410 



STINK-POT STIRLING. 



articles have been introduced, and they are now the 

 constant means of preserving, when properly ap- 

 plied, the life which they were formerly so quick to 

 destroy . Stimulants are either simple and direct 

 in their operation, as the external application of 

 heat in all forms, dry and moist, by friction, &c., 

 the application to the stomach of hot liquors, spices, 

 camphor, hartshorn, warm and aromatic gums and 

 oils, as mint, cardamom, cajeput, ginger, assafoetida, 

 red pepper, spirits of turpentine, &c. ; or they act 

 first as stimulants, but produce afterwards effects 

 of a different character, as is the case with all 

 which are termed diffusible stimulants, as wine, 

 brandy and spirits of all sorts, opium, &c., all of 

 which are highly stimulant at first, and in small 

 quantity, but afterwards, and when taken in larger 

 doses, produce exhaustion, debility, sleep and death. 

 The first class are, upon the whole, the most safe, 

 and should be always used, in preference to the last, 

 when they can be had, in all cases of suspended ani- 

 mation, from cold, drowning, suffocation, &c. ; 

 while the others are more valuable for their secon- 

 dary and remote effects, by means of which they 

 ease pain, relieve spasm, &c. ; and for these pur- 

 poses they should be used freely, as they can do no 

 hurt, while the violence of the disease subsists. But 

 they should never be resorted to, unless pain is ur- 

 gent or debility become so great as to endanger life. 



STINK-POT; an earthen jar, charged with 

 powder, grenades, and other materials of an offen- 

 sive and suffocating smell. It is sometimes used by 

 privateers, to annoy an enemy whom they design to 

 board. 



STIPPLING. See Engraving. 



STIRIA (in German, Steiermark} ; a province 

 of the Austrian empire, which takes its name (see 

 Marches") from the county of Steier, in the Land 

 above the Ens. The eastern part was anciently a 

 portion of Pannonia,lhe western of Noricum, which 

 were conquered by the Romans at the close of the last 

 century before the Christian era. The Avars after- 

 wards occupied Upper Stiria, and the Veneti Lower 

 Stiria, whence the latter was called the Wendish 

 mark. Charlemagne set markgraves over it ; and, 

 as the counts of Steier were among the number, it 

 hence received the name of Steiermark. It is 

 bounded north by the archduchy of Austria, east by 

 Hungary, south by Carniola and Carinthia, and west 

 by Carinthia and Salzburg. Population, 836,128 ; 

 square miles, 8480. Upper Stiria lies to the north 

 and is mountainous, consisting, in a great measure, 

 of a continuation of a branch of the Alps. Lower 

 Stiria comprises the southern part. A number of 

 lateral branches of the Alps extend into Lower Sti- 

 ria, but become gradually lower as they remove from 

 the main chain, till they present nothing but small 

 elevations. There are, however, but few extensive 

 plains. The rivers are the Drave, Save, Muhr, and 

 Ens. The climate in the elevated parts is cold, but 

 the air is pure and elastic ; the soil, except on the 

 high mountains, very fertile, producing wheat, oats, 

 rye, potatoes, and in warmer situations, wheat. 

 Great attention is paid to raising cattle, and poul- 

 try is abundant. Agriculture is in a backward 

 state. Stiria abounds in mineral productions. The 

 iron mines are the most important, and yield an- 

 nually from 16,000 to 20,000 tons. Salt and coal 

 are abundant. Gold, silver, and copper hardly de- 

 fray the expense of working : lead is more common. 

 Cobalt, arsenic, and molybdena are found. The 

 manufactures are chiefly derived from the mines. 

 The exports consist of metals, corn, flax, wine, c-lo- 



ver-seed, and cattle. The Stirians have the hospi- 

 tality, frankness, and simple habits of an agricultu- 

 ral people; but they are imperfectly educated, 

 though parish schools have been established in the 

 principal villages. The majority are Catholics, 

 though the Protestants enjoy a full, and the Jews 

 a limited, toleration. The chief town is Griitz. 

 See Basil Hall's " Schloss Hansfield, or a Winter 

 in Lower Stiria." 



STIRLING: an ancient royal burgh of Scot- 

 land, the capital of Stirlingshire, is situated on the 

 south bank of the river Forth, at the distance of 

 thirty-five miles N. W. of Edinburgh, and twenty- 

 eight N. E. of Glasgow. In external appearance it 

 resembles the old town of Edinburgh, each being 

 built on the ridge and sides of a hill, which rises 

 gradually from the east, and presents an abrupt crag 

 towards the west ; and each having a principal street 

 on the surface of the ridge, the upper end of which 

 terminates with a castle. The castle of Stirling, 

 however, stands on a higher natural battlement than 

 that of Edinburgh ; the one being about 350 feet 

 above the level of the sea, the other not quite 300. 



Stirling has been called the Windsor of Scotland- 

 and it has some pretensions to that appellation. 

 The view from the castle is of vast extent, and 

 comprehends the richest variety both of the beauti- 

 ful and the grand in natural scenery. Towards the 

 west the prospect is bounded by the solitary Ben- 

 lomond, rising at the distance of about thirty miles, 

 to the height of above 3000 feet. The intervening 

 space is a level valley, through which the Forth is 

 seen stealing its way with a thousand meanderings. 

 Round the northern horizon sweeps the almost con- 

 tinuous chain of the Grampians. To the south lie 

 the green hills of Campsie ; turning round from 

 which towards the east the eye rests on a plain of 

 rich and cultivated beauty, with the sister towers 

 of the capital cresting the distance, and between, 

 the broad and fertile plains of Carron on the one 

 hand, and on the other, " the mazy Forth unravel- 

 led" in a succession of beautiful windings, till it 

 spreads out from a slender stream into a great arm 

 of the sea. 



Some idea of the singular manner in which the 

 river lingers over this part of its course, may be 

 formed from the fact that it travels over about 

 twenty four miles in making its way through a space 

 not more than six miles in length. The innumer- 

 able green peninsulas, of every variety of shape and 

 dimension, which it forms in its sportive progress, 

 present a picture which certainly has not often 

 been surpassed in bright and animated beauty. 



" Grey Stirling with her towers and town," is 

 unquestionably a place of very high antiquity. The 

 oldest existing charter of the burgh is dated in 1 120 ; 

 but it bears to be a confirmation of former grants, 

 and there can be no doubt that the fort at least was 

 of importance a considerable time before this. The 

 first mention which historians have made of it is in 

 the ninth century, about the middle of which it is 

 recorded to have been taken and thrown down by 

 Kenneth II. the king of the Highlands of Scotland, 

 when he overcame the Picts, whose principal for- 

 tress it was, and that which guarded the most ex- 

 posed extremity of their territory. The whole of 

 the south of Scotland as far as Stirling, however, 

 appears sooa after this to have fallen into the pos- 

 session of the two chiefs, Osbright, or Osbert, and 

 Ella, who, under the weak sway of the English 

 king, Ethelred I., had seized upon the sovereignty 

 of Northumberland ; and they rebuilt the castle as 





