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SO1 is the designation of the homicide team of Scotland Yard's Serious Crime Group.
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SO13 is the codename for the 'Anti-Terrorist Branch' of Scotland Yard. The branch was formed in 1976 to combat IRA attacks.
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SO16 is the designation of the Diplomatic Protection Group of Britain's Scotland Yard.
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SO17 is the designation of the Palace of Westminster Division of Britain's Scotland Yard.
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SO3 is the designation of the Directorate of Forensic Services of Britain's Scotland Yard.
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SO5 is the designation of the Child Protection Group of the Serious Crime Group of Britain's Scotland Yard.
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SO6 is the former designation of the Fraud Squad division of Britain's Scotland Yard, now the Economic and Specialist Crime division of the Serious Crime Group.
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SO7 is the designation of the Serious and Organised Crime division of Britain's Scotland Yard.
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Sabaism is the worship of the stars or spirits in the stars. Sabaism was practised in ancient Arabia and Mesopotamia.
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Sabicu is the very hard timber of Lysiloma Sabicu - a leguminous West Indian tree. It is valued for shipbuilding.
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The sachentege was an instrument of torture used during Stephen's reign. The device appears to have consisted of a sharply spike iron collar which was suspended from a beam so that the wearer could not sit, lie nor sleep but at all times bear the weight of the iron.
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A sack was a British baker's unit of measurement equivalent to 20 stones or 2.5 hundred weight.
A sack was a British measure of clover equivalent to between 2 and 3.5 hundred weight.
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The term sacred describes something or someone considered especially dear to a deity, or which is dedicated to a religious purpose and as a result deserving veneration or respect.
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A saddle is a contrivance of wood and leather securely bound with a girth or leather straps to the back of a horse, to serve as a seat for the rider or to carry the weight of the shafts of a vehicle. Other forms of saddle are used for other animals, such as camels and oxen. The seat of a bicycle and motorcycle is also called a saddle.
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The Sadducees were a religious party in Judaism, originating about the same period as the Pharisees. They were the aristocratic, priestly party, who, being identified with the government in the time of the Hasmonaeans, became more worldly in their policy, more eager about the independence of the state than about the ideals of religion. Hence they rejected the traditions of the Pharisees. Religion was by them construed as a code of morals, with certain peculiar practices rather than obedience to a god's will; hence their insistence on the freedom of the will. When the temple fell, they, having no other support than the Mosaic ritual, disappeared with it.
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The Sadler Papers are a collection of dispatches written by Sir Ralph Sadler, and sent from Scotland where he was working as a diplomat. The dispatches were edited by Sir Walter Scott in 1809, and provide a useful source of contemporary information on Scottish affairs during the reign of Queen Mary and the early years of the reign of James VI.
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Sado-masochism is a form of sexual activity involving actual or simulated pain so as to enhance sexual pleasure. Various forms are common, including at the gentle end of the spectrum back scratching during intercourse, through corporal punishment (spanking) and flagellation, ranging to the use of devices such as nipple clamps, whips, and more severe forms of pain. It should be emphasised that the whole point of sado-masochism is not of pain, but of pleasure for all (usually two) parties involved. The popular misconception that sado-masochism is about hurting one's partner is a naive fallacy. Rather, due to the complex nature of the relationship between pain and pleasure centres in the brain, many people find a little pain during sexual intercourse enhances their pleasure - for example having their back scratched. Generally, parties involved in sado-masochistic sexual activities enjoy both the dominant and receptive roles, and may also partake of other associated sexual activities such as bondage, slave and master games, humiliation and so on. Flagellation as a means of sexual activity, either solo for masturbation or with other parties has been practised for thousands of years, and was formerly (and may still be) very popular with religious recluses and monks. Under current UK law, any form of sado-masochistic sexual activity partaken of between consenting adults, in private or otherwise is illegal, and constitutes assault (the law stating that one cannot consent to assault unless in a sports scenario, such as boxing).
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Safety matches are matches which can not be ignited by friction alone. In 1847 the Austrian chemist Schrotter discovered that red phosphorus gives off no fumes and is virtually inert; but being mixed with chlorate of potash under slight pressure explodes. In 1855 Bottger of Sweden put red phosphorus on the match box, and on the matches so that the matches could be ignited by rubbing or striking the match against the box, thus forming the forerunner of the modern safety match.
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Sagitta is a small ancient constellation north of Aquila.
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Sagittarius is a sign of the zodiac represented by a centaur armed with a bow and arrow.
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A samovar is a Russian tea-urn.
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In 1869 the desirability of San Domingo (Hispaniola island) as a coaling station for US vessels and other American interests there caused a movement toward the annexation of that republic to the United States. President Grant sent General Babcock to examine into the matter and, on his favourable report, a treaty was concluded on November the 29th,1869. The Senate rejected the treaty on June the 30th, 1870, and the movement became generally unpopular. Grant still persisted and Congress concurred in sending a commission, consisting of Wade, White and Howe, to examine the matter in 1871. Their report was favourable, but Congress continued to disapprove of annexation. Grant abandoned the question in a special message in April, 1871.
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Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul conceived the idea of forming a great French colonial empire in the Mississippi Valley, to balance the influence of the Anglo-Saxon race in America. To this end he acquired Louisiana from Spain by the treaty of San Ildefonso. San Domingo (the island of Hispaniola) was to be his military base, and its reconquest was to be a first step. However, the blacks of San Domingo revolted, took over the island and abolished slavery. His failure in attempts to recover the island, coming at the same time with the opportunity of renewing war with England, caused him, instantly abandoning the whole scheme, to sell Louisiana to the United States.
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In negotiating the treaty of 1846, by which the forty-ninth parallel, from the Rocky Mountains to the sea, was made the boundary between the American and British possessions, a controversy arose concerning the course of the line through the channel which divides Vancouver Island from the mainland. The Americans contended for the Canal de Haro, the British for the Rosario Strait. To avoid conflict, it was decided that both nations occupy the island of San Juan at opposite ends. In 1872 the German Emperor, acting as arbitrator, decided for America.
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Sankhya is a school of Brahmanism founded by Kapila at an early time, probably antecedent to the rise of Buddhism. Kapila proclaimed the eternal existence of a material principle, unconscious, from which all matter emanated, and to which it will ultimately resolve. He also recognised the existence of a primary spiritual essence, or conscious soul. His teachings were rationalistic and antagonistic to the doctrine of an omnipotent Creator of the world, on which Brahmanism was based.
