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critical and explanatory notes; the last volume 

 contains the life of Sleidanus, his letters, &c. 

 Sleidanus is distinguished for knowledge of the 

 subjects which he treats, for his smooth and elegant 

 style, and for great impartiality, considering that 

 he lived in the midst of the events which he de- 

 scribes, and was deeply interested in them. The 

 work has been translated into several languages 

 (into French, by P. F. le Courayer, Hague, 1767, 

 3 vols.) Sleidanus also wrote De quatuor summis 

 Imperiis Lib. iii. (Strasburg, 1556), which has been 

 fifty-five times republished, and continued to 1676, 

 by Schurzfloish; also Summa Doctrince Platonis de 

 Republics, et de Legibus (Strasburg, 1548); Opvs- 

 cula, ed. Helias Putschius (Hanover, 1608). He 

 also translated the Mcmoires de Comines into Latin 

 (Paris, 1545). 



SLESWIC (in German, Schleswig); a Danish 

 duchy in the southern part of Jutland, separated 

 from Holstein on the south by the Eyder, and 

 having the German ocean on the west, and the 

 Little Belt on the east. The surface is low and 

 level, the climate mild and healthy, and the soil 

 productive, yielding great abundance of grain, and 

 supporting numerous cattle and horses, which, with 

 butter and cheese, grain and fish, are exported. 

 Population. 323,000, on 3434 square miles. The 

 inhabitants are Lutherans of German and Frisian 

 descent, and, for the most part, speak Low 

 German. Sleswic has always belonged to Den- 

 mark, and has usually been an apanage of the 

 younger princes of the royal house. The capital, 

 Sleswic, on the Schley or Sley, has 9000 inhabi- 

 tants. Lat. 54 32' N.; Ion. 9 35' E. It has 

 some manufactures, and its commerce has been 

 increased by a navigable canal. Near the town is 

 the castle of Gottorp, the residence of the royal 

 governor. 



SLIDE is the name given to an inclined plane 

 for facilitating the descent of heavy bodies by the 

 force of gravity. In general, they have been ob- 

 jects of no great importance; but one erected, 

 some years since, at Alpnacn, in Switzerland, 

 excited great interest throughout Europe. For 

 many ages, the craggy sides and the deep ravines 

 of Pilatus, a lofty mountain near Lucerne, were 

 thickly clothed with vast and impenetrable forests 

 of spruce fir, of the largest size and the finest 

 quality, surrounded on every side by the most ter- 

 rific precipices, inaccessible to all but a few daring 

 hunters, who, at the risk of their lives, scaled these 

 precipitous rocks and crags, in pursuit of the 

 chamois. It was from these bold adventurers that 

 the first intelligence was derived concerning the 

 size of the trees, and the extent of the forests, 

 until a foreigner, who had visited their sequestered 

 glades and gloomy recesses, in pursuit of the 

 chamois, was struck with amazement at the sight, 

 and pointed out to the attention of several Swiss 

 gentlemen the vast extent and superior quality of 

 the timber. The project of making use of these 

 rich natural stores was, however, rejected as chi- 

 merical, by persons whose experience and skill 

 made them competent to judge; and it was, conse- 

 quently, abandoned. This attempt having failed, 

 these immense and valuable forests would, in all 

 probability, have been suffered to flourish and 

 decay, without ever being applied to the use of 

 man, if it had not been for the enterprising genius 

 and the unwearied exertion of M. Rupp, a native 

 of Wirtemberg, who, owing to some political 

 changes which had taken place in his own country, 



had settled near the lake of Lucerne. His curiosity 

 being strongly excited by the accounts he had heard 

 of the forest, he was induced to visit it. He was 

 so much struck by its wonderful appearance, that 

 he entertained the idea of being able to convey the 

 trees into the lake of Lucerne, solely by their own 

 gravity. During his long residence in Switzerland, 

 his character and talents were so much appreciated, 

 that, with the assistance of three Swiss gentlemen, 

 he soon formed a company from among the pro- 

 prietors, with a joint stock, to enable them to pur- 

 chase the forest, and to construct a road or slide, 

 down which it was intended the trees should be 

 precipitated in the lake of Lucerne, an arm of which 

 washed the bottom of the mountain, from which 

 they could be easily conveyed by the Rhine to any 

 part of the German ocean. This stupendous 

 undertaking was finished in 1816. The slide of 

 Alpnach was composed of between 25,000 and 

 30,000 large pine trees, squared by the axe, and 

 formed into a sort of trough, about six feet broad, 

 and from three to six feet deep. In the bottom of 

 the trough there was a groove for the reception of 

 a small stream of water, let in over the side of the 

 trough every now and then, in order to keep the 

 whole structure moist, and thereby to diminish the 

 excessive friction occasioned by the rapidity of the 

 descent of the tree. The side was sustained by 

 cross timbers ; and these cross timbers were them- 

 selves supported by uprights fixed into the ground. 

 It was sometimes carried along the faces of the 

 most rocky eminences ; sometimes it went under 

 ground; and again it crossed the deepest ravines, 

 where it was supported by scaffoldings 220 feet 

 high. The skill and ingenuity which were dis- 

 played, and the difficulties which were surmounted, 

 in this vast undertaking, gained a just tribute of 

 admiration to the enterprising individual who pro- 

 jected and carried it through. Before the work could 

 even be begun, it was necessary to cut down many 

 thousand trees, to obtain a passage for the labourers 

 through the impassable thickets; and M. Rupp 

 was himself frequently obliged to descend the 

 steepest precipices, suspended by ropes, at the im- 

 minent hazard of his life; and though he was 

 attacked by a violent fever, yet his ardour was so 

 great that he had himself conveyed every day, on a 

 barrow, to the mountain, in order to superintend 

 the operations of his workmen. The expense at- 

 tending this undertaking was, according to one 

 account, 9000 or 10,000; but according to 

 another, only 4250. Before the trees were 

 launched into the slide, some previous preparation 

 was necessary, which consisted in lopping off the 

 branches, and stripping them of the bark, that 

 they might descend with the greater ease. Every 

 thing being prepared, the tree was introduced into 

 the trough, with the root foremost; and it de- 

 scended with such velocity as to reach the lake in 

 six minutes, a distance of about three leagues or 

 nine miles; but the largest trees performed the 

 same distance in about three minutes. In order to 

 prevent the accidents which might take place if 

 the tree was let off before every thing was ready 

 at the lower end, a regular telegraphic communica- 

 tion was established between the two extremities 

 of the slide ; and workmen were posted at regular 

 distances of about a mile from each other, and so 

 arranged that every station should be visible from 

 the ones both above and below it. When the 

 tree was launched, the workmen at the upper end 

 hoisted their telegraph (which consisted of a board 



