SHALE 



5336 



SHANGHAI 



SHALE, a rock having a slaty structure, and 

 containing a large proportion of clay. Shale 

 was deposited on the bottoms of lakes and 

 other bodies of water in past geological ages, 

 and when the water was drained off it hardened 

 into rock. Under heat and pressure, shale in 

 some localities has been changed to slate (see 

 METAMORPHISM). Shale is one of the most 

 common rocks of the coal measures, and it 

 often contains valuable fossils of the plants of 

 the coal period. Bituminous shale burns with 

 a flame. From another variety alum is some- 

 times made. 



SHA'LER, NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE (1841- 

 1906), an American geologist, educator and 

 author He was born in Newport, Ky. Shaler 

 was graduated in 1862 at the Lawrence Scien- 

 tific School of Harvard University, and then 

 served two years as artillery officer in the Fed- 

 eral army during the War of Secession. In 1865 

 he became assistant in zoology and geology in 

 Harvard; was appointed full professor of ge- 

 ology in 1887, and became dean of the Law- 

 rence Scientific School four years later. From 

 1873 to 1880 he had charge of the geological 

 survey of Kentucky, devoting part of each year 

 to that work, and in 1884 joined the staff of the 

 United States Geological Survey of the Atlantic 

 Coast division. His writings embrace Aspects 

 of the Earth, Sea and Land, First Book in 

 Geology, Outlines of the Earth's History and 

 Man and the Earth. 



SHAMANISM, shah ' man iz'm, a religion 

 practiced by primitive peoples, based on the 

 belief that the shaman, or witch doctor, can 

 exorcise demons and spirits and so ward off 

 evil and bring good to the persons for whom 

 he performs his incantations. The ceremonies 

 consist of weird feasts, dances, sorceries, etc., 

 treatment in the case of the sick often being 

 combined with the giving of medicinal herbs. 

 This name was originally applied to the re- 

 ligion of the tribes of Northern Europe and 

 Asia, but the North American Indians, with 

 their "medicine man" and his uncanny rites, 

 have similar beliefs concerning unseen spirits. 



SHAMOKIN, shamo'kin, PA., located in the 

 rich anthracite coal region in the east-central 

 part of the state, is a borough of Northumber- 

 land County, and a center of extensive coal- 

 mining operations. It is forty miles northeast 

 of Harrisburg, on the Philadelphia & Reading 

 and the Pennsylvania railroads. Silk and knit- 

 ting mills, stocking and shirt factories, wagon 

 shops and iron works are the chief manufactur- 

 ing establishments. Features of interest are a 



Federal building, city hall, a soldiers' and sail- 

 ors' monument and Edgewood Park. The area 

 of the borough is about one square mile. In 

 1910 the population was 19,588; it had increased 

 to 21,129 (Federal estimate) in 1916. 



SHAM 'ROCK, a plant usually identified with 

 the white clover, and always thought of in 

 connection with Ireland, of which it is the na- 

 tional emblem. A familiar poem says: 



It shines through the bog, through the brake and 

 the mireland, 



And he called it the dear little shamrock of Ire- 

 land. 



On the British coat-of-arms are pictured the 

 thistle, the rose and the shamrock growing on 

 one stalk, for these are respectively the em- 

 blems of Scotland, England and Ireland. The 

 clover believed to be the shamrock has leaves 

 of a beautiful 

 blue-green color, 

 each made up of 

 three leaflets (see 

 panel illustration 

 of the article IRE- 

 LAND). Saint 

 Patrick, so the 

 story goes, chose 

 this emblem be- 

 cause the three 

 leaflets were sym- 

 bolic of the 

 Trinity. Some 

 authorities say 

 that the wood 

 sorrel, whose 

 leaves are very 



much like those O, the Shamrock, the green, 



.. . immortal Shamrock ! 



of the white Chosen leaf 



r>lnvf>r is tVm tmo Of Bard and Chief, 

 clover, is the true om Erin . s native Shamrock. 



shamrock. MOORE : O, the Shamrock. 



SHANGHAI, shang'hi, a Chinese seaport in 

 Kiangsu province which has developed into a 

 commercial city of first importance since it was 

 opened to foreign trade by the Nanking Treaty 

 of 1843. (For location, see colored map, oppo- 

 site page 417.) It is a city of two distinct parts 

 old Shanghai, with narrow, poorly drained 

 streets and typical Oriental houses and shops, 

 and commercial Shanghai, where are found the 

 foreign districts, or concessions. The native 

 section, still surrounded by its ancient walls, 

 stretches for several miles along the left bank 

 of the Huang-pu River; the foreign conces- 

 sions, adjoining the old city on the north, ex- 

 tend along the river for about three-fifths of a 

 mile. Commercial Shanghai covers 5,362 acres 



