SKEAT 



5398 



SKELETON 



from Norway, is similar, but is very light in 

 weight and is screwed to the sole of a special 

 skating shoe. The hockey combines the club 

 and Norwegian types in a short, thick, straight- 

 bladed skate screwed to the shoe. It is used 

 in speed skating, while the club skate is better 

 fitted for fancy or figure skating. The substi- 

 tution of wheels for the blade has resulted in 

 the roller skate, which does not require ice but 

 can be used on any smooth, solid surface. 



For centuries skating has been a popular 

 sport among people of Northern countries. It 

 was earliest developed by the Norsemen, 

 Swedes, Danes, Finns and Dutch. The great 

 antiquity of the sport is shown by its mention 

 in the earliest known examples of Scandinavian 

 literature. The primitive skater tied a bone 

 to his foot and used a stick to aid him in his 

 progress over the ice. During the past century, 

 races and matches have become common in 

 Europe and North America. National associa- 

 tions foster the sport and arrange for national 

 and international contests. As one of the most 

 healthful and invigorating of sports, skating is 

 attracting more enthusiasts every year. In the 

 winter of 1915 it became the most popular pas- 

 time in large cities, where rinks were con- 

 structed on roofs and in hotels to take the 

 place of the dance halls which had been the 

 principal amusement centers of the previous 

 season. 



Consult Browne's Handbook of Figure Skating. 



SKEAT, sheet, WALTER WILLIAM (1835- 

 ), an English scholar and philologist, whose 

 edition of Chaucer is universally recognized as 

 standard. Born in London, he received his 

 schooling at Kings College, Highgate Gram- 

 mar School, and at Christ's College, Cam- 

 bridge. He became a fellow of Christ's College 

 in 1860 and in 1878 was elected professor of 

 Anglo-Saxon. Skeat's most important work 

 was as scholar and editor, not as teacher. His 

 researches in philology, especially Anglo-Saxon 

 and Middle English, gave him an eminence 

 which became more marked on the publication 

 of his editions of Chaucer's works and of Lang- 

 land's Piers Plowman. Of his many other 

 works the most important is the Etymological 

 English Dictionary, the most comprehensive 

 and authoritative book in its field. Skeat 

 shares with Frederick Furnivall the distinction 

 of being chiefly responsible for the revival of 

 England's interest in its early literature. 



SKEENA, ske'na, RIVER, one of the many 

 short streams which flow westward across Brit- 



ish Columbia into the Pacific Ocean. Its course 

 is about 335 miles long, and its drainage basin 

 covers an area of 19,300 square miles. Though 

 not a large river it is economically of great im- 

 portance, for it is one of the greatest fishing 

 grounds for salmon in the world, and with the 

 exception of the Fraser River fisheries, is the 

 most valuable in British Columbia. The hali- 

 but catch in Hecate Strait, off the mouth of the 

 Skeena River, is the largest in the Dominion 

 of Canada. 



The Skeena rises in the north-central part of 

 British Columbia, and at one point in its upper 

 course is less than twenty miles from the head- 

 waters of the Finlay, the principal tributary of 

 the Peace River. Skirting the northern end 

 of the Firepan and Babine mountains, which 

 break the surface of the Interior Plateau, the 

 Skeena flows in a general southwesterly direc- 

 tion, cuts a path across the Coast Range and 

 empties into the sea about ten miles south of 

 the city of Prince Rupert. W.B. 



SKEL'ETON. The bones of all vertebrate 

 animals are joined together to form a sym- 

 metrical, flexible core which gives shape to the 

 body and constitutes a protecting framework 

 for the vital organs. In man, the highest of 

 the vertebrate creatures, this bony core, or 

 skeleton, is a marvelous example of adaptation 

 to human needs. There are about 200 separate 

 pieces to the skeleton (see accompanying dia- 

 gram), all nicely fitted together and held in 

 place by strong bands of flexible tissue (see 

 LIGAMENT). These pieces, the bones, are 

 grouped into two main divisions, the axial and 

 the appendicular skeletons. 



The axial skeleton is made up of the bones 

 of the head, neck and trunk. Its nucleus is the 

 spine (also called spinal column and backbone), 

 which forms an axis for the support of the 

 other parts of the body. In the upper portion 

 are twenty-four separate bones called verte- 

 brae, seven of which (cervical) are in the neck, 

 twelve (dorsal) in the region of the chest, and 

 five (lumbar) in the loins. To the dorsal 

 vertebrae are attached the ribs, there being 

 twelve on each side. The upper ribs are fas- 

 tened in front to the breastbone, or sternum. 

 Below the last lumbar vertebra is the sacrum, 

 which consists of five separate bones in infancy, 

 but of one solid structure in adulthood. At 

 the tip of the spinal column is the coccyx, also 

 a single bone in maturity, but consisting of 

 four bones in early life. The sacrum and 

 coccyx are regarded as continuations of the 

 vertebral column. This central axis is one of 



