The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 394

SCALIGER, JULIUS CaeSAR, surnamed the Elder, cla.s.sical scholar, became page to the Emperor Maximilian, and served him in war and peace for 17 years; at 40 quitted the army, and took to study the learned languages among other subjects; wrote a treatise on poetics and a commentary on the physics and metaphysics of Aristotle, and became an authority on the Aristotelian philosophy (1484-1558).

SCANDERBEG (i. e. Prince or Bey Alexander), the patriot chief of Albania, and the great hero of Albanian independence, who in the 15th century renounced Islamism for Christianity, and by his military prowess and skill freed Albania from the Turkish yoke; throughout his lifetime maintained its independence, crus.h.i.+ng again and again the Turkish armies; was known among the Christians as George Castriot (1403-1468).

SCANDEROON or ALEXANDRETTA (2), the port of Aleppo, in Turkey in Asia, situated in the Gulf of Scanderoon, in the NE. of the Levant, 77 m. NW. of Aleppo; is itself an insignificant place, but has a large transit trade.

SCANDINAVIA, the ancient name (still used) of the great northern peninsula of Europe, which embraces NORWAY (q. v.) and SWEDEN (q. v.); also used in a broader sense to include Denmark and Iceland.

SCARBOROUGH (34), a popular seaside town and watering-place on the Yorks.h.i.+re coast; built on rising ground on the sh.o.r.es of a fine bay; is a place of great antiquity, with interesting ruins; has churches, harbour, piers, and a fine promenade; noted for the manufacture of jet.

SCARPA, ANTONIO, Italian anatomist, professor at Pavia (1747-1832).

SCARRON, PAUL, a French humourist, writer of the burlesque, born, of good parentage, in Paris; entered the Church, and was for some years somewhat lax-living abbe of Mans, but stricken with incurable disease settled in Paris, and supported himself by writing; is chiefly remembered for his "Virgile Travesti" and "Le Roman Comique," which "gave the impulse out of which sprang the masterpieces of Le Sage, Defoe, Fielding, and Smollett"; married in 1652 Francoise d'Aubigne, a girl of fifteen, afterwards the famous MADAME DE MAINTENON (q. v.); was a man who both suffered much and laughed much (1610-1660).

SCATTERY ISLAND, in the Shannon estuary, 3 m. SW. of Kilrush; an early Christian place of pilgrimage, with ruins and a "round tower"; is fortified and marked by a lighthouse.

SCEPTICISM, primarily doubt respecting, and ultimately disbelief in, the reality of the super-sensible, or the transcendental, or the validity of the evidence on which the belief in it is founded, such as reason or revelation, and in religious matters is tantamount to infidelity more or less sweeping.

SCEPTRE, the symbol of royal power, power to command and compel, originally a club, the crown being the symbol of dominion.

SCHADOW, JOHANNES GOTTFRIED, sculptor, born in Berlin; was trained in Rome under the best masters, returned to Berlin, and became Director of the Academy of Arts; laboured here for 62 years, and produced works which placed him among the first rank of artists; he had two sons, one of whom distinguished himself as a sculptor, and the other as a painter (1764-1850).

SCHAFF, PHILIP, a theologian, born in Switzerland; studied in Germany; came recommended by high names to the United States, and became professor first in Pennsylvania, and finally in New York (1819-1893).

SCHAFFHAUSEN (38), a canton in the extreme N. of Switzerland, surrounded NE. and W. by Baden; the Rhine flanks it on the S.; is hilly, with fertile valleys sloping to the Rhine, and is chiefly given up to agriculture. The capital, Schaffhausen (19), occupies a picturesque site on the Rhine, 31 m. NW. of Constance; has a 12th-century cathedral, an interesting old castle, &c. The famous falls, the finest on the Rhine, are 3 m. below the town.

SCHaFFLE, DR. ALBERT, eminent German economist, born in Wurtemberg; has written, besides other works, "The Quintessence of Socialism," an able _expose_; _b_. 1831.

SCHALL, JOHANN ADAM VON, Jesuit missionary to China, born at Cologne; was received with honours at the Imperial Court; obtained permission to preach, and founded churches to the spread of Christianity, a privilege which was revoked by the next emperor; he was subjected to imprisonment, which shortened his life (1591-1669).

SCHAMYL. See SHAMYL.

SCHARNHORST, GERHARD VON, a Prussian general, distinguished as the organiser of the Prussian army, to the establishment of a national force instead of a mercenary; died of a wound in battle (1756-1813).

SCHEELE, CARL WILHELM, Swedish chemist, born in Pomerania, was an apothecary at Upsala and Koping; during his residence at the latter made numerous important discoveries, and published many chemical papers, his chief work "Experiments on Air and Fire" (1742-1786).

SCHEFFEL, JOSEPH VICTOR VON, German poet, bred to law, but abandoned it for literature; his first and best work "Der Trompeter von Sakkingen,"

a charming tale in verse of the Thirty Years' War, succeeded by "Gaudeamus," a collection of songs and ballads familiar to the German students all over the Fatherland (1826-1886).

SCHEFFER, ARY, painter, born at Dordrecht, of German and Dutch parentage; settled in Paris; began as a _genre_-painter; ill.u.s.trated Dante, Goethe, and Byron, and in the end painted religious subjects; he did excellent portraits also; was of the Romantic school (1795-1858).

SCHEHERAZADE, daughter of the grand vizier, who, in the "Arabian Nights," marries the Sultan and saves her life by entertaining him night after night with her tales.

