STAATEN ISLAND 



STAfiL 



U' Her (Euvret Complete* appeared at Paris in 

 2 vain, in 1821. See the study by Krary (1863), 

 iiinl Sainte-Beuve, Portrait* I.itterairet, vol. iii. 



Staate n Island. See STATEN ISLAND. 



Stabat "Water, a celebrate<l Latin hymn on 

 the seven dolours of the Blessed Virgin, whose 

 authorship has heen assigned to Jacopone da Todi, 

 a Minorite who flourished in the 13th century. It 

 has been set to music by many composers of emin- 

 ence e.g. Palestriua, Pergolese, Astorga, Haydn, 

 and Hofwini. See Lisco's monograph (Iferl. 1843). 



Stability, the name given to the property 

 ],,,.-,.--,.,] liy .-ill material -\steni* lm-i> con 

 figuration remains permanent or never departs far 

 from a permanent average type. There are two 

 kinds static and kinetic. Of static stability, or 

 stable equilibrium, we have numerous examples of 

 a simple character. A pendulum or any body 

 hanging under the influence of gravity by a point 

 which is not ite centre of mass ; a Kill resting 

 inside a basin ; any object resting on supports in 

 such a way that a vertical line through its centre 

 of mass falls well within the polygon formeil l>y 

 joining the points of support all these are familiar 

 instances. If any displacement (within certain 

 limits) is given to the Ixxly, it will, when released, 

 tend to recover its original condition. In dynamic 

 language the forces brought into play by the dis- 

 placement resist it. If, however, the ball is placed 

 on the top of a convex surface, or if a chair, for 

 example, is tilted until the vertical line through 

 ite centre of mass falls outside the original area of 

 ite base, then the configuration is no longer stable. 

 Both bodies will fall away from these positions 

 until a new contiguration of stable equilibrium is 

 reached. In general, stability is proved by a 

 system recovering ite configuration after a slight 

 displacement. Instability is demonstrated when 

 any slight displacement is followed by a complete 

 change of configuration, forces being brought into 

 existence which assist the displacement. When a 

 displacement brings into play no forces, so that 

 the system tends neither to recover nor to fall 

 away from ite original configuration, the equili 

 brium is said to be neutral or labile. A uniform 

 sphere resting on a plane is a simple example of 

 tliis kind of equilibrium. 



In kinetic stability, or stability of steady motion, 

 a new factor conies into play. Neither a spinning- 

 top nor a bicycle can rest upright unless it is in 

 more or lees rapid motion. The moon would fall 

 into the earth, and the earth into the sun, if it 

 were not for the orbital velocity sustaining each in 

 ite path. The perturbations produced by the 

 planets cause the earth to be constantly deviating 

 from ite mean orbit ; yet in virtue of kinetic 

 stability this deviation is never large, and takes 

 place now in one direction, now in another. If no 

 frictional effects existed in the solar system, all 

 the planetary orbits would never vary beyond 

 certain assignable limits. 



St ahlcs. See HOR.SK, Vol. V. p. 795. 



Slarli) s. a ^enus of plants of the natural order 

 Labiatie, containing a great number of species, 

 mostly European, having a ten-ribbed calyx, with 

 five nearly equal teeth, the upper lip of the corolla 

 entire, and the lower lip threo-lobed. Several 

 species ure natives of Britain. S. si/lmfim is very 

 n nnmon in tdiady places, a coarse herbaceous plant, 

 sometimes called Hedge Nettle, with stem two to 

 three feet high, ovate heart-shaped leaves on long 

 stalks, whorls of purple flowers, and unpleasant 

 smell. S. fi-i/ii.itris is another very common British 

 species, growing in moist places, and sometimes 

 proving a very troublesome weed in meadows. The 

 plant was formerly used as a vulnerary, and has 

 therefore the English name Woundwort. Several 



species are not ^infrequently to be seen in flower- 

 gardens. To this genus some botanist* refer the 

 Common Betony or Wood Betony (S. bctunim. ..r 

 Iktonica officinalu), plentiful in woods and thickete 

 in the southern parte of Britain, a plant one or two 

 feet high, with hairy stem, oblong heart s 



, 



leaves, whorls of purple or white flowers, ami a fetid 

 smell. It was formerly much used in medicine. 

