Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/348

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SCORBUTUS 294 SCOTCH FIR half of the 4th century B. C. One of his earliest works was the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea in Arcadia, on the site of a previous one burned down in 395 B. c. Some 15 years or so later he settled in Athens, where for more than a quarter of a century he labored at his profession. Toward the end of his life he was asso- ciated with Leochares and others in pre- paring sculpture for the great mauso- leum of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. A large composition, representing Achilles being convoyed to Leucse by Poseidon, Thetis, and the Nereids, preserved for some time in the temple of Neptune at Rome, was accounted one of his master- pieces. He excelled also in statues of sin- gle gods and goddesses. SCORBUTUS. See Scurvy. SCORE, in music, compositions for several voices or instruments, or for an orchestra, so written that each part has a separate staff for itself, these staves being placed over each other, bar corre- sponding for bar. SCORI-ffi, the cinders and slags of volcanoes, more or less porous from the expansion of the gases contained in the melted materials. SCORPIO, in astronomy, the eighth zodiacal constellation. It is bounded on the N. by Ophiuchus and Serpens, on the S. by Lupus, Norma, and Ara, on the E. by Sagittarius, and on the W. by Libra. It is a small but very brilliant constella- tion, especially when seen from places S. of the equator. It contains Antares or Cor Scorpii (Alpha Scorpii), of the first magnitude, and Iklil, or Beta Scorpii, of the second magnitude. Also the eighth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about Oct. 23. SCORPION, in antiquity, a military engine, formerly used chiefly in the de- fense of a castle or town. It resembled the balista. In Scripture, a painful scourge; a kind of whip armed with points like a scorpion's tail. In zoology, any individual of the fam- ily Scorpionides. The European species are three or four inches long, and con- fined to the S. parts of the Continent, but scorpions have a wide geographical range in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and in Equatorial Africa and South America they grow to a length of 9 or 10 inches. The sting in the tropical species is much more formidable than that of the Euro- pean scorpion. They are nocturnal in habit. They prey on spiders and other insects; and, seizing their prey in their palpi, which are practically useless as weapons of offense, sting it to death. The eggs are hatched in the enlarged oviducts, CAROLINA SCORPION and the young, usually from 40 to 60, are carried about for some time on the back of the mother. SCOT, REGINALD, or REYNOLD, one of the first and boldest writers against the belief in witchcraft, alchemy, astrology, and other prevalent supersti- tions of his time, born in Kent early in the 16th century. He studied at Oxford, and spent his life in the study of old and obscure mystical authors, and in garden- ing. His reputation is founded on "The Discoverie of Witchcraft," published in 1584. By order of James I. the first edi- tion of the book was burned by the com- mon hangman, and the king replied to it in his "Demonology." He died in 1599. SCOTCH FIR, the Pinus sylvestris, a tree sometimes 50 to 100 feet in height, and 12 feet in girth, the wood constitut- ing the red or yellow deal, and its resin, yielding tar, pitch, and turpentine. It constitutes vast natural forests in the Highlands of Scotland, occurring also in the N. of Europe, and on the mountains in its S. part, in Siberia, etc. The bark is used for tanning.