S T A 



[416] 



S T E 



come united, and thus form a 

 column extending from the roof to 

 the floor. 



STA'HEN. (stamen, Lat.) A consti- 

 tuent part of a flower, situated 

 within the corolla, consisting of 

 two parts, the filament and the 

 anther. The stamens are the male 

 organs of the plant. In the plural 

 the word is written either stamens 

 or stamina. 



STA'NDARD. In botany, the upper 

 large petal of a papillionaceous 

 flower ; also called the banner. 



STANNI'FEROTJS. (from stannum, tin, 

 and/m?, to bear, Lat.) Containing 

 tin; yielding tin; producing tin. 



STAT/ROLITE. The name given by 

 Kirwan to the harmotome of Haiiy, 

 the cross-stone of Jameson ; kreutz- 

 stein of Werner. The composition 

 of staurolite, as described byCleave- 

 land, differs entirely from that of 

 staurotide. Staurolite contains, 

 according to some analyses, upwards 

 of twenty per cent, of baryta, and 

 no oxide of manganese ; whereas 

 staurotide contains no baryta, but 

 four per cent, of oxide of manganese. 

 Prof. Cleaveland assuredly does not 

 intend the same mineral in descri- 

 bing Staurotide and Staurolite, 

 nevertheless, I find most mineral- 

 ogists giving these two words as 

 synonymous. The reader, however, 

 must bear in mind that Harmotome, 

 or Cross-stome is not to be con- 

 sidered as Staurotide, although by 

 some authors Staurotide is regarded 

 as synonymous with Staurolite. 



SiAtfBOTiDE. The name given by 

 Haiiy to prismatoidal garnet or 

 grenatite. The prismatoidischer 

 garnet of Mohs; the granatit of 

 Werner ; the grenatite of Jameson 

 and Brochant. This mineral, of a 

 reddish-brown colour, occurs crys- 

 tallized, in'^ four and six-sided 

 prims, sometimes intersecting each 

 other at right angles. Its primitive 

 form, under which it sometimes 

 appears, is a four- sided prism, 



whose bases are rhombs with 

 angles of 129 30' and 50 30': 

 the reflection goniometer gives the 

 measurement of the angles 129 20' 

 and 50 40'. Its integrant parti- 

 cles are triangular prisms. Its 

 colours are reddish-brown to black- 

 ish-brown. Specific gravity from 

 3-3 to 3-9. Hardness from 7 to 

 7 5. It feebly scratches quartz, 

 but does not yield sparks with 

 steel. Fracture uneven or imper- 

 fectly conchoidal. It consists of 

 silica, alumina, lime, and the oxides 

 of iron and manganese. It is found 

 in primary rocks only. It may be 

 distinguished from garnet by its 

 form and infusibility. 



STEA'RIN. | (from aireap, Gr.) The 



STEAEI'NE. j solid part of oil and 

 fatty matter. Fat is composed of 

 two constituent principles, which 

 Chevreuil distinguished by the 

 terms stearine and elaine. 



STEAT'ITE. Veins of Steatite are very 

 plentiful in the serpentines of the 

 Lizard. Their colour varies from 

 white to yellow, green, and purple. 

 The veins of steatite have distinct 

 walls, and are as regular as most 

 true veins. Fragments of serpen- 

 tine and calcareous spar are some- 

 times found in them. Dr. Berger 

 considered steatite to bear the same 

 relation to serpentine that kaolin 

 bears to granite. Dr. Thomson 

 considers steatite to be a portion of 

 serpentine altered by the action of 

 water, or some other body. Sir 

 H. Davy regarded the veins of 

 steatite as mechanical deposits. 

 Steatite has four equivalents of 

 silica to three of magnesia. 



STEEL. (stahl, Germ. From the 

 Chalybes, who had considerable 

 iron and steel works, has steel 

 derived its Greek name of ^aXu^ 

 though some have thought to de- 

 rive the name of the people from 

 their works. The word chalybs 

 was adopted by the .Romans from 

 the Greeks, and is has passed into 