SCHELDT, an important river of Belgium and Holland, rises in the French dep. of Aisne, and flows northwards past Cambrai (its highest navigable point) and Valenciennes, entering Belgium a little S. of Tournay and continuing northward, with Oudenarde, Ghent, and Antwerp on its banks; enters Holland, and at the island of S. Beveland splits into the Wester Scheldt and the Ooster Scheldt, which enter the North Sea, the former at Flus.h.i.+ng, the latter at Bergen-op-Zoom; length 267 m., much the greater part being in Belgium.

SCh.e.l.lING, FRIEDRICH WILHELM JOSEPH, German philosopher, born in Wurtemberg; studied at Tubingen, where he became acquainted with Hegel; wrote first on theological subjects and then on philosophical; went to Jena and became a disciple and follower of Fichte; gradually abandoned Fichte's position and began to develop ideas of his own, and in conjunction with Hegel edited the _Critical Journal of Philosophy_; held afterwards a professors.h.i.+p at Munich and a lectures.h.i.+p at Berlin; his philosophy is no finished or completed system, but is essentially a history of the progressive stages through which he himself pa.s.sed; during the reign of Hegel he kept silence, and only broke it when Hegel was dead; thought to outstrip him by another philosophy, but the attempt has proved fruitless of any important results (1775-1854).

SCHEMNITZ (15), a town of Hungary, noted as a mining centre since Roman times, situated in the midst of a mountainous region, 65 m. N. by W. of Pesth; gold, silver, copper, and lead are largely wrought, chiefly in the interests of the State.

SCHENKEL, DAVID, German theologian, born in Switzerland, became, after a pastorate at Schaffhausen, professor first at Basel and then at Heidelberg; was a man of liberal principles, and was zealous for the union of the Protestants, Lutheran and Reformed, in one body on a broad basis; is noted as author of a work ent.i.tled "Das Characterbild Jesu,"

being an attempt to construe the character of Christ on rationalistic lines (1813-1885).

SCHERER, EDMOND, French critic, born in Paris, spent his early years in England, his mother being English; was for some time devoted to theology and the Church, but changed his views; settled in Paris, and took to journalism and politics, distinguis.h.i.+ng himself more especially in literary criticism (1815-1889).

SCHILLER, FRIEDRICH, German poet and dramatist, born at Marbach on the Neckar, son of an army-surgeon; bred first to law and then to medicine, but took chief interest in philosophy and literature, to the cultivation of which he by-and-by devoted his life; his first work, a play, "The Robbers," which on its publication in 1782 produced quite a ferment, and was followed in 1783 by two tragedies, "Fresco" and "Kabale und Liebe"; but it was with "Don Carlos" in 1787 his mature authors.h.i.+p began, and this was followed by the "History of the Netherlands" and "History of the Thirty Years' War," to be succeeded by "Wallenstein"

(1799), "Maria Stuart" (1800), "The Maid of Orleans" (1801), "The Bride of Messina" (1803), and "Wilhelm Tell" (1804); he Wrote besides a number of ballads and lyrics; in 1794 his friends.h.i.+p with Goethe began, and it was a friends.h.i.+p which was grounded on their common love for art, and lasted with life; he was an earnest man and a serious writer, and much beloved by the great Goethe (1759-1805). See CARLYLE'S "LIFE OF SCHILLER," and his essay on him in his "MISCELLANIES."

SCHLEGEL, AUGUST WILHELM VON, German man of letters, born at Hanover; studied theology at first, but turned to literature and began with poetry; settled in Jena, and in 1798 became professor of Fine Arts there; was a.s.sociated in literary work with Madame de Stael for 14 years; delivered "Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature" at Vienna in 1708, and finished with a professors.h.i.+p of Literature at Bonn, having previously distinguished himself by translations into German of Shakespeare, Dante, &c.; he devoted himself to the study of Sanskrit when at Bonn, where he had Heine for pupil (1767-1845).

SCHLEGEL, FRIEDRICH VON, German critic and author, born at Hanover, brother of preceding, joined his brother at Jena, and collaborated with him; became a zealous promoter of all the Romantic movements, and sought relief for his yearnings in the bosom of the Catholic Church; wrote lectures, severally published, on the "Philosophy of History," of "Literature," of "Life," and on "Modern History," and book on Sanskrit and the philosophy of India (1772-1829).

SCHLEICHER, AUGUST, German philologist, did eminent service by his studies in the Indo-Germanic languages, and particularly in the Slavonic languages (1821-1868).

SCHLEIERMACHER, FRIEDRICH ERNEST DANIEL, great German theologian, born at Breslau; brought up among the Moravians, his mind revolted against the narrow orthodoxy of their creed, which was confirmed by his study of Plato and the philosophy of the school of Kant, as it for him culminated in Sch.e.l.ling, though the religious feeling he inherited never left him; under these influences he addressed himself to the task of elaborating a theology in which justice should be done to the claims of the intellect and the emotions of the heart, and he began by translating Plato; soon he formed a school, which included among its members men such as Neander and others, distinguished at once for their learning and their piety, and to which all the schools of theology in Germany since have been more or less affiliated; his great merit lay in the importance he attached to the religious consciousness as derived from that of Christ, and the development therefrom in the life and history of the Church of Christ; it was to the religious interest he dedicated his life and consecrated all his learning, which was immense (1768-1834).

SCHLEMIHL, PETER, the name of a man who in Chamisso's tale sold his shadow to the devil, a synonym of one who makes a desperate or silly bargain.

SCHLIEMANN, HEINRICH, a German explorer, born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin; excavated at his own cost the ruins, among others in Greece, of Hissarlik, in the Troad, believing them to be those of Troy; spent 12 years in this enterprise, collecting the spoils and depositing them in safe keeping in Berlin; died at Naples before his excavations were complete (1822-1890).