Stewart was falling) had ceased to be his 
business, they continued to be his amuse- 
ment. The analogy between the circle and 
hyperbola had been an early object of his 
admiration. The extensive views which 
that analogy is continually opening; the 
alternate appearance and disappearance of 
resemblance in the midst of so much dissi- 
militude, make it an object that astonishes 
the experienced, as well as the young geo- 
metrician. To the consideration of this 
analogy therefore the mind of Dr. Stewart 
very naturally returned, when disengaged 
from other speculations. His usual success 
still attended his investigations ; and he 
left among his papers some curious approx- 
imations to the areas, both of tlie circle 
and hyperbola. For some years toward the 
end of liis life, his health scarcely allowed 
him to prosecute study even as an amuse- 
ment. He died the twenty-third of Ja- 
nuary, 1785, at sixty-eight years of age. 
See vol. i. Edinburgh Transactions. 
STHEN lA, a term employed by tlie fol- 
lowers of Dr. Brown, to denote that state 
of the body which disposes to inflammatory 
diseases, in opposition to those of debility 
which arise from asthenia. Dr. Struve, in 
his work on the “Art of prolonging the 
Life of incurable Persons,” gives a few of 
the theorems after the manner of Brown. 
He says a stronger stimulus does not, as is 
commonly believed, destroy a weaker; it 
only lessens, in a greater or less degree, the 
force of the latter. Sthenia is alwaj’s more 
violent when it is preceded by a consider- 
able asthenia, and vice versa. A famished 
"person suddenly filled with food, dies apo- 
plectic. Dninkards, if they immediately 
begin a total abstinence from wine, expose 
themselves to incurable diseases. Sthenia 
becomes more violent in proportion as it 
alternates more completely with asthenia, 
that is to say, in proportion as the habit is 
more frequently exposed at one time to 
sthenic atfections, and at another to asthe- 
nic. By this perpetual irritation the orga- 
nization becomes so susceptible, that it is 
very liable to suffer in the highest degree 
from sthenic diseases. This principle is of 
the greatest importance for practitioners to 
be aware of, since it proves that a sudden 
transition from one extreme to another (as,, 
for example, from cold to heat, taking cold 
liquors when the body is hot, which often 
destroys the tone and energy of the sto- 
mach,) may lay the foundation of an incur- 
able disease, which sometimes remains long 
AOL. VI. 
concealed, and then shows itself by the 
most alarming-symptoms. 
STICK, the same as baton, an instru- 
ment of dignity, which is occasionally car- 
ried by persons and officers in high situa- 
tions, particularly by such as are in waiting 
near the royal person. 
Stick, gold. An officer of superior rank 
in the life-guards so called, who is in imme- 
diate attendance upon the King’s person. 
When his Majesty gives either of his regi- 
ments of life-guards to an officer, he presents 
him with the gold-stick. The colonels of 
the two regiments wait alternately, month 
and month. The one ou duty is then called 
gold-stick- in waiting, and alt orders relat- 
ing to the life-guards are transmitted through 
him. During that month he commands the 
brigade, receives all reports, and communi- 
cates them to the King. This temporary 
command of the brigade does not, however, 
interfere with the promotions that may be 
going forward, as each colonel lays tliose 
of his own particular corps before his 
Majesty. Formerly the gold-stick com- 
manded all guards about his Majesty’s per- 
son. On levees and drawing-room days 
he goes into the King’s closet for the 
parole. 
Stick, silver. The field officer of the 
life-guards, when on duty, is so called. 
The silver-stick is in waiting for a week, 
during which period all reports are made 
through him to the gold-stick ; and orders 
from the gold-stick pass through him to 
the brigade. In the absence of the gold- 
stick on levees and drawing-room days, 
he goes into the King’s closet for the 
parole. 
STIGMA, in botany, the summit of the 
style, the female organ of generation in plants, 
wliich receives the fecundating dust of the 
tops of the stamina, and transmits its efflu- 
via through the style into the heart of the 
seed-bud, for the purpose of impregnating 
the seeds. Most plants have a single stig- 
ma, but the lilac has two, the bell flower 
threp, and in others there are four and five. 
The stigma, when single, generally termi- 
nates the style : when there are several, as 
in the cotton, and most of the liliaceous 
plants, they are disposed wdth admirable 
symmetry along its sides. 
STILAGO, in botany, a genus of the 
Gynandria Triandria class and order. Es- 
sential character: calyx one-leafed, pitcher- 
shaped; corolla none: female, stig.nas ses- 
sile; drupe with a two celled nut. There 
S. 
