the strongest towns in Silesia it was besieged several times during the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1807 it was captured by the French, who demolished the fortifications. Restored to Prussia in 1816 it was again fortified, but in 1862 the fortihcations were converted into a public park.
See F. ]. Schmidt, Geschichte der Stadt Schweidnitz (2 vols., Schweidnitz, 1845-1848).
SCHWEIGHAUSER, JOHANN (1742-1830), German classical
scholar, was born at Strassburg on the 25th of June 1742; From
an early age his favourite subjects were philosophy (especially
Scottish moral philosophy as represented by Hutchinson and
Ferguson) and Oriental languages; Greek and Latin he took up
later, and although he owes his reputation to his editions of Greek
authors, he was always diiiident as to his classical attainments.
After visiting Paris, London and the principal cities of Germany,
he became assistant professor of philosophy (1 770) at Strassburg.
When the French Revolution broke out, he was banished; in
1794 he returned, and after the reorganization of the Academy
in 1809 was appointed professor of Greek. He resigned his post
in 1824, and died on the 19th of January 1830.
His son, IOHANN Gorrriunp (1776-1844), was also a distinguished
scholar and archaeologist, joint-author with M. Golbéry
of Aritiquités de l'Alsace (1828).
Schweighausefs first important Work was his edition of Appian (1785), with Latin translation and commentary, and an account of the MSS. On Brunck's recommendation, he had collated an Augsburg MS. of Appian for Samuel Musgrave, who was preparing an edition of that author, and after Musgrave's death he felt it a duty to complete it. His Polybius, with translation, notes and special lexicon, appeared in 1789-1795. But his chief work is his edition of Athenaeus (1801-1807), in fourteen volumes, one of the Bipont editions. His Herodotus (1816; lexicon, 1824) is less successful; he depends too much on earlier editions and inferior MSS., and lacks the finer scholarship necessary in dealing with such an author. Mention may also be made of his Encheiridion of Epictetus and Tabula of Cebes (1798), which appeared at the time when the doctrines of the Stoics were fashionable; the letters of Seneca to Lucilius (1809); Corrections and notes to Suidas (1789); some moral philosophy essays. His minor works are collected in his Opuscula azademica (1806).
See monographs by ]. G. Dahler, C. L. Cuvier, F. ]. Stiévenart (all 1830), L. Spach (1868), Ch. Rabany (1884), the two last containing an account of both father and son.
SCHWEINFURT, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of
Bavaria, situated on the right bank of the Main, which is here
spanned by several bridges, 27 m. N.E. of Würzburg by rail, and
at the junction of lines to Kissingen, Bamberg and Gemiinden.
Pop. (1905) 18,416. The Renaissance town-hall in the spacious
market-place dates from 1570; it contains a library and a
collection of antiquities. St John's church is a Gothic edifice
with a lofty tower; St Salvator's was built about 1720. Schweinfurt
is well furnished with benevolent and educational institutions,
including a gymnasium originally founded by Gustavus Adolphus
in 1031, and rebuilt in 1881. The chief manufacture is paint
(“ Schweinfurt green” is a well-known brand in Germany),
introduced in 1809; but beer, sugar, machinery, soap and other
drysalteries, straw-paper and vinegar are also produced. Cottonspinning
and bell-founding are carried on, and the Main supplies
water-power for numerous saw, flour and other mills. Schweinfurt
carries on an active trade in the grain, fruit and wine produced
in its neighbourhood, and it is the seat of an important
sheep and cattle market. A monument was erected in 1900 to
Friedrich Riickert the poet (1788-1866).
Schweinfurt is mentioned in 790, and in the 10th century was the seat of a margrave. It fell later to the counts of Henneberg; but, receiving civic rights in the I3lQl'1 century, it maintained its independence as a free imperial city with few interruptions until 1803, when it passed to Bavaria. Assigned to the grand duke of Würzburg in 1810, it was restored to Bavaria in 1814. In the Thirty Years' War it was occupied by Gustavus Adolphus, who erected fortifications, remains of which are still extant. See Beck, Chronik »der Stadt Schweinfurt (2 vols., Schweinfurt, 1836-1841); and Stein, Geschichte der Reichstadt Schweinfurt (2 vols., Schwein urt, 1900).