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Sans serif is a type of plain block alphabet devoid of serifs.
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Saponin is the vegetable principle contained in the common soapwort, quillaia bark, horse chestnut and other plants. It dissolves in water, making a lathery solution which possesses cleansing properties.
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Sappho is an asteroid discovered on May the 2nd 1864 by Pogson. Combined observations of its opposition in 1899 yielded an approximately exact value for the sun's parallax.
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Sapwood is the younger, outer zone of the wood in a tree trunk, lying nearest to the bark. Sapwood is generally softer and often paler in colour than the remainder of the timber.
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Sarah Gamp (Mrs Gamp) is a character is Charles Dickens book 'Martin Chuzzlewit'. She is a monthly nurse famous for her large, bulky umbrella and perpetual references to her imaginary friend 'Mrs Harris' whose opinions always confirm her own.
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Originally, a sarcophagus was a stone coffin manufactured from stone quarried at Assos in the Troad. It was popularly believed that the coffin would consume the body placed within it within forty days. Later the term came to be applied to any stone coffin. In ancient Egypt many stone coffins were made from limestone, basalt, marble or granite. Granite chiefly being used for the bodies of royalty and priests.
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Sarsaparilla is the roots of certain evergreen shrubs of the genus Smilax. An extract of the roots was formerly used in medicine.
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Satinwood is a very light coloured, yellowish timber derived from various trees of the Rue family, and used in furniture and cabinet making. Two particular trees yield satinwood: the Sri Lanka satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia) and the Jamaican satinwood (Zanthoxylum flavum).
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Saturday is the sixth day of the week.
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A sauna is a steamy heat bath.
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A Savonarola chair is an Italian chair of the Renaissance period having a number of transverse pairs of crossed legs, crossing beneath the seat and rising to support the back and arms.
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On May the 13th, 1708, at the suggestion of the Colonial Legislature of Connecticut, a synod of four lay delegates and twelve ministers met at Saybrook to adopt some more energetic system of church government than then existed. They adopted the Confession of Faith of the Reforming Synod held at Boston in 1680 and provided for 'one consociation or more' of churches in each county 'for mutual affording to each other such assistance as may be requisite, upon all occasions ecclesiastical', and that a general association of church representatives should meet each year at election time.
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A scam is a trick or fraud. All scams rely on a single premise in order to function; the greed of the victim. Popular scams through the ages have ranged from low-key confidence tricks such as the 'find the lady' scam performed on street corners by card sharps in which victims are encouraged to bet on being able to locate the position of a specific playing card - often a queen - which is in a row of three cards mixed by the performer, though elaborate frauds such as the 'sale' of London's Tower Bridge or Australia's Sydney Opera House to unsuspecting foreign millionaires. A popular scam is the 'get rich quick' scam in which victims are invited to send money for details or a book proffering to detail a sure-fire method of achieving immense earnings with negligible effort. The secret to doing so is to place adverts in newspapers or on the Internet inviting people to send money for details or a book detailing how to earn vast income with negligible effort.
During the late 1990's a new scam appeared in Britain, or at least became more obvious. That of the 'male escort'. Adverts appeared, generally in free newspapers where advertising rates are very low, purporting to be recruiting 'male escorts', and explaining that age, size and looks are unimportant to earn up to five-hundred pounds a night with the implied bonus of having sex with beautiful women. The 'agencies' offering to recruit such men in reality require interested parties to send a registration fee for inclusion in their catalogue of escorts. Any cynical prospect who considers checking the agency catalogue first, to ensure that they are genuine, finds that prospective customers also have to send a registration fee before being allowed access to the catalogue. In comparison, genuine escort agencies do not require a registration fee from clients, instead the client simply contacts the agency with their requirements and is suggested a suitable escort, which they may then contact or gracefully decline.
The growth of the Internet saw with it the growth of another scam. That of the 'affiliate scheme' where naïve web site publishers are enticed to place an advert for a third company which in turn offers a percentage sales commission for all sales originating from customers who have accessed the web site through the advert placed on the web site publisher's own site. Very often - but not always - these schemes have get out clauses that allow the company to avoid paying sales commission, perhaps because they claim at their discretion that the web site publisher has broken the rules of the affiliation, or because they claim that the customer has not originated from the advert. By paying a small amount of money these scams operate the same as the classic 'find the lady' scam, by enticing a few naïve victims with a small amount of revenue to recommend them to many more naïve victims who never receive anything. Most of the victims of the affiliate scam are teenagers who publish small web sites and who lack the experience to read the contract, and the money to pursue claims for owed monies which are almost impossible to prove anyway.
The most insidious of all scams is 'The Nigerian Scam', which follows a general pattern of a victim receives correspondence, often by email, purporting to come from a close relative of a dead African - originally a Nigerian, whence the name - politician or some such who just before his death deposited a large amount of money in a European bank account. The scam implores the victim to assist in retrieving the money, as the scammer is unable to leave his country. In return, the victim is offered a large amount of money, perhaps as much as $50 million. The victim is asked to contact the scammer and then later is asked to send some money to assist with arrangements, or to travel to Africa with some money to make arrangements. Several victims travelling to Africa have subsequently disappeared, presumed murdered and robbed.
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Scandalum magnatum was a former English crime consisting of defamatory words spoken of peers, judges and other great officers of the realm. It was an offence, even when the same words spoken of persons would not constitute slander. The crime was repealed in 1887.
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Scapulomancy (scapulimancy) is divination by reading the cracks which appear in a scapula (shoulder-blade) when it is roasted over an open fire. It was widely practised in ancient Babylon.
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Scarlet is a bright red colour tending towards orange.
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Scatomancy is divination by the examination of faeces.
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The scavenger's daughter was an apparatus of torture used in the Tower of London for eliciting confession. It was strongly made of iron hoops, consisting of two parts hinged together. The prisoner was forced into a kneeling posture on the floor, and told to draw his body and limbs together so as to compress himself into the smallest possible space. The executioner, having passed one of the iron hoops under the prisoner's legs, knelt upon his shoulders, forcing his body downwards until it was possible to fasten the two hoops together over the small of the back. The time allotted for confinement in the scavenger's daughter was an hour and a half, however, confessions were generally obtained well before that, with victims bleeding profusely from the nose, mouth, and anus.
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The Schmalkaldic League was formed in December 1530 by the Protestant princes and city deputies at Schmalkalden, its object being the defence of the Protestant faith and the maintenance of political independence against the emperor Charles V.
