699 



SORBY, HENRY CLIFTON". 



SOTO, DOMINGO. 



600 



19, p. 254.) Sprengel ('Hist, cle la Me"d.') thinks that he is not the 

 Soranus who is mentioned by Ccclius Aurelianus (' Do Morb. Chron.,' 

 lib. ii., cap. 10, p. 391) as haviug recognised three causes of hocmor- 

 rhage, viz. eruption, lesion, and putrefaction, because the study of these 

 particular causes would not agree with the spiiit of the school of the 

 Methodic!: We know also from Suidas that at least two different 



physicians bcre the name of Soranus. His work, Uepl TwaiKtluv 

 TlaBuv, '^e Arte Obstetricia Morbisque Mulierum,' shows that he 

 possessed very conbiderable anatomical knowledge, though he intro- 

 duces the description of the sexual organs by saying that the study of 

 anatomy is quite useless, and that he only inserted these chapters in 

 order that people might not say he disparaged anatomy because he 

 was hituself ignorant of it (cap. 3, p. 5, ed. Dietz). Indeed he 

 described the uterus in such a manner as to prove (what he himself 

 assures us) that he derived his ideas of anatomy from the dissection 

 not of animals, but of human bodies. (Ibid., cap. 4, 5, p. 11, 13.) 



A fragment by Soranus, IlepJ SrjjueiW Karaj/jidruv, ' De Signis Frac- 

 turarum,' was published by Cocchi, iu his 'Grseeorutn Chirurgici 

 Libri,' Gr. et Lat., fol., Florent., 1754. It is also inserted by Jul. Lud. 

 Ideler, in his ' Medici et Physici Graoci Minores/ 8vo, Berol., 1841, Gr. 

 His work ' De Arte Obstetricia Morbisque Mulierum ' consisted 

 originally of one hundred and sixty four chapters, of which only one 

 hundred and twenty-seven remain, which were first published, Regim. 

 Pruss., 8vo, 1838, Grace, from a manuscript prepared for the press 

 before his death, by 'the late learned professor F. R. Dietz. An ana- 

 tomical fragment of this work, flepl M^-rpaj Kal TvvatKelov AlSoiov, ' De 

 Utero et Pudendo Muliebri,' was published in Greek, together with 

 Rufus Ephesius, 8vo, Paris, 1 554, and is to be found in Ideler's col- 

 lection mentioned above. A Latin translation is added to the edition 

 of Oribasius, by Rasarius. There is also a dissertation by H. Haser, 

 'De Sorauo Ephesio, ej usque Tlepi Twauttitav TlaBcav, Liber nuper 

 reperto,' 4to, Jensc, 1840. Whether the Life of Hippocrates, that goes 

 under the name of Soranus, was written by the author who is the 

 subject of this article, is uncertain ; end indeed the writer is not quite 

 sure that all that has been said refers to the same individual. The 

 Life of Hippocrates (which is of little or no authority) is prefixed to 

 several editions of his works, and is also inserted by Fabricius in his 

 'Biblioth. Grsaca,' vol. xii., p. 675, ed. Vet., and by Ideler in Lis col- 

 lection above mentioned. A work which exists only in Latin, and 

 which bears the title 'In Artem Medendi Isagoge,' is undoubtedly the 

 production of a later writer, as Galen is mentioned in it by name 

 (cap. 13). It is in the collection edited by Torinus, fol., Basil., 1528, 

 and in that published "apud Aldi Filios," fol., Venet., 1547. 



* SORBY, HENRY CLIFTON, F.R.S., F.G.S., a rising geologist, 

 who has become advantageously known by his researches into the 

 structure of rocks, and by his inquiries in physical geography, both 

 pursued in a novel manner, was born at Sheffield, where his father 

 was an eminent manufacturer of edge-tools, on the 10th of May 1826. 

