SOLFATARA 



SOLICITORS 



561 



time-names of the French Cheve system have lately 

 been adopted. The method of teaching, based on 

 a wide experience, is of equal importance with the 

 notation itself. 



For a full explanation of this system, see Curwen's 

 Course of Lessons and Exercises in Tonic Sol-fa. 

 Its advocates maintain that it possesses advantages 

 over the common system in the facility of its 

 acquisition ; the distinctness with which it indi- 

 cates the keynote and the position of the semitones ; 

 the cheapness with which it is printed ; and the 

 manner in which, they say, it explains the proper 

 mental effects of notes in harmony and key -relation- 

 ship, and employs them in teaching. It has, how- 

 ever, been objected to by others, from its with- 

 drawal of the direct indication of both absolute and 

 relative pitch to the eye which exists in the com- 

 mon notation, from its limited applicability to 

 instrumental music, and from its acquirement not 

 being, like that of the ordinary notation, an intro- 

 duction to the world of musical literature. It pre- 

 sents, however, no barrier, but rather a road to the 

 acquisition of the older notation ; and its wide- 

 spread use and the testimony of the general body 

 of practical teachers are eloquent arguments in its 

 favour. Of the children in English primary schools 

 who can sing from notes 80 per cent, learn on this 

 system, which has practically ousted the ' Fixed 

 Do" system of Hullah, its rival in earlier days. 

 The Tonic Sol-fa College, founded in 1869, with 

 its system of examinations, carries on a vast 

 amount of useful work. 



So 1 fal a r a ( Fr. Soufriere, Ger. Schwefelgrube or 

 Schvxfelsee), the Italian names for such volcanoes 

 as, having ceased to be violently active, emit from 

 crevices gases, steam, and chemical vapours, chiefly 

 of sulphurous origin. The most notable are found 

 in Italy, in the Antilles, in Mexico, in the interior 

 of Asia, and in Java. Probably the best known 

 are those between Rome and Tivoli, and that at 

 Pozzuoli ( q. v. ), near Naples. This last is an irregu- 

 lar plain almost surrounded by the walls of an an- 

 cient crater. From the crevices rise steam and 

 gases, chiefly sulphuretted hydrogen, mixed with 

 minute quantities of muriatic acid and muriate of 

 ammonia. The cracks and fissures of the rocks 

 abound with sulphur, alum, and sulphate of iron. 

 The vapours exhaled are used as medicinal baths, 

 which are taken in wooden huts on the spot. The 

 Soufriere of the island of St Vincent, West Indies, 

 about 3 miles in circuit and over 500 feet in depth, 

 was in active eruption in 1880. 



SolfVscsjio, in Music, a vocal exercise, in which 

 the syllables Ut (or Do), Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si- 

 corresponding toC, D, E, F, G, A, B are employed 

 in lieu of words. Their use as a method of nomen- 

 clature originated, as far as the first six are con- 

 cerned, in the llth century with Guido Aretinus 

 (q.v.), who substituted his hexachord system for 

 the old Greek tetrachords. Observing in the melody 

 of an ancient hymn for the festival of St John 

 the Baptist, beginning 



VI queant laxis Besonare flbris 

 J/tra gestorum famuli tuorum 

 Solve polluti iabii reatum 

 Sancte /oannes, 



that the notes on which the successive phrases 

 began were identical in order with the sounds of 

 the hexachord, he adopted the syllables to which 

 they were allied in the above stanza as names to 

 represent the degrees of his new scale. When, 

 early in the 17th century, the octave was completed 

 by the seventh or 'leading note,' the syllable Si, 

 formed of the initials of ' Sancte loannes,' was 

 added ; while Do generally took the place of Ut, 

 as being more easily sung. The art of thus illustrat- 

 ing the construction of the musical scale by the use 

 of syllables is called solmisation. 

 452 



Splferino, a village of Northern Italy, 19 miles 

 NW. of Mantua, stands on a hill, and has a tower, 

 called the Spy of Italy, from which the whole plain 

 of Lombardy may be seen. There, on June 24, 

 1859, the Austrians were defeated by the allied 

 French and Piedmontese the first named losing 

 20,000 men, and the allies 18,000. Pop. 1284. 



Soli. See SOLECISM. 



Solicitor-general, the name given to one of 

 the law-officers of the crown appointed by patent. 

 The Solicitor-general of England has powers similar 

 to those of the Attorney -general (q.v.), after whom 

 he ranks and to whom he gives aid in discharging 

 his functions. His tenure of office in practice ter- 

 niinates with the fall of the ministry of which he 

 is a member. He receives on appointment the 

 honour of knighthood. 



The Solicitor-general for Scotland is one of the 

 crown counsel, next in dignity to the Lord Advo- 

 cate (see ADVOCATE, LORD), and exercising all 

 his functions along with him, but he does so as his 

 deputy and not of original right. An act, however, 

 of 1887 provides that, if the office of Lord Advo- 

 cate be vacant, indictments may be raised in the 

 name of the Solicitor-general. Like the Lord 

 Advocate, he has the privilege of pleading within 

 the bar. This right was recognised by the court 

 as early as 1662, though it was afterwards lost for 

 some time. 



Solicitors are lawyers, who prepare deeds, 

 manage cases, instruct counsel in the superior 

 courts, and act as advocates in the inferior courts. 

 Their full title is Solicitors of the Supreme Court, 

 and since 1st November 1875 the class includes 

 attorneys, solicitors, and proctors at law. They 

 are deemed officers of court, and the court exer- 

 cises special jurisdiction over them, committing 

 to prison such of their number as are guilty of 

 misconduct, and in extreme cases 'striking them 

 off the roll' i.e. erasing their name from the 

 official list of solicitors and so preventing them 

 from practising. Action is now taken on the 

 motion of the Incorporated Law Society, and after 

 a preliminary investigation by that body, which 

 also keeps the roll (Solicitors Act, 1888). Before 

 a person is admitted a solicitor he must be articled 

 to a practising solicitor for a term of five years 

 (reduced to three years in certain cases). He must 

 pass one general (preliminary ) and two legal (inter- 

 mediate and final) examinations. He must also 

 pay about 120 in stamp fees. Solicitors in good 

 practice also require a premium (often as much as 

 600) from each of their articled clerks. After ad- 

 mission a solicitor must take out an annual certifi- 

 cate enabling him to practise. He must pay for 

 this from 3 to 9 annually; a solicitor of five 

 years' standing may become a barrister on giving 

 one year's notice, passing two legal examinations, 

 and paying certain fees. Penalties are provided 

 for unqualified persons acting as solicitors, and for 

 qualified persons allowing them the use of their 

 name. 



Retainer and Authority. A solicitor is employed 



by a Retainer (q.v.), which ought to be in writing 



to avoid after disputes. The exact authority differs 



in each cause, but includes power to compromise 



*he dispute. If once employed in an action he 



las authority to manage it to the end. He is 



iable to his client for gross or crass negligence ; 



ie may often, but not always, protect himself by 



aking (and following) the advice of counsel. A 



solicitor is not allowed to make a gain for himself 



save the ordinary profits of his profession) at his 



client's expense, so transactions between them, as 



sales of property, &c. , are very narrowly looked into, 



lor can he generally take a gift from his client. 



ffe cannot be a justice of peace in the county where 