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Sciomancy is divination by shadows or communicating with the ghosts of the dead.
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The Scioto Company was an American land-speculating organization formed in 1787 for the purchase of territory along the Ohio and Scioto. John Cleves Symmes, Joel Barlow and William Duer, of New York, were largely interested. Barlow was sent to Europe in the company's interest as emigration agent. Symmes parcelled out the lands to other parties, the tract which now embraces the city of Cincinnati falling to the share of Matthias Denman, Robert Patterson and John Tilson, of New Jersey.
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Scooby Doo is an American animated cartoon television series for children by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, about four young people - brave Fred Jones, glamorous Daphne Blake, brainy Velma Dinkley and cowardly Norville Rogers, better known as 'Shaggy' - and their cowardly pet great dane - Scoobert (known as Scooby) Doo - who each show solve a supernatural crime, which they call a mystery. The original 1960's and 1970's cartoon series spawned sequels and feature-length films as well as a live action film. The original stories were written by Ken Spears and Joe Ruby and first aired in 1969 on the CBS television network in the USA.
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A scooter is a platform mounted on wheels with a Steerable column. They originally developed from roller skates, and were propelled by the rider. During the beginning of the 20th century small engines started to be fitted, followed by a saddle and the scooter developed into a form of motorcycle.
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Scorpio is a sign of the zodiac represented by a scorpion.
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Scott Law was a liquor law passed by the Legislature of Ohio in 1883. It forbade the selling of liquor on Sunday and imposed taxes on general liquor dealers.
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The Screw Plot was an alleged plot to kill Queen Anne and her entourage in 1708. The allegation was that the plotters removed certain screws and bolts from the beams of St Paul's Cathedral so that while the Queen was attending a thanksgiving service, the roof might fall and kill her and her close supporters.
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The Scriblerus Club was a club of authors founded in 1714 by Jonathan Swift in London with the object of satirizing literary incompetence.
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Scrim is a thin strong, open-weave fabric or type of muslin, used by decorators in the preparation of bad surfaces prior to paperhanging particularly on wooden surfaces. Scrim is also used in upholstery.
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Scrimshaw is the carving of ornaments and other decorative objects from ivory and bone. It was a popular recreation among sailors in earlier times.
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The Scullabogue Massacre occurred in 1798 during the Irish Rebellion and took place at Scullabogue House in Wexford which had been seized by rebels and was being used to house prisoners. When the rebels holding the house received news of the repulse of the rebels at New Ross, they took out some thirty or forty prisoners and shot them, before filling the barn at the back of the house with other prisoners and setting fire to the barn. Contemporary accounts placed the total number of prisoners killed at 184.
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Sculptor is a small constellation between Cetus and Phoenix formed by Lacaille in 1752.
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Sculpture is the art of carving any substance into a designed form. The material may be stone, clay, wood, ivory or metal, hand-wrought or cast in moulds.
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Scumble is a semi-transparent stain or glaze used in painting, which is applied over a hard dry-ground of a different colour. Scumble is used to produce a broken colour effect by means of a sharp distinction between the scumble colour and the ground colour.
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Scutum Sobieski is a small constellation formed by Hevelius and situated in a bright part of the Milky Way south of Aquila and includes the Omega nebula.
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On July the 4th, 1776, Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as a committee to prepare a device for the great seal of the United States.
The committee reported various devices during several years. William Barton, of Philadelphia, was appointed to submit designs. Sir John Prestwich, an English antiquarian, suggested a design to John Adams in 1779.
Combining the various designs of William Barton and John Prestwich, a seal was adopted on June the 20th, 1782. Arms: Paleways of thirteen pieces argent and gules; a chief azure; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows; and in his beak a scroll with the motto: E Pluribus Unum. Crest: a glory breaking through a cloud proper and surrounding thirteen stars. Reverse: A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith an eye in a triangle, surrounded with a glory proper, over the eye the words, Annuit Coeptis. Beneath the pyramid, MDCCLXXVI, and the words, Novus Ordo Seculorum.
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The seam was a British measurement of glass equal to 120 lbs.
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Seasoned timber is wood which has been treated in such a way as to reduce its moisture content in order that the wood may become stable. Freshly felled wood is typically half water, that is half of the weight of the timber is typically the result of water contained within the wood. Timber which is excessively dried, by kiln drying, has a tendency to absorb moisture from the air in the future and distort as a result.
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In America, after the adoption of the Constitution of 1787 the thought that the States were sovereign remained familiar to the minds of many, if not most, Americans. This led easily to the thought of secession by a State or States as a remedy for aggressive action on the part of the Federal Government.
The Federalists of New England made threats of secession in 1811 and 1814. As the slavery agitation began to be foremost among political issues, secession was extensively suggested as the constitutional right of the Southern States if the system of slavery was attacked. South Carolina was ready to secede in 1850. In 1860, upon news of the election of Abraham Lincoln, she did so, on December the 20th, by convention, which passed an ordinance purporting to repeal her adoption of the Constitution in 1788 and to revive her independence. Mississippi seceded on January the 9th, 1861, Florida on January the 10th, Alabama on January the 11th, Georgia on January the 19th, Louisiana on January the 26th, Texas on February 1st, all by conventions. These seven States formed the Confederate States of America, on February the 4th, 1861.
Buchanan's government could find no constitutional warrant for coercing a seceded State. After the firing on Fort Sumter and the decision of Abraham Lincoln and the North to suppress rebellion by armed force, four more States seceded - Arkansas on May the 6th, North Carolina on May the 20th, Virginia on May the 23rd and Tennessee on June the 8th. In most of these States there had been strong opposition to secession, but on the ground that it was inexpedient. That a State had a right to secede was the nearly universal belief. The national Government never recognized this right, nor the validity of the ordinances.
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The Second International is a socialist organisation that was founded in Paris in 1889 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. It is now a loose association of social democrats.
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Securite is an explosive compound of ammonium nitrate and oxalate, with nitro- or di-nitro-benzene adapted for use in fiery mines as when exploded it is not liable to ignite fire-damp.
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A sedan is a portable chair for carrying a single person, borne on poles carried by two porters. The sedan is named after the town in France where they were first made.
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The American Sedition law was an act passed by the Federal majority in Congress in 1798. It was passed in order to silence criticism from the press. The law was modelled on two English acts of 1795. It provided heavy fines and imprisonment for any who should combine or conspire against the operations of the Government, or should write, print or publish any 'false, scandalous and malicious writings' against it, or either House of Congress, or the President, with intent to bring contempt upon them or to stir up sedition; truth of the libel could be offered in defence. The Alien and Sedition laws called out the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, and by their severity occasioned the fall of the Federal party.