 He was first educated in the collegiate school of that town, and subse- 

 quently received instruction from a private tutor, the Rev. Walter 

 Mitchell (now chaplain of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London). He 

 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on June llth, 1857. Being 

 in independent circumstances, he is wholly devoted to the pursuits of 

 science, and is the author of papers relating to the structure of rocks, 

 investigated by the union of mineral ogical, chemical, physical, and 

 microscropical examinations, and on the former physical geography of 

 various localities, as evinced by the disposition, mutual relations, and 

 structure of the strata now occupying them, in the following works : 

 the ' Transactions ' of the Sections of the British Association ; the 

 'Journals' of the Geological, Chemical, and Microscopical Societies of 

 London; the 'Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal;' the ' Philo- 

 sophical Magazine ; ' the ' Proceedings ' of the Geological and Poly- 

 technic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire ; and those of the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society of Sheffield. Of the latter body 

 Mr. Sorby is senior vice-president, and in 1852 was appointed to the 

 chair. 



SOSI'GENES, an Egyptian astronomer, who was brought to Rome 

 by Julius Caesar, to superintend the correction of the calendar. He 

 is said to have lived at Rome till the time of Augustus, and to have 

 assisted in the further correction which took place iu the reign of that 

 emperor. But beyond this nothing is known of his life, death, or 

 pursuits. 



SOTHEBY, WILLIAM, was born in London, November 9, 1757. 

 He was the eldest son of Colonel Sotheby, of the Guards, and Eliza- 

 beth, daughter of William Sloane, Esq., of Stoneham, in Hampshire. 

 His father died when he was only seven years old, and he was placed 

 under the guardianship of the Hon. Charles Yorke (afterwards lord 

 chancellor) and of his maternal uncle Hans Sloane, Esq., and by them 

 he was sent to Harrow School, where he remained till he was seven- 

 teen years of age. Instead of completing his studies at either of the 

 universities, ho entered the army, and purchased a commission in the 

 10th Dragoons, from which he immediately obtained leave of absence, 

 and passed several months at the military academy at Angers for the 

 purpose of studying the principles of his profession, England at that 

 time having no similar institution for military instruction. On leaving 

 Angers he passed a winter and spring in Vienna and Berlin, and 

 rejoined his regiment at the end of 1777, at Knaresborough, in York- 

 shire, where, besides attending to his military duties, he studied, 



critically and assiduously, Shakspere and the other masters of English 

 poetry. In 1786 he married Mary, youngest daughter of Ambrose 

 lated, Esq., of Ecton, in Northamptonshire ; he immediately after- 

 wards quitted the army and purchased Bevis Mount, near South- 

 ampton, where he continued to reside for the next ten years, amusing 

 himself with poetical studies and writing. In 1788 he made a 

 pedestrian tour through Wales with his only brother Admiral 

 Sotheby, of which he published a poetical narrative under the title 

 of 'A Tour through North and South Wales.' His mother died in 

 1790, and in 1791 he removed from Bevia Mount to London, where he 

 afterwards chiefly resided, passing however a considerable part of 

 every year at Fair- Mead Lodge, in Eppiug Forest, of which he was 

 one of tlie master keepers. Soon after he settled in London he 

 became a Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Antiquarian Society, and 

 of the Dilettanti Society ; and was in the habit of receiving at his 

 house persons distinguished in literature and politics without any 

 regard to party distinctions. 



The language and literature of Germany had been for some time 

 advancing in favour in England. Taylor, of Norwich, had chiefly 

 contributed to this result ; and Sotheby's friend Spencer had trans- 

 lated Burger's 'Lenore' with more success than Taylor had done 

 previously. Sotheby studied the language, and in 1798 published a 

 translation of Wieland's 'Oberon,' which immediately became popular. 

