750 



STONY STRATFORD 



STORK 



The college eleven in well known. There in a 

 covered playground, iwimminA Iwith, gymnasium, 

 and workshop; and the debating club tad ODIUM 

 magazine are prosperous institutions. Tin- lib 

 ran- of some 40,000 volumes has ninny valuable 

 MSS. and early printed liooks ; and the college 

 possesses a collection of pictures, a museum of 

 antiquities, scientific collections, and line speci- 

 mens of embroidery and church-plate in the sacristy 

 (many of these treasures having been preserved 

 from St Omer days). The college observatory rose 

 into note under Father Perry, F.H.S. Many of 

 the institutions the names of classes, exercises, 

 holidays date from the residence abroad. 



See HewiUon, Stonyhurit College ( Prerton, 1870 ; 2d 

 ed 1878); Memorial* of Stonykurit College (1881); 

 Rimmer, Stonyhurtt Illuttratrd (1884); J. B. Halt, 

 Stonvhur* Littt, TT9t-1886 (1886); 8hwcro, Stony- 

 hiirit (1894); Father Gerard, Stonyhurtt College (4to, 

 1894) ; P. Fitzgerald, Stonyhurtt Memories (1896). 



Stonv Stratford, a market-town of Bucks, 

 on WatOng Street and the Ouse, 8 miles JE. of 

 Buckingham. It had an Eleanor cross till 1646, 

 and suffered from fire in 1742. Pop. 2019. 



Stool of Repentance, one of several names 

 for an engine of ecclesiastical discipline in Scot- 

 land, also known as the ' pillory ' or ' pillar,' the 

 ' high place,' the ' public spectacle,' and in familiar 

 reference the 'cutty-stool a term ordinarily in 

 use for a domestic wooden stool with short legs. 

 The place of repentance was sometimes a stool or 

 bench, sometimes a pew or part of the gallery, 

 sometimes a special erection as high as the gallery, 

 containing several seats or stances, and ascended 

 by stairs. Whatever it was and whatever called, 

 it was about the most conspicuous thing in the 

 church ; and here persons who had become subject 

 to ecclesiastical discipline for immoral conduct 

 were required by the kirk-session to stand during 

 public worship in profession of their penitence. 

 The penitent was usually bare-headed and bare- 

 footed, clothed in sackcloth or a linen sheet (kept 

 for the purpose by the kirk-session ) ; the ceremony 

 might or might not be concluded by a public 

 rebuke from the minister. For minor offences one 

 appearance in the place of penitence might sullice ; 

 for the sin of fornication three several Sundays' 

 penitence were usually inflicted ; a much larger 

 number of days was not at all unusual ; and some 

 offences (such as incest) might imply fifty-two 

 Sabbaths in the place of penance unless the 

 culprit were condemned by the civil courts to 

 capital punishment. The stool of repentance was 

 steadily maintained during great part of the 18th 

 century, but gradually fell into desuetude, its 

 place being taken by public rebuke before the con- 

 gregation (still enforced in some places to near the 

 middle of the 19th century), and afterwards by 

 rebuke administered in presence of the session 

 only. See Dr Edgar on ' Discipline ' in The Church, 

 of Scotland, vol. v. (1891). 



Storax, a resin resembling benzoin, was in 

 high esteem from the lime of Pliny to the end 

 of the 18th century. It was obtained from tin- 

 stem of HI if nix officinalia, a native of Greece and 

 the Levant, hut owing to the destruction of the 

 trees it has now disappeared frnm commerce. II 

 wu used as a stimulating expectorant. LIQUID 

 STORAX, asoft viscid rein, o|>n|in- ami gray brown, 

 heavier than water, is obtained from the Liquid- 

 ambar oritntale, a tree 40 feet high, forming 

 forests in the sontli -wc~t <>( Asia Minor. It has 

 a balsamic odour and a pungent burning aronmtii 

 taste. It contains from 6 to 20 per cent, of cinnamic 

 acid, besides a hydrocarlmn, Styrol, a volatile oil, 

 and various fragrant ethers. It in used but seldom 

 in medicine, but has a reputation in chronic 



ironchial affections. Externally it has been 

 mploNcil in scabies. 



Stork, a group of birds characterised by having 

 In' bill larger than the head, very stout at base, 

 ml grooved, tapering to the straight recurved or 

 It run ed tip ; nostrils pierced directly in the horny 

 substance, without nasal scale or membrane. UgB 

 up in the bill, close to its base ; legs long, and 

 with reticulate scaling; three toes, with sometimes 

 a rudimentary fourth, the claws not acute. The 

 storks are usually divided into the True Storks 

 and the American 'Wood Ibises' (Tantalus). 

 There are several genera of storks, including alioiit 

 a dozen species. They )*long chiefly to tin- old 

 World. The most familiar representative of the 

 family is the Common Stork or White Stork 

 iiia alba), a native of the greater part of the 

 Old World, a migratory bird, its range extending 

 even to the northern parts of Scandinavia. _ It is 

 common in many parts of continental Europe 

 (though not in France, Italy, or Russia), but is 

 especially familiar in Holland and North ('.ernmnv, 

 the storks arriving annually in February and March, 

 and in autumn returning to Africa in large flocks, 

 flying mostly by night. It is about three feet and 

 a" half in length. The head, neck, and whole 

 liody are pure white ; the wings partly block ; the 

 bill and legs red. The neck is long, and generally 

 carried in an arched form ; the feathers of the breast 

 are long and pendulous, and the bird often has its 

 bill half hidden among them. The flight is very 

 powerful and high in the air ; the gait slow and 

 measured. In flight the head is thrown iMvck and 

 the legs extended. The stork sleeps standing on 

 one leg, with the neck folded, and the head turned 

 backward on the shoulder. It frequents marshy 

 places, feeding on eels and other fishes, frogs, 

 lizards, snakes, slugs, young birds, small mammals, 

 and insects. It makes a rude nest of sticks, reeds, 

 &c. on the tops of tall trees, or of ruins, spires, or 

 houses. There are four or five eggs, white tinged 

 with buff; and the old nest Is re-occupied next 



Common Stork (Cieonia alba). 



year. In many parts of Europe, especially in 

 "Holland, it is a very common practice to place 

 boxes for storks, and it is considered a fortunate 

 thing for a household that the box on the roof 

 is occupied : children are told it is the storks 

 that bring the babies out of the well. Storks 

 are protected by law in some countries, on 

 account of their good services not only in destroy- 

 ing reptiles and other troublesome animals, but 