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The seer is a unit of measurement equivalent to 1 kilogram. It was extensively used in India around 1900. The seer was a Sri Lankan unit of liquid measure equal to 1.86 British pints.
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The self-denying ordinance was a measure passed in the English Parliament of 1645, largely due to Oliver Cromwell and the Independents, whereby all officers holding commissions in the army were called upon to resign. In this way those generals who held either Episcopalian or Presbyterian views - such as Essex, Manchester and Waller - were removed from command and replaced with Cromwell's nominees.
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Semaphore is a visual form of communication using flags.
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In grammar, a sentence is one or more clauses. A simple sentence contains a single clause. For example 'the dog barked.' A compound sentence contains two or more clauses joined by conjunctions, such as 'the dog barked and the dog ran after the cat.' A complex sentence is one in which a main clause is joined with a subordinate clause by a conjunction, such as for example 'the dog barked because it saw the cat', or one or more relative clauses (a clause which starts with a pronoun: who, whom, which, that) such as for example: 'the dog, who was called Rex, barked'.
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Sepia is a dark-brown colouring matter secreted by the cuttle-fish, which uses it for defence, hiding behind it so as to escape predators. The sepia pigment is prepared by dissolving the dried contents of the cuttle-fish glands in dilute alkali and reprecipitating with an acid.
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September is the ninth month of the year, and contains thirty days. It takes its name from being the seventh month of the Roman calendar, which began the year in March.
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Septennial describes something lasting seven years.
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Seraglio was a term used in Istanbul (then called Constantinople) during the period from the 16th century onwards for the palace of the grand signior where he kept his court and his concubines were lodged, and where the youths were trained for the chief posts of the empire. The term was also used in Persia and Turkey to describe the house or palace of a prince, or of a foreign ambassador. Later the term came to be more generally used to describe a harem.
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Serif is a typographical term for letters finishing with cross-strokes or 'wings'. This gives to a flowery style of print, as contrasting with Sans serif which is much plainer.
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The seron was a British measurement of almonds equivalent to between 1.25 and 2 hundred weight, in use during the 19th century.
The seron was a British measure of cochineal equivalent to 140 lbs, in use during the 19th century.
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A settle is a long, usually wooden, bench or seat with arms and a high back.
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The seven deadly sins, as according to the Christian faith are: pride, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, avarice and sloth.
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The seven virtues of the Christian faith are: faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.
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The Seven Wonders of the World were: the pyramids of ancient Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, the tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the statue of the Greek god Zeus at Olympia, and the Pharaohs at Alexandria (a lighthouse built by Ptolemy II).
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Sevres ware is a fine quality, delicate porcelain made at Sevres, in France, and usually employed in decorative rather than practical use.
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Sex is a division of living organisms based upon their reproductive capabilities. This then leads to two main divisions: male and female. The term gender meaning sex is actually a colloquialism, sex is the correct term to use when referring to 'male' or 'female' organisms, gender being properly used when referring to classes of nouns and pronouns in grammar. In its widely understood slang form, sex refers to intimate physical contact between two animals. In most animals the purpose of sexual intimacy is for procreation, and to this end the male and females of the species are only attracted to one another at such time when the female is fertile. In the human animal, however, sexual intimacy has a dual purpose. The primitive reproductive element still exists, but is very much secondary to the primary purpose of pair bonding, and this explains the elaborate and involved mechanisms of the human sexual intimacy which are not restricted to simple penetration, but encompass touching, kissing, licking and sucking. Because of the nature of the human animal, in the natural state the female requires the services of her male partner long after the initial fertilisation. To retain the males attention, the couple embark on pair bonding and continue pair bonding throughout their relationship. Sexual intimacy in humans in essential in creating and strengthening this pair bond, hence the expression 'making love' and the belief in many cultures that if a woman swallows a man's semen that she will 'love him too much'. Far from being 'wrong' sexual intimacy and pleasure are essential to human pair bonding. Sex (whether solo - masturbation - or with others) also has major health benefits. It reduces stress, relaxes participants, aids sleep and stimulates and encourages the immune system.
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A sex fight is a form of sex game in which each partner tries to make the other reach an orgasm first, the partner who orgasms first being the loser. Sex fights have nothing to do with sadomasochism as such - though any sexual techniques may be utilised - rather they are more commonly found to use strong thrusts, suggestive talk, kissing and caressing to achieve the objective.
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A sex game is a form of involved sexual intimacy peculiar to the human animal. While other animals participate in kissing, grooming and other pair-bond strengthening acts of affection, only the human animal uses sexual intimacy to strengthen and preserve the pair bond which is so essential to humans in the natural state. Sex games are often thought of as perverse or unnatural, since they have no direct requirement in the production of offspring. This view, though, fails to recognise the important emotional bonds which are strengthened between the partners, reducing the likelihood of the male partner deserting the female and the offspring. In reality sex games are one of nature's ways in ensuring that the couple will continue to cooperate, thereby increasing the chances of the offspring's survival in the natural, wild, state.
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A sextant is a navigational instrument for determining latitude by measuring the angle between a heavenly body and the horizon.
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A shadoof (shaduf) is a device used for irrigation in Egypt and other eastern countries. It consists of a bucket at one end of a long suspended rod, with a counter-balance weight at the other end.
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The Shadrach Case of 1851 was an American fugitive slave case. In May, 1850, a fugitive slave from Virginia, named Frederic Wilkins, went to Boston, and secured employment under the alias of Shadrach. Subsequently he was arrested and jailed in the United States Court house pending trial. Shadrach was rescued by a body of black people and conveyed in safety to Canada. Intense excitement prevailed in Boston, and spread over the entire country upon Congress turning its attention to the infringement of the law. Mr. Clay introduced a resolution requesting the President to send to Congress information regarding the matter. President Pierce issued a proclamation announcing the facts, and calling upon the people to prevent future disturbances.
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Shamanism is the religion of the Inuit of north America and Siberia.
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Shanley Vs Haney was an English legal case of 1762. The case in equity was brought by an administrator to recover money given by his intestate to a black man brought to England from America as a slave. The suit was dismissed by Lord Northington, who held that a slave became free as soon as he set foot on English territory.
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Sharia is the law of Islam.
