412 



STIRLING STOCK FISH. 



it receives the Teith, Bannockburn, Ardoch, and 

 Allan. The Carron, the next river in size to the 

 Forth, rises in the central district, and after flowing 

 on in an easterly direction, joins the Forth at Grange- 

 mouth. The smaller rivers are the Bannoekbuni, 

 tin- Avon, the Endrick, the Blane, and the Kelvin. 

 Stirlingshire abounds with iron-stone, coal, free- 

 stone, and limestone. The manufactures of the 

 county ace various. At Stirling, and in the town 

 and parish of St Ninians, there are manufactories 

 of carpets, coarse woollens of divers kinds, tartans, 

 and cottons, while there are several large estab- 

 lishments in different places for cotton, paper, 

 copperas, alum, Prussian blue, soda, &c. There 

 are many large distilleries in various parts of the 

 county. The grand staple manufacture of Stirling- 

 shire is iron goods, cast and malleable, at Carron, 

 on the banks of the river of that name. The 

 manufacture of nails for carpenter work is likewise 

 carried on in the wayside villages to a very consi- 

 derable extent. By these various means, this cen- 

 tral county of Scotland has risen greatly in wealth, 

 civilization, and amount of population, and its future 

 prospects are equally cheering. Stirlingshire com- 

 prises twenty-two parishes, besides portions of other 

 four. The county contains only one royal burgh, 

 Stirling, and the populous and thriving town of 

 Falkirk ; likewise the villages of St Ninians, Airth, 

 Balfron, Bannockburn, Camelon, Carron, Denny, 

 Drymen, Fintry, Grangemouth, Gargunnock, Kil- 

 learn, Kilsyth, Kippen, Larbert, Lennoxtoun of 

 Campsie, Laurieston, Polmont, Strathblane, &c. 

 Population of the county in 1831, 72,621. 



STIRLING, LORD. See Alexander, William. 

 STIRRUP. The ancients were not acquainted 

 with the use of this convenient article of equestrian 

 costume, the emperor Mauritius, who flourished 

 towards the end of the sixth century, being the 

 first writer who makes mention of it, in his Trea- 

 tise on the Military Art. The Roman youth were 

 accustomed to leap upon their horses sword or 

 lance in hand. A jasper, explained by Winckel- 

 mann; a basso-relievo, engraved by Roccheggiani ; 

 and the painting of a Greek vase, published in 

 Millin's Recueil de Monumens, all exhibit warriors 

 mounting on horseback by the help of a cramp-iron 

 attached to the pike or lance. Distinguished persons 

 and old men had servants to place them on their 

 horses, and conquered sovereigns were often com- 

 pelled to perform this office for their vanquishers. 

 Caius Gracchus caused to be placed at certain dis- 

 tances along the high roads, after the example of 

 the Greeks, large stones to assist the horsemen in 

 mounting. 



STOA. See Stoics. 

 STOAT. See Ermine. 



STOBJ2US, JOHN, the name of a Greek writer, 

 who, about the middle of the fifth century, was 

 the author of a variety of miscellaneous works, 

 most of which have perished : but his collection of 

 excerpts from those of various philosophers and 

 poets, has come down to posterity, and is impor- 

 tant, from the fragments of lost authors which it 

 contains. It consists of four books, of which the 

 third and fourth form a separate work ; and its ex- 

 tracts are important contributions to the history of 

 philosophy. The best edition is that of Heeren 

 (Gottingen, 17921801, 4 vols.) 



STOCK EXCHANGE; originally, the building 

 in London, where the stock brokers assemble to 

 transact their business. It was erected in 1804, in 

 consequence of the inconvenience to which they 



were subjected, and the general interruption of 

 public business, occasioned by the stock-jobbers, 

 who intermingled with them when they transacted 

 business in the bank rotunda. No person is allowed 

 to act here but regular stock brokers, who are bal- 

 loted for annually. The name is also applied in 

 general to the place where the same business is 

 transacted in other cities. The great stock ex- 

 changes of Europe are those of Amsterdam, London, 

 Paris, and Frankfort on the Maine, which decide 

 the price of stocks in all the rest of the world. 

 Those of Petersburg, Berlin, and Vienna are of 

 much less importance. We have given an account 

 of the stocks of different countries in the article 

 Public Stocks; we shall here give a view of the 

 manner of creating, purchasing, and transferring 

 stock, as practised in London. New loans are paid 

 at stated periods, by instalments of 10 or 15 per 

 cent., and the terms on which they are made 

 generally occasion an increase on different kinds of 

 stock, to the amount of three per cent, and upwards 

 (according to the emergency and state of the money 

 market) more than the sum borrowed. Thus, for 

 every hundred pounds capital, new stock is created 

 to the amount of one hundred and three pounds. 

 The difference is called the bonus, and the aggregate 

 of the additional stock of different kinds is termed 

 omnium. If these be disposed of separately, before 

 all the instalments are paid, the different articles' 

 are called scrip, which is an abbreviation of sub- 

 scription. The value of the stocks is perpetually 

 fluctuating, the variations being occasioned by un- 

 founded as well as real causes. Any occurrence 

 by which the security of the state is either hazarded 

 or strengthened, though one may be as imaginary 

 as the other, has an immediate effect upon the 

 price, which will advance or fall as the news may 

 be considered good or otherwise. The gaining of 

 a victory, the signing of an armistice, and the con- 

 clusion of a peace, have each a direct influence on 

 the rise of the stocks ; whilst, on the other hand, 

 the loss of a battle, the death of a sovereign, the 

 commencement and protraction of war, are equally 

 certain to lower the funds; even the mere report 

 of a momentous event will frequently lead to a con~ 

 siderable alteration of price. The quantity of 

 stock in the market will also either depreciate or 

 raise the value, as purchasers may be- more or 

 less numerous. The manner of buying stock is, 

 to give a specific number of pounds for a nominal 

 hundred pounds. Thus, if the purchase be made 

 in the three per cents., and the current price be 

 eighty pounds, that sum is paid for one hundred 

 pounds stock, which yields a dividend of three 

 pounds per annum. Persons conversant in these 

 things will sometimes obtain a considerable advan- 

 tage by transferring stock from one branch of the 

 funds to another, the variations in the value of the 

 different stocks not being always adjusted to their 

 proper level. Every possible degree of facility, 

 consistent with prudence, is given to the purchase 

 and sale of stocks; yet the intervention of a stock 

 broker is generally thought requisite, as the identity 

 of the persons making the transfer must be vouched 

 for, before the witnessing clerk will allow his sig- 

 nature to be made in the bank books. All transfers 

 of stock are made on the appointed transfer days ; 

 and no stock can be transferred twice on the same 

 day. The space between the shutting and opening 

 the books of any stock is usually about six weeks. 

 See Stock- Jobbing. 



STOCK-FISH. See Cod. 



