S T R 
636 S T R 
stalk exceeding the length of the stamens, ascending, ob¬ 
long ; style none; stigma sessile, obtuse. Pericarp: berry 
coriaceous, stalked, cylindrical, of one cell and two revo¬ 
lute valves. Seeds numerous, kidney-shaped, compressed, 
smooth, imbricated in three rows, imbedded in pulp.— Es¬ 
sential Character. Petals four, or none. Nectary ligulate. 
Calyx of four leaves, deciduous. Berry coated, stalked. 
1. Stroemia farinosa, or mealy stroemia.—Leaves oblong, 
mealy. Flowers with petals, and five stamens.—Native of 
Arabia. 
2. Stroemia tetrandra, or tetrandrous stroemia.—Leaves 
elliptic-oblong, obtuse, with a small point, naked. Flowers 
with petals, and four stamens.—Native of the East Indies. 
3. Stroemia glandulosa, or glandular stroemia.—Hairy 
and viscid. Leaves roundish. Flowers without petals.— 
Native of Arabia, where it is called tannaim. 
4. Stroemia rotundifolia, or round leaved stroemia.— 
Leaves orbicular, smooth. Flowers without petals.—Fre¬ 
quent about Loheia, in Arabia, and known by the name of 
tcaclhab. 
STRO'KAL, s. An instrument used by glass-makers. 
Bailer/. 
STROKE, or Strook. Old preterite of strike, now com¬ 
monly struck. —He hoodwinked with kindness, least of all, 
men knew who strike him. Sidney. 
STROKE, s. A blow; a knock ; a sudden act of one 
body upon another. 
The oars were silver. 
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made 
The water which they beat to follow faster, 
As amorous of their strokes. Shakspeare. 
A hostile blow. 
As cannons overcharg’d with double cracks, 
So they redoubled strokes upon the foe. Shakspeare. 
A sudden disease or affliction. 
Take this purse, thou whom the heav’n’s plagues 
Have humbled to all strokes. Shakspeare. 
The sound of the clock. 
What is’t o’clock ? —. 
Upon the stroke of four. Shakspeare. 
The touch of a pencil. 
Oh, lasting as those colours may they shine! 
Free as thy stroke, yet faultless as thy line. Pope. 
A touch; a masterly or eminent effort.—The boldest 
strokes of poetry, when managed artfully, most delight the 
reader. Dryden. —An effect suddenly or unexpectedly pro¬ 
duced; power; efficacy.—These having equal authority for 
instruction of the young prince, and well agreeing, bare 
equal stroke in divers faculties. Hayward. —Perfectly opa- 
cous bodies can but reflect the incident beams, those that are 
diaphanous refract them too, and that refraction has such a 
stroke in the production of colours, generated by the trajec- 
tion of light through drops of water, that exhibit a rainbow 
through divers other transparent bodies. Boyle. —He has a 
great stroke with the reader when he condemns any of my 
poems, to make the world have a better opinion of them. 
Dryden. 
To STROKE, v. a. [pcpacan, Sax.] To rub gently with 
the hand by way of kindness or endearment; to sooth. 
Come, let us practise death. 
Stroke the grim lion till he grow familiar. Dryden. 
To rub gently in one direction. See Stroking. 
STROKER, s. One who rubs gently with the hand; 
one who attempts to cure diseases by such application of the 
hand to the part affected. Ben Jonson figuratively uses the 
word for a flatterer.—An eye-witness of several wonderful 
cures by the famous Irish stroker, Mr. Greatrix. Tlwresby. 
STROKERTOWN, a neat town of Ireland, in the 
county of Roscommon; 71 miles west of Dublin. 
STRO'KING, s. The act of rubbing gently with the hand. 
—The manner of his cure in those imperfections is somewhat 
strange : he useth no bindings, but oils and strokings. 
Wotton. —The act of rubbing gently in one direction. 
The big-uddered cows with patience stand. 