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After the close of the American War of Independence, much discontent and indeed actual want prevailed through New England, especially in Western Massachusetts. The annual State tax amounted to $1,000,000. Riots and armed mobs were frequent, the especial grievances being the high salary of the Governor, the refusal to issue paper money, and the specific taxes to pay the interest on the State debt. On December the 5th, 1786, 1000 armed men under Daniel Shays took possession of Worcester and prevented the session of the Supreme Court. Springfield was mobbed by the same men. General Lincoln, commanding 4000 militia, attacked Daniel Shays near Springfield, on January the 25th, 1787, quickly routing his force. They fled to Amherst, where 150 were captured. The insurgents were pardoned on laying down their arms.
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A Shebeen is an unlicensed (illegal) Scottish drinking establishment. It was defined by the Licensing (Scotland) Act, 1862, section 37 as meaning and including a house, or other place in which spirits or other excisable liquors are trafficked in by retail without a certificate and excise licence.
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The Sheffield Flood occurred in 1864 when the Old Dale Dyke reservoir at Bradfield burst, causing the death by drowning of 238 people.
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Sheffield Plate is the name given to articles made of copper plated with silver by heat. It was invented in Sheffield in the middle of the 18th century.
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Shintoism is the primary religion in Japan.
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In Anglo-Saxon England a Shire Moot was a meeting of all the freemen of a shire for transacting judicial and administrative matters pertaining to the shire.
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Shorthand is a system of graphical notation making it possible to record speech at greater speed than by normal writing. Early systems were developed by the Greeks and Romans. Modern shorthand was first developed in England in 1588 by Timothy Bright. Thomas Shelton developed a system employed by Samuel Pepys in 1630. The idea of using sound instead of an alphabet as the basis for a shorthand system was introduced by William Tiffin in 1750. The Pitman system of shorthand, a phonographic system invented by Sir Isaac Pitman, first appeared in 1837 and is widely used today, being quite capable of 250 words a minute.
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The shot silk effect is an effect whereby a painted object appears in different colours according to the position of the viewer.
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Shrew is a term applied to a scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman. Shrews were traditionally punished in Britain under law, with punishments including the ducking stool.
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The Sicherheitsdienst or SD was an intelligence and security force formed in 1931 to protect and serve the German Nazi party. The Sicherheitsdienst carried out many tasks including intelligence gathering and subversion and assassination.
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The Sicilian Vespers was the massacre of the French in Sicily on March 20th 1282. It was caused by a French soldier insulting a bride on her way to church, and resulted in the entire garrison of Charles of Anjou being annihilated within three days, putting an end to Angevin rule in Sicily.
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The Siege Of Sidney Street was an incident that occurred in 1911 when two members of a gang of Latvian immigrant burglars (the Gardstein Gang) who were fleeing police after breaking into a jewellers' premises in Houndsditch and shooting dead three policemen and wounding two others who had tried to arrest them, sheltered in a second-floor flat at 100 Sidney Street, London. The Metropolitan Police cordoned off the area and evacuated the residents but found their weapons ineffective at flushing out the robbers who were armed with Mauser pistols capable of rapid and accurate fire. The police then requested and were granted assistance from the army, volunteers of the Scots Guards arriving from the Tower of London who with sniper fire forced the robbers to the lower floor. A fire broke out in the building, which the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill refused to allow the fire brigade to extinguish. After half-an-hour of no more shots being fired from the robbers the fire brigade tackled the blaze to prevent damage to other buildings, only for a wall to collapse and bury five people, one of which later died in hospital. The two robbers were found in the gutted building, one had been shot and the other overcome by smoke. The incident noted the ineffectiveness of the police marksmen and their equipment and resulted in better training and weapons to be issued.
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In geography, a sierra is a mountain range.
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A sign is a mark drawn upon a surface.
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Signal was a German propaganda magazine produced during the Second World War for the civilian residents of occupied countries. Signal was produced in various languages, depending upon the target audience, and pioneered the use of colour photography in magazines. Signal combined exaggerated stories of German military successes, accompanied by maps, graphics and photographs, with advertisements and pictures of attractive young women in bathing suits - a 1940's equivalent of soft pornography, and an original marketing idea at the time.
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A signet is a private seal used on documents and personal letters. The privy
signet is the personal seal of the British Sovereign used on private documents.
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Sikhism is a religion founded by Nanak in the 15th century.
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Silage is green fodder stored in a silo or pit without drying.
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Silk screening is a method of printing repeated motifs using a frame over which a piece of silk fabric is tightly stretched. Over the silk is laid a masking sheet, often of shellac coated paper, into which the design has been cut. The masking sheet is pressed firmly against the silk and printing may then be carried out by drawing a rubber squeegee across the screen, the ink or paint passing through the cut out parts of the mask through the silk onto the material below.
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A silo is a structure for storing and preserving vegetable matter in a green state.
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A simile is a literary device of description by comparison, as in 'he slept like a log'.
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Simony is the trafficking in spiritual things. It was an offence against the canon law. The term derives from Simon Magus, who offered the apostles money for the power to work miracles.
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The Sims case of 1851 was a famous American fugitive slave case, which illustrates a common method of the seizure of negroes under the law of 1850. Sims was arrested in Boston on a false charge, and immediately claimed as the property of a Mr. Potter, of Virginia. He was sent back to Virginia on a certificate signed by the United States Commissioner, despite the intense indignation of the people, which ran so high that the court house was surrounded with chains and guarded by a company of armed men called afterward 'Sims Brigade'.
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Originally sine was another word to describe a gulf or a bay, as in 'The Persian Sine', today its use is more limited to its trigonometry variation which describes the straight line drawn from one extremity of an arc perpendicular to the diameter passing through the other extremity.
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Sinn Fein is an Irish nationalist political party. It was founded in Dublin in 1900 by Arthur Griffith.
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Sirius (the Dog Star) is the brightest star in the sky. It is in the constellation of Canis Major and although only 2.5 times the mass of the sun gives off 32 times as much light.
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The sirocco is the hot, dry and sometimes dusty southerly wind blowing from the Sahara; it is experienced in North Africa, Sicily and southern Italy.
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In English ecclesiastical history, the Six Articles were articles imposed by a statute (often called the Bloody Statute) passed in 1541, the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VIII. They decreed the acknowledgment of transubstantiation, the sufficiency of communion in one kind, the obligation of vows of chastity, the propriety of private masses, celibacy of the clergy, and auricular confession. Acceptance of these doctrines was made obligatory on all persons under the severest penalties; the act, however, was relaxed in 1544, and repealed in 1549.
