732 



STINKPOT 



STIRLING 



tail bear* dorsally a long l>i serrated spine, which 

 represents the donial fin. and is sometimes nUmt 

 eight inches in length. This is used as a defen-ii < 

 wea[xm, and gives an uglv wound, often followed 

 by great inflammation, perhaps due to the mucous 

 accretion of the fifth, for there is no poison in the 

 strict sense. Some memliers of the family, e.g. 

 Urogymnus, are without this weapon. The sting- 

 rays are for the most part tropical fishes, and some, 

 e.g. T. sephen and T. uarnnl;, attain a large size. 

 Only one species occurs in the British seas ( T. 

 nastinaea), popularly known as the Fire-flaire. 

 The spine of the sting-ray is used by the savage* 

 of the South Sea Islands as a point to their spears. 



Stinkpot. See ASPHYXIANTS. 



Stinkstone, or Sw INKSTOXK, a kind of marble 

 or limestone remarkable for the fetid urinous 

 odour which it emits when nibbed. It contains a 

 little sulphur. 



Stink-trap. See SEWAOB. 



Stink-wood (Oreodaphne fcetida), a tree of 

 the natural order Lauraceie, a native of the Cape 

 of Good Hope, remarkable for the strong disagree- 

 able smell of its wood, which, however, is hard, 

 very durable, takes an excellent polish, and re- 

 sembles walnut. It has been used in shipbuilding. 



Stint* See SANDPIPER. 

 Slipa. See FEATHER-GRASS. 



Stipend. The stipend is the provision made 

 for the support of the parochial ministers of the 

 Church of Scotland. It consists of payments in 

 money or grain, or both, made out of the tithes or 

 teinds of the parishes (see TEINDS). Accordingly 

 it varies in amount with the extent of the parish 

 and the state of the free teinds, or of any other 

 fund specially set apart for the purpose. By the 

 Act 1617, chap. 3, power was given to commissioners 

 named under the act to modify, at their discretion, 

 a perpetual local stipend to the ministers of 

 all parish churches from the parochial teinds. 

 The maximum stipend to be given by the com- 

 missioners was 10 chalders victual, or 1000 merks 

 (55, lls. lid.) per annum, or proportionally money 

 and victual, with a manse and glebe. Commis- 

 sions with more liberal powers were appointed in 

 1621, and again in 16*27 and 1633 and subsequent 

 years. Shortly after the Union the powers vested 

 in the commissioners under the then extant 

 commissions were transferred to the Lords of 

 Council and Session, sitting as a Court of Com- 

 mission of Teinds ; and the exclusive powers of 

 the Court of Session in assigning, modifying, 

 and Mocalling' stipends were left intact by the 

 Judicature Act. When the existing stipend of a 

 minister is deemed insufficient, the Court, provided 

 there remains any surplus or free teind in the parish, 

 may award out of it such augmentation nf stipend 

 as is considered suitable, lint no augmentation 

 can l>e applied for within twenty years after the 

 lost augmentation. By statute 50 Geo. III. chap. 

 84, all stipends which eome short of 150 per 

 annum are made up to that amount from govern- 

 ment funds a sum of 10,000 annually lieing set 

 apart from the revenue for that purpose. By 

 r> Geo. IV. chap. 72, a parish minister who has 

 neither manse nor glel>e, and whose income is 

 under 200 iier annum, is entitled to an allowance 

 making up his stipend to a sum not exceeding that 

 amount ; if there is a manse but no glebe, or a 

 glebe but no nmn-e, the minister's income may 

 be supplemented so as to ensure him 180 per 

 annum. Ministers under these act* are also 

 entitled to an allowance of 8, 6s. 8d. for com- 

 munion elements. By 7 and 8 Viet. chap. 44, the 

 stipend of quoad taera. parishes is fixed where 

 there is a manse at not less than 100 per annum, 



and where there is no manse at not leas than 120 

 per annum. These stipends are voluntary, Wing 

 provided through the endowment schemes of the 

 Church, and the Aels ;"><i Geo. III. chiip. H4, and 

 5 Geo. IV. chap. 72. have nn application to tin: 

 ministers of such quoad sm-rn parishes. 