Waiting the strokings of the damsel’s hand. Gay. 
To STROLL, v.n. [pcpaejian, Sax.; to stray. See To 
Straggle.] To wander; to ramble; to rove ; to gad idly. 
—These mothers stroll to beg sustenance for their helpless 
infants. Swift. 
STROLL, s. Ramble: a low expression; as, upon the 
stroll. 
STRO'LLER, 5. A vagrant; a wanderer; a vagabond 
Two brother-hermits, saints by trade. 
Disguis’d in tatter’d habits, went 
To a small village down in Kent; 
Where, in the strollers' canting strain, 
They begg’d from door to door in vain. Swift, 
STROMA, an island of Scotland, a mile long, and a mile 
and a half broad, in the middle of the Pentland frith, be¬ 
tween Caithness and Orkney, and belonging to the former. 
It is extremely fruitful in corn, but destitute of fuel. The 
inhabitants, amounting to 30 families, consisting of 170 
souls, are remarkable for industry, sobriety, and simplicity of 
life. The sea, particularly in the winter months, is incon¬ 
ceivably tempestuous around the island, more especially when 
it beats against the high western shore. At this time the 
spray rises so thick and so high, as to run down in rills to 
the opposite side, where a reservoir is made to retain the 
water, which, with the rain that falls occasionally, serves to 
turn the cornmill of the island. In the caverns of this 
island were formerly seen several human bodies in a state of 
great preservation, though they had been dead upwards of 
60 or 80 years. On the west side of the island are the ruins 
of an old castle; and on another part is seen the ruins of an 
ancient chapel; 3 miles north-west of Duncansby head. 
Lat. 58. 35. N. long. 2. 58. W. 
STROMATEUS, in Ichthyology, a genus of fishes of 
the order apodes. The Generic Character is as follows: 
head compressed; teeth both in the jaws and palate; body 
oval, broad, slippery; tail forked. 
1. Stromateus fiatola.—Body beautifully barred.—It in* 
habits the Mediterranean, and has two stomachs. 
2. Stromateus paru.—The back is of a gold-colour; the 
belly is silvery.—This is chiefly found in South America 
and Tranquebar: it feeds on lesser fish and vermes; the 
body is slender, covered with small thin deciduous scales ; 
the flesh is white, tender, and reckoned very delicious food. 
Its other and minor characteristics are, that it has a middle- 
sized head, sloping, above brownish; the eyes are large and 
the pupil black; the iris is marked with a white ring and 
another yellow one; the mouth is small; the jaws equal; 
teeth small and sharp; lips strong and moveable; tongue 
smooth, broad ; aperture of the gills very large, the cover of 
one piece, and surrounded with a membrane; the lateral line 
nearer the back, broad, silvery; vent nearer the mouth than 
the tail; the fins are long, scaly, rigid, white at the base, 
and edged with blue; the rays are soft and branched. 
3. Stromateus cumara.—Back blue; belly white.—It is 
found in the fresh waters of Chili; it is about a span long, 
and not crossed with stripes. 
4. Stromateus cinereus, or ash-coloured stromateus with 
a forked tail; the lower lobe longer than the upper.—The 
body of this species is of a more rhomboid form than that 
of the others, and the fins are somewhat more extended or 
pointed: the tail is more deeply forked, the lower lobe con¬ 
siderably exceeds the upper in length; the colour of the 
whole animal is cinereous, with a cast of yellow on the sides 
of the head and the base of the fins and tail; the pectoral 
fins are tinged with red.—It is a native of the Indian seas, 
and grows to about the length of a foot or more, and is 
about two inches in thickness: it is considered as excellent 
food, but the largest specimens are the finest flavoured. The 
bones are said to be of a soft or nearly cartilaginous nature : 
the residents in India use this fish both in its fresh and salted 
state, prepared in various ways. The trivial name with 
them is pampel. 
5. Stromateus argenteus, or silvery stromateus.—The lobes 
of 