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A skein is a measure of cotton equal to eighty threads.
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Sketch is a term used in art for a rapidly executed drawing serving as a study for a finished picture or as a note to aid the memory.
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Slade School is a school of fine arts, a branch of University College, London. It was founded by the bequest of Felix Slade and was opened in 1871, with Sir E Poynter as its first professor.
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Slate was the name given to a tablet used for writing. They were often made of slate, or an imitation thereof, enclosed in a rectangular wooden frame. Slates were written upon using a slate pencil, the characters being easily removed with a damp cloth. Slates were once used in British schools but by the 1920's had become almost extinct, though a few schools used them still.
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In America, one of the chief subjects of dispute in the Convention of 1787, as in the case of previous attempts to make a constitution, was that of representation of that part of the population of certain States which consisted of slaves. It was contended on the one hand that, being persons, they should be represented, and on the other hand that, being property, they should be made the object of taxation. The compromise which was reached, and which continued in force until the abolition of Slavery, provided that, for purposes of reckoning alike a State's proportion of representatives and its proportion of direct taxes, its population should be computed by adding to the whole number of free persons, exclusive of untaxed Indians, 'three-fifths of all other persons', i.e., of slaves. This mode of counting population was first suggested in 1783, by the Continental Congress, as a basis for the apportionment of contributions from the States, to be agreed upon as an amendment to the Articles of Confederation.
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The importation of black slaves into the American colonies began with the year 1619, when a Dutch vessel brought a cargo of slaves into James River. In 1713, by the Treaty of Utrecht, Great Britain obtained the contract for supplying slaves to the Spanish West Indies. This stimulated the general slave trade. Some colonies desired to prohibit the importation of slaves, but Great Britain forced it upon them, Virginia passed several such acts, but they were vetoed. Pennsylvania passed bills prohibiting slave trading in 1712, 1714 and 1717, but they were vetoed. Massachusetts passed a similar bill in 1774, which was vetoed. It was prohibited by Rhode Island in 1774, by Connecticut the same year and by the non-importation covenant of the colonies on October the 24th, 1774. It was forbidden by nearly all the States during the American Revolution.
The slave trade question was an important one in the formation of the American Constitution. The Southern States, except Virginia and Maryland, demanded it, hence it was compromised by allowing Congress to prohibit it after 1808. The act of March the 22nd, 1794, prohibited the carrying of slaves by American citizens from one foreign country to another. That of May the 10th, 1800, allowed United States warships to seize vessels engaged in such traffic. That of February the 28th, 1803, prohibited the introduction of slaves into States which had forbidden slavery. In 1808 the importation of slaves into the United States was forbidden. The acts of April the 20th, 1818, and March the 3rd, 1819, authorized the President to send cruisers to Africa to stop the slave trade. Various projects for renewing the trade arose in the fifties. It was in reality never given up in the United States until 1865. No restrictions were placed in America upon domestic slave trading.
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By the treaty of 1862 between American and Great Britain respecting the slave trade, it was agreed that when vessels suspected of being engaged in that traffic were detained by public vessels of either government, they should be brought for trial before one of three mixed courts established for that purpose at Sierra Leone, the Cape of Good Hope and New York. That at New York was, as the treaty permitted, removed to Washington, where it was reckoned a branch of the Department of the Interior. By the treaty of 1870 the system was abolished.
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Slavery in the American colonies began with the importation of a cargo of slaves into Virginia by a Dutch ship in 1619. In the other colonies it was gradually introduced. The slave trade was favoured by the British Government during the eighteenth century. Meantime a sentiment unfavourable to it began to develop in the colonies. The Germantown Quakers drew up a memorial against it in 1688, Boston town meeting in 1701. Woolman and other Quakers preached against it. Slaves were few in the North, but numerous in the South, where their increase and the danger felt from them caused severe laws respecting them.
The American Revolution, as a movement for liberty, with its declaration proclaiming all men free and equal, joined with the humanitarian spirit of the close of the century to increase anti-slavery sentiment. The Northern States either abolished slavery or provided for gradual emancipation. All the States but the southernmost forbade the importation of slaves from abroad. But the sentiment soon declined.
In the Constitution of 1787, States were given representation in the House of Representatives for three-fifths of their slaves, and Congress was forbidden to prohibit the slave trade until 1808. The invention of the cotton-gin made slave labour more profitable than ever before, and the South began to defend slavery as a positive good, in spite of its obvious economic disadvantages.
Abolition societies, first formed about 1793, languished after 1808. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 arranged that the area west of the Mississippi and north of 36 degrees 30 minutes should not be open to slavery, except in the Case of Missouri. The Ordinance of 1787 had forbidden slavery in the region north of the Ohio.
The American Colonization Society tried to palliate the evils of slavery by emancipation and deportation. About 1830 the agitation against slavery took on a more ardent phase, and henceforth for thirty years slavery was the most absorbing of political themes. Slave labour demanded more and more new land, and the Government was led to the annexation of Texas and the war with Mexico largely by this need. After bitter disputes, the territory so acquired was thrown open to slavery if the settlers desired it; this was done by the Compromise of 1850. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 extended the same permission to territory north of 36 degrees 30 minutes, repealing the Missouri Compromise; and the Supreme Court sustained such repeal.
The question of slavery in the territories proved the crucial question. Many in the North who had no desire for the abolition of slavery in States where it was already existent and legal were unwilling to see it extended, while slave-owners claimed Constitutional right to protection of their property in slaves, as essential if they were to have any share in the common territories. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and the unwillingness of Northern people to execute it assisted to precipitate conflict. Finally, in 1860, the election of Abraham Lincoln was taken by the South as proof that their claims were to be disregarded, and secession and the American Civil War resulted.
As a means of crushing rebellion, President Abraham Lincoln, on January 1st, 1863, issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 abolished slavery.
In 1790 there were 698,000 slaves in the United States 40,000 in the North, 293,000 in Virginia, 107,000 in South Carolina, 103,000 in Maryland, 101,000 in North Carolina; in 1800, 894,000; in 1810, 1,191,000; in 1820, 1,538,000; in 1830, 2,009,000; in 1840, 2,487,000; in 1850, 3,204,000; in 1860, 3,954,000, the last being about one-fourth of the total population of the Southern States.
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Sleepers are devices used for strengthening and preserving the permanent way of a railway line. Sleepers serve the purpose of distributing the weight of a train over a sufficient area to prevent subsidence of the permanent way.
