STRETTO STRONTITES. 



427 



second signal is given for raising the person from 

 the chair. To his own surprise and that of his 

 bearers, he rises with the greatest facility, as if he 

 were no heavier than a feather. When one of the 

 bearers performs his part ill, by making the inhala- 

 tion out of time, the part of the body which he 

 tries to raise is left, as it were, behind. Among 

 the remarkable exhibitions of mechanical strength 

 and dexterity, we may enumerate that of supporting 

 pyramids of men. This exhibition is a very ancient 

 one. It is described, though not very clearly, by 

 the Roman poet Claudian ; and it has derived some 

 importance in modern times, in consequence of its 

 having been performed in various parts of Great 

 Britain by the celebrated traveller Belzoni, before 

 he entered upon the more estimable career of an 

 explorer of Egyptian antiquities. The simplest 

 form of this feat consists in placing a number of 

 men upon each other's shoulders, so that each row 

 consists of a man fewer, till they form a pyramid 

 terminating in a single person, upon whose head a 

 boy is sometimes placed with his feet upwards. 



STRETTO (Italian} signifies, in music, that the 

 movement to which it is prefixed is to be performed 

 in a quick concise mapner. 



STRIKE ; a measure of capacity, containing four 

 pecks. 



STRIKE, among seamen, is a word variously 

 used. When a ship, in a fight, or on meeting with 

 a ship of war, lets down or lowers her top-sails at 

 least half mast high, she is said to strike, meaning 

 that she yields, or submits or pays respect to the 

 ship of war. Also, when a ship touches ground in 

 shoal water, she strikes. And when a top-mast is 

 to be taken down, the word of command is, Strike 

 the top-mast, &c. 



STROGANOFF; a distinguished Russian fa- 

 mily, descended from a merchant, Anika Stroganoff, 

 who, in the sixteenth century, resided at Solwyt- 

 schegodzka, and gave rise to the discovery of Sibe- 

 ria. The czar Ivan granted to Jacob and Gregory 

 Stroganoff the desert country along the Kama, from 

 Perm to the Ssiilwa river, and on the banks of 

 the Tschussowa. They were originally fur-traders, 

 hut, to defend themselves against the Siberian 

 and Nogaian robbers, were allowed to build forts, 

 and collect troops. They also administered justice, 

 suppressed insurrections, and, in fact, protected the 

 north-east of Russia. They had extended the Mos- 

 covite territory to the chain of the Ural ; and when 

 the Mongolian conqueror of Siberia, Kutschjum, 

 intended to destroy the settlements of the Stroga- 

 noffs, on the Kama, they received, May 30, 1574, a 

 grant of the enemy's country, which allowed them to 

 settle on the banks of the Tobol, to wage war with 

 Kutschjum, and to work mines. They offered five 

 bands of robbers, commanded by revolted Cossack 

 hetmanns, employment in their service, urging them 

 to give up their dishonest mode of life. Thus the 

 Cossack Jermack, and his companions were induced 

 to leave the Wolga, and, being joined by many ad- 

 ditional forces collected by the Stroganoffs, entered 

 Siberia. The country was conquered after three 

 battles, the taking of Kutschj urn's camp by storm. 

 The capital, Sibir, was captured, October 26, 1581. 

 (See the Chronicle of the Stroganoffs, M tiller's His- 

 tory of Siberia (in German), and Karamsin's History 

 of Russia.) A descendant of Anika, baron Gregory 

 Stroganoff, since 1827 a member of the council of 

 the Russian empire, is proprietor of the important 

 salt and iron works in Perm, established by his an- 

 cestors. From 1805 to 1808, he was Russian am- 



bassador at Madrid : afterwards at Stockholm, and 

 in the memorable period of 1821, at Constantino- 

 ple, where he distinguished himself by talent, firm- 

 ness, and humanity, in the most critical conjunc- 

 tures, and laboured strenuously to protect the 

 Greeks and the Greek church. 



STROKE OF THE SUN (coup de soleif). When 

 the direct rays of the sun, during the hot season of 

 the year, are allowed to strike for some time upon 

 the skin, an inflammation is produced, accompanied 

 with blisters and sharp pains. After a few days, 

 the inflammation ceases, and the epidermis peels off. 

 If the head is exposed to the sun, the brain is some- 

 times affected in a similar manner. The blood col- 

 lects in great quantities, the vessels become swollen, 

 the face and eyes appear red, and violent pains in 

 the head follow. A feverish heat pervades the 

 whole body ; lethargy, or suffering which prevents 

 sleep, apoplexy, with or without extravasation of 

 blood, or an inflammation of the blood ensues, and 

 often terminates fatally. Exposure by sleeping in 

 the sun is particularly dangerous. 



STROMBOLI. See Lipari Islands. 



STRONG BEER. See Brewing. 



STRONTITES; a peculiar earth, discovered in 

 1793, and thus named by doctor Hope of Edinburgh, 

 in allusion to its having been first noticed in a mi- 

 neral first brought from Strontian, in Argyleshire. 

 Klaproth examined the mineral the same year, with- 

 out a knowledge of the experiments of doctor 

 Hope, and called the earth strontian. Pure stron- 

 tites is of a greyish-white colour, possesses a pun- 

 gent, acrid taste, and when powdered in a mortar, 

 the dust which rises irritates the lungs and nostrils. 

 It is an unusually heavy earth, approaching barytes 

 in specific gravity. It requires rather more than 

 160 parts of water at 60 to dissolve it; but of 

 boiling water much less. On cooling, it crystallizes 

 in thin, transparent, quadrangular plates, seldom 

 exceeding a quarter of an inch in length, and fre- 

 quently adhering together. These crystals contain 

 about 68 parts in 100 of water ; are soluble in little 

 more than twice their weight of boiling water. The 

 solution of strontites has the property of converting 

 vegetable blues to green. It tinges the flame of a 

 candle of a beautiful red colour. The experiment 

 may be made by putting a little of the salt composed 

 of nitric acid and strontites into the wick of a lighted 

 candle, or by setting fire to alcohol holding muriate 

 of strontites in solution.* Sir H. Davy decomposed 

 this earth by means of the same processes as he 

 employed in the decomposition of the other earths. 

 To the metallic base of it he gave the name of 

 strontium, which is a white, solid metal, much hea- 

 vier than water, and bears a close resemblance to 

 barium in its properties. When exposed to the 

 air, or when thrown into water, it rapidly absorbs 

 oxygen, and is converted into strontian. The salts 

 of strontites are in general more soluble than the 

 salts of barytes, but less so than the salts of lime. 

 The sulphate of strontites is of a pure white colour, 

 and is not sensibly soluble in water. Anhydrous 

 nitrate of strontites may be prepared by dissolving 

 carbonate of strontites in nitric acid, evaporating 

 the solution to dryness, re-dissolving and evaporat- 

 ing slowly, till the salt crystallizes. It crystallizes 



* The beautiful red fire, which is n<w so frequently used at 

 the theatres, is composed of the following' ingredients: forty 

 parts dry nitrati' of stmniitrs, thirteen parts of finely powdered 

 sulphur, five parts of chlorate of potash, and four parts of sul- 

 phuret of antimony. No other kind of mixture than rubbing 

 together on a paper is required. 



