610 



SLONIM 



SLOW-MATCH 



Sloiihn. a town of Knssia, 75 miles SE. o: 

 Grodno. Pop. 22,275. 



Sloop is a one-masted cutter rigged vessel, differ 

 in>; from a Cutter (q.v.), according to old authorities. 

 in having a fixed bowsprit and somewhat smal lei 

 tails in proportion to the hull. The terms 'sloop 

 and 'cutter' appear, however, to be used neam 

 indiscriminately. In the British navy a sloop-of- 

 war was a vessel, of whatever rijj, between a corvette 

 and a Kim-vessel, and ordinarily constituting the 

 command of a commander. In the days of the 

 sailing navy sloops-of-war carried from ten to 

 eighteen guns ; but since the introduction ol 

 steam the number of guns has ceased to be dis- 

 tinctive. Under the new classification of the navy, 

 which was made in 1888, the term sloop-of-war has 

 been modified, many modern vessels which formerly 

 would have been designated as sloops being now 

 known as third-class cruisers. The few sloops-of- 

 war still found on the Navy List are all more or 

 less obsolete, and it is doubtful if any more will 

 be built. 



Sloth. These animals, which are referable to 

 two genera ( Cholcepus and Bradypus), form a dis- 

 tinct family of the order Edentata. Their nearest 

 allies are the armadillos and ant-eaters of South 

 and Central America, to which countries the sloths 

 also are restricted. They are exclusively arboreal 

 animals and entirely vegetable feeders. In the 

 forests which they inhabit it is quite unnecessary 

 for them to descend to the ground in order to reach 

 another tree, as the interlocking of the branches 

 affords an easy passage. It has lieen asserted that 

 when a sloth is absolutely compelled to walk upon 



Two-toed Sloth ( Cholapiu didactylut ). 



the ground it acquit* itself more creditably than 

 might have been expected from an animal 'so con- 

 vpicuoiisly lined fur a purely arboreal life; though 

 some mi thori ties allege that it is quite incapable 

 of pragrMrioo upon the ground. The form of the 

 animal is bulky ami awkward; the fingers and toes 

 are long, and (grabbed with long curved claws, 

 which enable it to obtain and keep a firm hold 

 upon the branches along which it crawls with the 

 body hanging down. The two genera Choloeput 

 and lirndypiu are known res]>ectively as the ' two- 

 toed ' and ' three-toed ' sloths, from the number of 

 toes upon the fore-feet. Neither genus has any 

 incimr teeth ; they have canines and molars with 

 flat crowns, suitable for crushing vegetable food. 

 The hair of the sloth is coarse and shaggy, and 



frequently of a dirty green colour : this colour is 

 lost in captivity. It has been shown by Mr Sml.y 

 to be due not to any colouring substance in tin- 

 hair, but to the presence of minute green plants 

 (Alga?). The damp and warmth of the tropical 

 forests probably favours the growth of these Alg;e, 

 which disappear when the conditions are altered 

 on the removal of the creature from it* native 

 forests. The_ lone green hair combined with the 

 lethargic habits of the sloth must be a protection 

 to it against the attacks of jaguars and large 

 HtaltM, which are iU principal foes. This resem- 

 blance to a lichen-covered branch is strangely 

 heightened in one species by an oval mark upon 

 the back which beam the closest resemblance to 

 the broken end of a branch. When the sloth is 

 driven to take extreme measures it can use it* 

 teeth and claws to good purpose, and it has 

 been even known to grasp a dog round the neck 

 and strangle it. 

 Slolh Bear. See BEAU. 

 Slough. See (under Skin, p. 4K.si SKIN- 

 CASTING, and SNAKES, p. 530. 



Sloituh. a town of Buckinghamshire, 18$ miles 

 \V. of London and 2.J XNK. of Windsor. It has 

 grown from a mere village since the railway epoch, 

 and is a well-built place, the seat since 18(iit of the 

 British Orphan Asylum; but it will always be 

 chiefly remembered as the home of Sir William 

 llcrschel from 1786 till his death, and thereafter 

 till 1840 of his son, Sir John. Stoke Poges :m.l 

 the Biirnliam Beeches, both noticed separately 

 near. Pop. (1861) 3425 ; (1891) 5427. See Phipps's 

 Hitter* f L'f>ton-riiiii-l.'/,nt,;'if (Slough, 1886), the 

 parish in which Slough is chiefly situated. 



Slovaks, a branch of the Slavs (q.v.), who dwell 

 in the mountainous districts of north-west Hungaiy. 

 and number in all about 2,000,000. They are "a 

 race of peasants, and live by cultivating ihe soil. 

 In religion they are partly Lutherans, partly 

 Roman Catholics. These people formed a con- 

 stituent part of the ancient kingdom of Moravia, 

 but have been incorporated among the subject-lands 

 of the Hungarian crown since the beginning of the 

 11 th century. Their language is little more than 

 a dialect of Czech, the speech of the Bohemians. 

 Down to the end of the 18th centurv the Slovaks 

 used Czech as their written or book language, but 

 since that period certain patriotic writers more 

 notably the poets Holly, Chalupka, and Sladko- 

 vitch, the philologists Bernolak and Hattala, and 

 the novelist Tomaschik have tried to create ;l 

 pure written Slovak literature. Their efforts have 

 met. however, with considerable opposition from 

 both the Hungarians and the Bohemians. 



Slovenians, a branch of the south Slavonic 

 stock to which also the Serbs ( Servians ) ami Croats 

 belong. The Slotcnians are found mainly in 

 Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and adjoining |. 

 of Hungary, and numlier in all al>out 1 ,250,000. 

 They are sometimes called Winds or Wemln, 

 though distinct from the Wends (q.v.) of north 

 and east Germany. They have lieen subject to the 

 House 'of Hapshurg since the Sth century. There 

 is not much literature in the native speech apart 

 from the ' Kreising Fragments' (forms of confession 

 ind a sermon), dating from the loth century, and 

 16th-century translations of the Bible, until we 

 come to the end of the 18th century. Since the 

 revival of the language which then took place the 

 principal writers have been the poet-pnilologi^t 

 Vodnik (1758-1819), the poete Preseren (1800-49) 

 and Vesel-Koseski, the journalists Bleiweiss and 

 lanezic. See SLAVS. 



Slow-matrll, generally rope steeped in a solu- 

 ion of saltpetre and lime-water, and burning at 

 he rate of one foot per hour. Port-fires are very 



