370 



SHALE 



SHAMMAI 



Thimm'i Shakrtprarianfi, Mullen's Catalogue of the 

 Shakeipeare Memorial Library, Birmingham. 



See also in thii work the article* on Alleyn, Delia 

 Bacon, Bowdler, Boydell, Brink (Ten), Burbage, Capell, 

 Collier, Cowden-Clarke, Delius, Drama, Dvoe, Eire, Furni- 

 v all, Ulrioi, S. W. H. Ireland, Johnson, Knight, Halliwell- 

 Phillipps, Malone, Rowe, Staunton, Steevena, Stratford- 

 on-Avon, Theatre, Theobald, Tieok, Warburton, Grant 

 White, &0. Of the French translations the best known 

 are thooe of Victor Hugo fils (1859-62) and Montcgut 

 (1868-73); of the German, those associated with the 

 names of Wieland ( in prose, 1762-66 ), Schlegel and Tieck 

 (q.v., 1797-1833; newed. by Brandl, 1896), Dingelstedt 

 (1866-70), and Bodenstedt (1867-71 ; 3d ed. 1878). 



Recent works on the Life by Sydney Lee ( 1898, who 

 argues that the W. H. of the Sonnet* was William Hall, 

 a piratical bookseller) ; the critical study by G. Brandes 

 ( trans. 1898 ) ; Wyndham's edition of The Potm ( 1898 ) ; 

 W. J. Rolfe, Shaketpeare the Boy (1897); F. S. Boas, 

 Shakespeare and hit Predecessors ( 18% ), &c. 



Shale is any argillaceous rock which splits into 

 thin laminre in the plane of sedimentation a kind 

 of lamination not to be confounded wit li the fissile 

 structure seen in clay-slate (see SLATE). Shale is 

 composed mainly of alumina and silica ; but some 

 hales are rich in carbonate of lime (calcareous 

 shale), others contain much ferric oxide (ferru- 

 ginous shale). Those shales which contain much 

 quartz pass into shaly sandstone. When carbon- 

 aceous matter is abundantly present ghule often 

 passes into gas-coal, or, it may be, bituminous 

 shale. When it is remembered that shale is of 

 sedimentary origin, and was washed down in the 

 form of fine silt from the land to be accumulated in 

 lakes and quiet areas of the sea-bottom, as in 

 estuaries, protected bays, &c., its variable com- 

 position will be readily understood. Shales are 

 frequently highly fossil iferous the fossils, owing 

 to the impermeable character of such argillaceous 

 rocks, being generally well preserved. 



The importance of certain decomposing shales, 

 through which sulphuret of iron is disseminated, 

 for the manufacture of alum has l>een long known, 

 and the quantity raised for that purpose from the 

 Carboniferous bed* of Lancashire and Lanarkshire 

 and the Lias beds of Yorkshire is very considerable, 

 yielding about 16,000 tons of manufactured alum 

 annually. Shales of a similar kind are worked in 

 France, Germany, and North America. 



Bituminous shales i.e. shales more or less rich 

 in carbon and hydrogen have in recent years 

 attracted much notice as sources of oil for illuminat- 

 ing purposes. Two manufacturing chemists, Butler 

 in 1833 and Du Buisson in 1845, worked patents 

 for the extraction of paraffin from coal-tar. The 

 process introduced by the latter in France of dis- 

 tilling certain bituminous shales at a comparatively 

 low temperature was afterwards tried in England, 

 being used for a time in distilling a Dorsetshire 

 bituminous shale, sometimes called ' Kimmeridge 

 coal.' From this mineral a burning oil, a lubricat- 

 ing oil, and a naphtha for dissolving caoutchouc 

 were obtained. But neither in France nor in 

 England did the attempt to make a profitable 

 manufacture succeed : in the former country the 

 poverty of the shales was the chief drawback ; in 

 the latter the disagreeable smell of the oil, which 

 could not l>e effectually removed, prevented it from 

 obtaining favour in the market. 