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A slow match is a simple type of fuse which smoulders very slowly. Traditional slow matches were prepared by soaking loose hemp cords in a dilute solution of potassium nitrate and then drying them. When ignited, such a fuse burns at a rate of about eight centimetres an hour. Formerly slow watches were employed in matchlock guns as a means of keeping a light ready for use over lengthy periods, and more recently in military and civil blasting to provide a delay action in various types of projectiles and in fireworks.
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The Smithfield Club was an English agricultural organisation founded in 1798 for the purpose of protecting the interests of cattle raisers, its original name being the Smithfield Cattle and Sheep Society. The Smithfield Club's first show was held in 1799 at Smithfield, and in 1862 the venue for the show was moved to the Agricultural Hall in Islington.
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The Smithsonian Institution is an American educational institution established by Act of Congress in Washington in 1846, through the bequest of the British Scientist James Smithson who left a large sum of money ($500,000) for its foundation.
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Smoke silver was a payment of sixpence formerly occasionally made in lieu of tithe firewood.
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Smoking is the practice of drawing into the mouth or nose the fumes of a burning vegetable substance with narcotic, sedative or stimulant properties. The chief substances thus used are tobacco, opium and cannabis. Cannabis smoking was traditionally practised in central Asia and India and across Africa from the Middle East to South Africa, and is referred to by Herodotus among the Scythians. Tobacco smoking was practised by the Neolithic age mound builders of the upper Ohio, and for over 300 years for its health-giving properties in Britain until competition from the pharmaceutical manufacturers led to a campaign of counter information claiming connections between tobacco smoking and disease. During the 20th century a widespread campaign of oppression of all forms of smoking commenced, starting with opium, then cannabis and finally tobacco, the oppression being more prevalent in the USA and Britain than other parts of the world.
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The Smolny Institute also known as the Smolny Convent, was a religious and educational establishment founded in 1748 at St Petersburg by the Empress Elizabeth as a nunnery for orphan girls. A girls' school was added in 1764 and extensions added in 1797.
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A snaffle is a type of bridle bit, composed of two, smooth-jointed mouth bars jointed together in the middle, with rings at the ends for reins.
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Snow is the frozen moisture of the atmosphere. Snow is comprised of flakes, each a unique six-sided or hexagonal crystal. Snow differs from hail in that hail is frozen rain drops which fall as a shower of ice pellets.
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Snuff is powdered tobacco which is then inhaled through the nostrils. It was popular during the 18th century. The art of taking snuff gracefully was one of the accomplishments indispensable to gentlemen.
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Soap is made by decomposing natural fats in a caustic alkali solution.
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The Sobranje is the Parliament of Bulgaria. It consists of a single chamber, elected for five years. The constitution of Trnovo, drawn up in 18979, provided for the election of a Sobranje by manhood suffrage, and for the payment of deputies.
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A sociable was an open, private, four-wheeled carriage with two seats set facing each other. A sociable was a kind of tricycle for two riders, in which they sat side-by-side, thus distinguishing it from a tandem in which one ride sits behind the other.
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The Social Contract is a term common to the philosophy of the 17th and 18th centuries, embodying the old theory that civil society originated in a contract. It has been supported by very diverse arguments, and used to support conflicting conceptions. Generally it is assumed and original state of nature in which everyone did as they liked; from which state of miserable anarchy people escaped by making a contract with someone to protect them, thus organising society. In England this theory was accepted by such opposed thinkers as Hobbes and Locke, and in France Rousseau afterwards gave a new meaning to the term. In the Contract Social, published in 1762, he discarded the theory of an original state of nature, and sought his arguments from philosophy rather than from history. His state, and ideal conception, is founded upon man's universal desire for freedom, which can only be secured by a contract which each makes with all, and in which each surrenders his will to receive it back again as part of the whole. In this state the people themselves are sovereign, and affairs are settled by the general will, of which each person forms part.
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The Social Democratic Federation was a British socialist organisation founded in 1881 by H M Hyndman, along the lines of Marxian socialism as an active antagonist of existing society. The Social Democratic Federation published a weekly paper entitled 'Justice' and a monthly publication entitled 'The Social Democrat'.
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Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organisation based upon the public ownership of the means of production and support of the poor, weak and needy by the strong and rich, and first proposed by philanthropic churchmen of the 19th century, men like Samuel Barnett. The term socialism (first coined in England by Robert Owen in 1816) covers a wide range of positions from communism at one extreme to social democracy at the other, and is therefore difficult to define with precision. It is less easy to say what socialists are for than what they are against, namely untrammelled capitalism, which in socialist eyes enriches the owners of capital at the expense of their employees, provides no security for the poor, and sacrifices the welfare of society to private gain. Most socialists have responded by arguing that the community as a whole should own and control the means of production, distribution, and exchange to ensure a more equitable division of a nation's wealth, either in the form of state ownership of industry, or else in the form of ownership by the workers themselves. They have also often advocated replacing the market economy by some kind of planned economy. The aim of these measures is to make industry socially responsible, and to bring about a much greater degree of equality in living standards. In addition, socialists have argued for special provision for those in need, in the form, for instance, of a welfare state.
Socialism as a political ideal was revolutionised by Karl Marx in the mid-19th century, who tried to demonstrate scientifically how capitalist profit was derived from the exploitation of the worker, and argued that a socialist society could be achieved only by a mass movement of the workers themselves. Both the methods by which this transformation was to be achieved and the manner in which the new society was to be run remained the subject of considerable disagreement and produced a wide variety of socialist parties, ranging from moderate reformers to ultra left-wing communists dedicated to upheaval by violent revolution. A revolutionary upheaval is represented by Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto published in 1848 as necessary in order to replace capitalism. Bernstein in his book Evolutionary Socialism published in 1898 states that capitalism can be modified and changed by gradual, parliamentary methods. These debates have been somewhat overshadowed in recent years by the question of whether socialism is viable at all as an alternative to capitalism. Most Western socialists now opt for social democracy, others for market socialism. It is only in certain developing countries that traditional socialist aims still attract widespread support among political leaders.
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The Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a British missionary society founded in London in 1698, in connection with the Church of England, having for its main objects the establishment of churches, schools, and libraries, and the publication and circulation of religious and moral literature. It is still in active operation, publishes a great number of religious and instructive works, and during the 19th century established a training college for schoolmistresses. In 1811 the National Society branched off from it, and did much to further education in England in connection with the Established Church.
