SUPERIOR 



SUPPLY 



813 



classes ; but it is only to the cases of the third class 

 that the term superfretation is truly applicable. The 

 first class includes the numerous undisputed cases 

 in which two mature children, bearing evidence, 

 from their different colours, that they are the off- 

 spring of different parents, are born at the same 

 time. ( In the slave states of America it was by no 

 means uncommon for a black woman to bear at the 

 same time a black and a mulatto child the former 

 being the offspring of her black husband, and the 

 latter of her white lover ; and the converse has 

 occasionally occurred a white woman at the same 

 time bearing a white and a mulatto child. ) There 

 is no difficulty in accounting for these cases, which 

 may be examples of nearly contemporaneous con- 

 ception rather than true superfcetation. The second 

 class includes those cases in which a twin has 

 aborted, leaving its fellow undisturbed in the 

 uterus, to be matured and born in due time, or 

 in which twins have been produced at the same 

 time, one of which was fully formed, while the 

 other was small and apparently premature, from 

 being ' blighted ' or arrested in its development at 

 an early period, or in which the birth of two 

 children, both mature or nearly so, is separated by 

 a short interval. Cases of these kinds are by no 

 means rare ; but there is no reason for believing 

 that the infants were conceived at different periods. 

 The third class only presents serious difficulty. 

 'In a case of genuine superf rotation,' says Dr 

 Bonnar of Cupar, 'a woman must bear two (or 

 more) mature children, with an interval of weeks 

 or months between the birth of each ; or, if she part 

 with the whole contents of the uterus at the first 

 delivery, the difference of the ages of the foetuses, 

 or the mature child and the foetus, as the case may 

 be, must be unmistakable, and there must be the 

 absence of all marks of blight of the latter, so 

 as to leave no doubt that, had it remained in 

 ntero, it would have gone on to perfect maturity.' 

 Several apparently well-authenticated cases are 

 on record where a second living child has been 

 born three, four, or five months after the first ; and 

 these seem inexplicable on any hypothesis except 

 that a second conception has taken place during 

 the progress of the first pregnancy. Theoretical 

 objections to the possibility of such an occurrence 

 cannot outweigh the recorded facts, and by some 

 of the highest authorities are not considered valid 

 for the early months of pregnancy. Cases, more- 

 over, of double uterus occasionally occur ; and in 

 the absence of clear evidence to the contrary in 

 any particular case it is possible that the second 

 conception may have taken place in the unoccupied 

 division of such an organ. See Taylor's Medical 

 Jurisprudence for further details. 



Superior, a flourishing city of Wisconsin, at 

 the W. end of Lake Superior. It became a city in 

 1889, has about 40 church organizations, fine public 

 school buildings, a public library, city hall, grain 

 elevators and flounng-rnills, several banks, and 

 extensive manufactures of iron and steel products. 

 Pop. (1887)3353; (1890) 11,983; (1900)31,091. 



Superior, LAKE, the largest body of fresh 

 water on the globe, is the highest and most western 

 of the great lakes lying between Canada and the 

 United States. It is bounded on the N. and E. by 

 Ontario, on the S. by Michigan and Wisconsin, and 

 on the NW. by Minnesota. Greatest length, 412 

 miles; greatest breadth, 167 miles; area, 31,200 

 sq. m. nearly that of Ireland. The surface of the 

 lake is 601^ feet above the level of the sea, and its 

 mean depth about 475 feet ; its maximum depth is 

 1008 feet, or 406 feet below the level of the sea. 

 Its surface has an elevation of 20J feet above that 

 of Lakes Huron and Michigan ; this difference 

 occurs in the rapids of St Mary's Kiver, the only 



outlet ( see SAULT STE MARIE ), where the average 

 discharge is 86,000 cubic feet per second. Lake 

 Superior, being situated very near the watershed 

 between Hudson Bay and the Mississippi, receives 

 no rivers of importance, although hundreds of small 

 rivers pour themselves into it, the largest the St 

 Louis and the Nipigon. Its aggregate drainage 

 area (including its own area) is 82,800 sq. m. 

 (Compare the articles on the four other lakes of the 

 system, and those on Victoria Nyanza, Baikal, &c. ) 

 Near Dog Lake (318 miles by rail E. of Port 

 Arthur) a short portage connects streams flowing 

 to Lake Superior with others flowing north to 

 Hudson Bay. The Sault Ste Marie Canal (f mile, 

 opened 1895) gives continuous navigation from the 

 head of Lake Superior to the sea, 2384 miles. 



The bold northern coast is fringed with rocky 

 islands, some rising from deep water to 1300ft. above 

 the lake. The largest island is Isle Royale, which 

 is 44 miles long. The southern shore is generally 

 lower and more sandy, with occasional ridges of 

 limestone. Keweenaw Point (q.v.) projects far 

 into the lake. At Grand Isle Bay, about 100 miles 

 W. of Sault Ste Marie, are the Pictured Rocks, 

 cliffs of sandstone from 50 to 200 feet high, in 

 many places presenting fantastic forms, and marked 

 by numerous vertical bands and blotches of red and 

 yellow. The boundary line between Canada and 

 the United States is drawn through the centre of 

 the lake from its outlet to the mouth of Pigeon 

 River, but is diverted so as to include in the United 

 States Isle Royale. 



The water of Lake Superior is singularly pure 

 and transparent. It never freezes over,, but the 

 shore ice prevents navigation in winter. The lake 

 also is subject to very violent storms ; waves have 

 been observed, during protracted autumn gales, 15 

 to 18 feet high. It has the small tides common to 

 the great lakes (see MICHIGAN), and also the 

 seiches seen in Swiss lakes a regular series of 

 small waves, or pulsations, at intervals of about 

 ten minutes. 



The rocks around the lake are very ancient, 

 belonging principally to the Laurentian and Huron- 

 ian systems of the Azoic series, overlaid in some 

 places, especially on the south side, with patches 

 of the Lower Silurian (soft sandstones). There is 

 everywhere much evidence of glacial action. On 

 the north side, both on the islands and shores, 

 copper and silver are worked, especially at Thunder 

 Bay ; while the copper and red haematite iron ores 

 of the south side are celebrated for their extent 

 and richness (see COPPER, p. 464). The principal 

 towns on the Canadian side are Sault Ste Marie 

 and Port Arthur, and on the American side Duluth, 

 Superior, and Marquette, all of which are discussed 

 separately. The Canadian Pacific Railway passes 

 along the northern shore. See Crosman's Chart of 

 the Great Lakes (Milwaukee, 1888). 



Superphosphates. See PHOSPHORUS. 



Supervision. BOARD OF. See POOR-LAWS. 

 Vol. VIII. p. 315. 



Supple Jack, a name given in the southern 

 United States to the Berchemia volubilis, a twining 

 shrub of the natural order Rhamnacese, which is 

 found as far north as Virginia. It has oval leaves, 

 small flowers, and violet-coloured berries. Some 

 of the tropical American Paullinias are also called 

 Supple Jack. The same name is also given in the 

 West Indies and tropical America to Serjania ( or 

 Seriana) triternata, a shrub of the natural order 

 Sanindacese (q.v.), with a long, flexile, woody stem, 

 which climbs to the tops of the highest trees, and 

 is used for walking-sticks. 



Supply. See DEMAND AND SUPPLY. 



Supply, COMMISSIONERS OP, so called because 

 they were originally appointed for the purpose of 