On account of these failures the process fell into 

 abeyance, until it was revived again by the success 

 of the well-known patent of Mr James Young (see 

 PARAFFIN), secured in 1850 for the production of 

 paraffin and paraffin-oil from coal. With the ex- 

 ception of the solid paraffin, which Mr Young was 

 the first to obtain on the large scale, and the em- 

 ployment of cannel coal instead of shale, the pro- 

 oewe* of Du Buisson and Young are essentially the 

 This process has created a new and rapidly- 



increasing branch of industry, paraffin-oil an4 

 paraffin being economically obtained hv it from 

 either cannel coal or shale of certain kinds. Some 

 of these shales yield as much ax 30 to 50 gallons oi 

 crude oil per ton. Their exploitation has called 

 into existence many large works in the Carbon- 

 iferous tracts of Scotland, as well as at various, 

 localities in England and Wales. 



Owing partly to the comparative cheapness of 

 shale, and partly also to the fact that these products 

 are obtained from it in a state more easily purified, 

 than when they are got from coal, the use of the 

 latter as a source of them is now almost entirely 

 given up. In Scotland, where the manufacture of 

 paraffin-oil is chiefly carried on, the shales used are 

 called ' oil shales,' and there are now between 

 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 tons of this material 

 annually distilled. The yield of crude oil, paraffin 

 or burning oils, lubricating oil, paraffin scale or 

 wax, and sulphate of ammonia in \arions period* of 

 years will l>e found at the article PARAFFIN. 

 In the refining process the crude oil is reduced to 

 about one-half of its bulk l>efore it is fit for burn- 

 ing. Besides the al>ove, there is also a considerable 

 quantity of 'coal gas' unavoidably produced, and 

 partly wasted. But for the distance of the oil- 

 works, this would be consumed in some of the 

 larger Scot i Uh towns. Shales found in the Lia 

 and some other formations likewise yield mineral 

 oil. See also CLAY, ARGILLACEOUS ROCKS. 



Shalloon, a light worsted cloth, believed to 

 have been first made at Chalons-sur-Marne. 



Shallot, also ESCHALOT (Allium ascalonicum), 

 a species of Allium Onion (q.v.), a native of the 

 East, introduced into Europe by the Crusaders 

 from Ascalon, it is said and much cultivated for 

 it* bulbs, which are used like those of the onion, 

 and sometimes for ite leaves, which are used like 

 those of the chive. The leaves grow in tufts like 

 those of the chive, but are larger. The shallot is 

 generally propagated by the cloves, which are 

 planted just beneath the surface of the ground, 

 or only partially beneath it, in spring, and the 

 crop is ready for gathering in July or August. 

 The flavour resembles that of garlic, but is miicli 

 milder. In the vineyards of Italy the shallot is 

 naturalised. 



Shaloo. See DURRA. 



Sliiiina. See CAGE-BIRDS. 



Shamanism, a name applied loosely to the 

 religion of the Turanian races of Siliei in and north- 

 eastern Asia, based essentially on magic and 

 sorcery. Their Heaven-God I) kko is but the chief 

 among a host of nature-spirits capable of being 

 influenced and even forced into oliedience by the 

 spells of shamans or sorcerers. 'The only trace of 

 the influence of Buddhism,' says Max-Muller, 

 ' among the Kudic races, the Finns, Lapps. &c., i 

 found in the name of their priests, Mninutti being 

 supposed to be a corruption of Sninnniti, a name 

 applied to Buddha and to Ituddhis. priests in 

 general.' The Siberian Shaman works his cures 

 by magic, and averts sickness and death by in- 

 cantations. He works himself up into a fren/y 

 of nervous excitement, beating loudly upon hi 

 magic drum, and doubtless is usually the dupe 

 of his own powers. Nor is his superstition any 

 less reasonable than that of the devout Protestant 

 who opens his Bible expecting a divine answer in 

 the first verse on which his eye shall fall ; for the 

 latter makes the same assumption that he can 

 compel God to give him an answer, his own faith, 

 Wing the condition. See DIVINATION, MAGIC, 

 and WITCHCRAFT. 



Shammai, an eminent doctor of the Jewish 

 law at the time of Herod, head of a most important 

 school, and supreme judge of the Sanhedrim during 



