Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/441

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STRINGHAM "Christianity Demonstrated" (1852); "Me- moir of the Rev. James B. Finley" (1853); A Manual of Biblical Literature" (1853); The Light of the Temple " (Cincinnati, 1854) ; The Astrologer of Chaldea " (1856) ; 'Pioneers of the West" (New York, 1856); 'Life of the Rev. Francis Asbury" (1858); 'Life of Jacob Gruber" (1859); and "Old Mackinaw " (Philadelphia, 1860). STRUVGHAM, Silas Horton, an American naval officer, born at Middletown, N. Y., Nov. 7, 1798, died in Brooklyn, Feb. 7, 1876. He en- tered the navy as midshipman in 1809, became lieutenant in 1814, and served in Decatur's squadron in the Algerine war. Subsequently he assisted in the capture of slavers off the coast of Africa. In command of the Ohio in 1846 he took part in the bombardment of Vera Cruz. He was in constant service on sea or shore duty till 1861, when he became flag offi- cer of the Atlantic blockading squadron, and in August cooperated in the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark on the coast of North Caro- lina. He was promoted to rear admiral on the retired list in 1862, was commandant of the Charleston navy yard in 1864-'6, and was made port admiral of New York in 1867. STRISORES, a suborder of insessorial or perch- ing birds, without song, comprising such as have the hind toe capable of being turned more or less laterally forward, having appa- rently all four of the toes in front. It includes the families of the humming birds, swifts, and goatsuckers. (See OENITHOLOGT.) STRONG, Caleb, an American statesman, born in Northampton, Mass., Jan. 9, 1745, died there, Nov. 7, 1819. He graduated at Har- vard college in 1764, and was admitted to the bar in 1772. During the revolution he was a member of the general court and of the North- ampton committee of safety. He held several state offices, was a member of the convention for framing a national constitution, was elected one of the first United States senators from Massachusetts in 1789, was reflected in 1793, and resigned in 1796. From 1800 to 1807 he was governor of Massachusetts, and again from 1812 to 1816. As a federalist he was opposed to the war with England, and believed him- self justified on constitutional grounds in dis- regarding the president's requisition for troops, while amply providing for the defence of the state. (See MILITIA, vol. xi., p. 541.) STRONG, James, an American author, born in New York, Aug. 14, 1822. He graduated at Wesleyan university, Middletown, Conn., in 1844, and in 1844-' 6 was a teacher in the Troy conference academy, Poultney, Vt. In 1847 he settled at Flushing, Long Island, where he held several local offices, projected and as pres- ident constructed the Flushing railroad, laid out a cemetery and two suburban villages, and taught Greek and Hebrew to private pupils. In 1856, although a layman, he received the de- gree of S. T. D. from Wesleyan university. In 1858-'61 he was professor of Biblical literature STRONTIUM 425 and acting president of the Troy university; and in 1868 he became professor of exegetical theology in Drew theological seminary, Madi- son, N. J. In 1874 he made an extended tour in the East. He is a member of the Anglo- American commission for the revision of the authorized English Bible, and of the Palestine exploration society, and president of the ori- ental topographical corps. His chief literary work is the " Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theologi- cal, and Ecclesiastical Literature," projected by him and Dr. John McClintock in 1853, in which he had charge of the department of Biblical literature, and Dr. McClintock, to the time of his death in 1870, of theological and ecclesiastical literature. Since that date Dr. Strong has been supervising editor of the whole work, assisted by Prof. J. H. Worman. The first volume appeared in 1867, and the sixth in 1875 ; and it is to be completed in ten volumes. Dr. Strong has also published " Har- mony and Exposition of the Gospels" (New York, 1852); "Greek Harmony of the Gos- pels " (1854) ; brief manuals of Greek and He- brew grammar ; and articles on Biblical topics and on ministerial education, the latter elicit- ing much controversy; and he prepared the Eart on Daniel for the English translation of ange's "Commentary" (New York, 1875). STRONTIUM, one of the three metals of the alkaline earths, barium and calcium being the other two. It was first obtained from the na- tive carbonate of strontium by Sir Humphry Davy in 1808, in a manner similar to that for barium. The pure metal may be more readily obtained from the fused chloride by electro- lysis according to the method of Matthiessen. A small porcelain crucible, having a porous cell in the middle, is filled with anhydrous chloride of strontium mixed with a little sal ammoniac. The negative electrode, consisting of a thin iron wire wound round a thicker one, and all but about ^ of an inch covered with a piece of tobacco-pipe stem, is placed in the porous cell. The positive electrode, in the form of an iron cylinder, is placed in the cru- cible round the porous cell. The heat is so regulated that a crust shall form in the cell, under which the metal collects during the pas- sage of the galvanic current. The pure metal has a pale yellow color and a specific gravity of 2-54. Its symbol is Sr ; its atomic weight, 87-6. When heated in the air it burns with a crimson flame, emitting sparks, and decom- poses water with evolution of hydrogen gas. It is about as hard as gold, very ductile, and may be hammered into very thin plates. With oxygen it forms two anhydrous oxides : stron- tium monoxide, SrO, and strontium dioxide, SrO 2 , each of which unites with water to form a hydrate. The oxide, called strontia, has the same relation to the metal that _ lime has to calcium; and, like lime, one of its most im- portant compounds is the carbonate, or stron- tianite, which was discovered in 1787 at Stron- tian in Argyleshire, Scotland, whence the