 The roote, in small doses, are emetic and aperient. 



Sladr. an ancient town of Hanover, near the 

 mouth of the Schwinge, u tributary of the Elbe, 

 *> miles W. by N. of Hamburg. There are large 

 brick-works. Pop. 9997. The Stade Dues were a 

 toll charged by the Hanoverian government on 

 all iiH'rchandme carried up the Elite to Hamburg. 

 First formally recognised in 1691, they gradually 

 increased till they brought a revenue of 40,000 a 

 year. They were abolished in 1861, Hanover 

 receiving 428,600 as compensation, of which 

 Britain and Hamburg contributed each 155,555. 



Stadium, the course on and over which the 

 foot-races were run at Olympia and other places in 

 Greece. It was oblong in shape, and 631 feet long. 

 Seats were provided overlooking the course for 

 more than 40,000 spectators. Besides foot-races, 

 leaping, discus-throwing, wrestling, and other 

 sports were celebrated on the same racecourse. 

 The stadium at Athens, levelled and laid out by 

 the orator Lycurgus in the first half of the 4t)i 

 century B.C., was 600 feet long by 130 wide, and ite 

 seats could accommodate as many onlookers as 

 those at Olympia. The length of the olympian 

 stadium was adopted as the Greek standard measure 

 of length or distance. Seven and a half stadia, or 

 4732 English feet, were reckoned as equivalent to a 

 Roman mile, at least in the time of the empire. 



Stadtholdcr, a barbarous English form of the 

 Dutch Staiihoitdcr, 'stead-holder,' of which the 

 French lieu-tenant is a literal translation, Sttt- 

 halter being the corresponding German. The word, 

 as usually written in English, suggests quite falsely 

 that it is connected with the German word Stadt, 

 'a city.' The title of Stadhouder (i.e. royal lieu- 

 tenant or viceroy) of the provinces Holland. Xea- 

 land, and Utrecht was in defiance of the rights of 

 these provinces conferred in 1540 on a foreigner, 

 Rene, Prince of Orange, at whose death ( 1544 ) it 

 passed to his cousin, William the Silent. In 1559 

 there were in the Low Countries eight other Stad- 

 houders of provinces, or groups of provinces, be- 

 sides the Prince of Orange : all were commanderB- 

 in -chief of their provinces, and all except Count 

 Egmont were also supreme civil and criminal 

 judges. In Braliant there was no Stadhouder 

 other than the Regent. After the I'niled Pro- 

 vinces had thrown oft* the yoke of Spain (see 

 HOLLAND, VoL V. p. 742) this title, now grown 

 dear, was retained (though a nisnomer) for the 

 head of the republic, and became hereditary in the 

 House of Orange until superseded by the 'title of 

 king. 



Slai ; I. MADAME m . one of the most illustrious 

 of Frenchwomen, was born at Paris, 22d April 

 1766. Her full name was Anne-Louise (iermaine 

 Necker, and she was the only child of Necker and 

 his irreproachable but colourless wife, who as 

 Suzanne Curchod had loved the young historian 

 ('ililmii at Lausanne. Germaine was an extra- 

 ordinarily precocious child, figured at receptions at 

 eleven, and grew up in an atmosphere of admiration. 

 She ever loved and respected ner mother, but her 

 father throughout life she loved on this side idolatry. 

 Rousseau, Clarissa, and Werther were her first 

 idols, she was steejied in the sensibility of the age, 

 and already in her girlhood she wrote romantic 

 comedies, tragedies, novels, essays, and one book 

 which has lived, Lcttret tur Rousseau (1789). She 



