SORDINO SOUL. 



323 



ing the reign of St Louis, about 1250, and endowed 

 it with an income which was subsequently much 

 increased. This institution, the teachers in which 

 were always doctors and professors of theology, ac- 

 quired so much fame that its name was extended to 

 the whole theological faculty of the university of 

 Paris, which was called, till the end of the eighteenth 

 century, Sorbonne. Its opinions and decrees had a 

 decided influence upon the character of Catholicism 

 in France. The kings seldom took any steps af- 

 fecting religion or the church without having asked 

 the opinion of the Sorbonne; and, even without the 

 limits of France, its opinions were often esteemed j 

 more highly than those of other academies. Not less 

 inimical to the Jesuits than to the reformation, the 

 Sorbonne steadfastly maintained the liberties of the 

 Galilean church, opposed the bull Unigenitus; 

 and, in the Jansenistic disputes, though it could 

 not be said to take part with the society of Port- 

 Royal, yet was always opposed to the Jesuits. In 

 later times, the Sorbonne devoted itself much more 

 to the defence of the rights of the church than the 

 perfection of its doctrines and practice. Its spirit 

 often degenerated into pedantic obstinacy, and not 

 (infrequently into blind zeal for the letter of ancient 

 doctrine; so that it formed a striking contrast to 

 the acute philosophers, beaux esprits and free- 

 thinkers of the eighteenth century; and its con- 

 demnation of the writings of Helvetius, Rousseau, 

 and Marmontel, subjected it to much derision. 

 The Sorbonne, therefore, had long outlived its 

 fame, when the revolution put an end to its exis- 

 tence. The candidates for the degree of doctor in 

 the Sorbonne were subjected to a severe trial of 

 their patience. They were obliged to defend their 

 theses from six o'clock in the morning to six in the 

 evening uninterruptedly, and were merely allowed 

 a slight refreshment in their desk. 



SORDINO (Ital.~); a. small instrument of copper 

 or silver, applied to the bridge of a violin, or violon- 

 cello, to render the sound fainter, by intercepting 

 the vibrations of the body of the instrument. 



SORELLE, OR SOREL; a river of Canada, 

 which flows from lake Cham plain into the river St 

 Lawrence, forty-five miles below Montreal. It is 

 sixty-nine miles long. 



SORITES, in logic; a string of syllogisms in an 

 abridged form, in which the predicate of the first 

 proposition is made the subject of the next, and so 

 on to any length, till finally the predicate of the 

 last of the premises is predicated of the subject of 

 the first. A sorites (from au^o;, a heap) has as many 

 middle terms as there are intermediate propositions 

 between the first and the last; and consequently it 

 may be drawn out into as many syllogisms. 



SORREL. The true sorrel (rumex acetoso) 

 has long been cultivated in Europe for its leaves, 

 as spinage and salad. They have an acid and 

 slightly astringent taste, are cooling, and possess. 

 antiscorbutic properties. They are often put in 

 refreshing drinks, and administered in cases of 

 fever, &c. ; but their most general use is for culi- 

 nary purposes. The stems are upright, a foot and 

 a half or two feet high, provided with a few petio- 

 late, oblong, arrow-shaped leaves on the inferior 

 part of the stem, and lanceolate, sessile ones above. 

 The flowers are reddish or whitish, and are disposed 

 in branching, upright racemes. The sheep's-sorrel 

 (R. acetosella) is less than the preceding, but re- 

 sembles it in habit, as well as in its sensible pro- 

 perties. The leaves are hastate. All domestic 

 cattle are fond of the species of sorrel. 



SORREL TREE (andromeda arborea). This 

 tree sometimes attains the height of fifty feet, with 

 a trunk twelve or fifteen inches in diameter. 

 These dimensions are remarkable in a genns other- 

 wise consisting entirely of shrubs. It inhabits ex- 

 clusively, the range of the Allegbanies from Virginia 

 to Georgia. The leaves are four or five inches 

 long; oval-acuminate, and finely toothed; downy 

 in the spring, but becoming smooth as they attain 

 their growth. The flowers are small, white, dis- 

 posed in long spikes, which are united in groups, 

 and render the tree highly ornamental. The corolla 

 is monopetalous, ovate, and downy. The name 

 has been applied on account of the acidity of the 

 leaves. These last, in drying, become black, and 

 are sometimes used for imparting this colour to 

 wool, when sumac cannot be procured. The wood 

 is of a pale rose colour, very soft, burns with diffi- 

 culty, and is wholly rejected in the arts. This 

 tree is well adapted for an ornamental plant, as it 

 is capable of enduring a cold climate, and the 

 flowers begin to show themselves when it is only 

 five or six feet high. 



SOUBISE, CHARLES DE ROHAN, prince de, mar- 

 shal of France, born in 1715, was, at the beginning 

 of the seven years' war, perhaps the richest noble- 

 man in France ; and, without military talents, but 

 merely as the favourite of Pompadour, received the 

 command of a separate division, which, however, 

 was subordinate to the main army under marshal 

 d'Estrees a circumstance which deeply wounded 

 his pride. In the summer of 1757, at which time 

 he was lieutenant-general, he therefore separated 

 from the main army, and joined the imperial forces, 

 with the purpose of delivering Saxony from the 

 Prussians. Having reached Gotha, he allowed 

 himself to be surprised by the Prussian general, 

 who occupied the place intended for Soubise, at a 

 feast in the ducal palace. Confiding in his superior 

 numbers, Soubise next attempted to surround 

 Frederic in his camp at Rossbach, but was suddenly- 

 attacked on the flank, and his troops were entirely 

 routed. The loss of this battle, and the general 

 ridicule which followed it, did not prevent his 

 being again placed in command, in 1758, when he 

 was more successful, by the^aid of the duke of 

 Broglio, who was associated "with him. He re- 

 ceived the marshal's staff in reward for his services. 

 After the peace, he continued for some time in the 

 cabinet, and died in 1787. 



SOUBRETTE; a name given, in the French 

 theatre, to the ladies' waiting maids; hence it is 

 used for a subaltern and intriguing female in 

 general. 



SOUDAN. See Nigritia. 



SOUL. What is the soul? The explanation 

 of the soul is involved in this great difficulty, that 

 the thinking, by which we arrive at our results 

 concerning its nature, is an act of the soul itself; 

 and can a single function show the nature of the 

 power from which it proceeds? Impossible as this 

 seems, the human mind has at all times drawn a 

 picture of the soul, and ascribed properties to it 

 which distinguish it from every thing divisible 

 and transitory. Hence, with the exception of 

 inquirers like Democritus and Epicurus, who con- 

 sidered every thing as composed of original atoms, 

 or strove to explain every thing from the changes 

 of physical organization, men have always attri- 

 buted to the soul the qualities of simplicity, voli- 

 tion, immateriality, and immortality. Plato pro- 

 posed to himself the double question, What was 

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