SOY 



SPAIN 



597 



not relished by cattle and horses. The Corn Sow- 



thistle (S. arvensis) is a 



perennial with large 

 yellow flowers, fre- 

 quent in cornfields in 

 Britain and through- 

 out great part of 

 Europe. Nearly allied 

 to the genus Sonchus 

 is Mulgedium, to 

 which belongs the 

 Alpine Blue Sow- 

 thistle (M. alnintim), 

 the beautiful blue 

 flowers of which adorn 

 some of the most in- 

 accessible spots of the 

 mountains of Switzer- 

 land and of Scotland. 



Soy is a thick and 

 piquant sauce made 

 from the seeds of the 

 Soy Bean (Soja his- 

 pula), a plant of the 

 natural order Legum- 

 inostb, sub-order Papil- 

 ionaccie. It is a native 

 of China, Japan, and 

 . the Moluccas, and is 

 Sow-thistle (SoneAu,otero<*!M). much cultivated in 



China and Japan. It 



is also common in India, although probably not a 

 native of that country. The seeds resemble those 

 of the Kidney Bean, and are used in the same way. 

 The Japanese name is Shoyu (see JAPAN, Vol. VI. 

 p. 286). Soy is made by mixing the beans softened 

 by boiling with an equal quantity of wheat or 

 barley roughly ground. The mixture is covered 

 up and kept in a warm place to ferment, then put 

 into a pot and covered with salt. Water is poured 

 over the mass, stirred daily, then poured off and 

 filtered. 



Soyer, ALEXIS, cook and author of books on gas- 

 tronomy, was born atMeaux in 1809, and, designed 

 for the church, was trained as chorister in Bossuet s 

 famous old cathedral. But his inclinations turned 

 another way : he went through a systematic train- 

 ing as cook in several notable restaurants in the 

 provinces and in Paris, and, suppressing some 

 temptation to give scope to his dramatic powers 

 and fine voice on the stage, he became the most 

 famous cook of his time. He had a post in Prince 

 Polignac's kitchen in 1830, and was nearly murdered 

 there by the revolutionists, but escaped to London, 

 and was cook in various hotels, private houses, und 

 latterly in the Reform Club (1837-50). For a 

 time he managed a 'symposium ' or restaurant of 

 his own. He had gone to Ireland during the famine 

 ( 1847 ) ; contributed greatly to improving the food of 

 the army and navy; and in 1855 he went for a time 

 to the Crimea to reform the food-system under 

 which the army was suffering. His works greatly 

 increased the public interest in economic, scientific, 

 and tasteful cookery, and comprised Culinary Re- 

 laxations (1845); Charitable Cookery (1847); The 

 Gculronomic Regenerator ( 1846; 9th ed. 1861 ); The 

 Modern Howeiirife (1849; 36th thousand, 1866; 

 new ed. 1872 ) ; Shilling Cookery-book ( 1854 ; 123d 

 thousand, 1858). He wrote an account of his ex- 

 perience in the Crimea, and died 5th August 

 1858. See the memoirs by Volant and Warren 

 (1858). 



Sozomen, a Constantinople lawyer (5th c.), 

 born at Gaza, who wrote a church history largely 

 based on Socrates. See CHURCH HISTORY. 



Spa, a watering-place of Belgium, stands amid 

 wooded and romantic hills 20 miles by rail SE. of 

 Liege. The principal buildings are the casino, 



bath-house, and similar institutions for the use 

 of visitors. One of the chief charms of the place 

 is its beautiful drives. The springs, all chaly- 

 beate and alkaline, are cold, bright, and sparkling, 

 and efficacious in anjemic complaints, nervous dis- 

 eases, &c. This water is exported to all quarters 

 of the globe. Spa is famed for the manufacture of 

 fancy wooden lacquered ware. Pop. 7278. The 

 number of visitors during the season is about 12,000. 

 The virtue of the waters was known as early as the 

 14th century, and the place was particularly famous 

 as a fashionable resort in the 16th and 18th centuries. 

 Its public gaming-tables were suppressed in 1872. 

 From Spa the generic term for a watering-place or 

 mineral baths is derived. 



Spaccaforno. a town in the south-east corner 

 of Sicily, 30 miles SW. of Syracuse. In an adjoin- 

 ing valley are some remarkable ' Troglodyte ' caves, 

 ranged tier upon tier. Pop. 8588. 



Space. See PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. VIII. p. 475 ; 

 DIMENSION ; and GEOMETRY. 



Spade-husbandry. The operation of digging 

 is performed with a spade, or pronged fork, or with 

 a steam-digger. The spade or fork is thrust in with 

 the foot, and the mass of earth is first loosened by 

 the lever-power of the handle, then lifted and in- 

 verted. When this operation is performed in spring 

 or summer, the ground should be dry, so as to ob- 

 tain pulverisation as easily and to as great extent 

 as possible. In stronger soils, which are dug in 

 autumn, a little moisture is desirable, as the land 

 lies fallow, and the frosts of winter afterwards 

 pulverise and reduce it to a proper degree for 

 receiving the crops in spring. Digging by hand 

 is mainly confined to the cultivation of gardens 

 and small 'crofts,' for, though a most efficient 

 means of cultivating the soil, it is too expensive 

 for field-crops. It is resorted to, however, for 

 digging over or trenching land which has been 

 in timber or full of stones or boulders. Formerly 

 the spade was the only implement used for digging, 

 but steel forks are now more largely used, being 

 lighter and more easily driven into the soil. Be- 

 sides preparing the land for plants, the spade and 

 the fork, chiefly the latter, are used for taking 

 crops, such as potatoes and carrots, out of the 

 ground. For the important subject of spade-hus- 

 bandry and cottage-farming as an economic and 

 social problem, see PEASANT PROPRIETORSHIP. 



Spadix. See SPATHE. 



Spagnoletto. See RIBERA. 



S|i:ilii. the Turkish form of the Persian word 

 Sipahi (from which we get Sepoy), was the term 

 for the irregular cavalry of the Turkish armies 

 before the reorganisation of 1836. 



Spain (Span. Espaiia) occupies the larger part 

 of the south-western peninsula of Europe, and 

 attains in Cape Tarifa the most 

 southerly point of the whole con- 

 tinent. It lies between 43 45' 

 and 36 1' N. lat, and between 3 20' E. and 9 32' 

 W. long. It is bounded on the N. by the Bay of 

 Biscay and by the Pyrenees, on the E. and S. by 

 the Mediterranean, on the SW., W., and NW. by 

 the Atlantic and by Portugal. From Fuenterrabia 

 in the north to Tarifa in the south is 560, from Cape 

 Finisterre in the north-west to Cape Creux in the 

 north-east is 650 miles. The area is 191,367 sq. m. ; 

 the population in 1890 was estimated at 17,500,000. 

 The country, including the Balearic and Canary 

 Isles, was divided in 1834 into forty-nine provinces ; 

 but the names of the fourteen more ancient king- 

 doms and provinces are still in use (see table). 

 The census of 1897 was expected to show a total of 

 18,000,000 ; but national troubles delayed statistical 

 work. The table shows the census of 1887. 



Copyright 1892, 1891, and 

 1900 in the U. 3. by J. B. 

 Llpplnoott Company. 



