726 SCYTHIA SEA CAT from internal evidence that it is an interpola- tion, or a correction of some copyist. Homer speaks of races who were "milkers of mares and Cheese-eaters," which description agrees with what Hesiod says of the people he men- tions. Herodotus describes Scythia as a square area, extending 4,000 stadia (nearly 500 m.) on every side, the southern boundary being the coast from the mouth of the Danube (not in- cluding the Tauric Chersonesus) to the sea of Azov (Niebuhr), or to the mouth of the Don (Rawlinson). Scythia, as described by him, probably comprehended the whole territory from the E. Carpathians to the lower Don. On the north were the nations called Aga- thyrsi, Neuri, Androphagi (cannibals), and Me- lanchlieni (black-coats). The Sarmatians, a Scythic tribe, subsequently gained the ascen- dancy, and their name was thereupon given to the territory comprised in the Scythia of Herodotus. (See SARMATIA.) Afterward the Greeks applied the name to the Asiatic region N. of the Oxus and Jaxartes, from the Caspian to the confines of China, and divided it by the northern Imaus range (the Thian-shan) into Scythia intra Imaum and Scythia extra Imaum. Herodotus visited the Greek settlements on the northern shores of the Euxine, and de- scribes the Scythians as nomadic tribes, living on animal food, keeping large troops of horses, and excelling in horsemanship and archery. Hippocrates describes them as gross and fleshy, with loose and yielding joints, and little hair. It was customary for a Scythian to drink the blood of the first man he slew in battle, and to preserve as trophies the scalps and skins of the enemies he overthrew. They entombed their kings amid sacrifices of men and beasts, and put great faith in soothsaying and magic arts. They were the successors of the Cim- merians in the order of migration westward, and invaded the Median empire near the close of the 7th century B. C. (See MEDIA.) Cyrus is said to have fallen in a battle against the Scythian Massaget in Asia, and Darius I., who led a vast expedition against the Scyths in Europe through Thrace, was compelled to retreat with severe loss. The Parthians too are believed to have been of Scythic descent. The hordes which about 200 B. C. came from the western confines of China and overran parts of Turkistan and modern Persia, were also Scyths; they turned toward India, and a portion of them founded a settlement known as Indo-Scythia. The names of the principal tribes engaged in the Scythian incursions, as far as they have come down to us, are Sacte (often used in a wide sense, and sometimes applied to the Soyths in general), Massagetee, Dana?, Tochari, Asii or Asiani, and Sacarauli. Some scholars maintain that the Scyths were Turanians, others that they were Indo-Euro- peans; Rawlinson thinks that the Greeks and Romans applied the name to any nomad race, whether Indo-Europeans or Turanians. For the family of languages to which many phi- lologists apply the term Scythic, see TURA- NIAN RACES AND LANGUAGES. SCYTHOPOL1S, an ancient town of Palestine, about 12 m. S. of the sea of Galilee, and 4 m. W. of the Jordan. The village now occupying its site is called Beisan, preserving its Scriptural name Bethshean or Bethsan. It is supposed that its classical name was given it after the invasion of the Scyths, because a large number of Scyths had permanently settled in it. The Philistines fastened the corpses of Saul and his sons to the walls of Bethshan, which, though belonging to Manasseh, was never really a Jew- ish city. Scythopolis was one of the cities of the decapolis. Pompey devastated it, Gabi- nius rebuilt it, and Saladin burned it. Ruins of temples, a theatre, and walls are scattered over the neighborhood of the present village. SEA. See OCEAN. SEA ANEMONE. See ACTINIA. SEA BEAR. See SEAL. SEABl'RY. I. Samuel, an American clergy- man, born in Groton, Conn., Nov. 30, 1729, died Feb. 25, 1796. He graduated at Yale college in 1748, studied medicine in Scotland, and then theology, and was ordained in Lon- don in 1753. He became rector of Christ's church, New Brunswick, N. J., in 1757 of Grace church, Jamaica, Long Island, and in 1766 of St. Peter's, West Chester, N. Y. Du- ring most of the war of the revolution he resi- ded in the city of New York, being a royalist. He was consecrated bishop of Connecticut at Aberdeen, Nov. 14, 1784, and was chosen rec- tor of St. James's church, New London. He took part in revising the prayer book and fra- ming the constitution of the church which was adopted in 1789. Three volumes of his ser- mons were published in 1791-'8. II. Samuel, an American clergyman, grandson of the pre- ceding, born in hew London, Conn., June 9, 1801, died in New York, Oct. 10, 1872. He was ordained deacon in the Protestant Epis- copal church, April 12, 1826, and priest in July, 1827. He was a missionary for a time at Huntington and Oyster Bay, Long Island, whence he removed to Ballet's Cove (now As- toria). In 1881 he removed to New York, and for 18 years was editor of "The Churchman," and from 1888 to 1868 he was rector of the church of the Annunciation. He was chosen professor of Biblical learning in the Episcopal general theological seminary in June, 1862. He published " The Continuity of the Church of England in the Sixteenth Century" (1853) ; " Discourses on the Supremacy and Obligation of Conscience" (I860); "American Slavery Justified" (1861); and "The Theory and Use of the Church Calendar" (1872). After his death appeared " Discourses Illustrative of the Nature and Work of the Holy Spirit, and oth- er Papers," edited by his son (1874). SEA CAT, the common name of the cartila- ginous fishes of the order holocephala and fam- ily chimceroidei. They seem to form a group intermediate between the sturgeons and sharks ;
