of the late-learned, yet few men have surpassed him in erudition. He had a powerful memory, and an active mind: he thought boldly, if not always logically. Of his physical works we may mention his Exercitationum exotericarum Laber quintus decimus de Subtilitate, ad Cardanum (Paris, 1557), Commentaries on the Work of Hippocrates De Insomniis (1538), and a work upon the treatises of Theophrastus and Aristotle on Plants, and of the latter on Animals, with a translation. As a philologist, he wrote two discourses against the Ciceronianus of Erasmus, an excellent work on the Latin language, De Causis Lingua Latina Libri rriii (Lyons, 1540; Geneva, 1580), the first philosophical treatise on this subject. His work De Arte poetica Libri vii (Lyons, 1561 and 1581) gained him much reputation, but displays more grammatical learning than poetical imagination or critical spirit. Modern critics do not accord him the same praise which Lipsius, Casaubon, Vossius, &c., bestowed on him.

SCALIGER, Joseph Justus, son of the