Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/317

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SCALP 271 SCANDINAVIA even among bivalves. On the margins of the mantle there are hundreds of small sparkling eyes of different degrees of visual efficiency. The small finger-shaped foot is usually marked with bright orange or red color. The scallops are widely distributed in all seas, at depth of 3 to 40 fathoms. When young they are active and able to swim a little by rapidly opening and closing their valves, but as they grow older they become more sedentary. P. Jacobasus, a native of the Mediterranean, is the scallop shell which pilgrims were accustomed to wear in front of their hat in token of having visited the shrine of St. James at Com- postella. P. maximus, found on many j>arts of the British coasts, is about six inches broad. About 180 living species are known, and over 400 are recorded as fossils from Carboniferous strata. SCALP, the term employed to desig- nate the outer covering of the skull or brain case. Except in the fact that hair in both sexes grows more luxuriantly on the scalp than elsewhere, the skin of the scalp differs only slightly from ordi- nary skin. Besides the skin the scalp is composed of the expanded tendon of the occipito-frontalis muscle, and of inter- mediate cellular tissue and blood vessels. Injuries of the scalp, however slight, must be watched with great caution, for they may be followed by erysipelas, or by inflammation and suppuration under the occipitofrontal muscle, or within the cranium, or by suppuration of the veins of the cranial bones, and general pyaemia that may easily prove fatal. If dressed antiseptically at an early stage the risk of such accidents is of course greatly diminished. Burns of the scalp are very liable to be followed by erysipelas and diffuse inflammation, but the brain is comparatively seldom affected in these cases. Tumors of the scalp are not un- common. SCALPEB, a term applied in the United States to a man who buys rail- road, theater, or steamship tickets at a discount from people unable to use them, and sells them again at an advance on the price he paid for them. SCALPING, the act peculiar to North American Indian warfare, of partly cut- ting, partly tearing off a piece of the skin of the head, with the hair attached; whether the victim is alive or dead at the time does not affect the operation. The Indians, with whom scalps are the trophies of victory, have always left a long lock or tuft on the scalp as a chal- lenge. Bounties have, in American his- tory, more than once been offered for jscalps: in 1724 £100 (about $500) was offered by Massachusetts for Indian scalps; in 1754, during- the French and Indian War, a bounty was offered by the French for British scalps, and by the col- onies for Indian scalps; in 1755 Massa- chusetts offered £40 (about $200) for every scalp of a male Indian over 12 years old, and £20 (about $100) for scalps of women and children. SCAMANDEE, a small stream in the Troad, in northwestern Asia Minor; as- sociated with the little river Simois in the story of the Trojan War. SCAMMONY, in botany, the scam- mony bindweed. In chemistry, scammo- nium, a purgative gum resin obtained from the root of Convolvulus scammonia. When the root is cut there exudes a milky juice, which dries up to a yellow- ish-brown, gummy-looking substance. Two varieties are known in commerce, Aleppo and Smyrna, the former being considered the more valuable. It forms flat irregular masses, very brittle, and having a dark gray or blackish hue. Viewed in thin fragments, it appears translucent and of a golden brown color. Genuine scammony should contain from 75 to 82 per cent, of resinous matter, soluble in alcohol, the remainder "being wax, gum, starch, etc. It is, however, frequently adulterated. Pure scammony is a powerful drastic purgative and an- thelmintic. Montpellier scammony is ob- tained from Cynanchum mouspeliacum. SCANDERBEG, (properly IsKENDER Bey, or Prince Alexander), an Albanian chief whose real name was George Castriota; born in Croia, Albania, in 1403. He was the son of a Christian prince, but was brought up by the Turks and fought for some time for Amurath II. Becoming possessed of the chief city of his country, which the Turks had taken, he turned against them, abjured Mohammedanism, and raised the whole of Epirus in revolt. For 25 years he withstood all the efforts of the Turks to overcome him, defeating them in 22 bat- tles, even when led by the Sultan. Short- ly before he died, he was compelled to yield to superior forces. He died in Ales- sio, Albania, Jan. 17, 1467. SCANDINAVIA, the ancient name of the region now comprehending the three kingdoms, Denmark, Sweden, and Nor- way, or Sweden and Norway alone, and still frequently used. These countries were inhabited in the earliest times by people of the Teutonic stock, and 100 B. c. the natives of Jutland and Schles- wig became formidable to the Romans under the name of Cimbri. But it was chiefly in the 9th century that they made their power felt in western and south-