STAR CHAMBER 



5531 



STARK 



largest center is at Oswego, N. Y., although as 

 a state New York ranks fifth. B.M.W. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes: 

 Carbohydrates Digestion 



Chlorophyll Yeast 



STAR CHAMBER, an English tribunal which 

 met at Westminster and which is said to have 

 taken its name from a room where the meet- 

 ings were held, which was decorated with gilt 

 stars. It is supposed to have originated in the 

 ancient exercise of judicial functions by the 

 king's council. Until the fifteenth century lit- 

 tle is known of it, but in 1488 Henry VII reor- 

 ganized it and gave it new powers, or, accord- 

 ing to another theory, inaugurated a totally 

 new court. His statute gave to a commission 

 composed of a chancellor, treasurer, keeper of 

 the privy seal, chief justices, or in their absence, 

 to other justices, a bishop and a temporal lord, 

 the right to act as a court of trial for all mis- 

 demeanors of sheriffs or of jurors and for all 

 riots or unlawful assemblies. The trials were 

 without jury, and any sentences short of death 

 might be passed. 



During the time of the Tudors this court, 

 arbitrary as it was, was of real service in re- 

 ducing to order the great nobles, who when 

 brought before any ordinary court often suc- 

 ceeded in intimidating the jury. Many abuses 

 crept into its proceedings in the course of time, 

 however, chief among them the custom of forc- 

 ing prisoners by torture to confess. Under 

 James I and Charles I the hatred felt against 

 the Star Chamber greatly increased, and in 

 1641 the Long Parliament abolished it. 



The term star chamber is used to-day to des- 

 ignate secret meetings of officials or politicians 

 in which plans are laid for their personal ag- 

 grandizement rather than for the public good. 



STAR 'FISH, a family of interesting sea 

 animals having the general appearance of a 

 five-pointed star. The "points" are five arms 

 which radiate from a central disk. Starfish 

 belong to the same branch of the animal king- 

 dom as sea urchins and sea lilies, the echino- 

 derms (which see). This word means spiny- 

 skinned, and refers to the prickly covering of 

 these animals. The tough, leathery skin of the 

 starfish is beset with limy spines arising from 

 plates developed just under the skin. On the 

 under surface of the disk is a mouth, and on 

 the same surface of each arm there is a groove 

 beginning at the mouth and ending near the tip 

 of the arm. Along the grooves are double rows 

 of tubelike "feet," some of which are used as 



organs of locomotion and others as sense or- 

 gans of smell. At the tip of each arm there is 

 a small eye protected by a circle of spines. 



Starfish have well-organized nervous, diges- 

 tive and circulatory systems. The stomach 



(a) The most common Southern Pacific form; 

 (&) found near Panama; (c) common near the 

 coast of Massachusetts. 



begins at the mouth and occupies nearly all of 

 the central disk, as well as a small portion of 

 each arm. The food of these animals consists 

 chiefly of oysters, mussels, clams and snails. 

 They prey upon oysters to such an extent that 

 their depredations amount to a serious loss in 

 some localities. It is estimated that the oyster 

 beds of Rhode Island suffered a loss of $100,000 

 in one year from starfish. To reach the soft 

 body of the oyster the starfish must force open 

 the valves of the shell. This it does by pull- 

 ing upon them with its tube feet. The oyster 

 can withstand the strain for a time, but finally 

 its muscles must relax. When the shell drops 

 open the starfish ejects its stomach through its 

 mouth opening, turning the organ inside out 

 and applying it to the soft body of its victim. 

 Digestion and absorption then take place. 



Consult Romane's Jellyfish, Starfish and Sea 

 Urchins. 



STARK, JOHN (1728-1822), an American 

 military leader, conspicuous in the Revolution- 

 ary War. Stark was a true patriot, for in 1776 

 he pledged his fortune to the soldiers, to induce 

 them to reenlist. He was born in Londonderry, 

 N. H., and while a boy was captured by the 

 Indians, who styled him "the young chief." 

 He fought in the French and Indian War, and 

 at the beginning of the Revolution was ap- 

 pointed colonel. He was with Washington at 

 Trenton and Princeton, then retired tempora- 

 rily from service. Called again to take com- 

 mand of the New Hampshire troops, at Ben- 

 nington, in August, 1777, Stark attacked the 

 enemy with the order "There they are, boys. 

 We beat them to-day or Mollie Stark's a 

 widow!" In this battle the second reenforce- 

 ment of the enemy was defeated like the first, 

 and the victory paved the way for the surren- 

 der of Burgoyne at Saratoga. Until the close 