SCHWEINFURTH, GEORG AUGUST (1836-), German
traveller in East Central Africa and ethnologist, was born at
Riga on the 29th of December 1836. He was 'educated at
the universities of Heidelberg, Munich and Berlin (1856-1862),
where he particularly devoted himself to botany and palaeontology.
Commissioned to arrange the collections brought from
the Sudan by Freiherr von Barnim and Dr Hartmann, his
attention was directed to that region; and in 1863 he travelled
round the shores of the Red Sea, repeatedly traversed the
district between that sea and the Nile, passed on to Kharturn,
and returned to Europe in 1866. His researches attracted so
much attention that in 1868 the Humboldt-Stiftung of Berlin
entrusted him with an important scientific mission to the interior
of East Africa. Starting from Khartum in January 1869, he
went up the White Nile td. Bahr-el- Ghazal, and then, with a party
of ivory dealers, through the regions inhabited by the Diur
(Dyoor), Dinka, Bongo and Niam-Niam; crossing the Nile
watershed he entered the country of the Mangbettu (Monbuttu)
and discovered the river Welle (19th of March 1870), which by
its westward flow he knew was independent of the Nile. Schweinfurth
formed the conclusion that it belonged to the Chad system,
and it was several years before its Connexion with the Congo
was demonstrated. The discovery of the Welle was Schweinfurth's
greatest geographical achievement, though he did much
to elucidate the hydrography of the Bahr-el-Ghazal system.
Of greater importance were the very considerable additions
he made to the knowledge of the inhabitants and of the flora and
fauna of Central Africa. He described in detail the cannibalistic
practices of the Mangbettu, and his discovery of the pygmy Akka
settled conclusively the question as to the existence of dwarf
races in tropical Africa. Unfortunately nearly all his collections
made up to that date were destroyed by a fire in his camp in
December 1870. He returned to Khartum in July 1871 and
published an account of the expedition, under the title of
Im Herzeri von Afrika (Leipzig, 1874; English edition, The
Heart of Africa, 1873, new ed. 1878). In 1873-1874 he accompanied
Gerhard Rohlfs in his expedition into the Libyan Desert.
Settling at Cairo in 1875, he founded a geographical society,
under the auspices of the khedive Ismail, and devoted himself
almost exclusively to African studies, historical and ethnographical.
In 1876 he penetrated into the Arabian Desert with
Paul Giissfeldt, and continued his explorations therein at
intervals until 1888, and during the same period made
geological and botanical investigations in the Fayum, in
the valley of the Nile, &c. In 1889 he removed to Berlin;
but he visited the Ital.ian colony of Eritrea in 1891, 1892
and 1894.
The accounts of all his travels and researches have appeared either in book or pamphlet form orgin periodicals, such as Peterrnanns Mitteilungen, the Zeitschrift für Erdkunde, &c. Among his works may be mentioned Artes Africanae; Illustrations and Descriptions of Productions af the Industrial Arts of Central African Tribes (1875).
SCHWEITZER, JEAN BAPTISTA VON (1833-1875), German
politician and dramatic poet, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main on the I2tl1 of July 1833, of an old aristocratic Catholic family. He studied law at Berlin and Heidelberg, and afterwards practised in his native city. He was, however, from the first more interested in politics and literature than in law. He was attracted by the social democratic labour movement, and after the death of Ferdinand Lassalle in 1864, he became president of the “General Working-men's Union of Germany, ” and in this capacity edited the Sozialdernokrat, which brought him into frequent trouble with the Prussian government. In 1867 he was elected to the parliament of the North German F federation, and on his failure to secure election to the German Reichstag in 1871, he resigned the presidency of the Labour Union, and retired from political life. Schweitzer composed a number of dramas and comedies, of which several for a while had considerable success. Among them may be mentioned Alcibiades (Frankfort, 1858); Friedrich Barbarossa (Frankfort, 1858); Canossa (Berlin, 1872); Die Darwiniaher (Frankfort, 1875); Die Eidechse (Frankfort, 1876); and Epiderhisch (Frankfort, 1876). He also wrote one political novel, Lucinde oder Kapital Will Arbeif (Frankfort, 1864).