 In 1799 he published a short poem on the battle of the Nile, aud in 

 1800 a translation of the ' Georgics' of Virgil. In 1801 he addressed 

 Sir George Beaumont in ' A Poetical Epistle on the Encouragement of 

 the British School of Paiuting.' In 1802 he published 'Orestes,' a 

 tragedy, on the model of the Greek drama, accompanied by a mask, 

 entitled ' Huon de Bourdeaux/ founded on the story of ' Oberon.' 

 His next work, on which he was occupied the greater part of two 

 years, and which appeared in 1807, was an epic poem, in blank verse, 

 under the title of 'Saul.' In 1810 he produced ' Constauce de Cas- 

 tille, a metrical Poem, in Ten Cantos,' in the style of the ' Lady of 

 the Lake' and 'Marmion.' In 1814 he republished 'Orestes,' 

 together with four other tragedies. Sotheby travelled through 

 France, Switzerland, and Italy in 1816, in company with Mr. Elmsley 

 and Professor Playfair. He returned through Germany to England 

 at the close of 1817- In 1827 he published a corrected edition of his 

 translation of the 'Georgics,' together with the original text, aud the 

 translations of De Lille, Soave, Guzman, and Voss, in folio ; of which 

 he presented copies to several of the sovereigns of Europe, and received 

 medals from them in acknowledgment. 



When he was in his seventieth year he commenced a poetical 

 translation (in rhyme) of the ' Iliad,' of which he completed a portion 

 every day, even during a tour which he made to Scotland in the 

 summer and autumn of 1829. On his return to London he pursued 

 his task with unabated diligence, and completed the 'Iliad' in 

 September 1830. He immediately commenced the ' Odyssey,' which 

 he finished in July 1832. 



He died December 30, 1833, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. 

 His eldest son, William, who was a colonel iu the First Regiment of 

 Guards, died in 1815, in consequence of injuries which his constitution 

 had suffered in the Walcheren expedition and the war iu Spain. His 

 third son George, who was assistant-resident at Nagpoor, in Hindustan, 

 was killed in repelling an attack of the Piudarees, November 27, 1817. 

 Another son, Hans, who had been in the civil service in India, died in 

 London, April 27, 1827. 



Besides the works already mentioned, Sotheby published, in 1828, 

 ' Italy and other Poems,' fcap 8vo, consisting chiefly of descriptions 

 of Italian scenery, most of which were probably written while he was 

 travelling in 1816-17, and a few other small compositions. 



Sotheby's original poems made little impression on the public, and 

 are now nearly forgotten. His thoughts are pleasing, but faint, and 

 frequently indistinct, from the polished diffusiveness of his style. He 

 has little originality or strength of imagination, but he has great 

 facility and elegance of diction and versification, and hence his 

 poetical translations are among the best which have been made in 

 Euglish. His ' Oberon ' is an excellent version of Wielaud's romantic 

 poem, tolerably close, and no bad substitute for the original to those 

 who cannot read German. His version of the 'Georgics' seems to 

 have been a favourite work, and to have occupied much time in 

 correction and improvement, and is perhaps superior to any other 

 which has been made in our language. The folio edition was pub- 

 lished at five guineas, and is a splendid specimen of typography. His 

 versions of the ' Iliad' aud ' Odyssey' are closer than that of Pope, but 

 have less animation and energy, and have certainly no chance of 

 superseding Pope's. 



SOTO, DOMINGO, a learned Spanish ecclesiastic, was born at 

 Segovia, in 1494. His father, who was a gardener, destined him for 

 the same occupation, but seeing him make rapid progress in his 

 studies, he gave him as good an education as his means could afford, 

 and placed him as sacristan to the church of a neighbouring village. 

 Having, whilst there, rendered himself qualified for the study of 

 philosophy, Soto repaired to the university of Alcala, where he made 

 the acquaintance of a young nobleman named Saavedra, who took him 

 to Paris as one of his suite. Soto pursued his studies there, and 

 received the degree of master of arts. On his return to Spain, in 

 1519, he taught philosophy, first at Alcalii, and thea at Salamanca; 