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The Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers - after their founder suggested to Justice Bennet of Derby that he 'quake and tremble at the word of the Lord' - , is a small Christian body that began about the middle of the 17th century, as a revolt of mystical Christianity against the ecclesiasticism and bibliolatry of the Reformed Churches, both Anglican and Non-conformist. Groups of dissatisfied 'seekers' were at that time meeting together, waiting for some authentic revelation from God; and this many of them believed that they received through the preaching of George Fox.
All the distinctive views and practices of the Quakers flow from the root principle of the 'inward light' - the belief that everyone has, or may have, some direct experience of God in the soul. In public worship they discard all professional ministry and arranged services except among the Pastoral body of America, and meet in silent fellowship waiting on God, giving freedom to anyone who is believed to be moved by the Spirit to preach or lead the company in vocal prayer. They do not practise the outward sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, believing that the whole emphasis of Jesus Christ and His Apostles was not upon symbolic acts, but upon inward experience and rightness of life.
They have a unique form of marriage, in which human priesthood finds no place, the man and woman simply taking one another in the presence of God and the congregation. They refuse to take judicial oaths, believing that anyone who walks in the Light will always and everywhere do his best to speak the truth. In church government every member, male or female, has a an equal voice. No question is decided by a vote; but after a time of silent worship matters are discussed in a reverent spirit and the 'clerk' or president gathers what he believes to be the sense of the meeting.
From the earliest days the conviction that the Light of God is in some measure present in everyone has given the Quakers a special sense of human brotherhood, and made them pioneers of philanthropy.
The Society Of Friends was the first Christian body in America to forbid its members to hold slaves, and in England, Quakers led by Elizabeth Fry took the lead in prison reform and also in the kindly treatment of mental patients. The same spirit is at the root of their opposition to war, which involves the double conviction unique to the Society Of Friends within the Christian church, that: 1) war is always contrary to the spirit of Christ and 2) that war is always unnecessary for a nation that will persistently act with justice to all. This twofold conviction was put into practice in Penn's 'holy experiment' - the colony of Pennsylvania having been maintained under Quaker rule for over 70 years without armed defence against Indian marauders, and without being attacked by them.
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Society of the Cincinnati is an organization founded in 1783 at the Verplank house, Fishkill, New York by Revolutionary officers. The organisation was rather romantically named after Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus, a Roman farmer of the Fifth Century B.C, whom the originators of the organisation likened to George Washington, in that he was called from his fields to lead his country's army in battle. Membership was first extended mainly to the officers and their eldest sons, though a number of French officers were included. The principle of hereditary membership aroused popular jealousy. A pamphlet was published against it, the Governor of South Carolina denounced it, and the Legislatures of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania censured it. George Washington was elected the first President General of the Society in December 1783, a post he held until his death in 1799. During his presidency, in 1784 George Washington persuaded the order to abandon the hereditary feature. He was succeeded as president of the society by Alexander Hamilton.
The society is based upon the following principles:
'An Incessant Attention to preserve inviolate those exalted Rights and Liberties of Human Nature for which they have fought and bled, and without which the high Rank of a Rational Being is a Curse Instead of a Blessing.
An unalterable Determination to promote and cherish between the respective States that Union and national Honour so essentially necessary to their happiness, and the future Dignity of the American Empire
To render permanent the cordial Affection subsisting among the officers; this Spirit will dictate Brotherly Kindness in all things, and particularly extend to the most substantial Acts of Beneficence, according to the Ability of the Society, towards those Officers and their Families who unfortunately may be under the Necessity of receiving it.'
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A sofa is an article of furniture. The sofa derives its name from a French corruption of the Arabic word suffah, and originated in the East, where they were simply mattresses or thick carpets and cushions, or low platforms provided with cushions. They were introduced into Britain around 1700 and are described by Cowper in 1784. The early British sofas were low couches with several cushions, distinct from a settee which was an upholstered long bench, with a high back, arm rests, and a locker or box underneath. Later the term sofa and settee became interchangeable.
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Softwood is a general term for timber from a coniferous tree such as fir, spruce or pine.
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Soho was a former hunting cry, made by the huntsman when they uncoupled the dogs when hunting hares. The cry effectively means 'after him' and was directed as an instruction to the dogs to chase the hare.
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Soil is a loose covering of broken rocky material and decaying organic matter.
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Soil depletion is a decrease in soil quality over time. Causes include the loss of nutrients caused by over-farming, erosion by wind, and chemical imbalances caused by acid rain.
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Soil erosion is the wearing away and redistribution of the Earth's soil layer. It is caused by the action of water, wind, and ice, and also by improper methods of agriculture. If unchecked, soil erosion results in the formation of deserts (a process known as desertification). It has been estimated that 20% of the world's cultivated topsoil was lost between 1950 and 1990. If the rate of erosion exceeds the rate of soil formation (from rock and decomposing organic matter), then the land will become infertile.
The removal of forests (the process of deforestation) or other vegetation often leads to serious soil erosion, because plant roots bind soil, and without them the soil is free to wash or blow away, as in the American dust bowl. The effect is worse on hillsides, and there has been devastating loss of soil where forests have been cleared from mountainsides, as in Madagascar. Improved agricultural practices such as contour ploughing are needed to combat soil erosion. Windbreaks, such as hedges or strips planted with coarse grass, are valuable, and organic farming can reduce soil erosion by as much as 75%. Soil degradation and erosion are becoming as serious as the loss of the rainforest.
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Soil mechanics is the branch of engineering that studies the nature and properties of the soil. Soil is investigated during construction work to ensure that it has the mechanical properties necessary to support the foundations of dams, bridges, and roads.
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Soke is a term used in the Domesday Book for the right to hold a court and exercise jurisdiction.
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The solano is a cloudy, rain-bearing east wind experienced in eastern Spain.
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A solar pond is a natural or artificial pool of water, such as the Dead Sea, in which salt becomes more soluble in the Sun's heat. Water at the bottom becomes saltier and hotter, and is insulated by the less salty water layer at the top. Temperatures at the bottom reach about 100°C and can be used to generate electricity.
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The Solemn League and Covenant was an alliance made in 1643 between the English Parliamentarians and the Scots to counteract the substantial help rendered to Charles I by the Irish, Vane, on behalf of the Parliament, effected a contract with Scotland agreeing, in return for the aid of a Scottish army of 20,000 men, that England should accept the Presbyterian form of church government. The treaty was signed on September the 25th 1643, and the | 
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