The terms at which stipend i> payable are Whit- 

 sunday and Michaelmas. The reason why Michael- 

 mas (29th Septemlier) is taken in preference to 

 Martinmas is that the .-t ipend is held to come in 

 place of the tithes, which were due at the separa- 

 tion of the crop from the ground. Where the 

 incumbent is admitted before Whitsunday he is 

 entitled to the whole year's stipend, because his 

 entry is considered as prior to the sowing of the 

 corn ; and, for the same reason, if his interest has 

 ceased before that term, he has no right to any 

 part of the fruits of that year. If he has been 

 admitted after Whitsunday, and before Michael- 

 mas, he is entitled to the half of that year's 

 stipend ; and in the same way the incumbent 

 whose interest ceases between Whitsunday and 

 Michaelmas has a right to the half-year's stipend, 

 and if his interest does not cease till after Michael- 

 mas he gets the stipend of the whole year. The 

 stipend accruing during a vacancy was formerly at 

 the disposal of the patron of the parish for pious 

 uses ; but by statute 54 Geo. III. chap. 169, it was 

 given to the Ministers' Widows Fund. On the 

 decease of a minister a sum equal to a half-year's 

 st ipend is payable to his family or nearest of kin 

 (see ANNATES). 



Stipendiary Magistrates. See BOROUOH. 



Stirling, the county town of Stirlingshire, 

 stands on the south bank of the winding Forth, .'!(> 

 miles N\V. of Edinburgh and 29 NNE. of Glasgow. 

 Like Edinburgh, to which in its main features it 

 bears a striking resemblance, it no doubt owes its 

 origin to the strong natural fortress of its Castle 

 Hill, which rises gradually from the east to a 

 height of 420 feet alx>ve the sea or 340 above the 

 plain, and fronts the west with a steep precipitous 

 wall of basaltic rock. The Castle, which com- 

 mands magnificent views of the Grampians, the 

 Ochils, and the 'Links of Forth,' dates from im- 

 memorial antiquity, though few, if any, of the 

 existing buildings are earlier than the days of the 

 Stewart sovereigns, who often kept court here. 

 These include tlie Douglas room ( where the Earl 

 of Douglas was stabbed by James II., 1462), 

 James III.'s parliament-hall (now a barrack-room), 

 James V.'s palace, and James VI. 's chapel (now a 

 store-room). Stirling has many other objects of 

 interest, as Argyll's Lodging ( Hi.'iO, since 1709 a 

 military hospital) ; ruined Mars Work (c. 1570); 

 Grey friars Church, so called, but properly the 

 church of the Holy Cross, or Holy Hood, the parish 

 church of Stirling (in 1656 divided into two); the 

 colossal statue of Bruce ( 1877) ; the new cemetery, 

 with half-a-dozen statues of Reformers and Cove- 

 nanters and a marble group of the Wigtown 

 martyrs; Cowane's Hospital or the Guildhall 

 (1637); the King's Knot and King's Park; the 

 Mote or Heading Hill; the old four arch bridge 

 (c. 1400 the 'key of the Highlands'); l;.il>. -rt. 

 Stevenson's new bridge (1832); and the Smith 

 Institute (1874), with picture-gallery, reading- 

 room, library, and museum, where now is pre- 

 served the 'Stirling Jug '(1497), the standard of 

 the old Scots pint. Other modern edifices are the 

 County Buildings (1875), the public hall (1883), 

 and the High School (1855-89). In the neighbour- 

 hood are liannockburn (q.v.) ; the ruins of Cambus- 

 kenneth Abbey, founded by David I. in 1147 for 

 Augustinian monks, and the burial-place of James 

 III. ; and the Abbey Craig (362 feet), crowned by 

 the Wallace Monument ( 1861-69), a tower 220 feet 



