SOLOMON. 331 SOLOMON'S-SEAL. onion's personal achievements as a great marine merchant. Contact with other nations also had its result iu a marked intellectual advance, and it is probably safe to date from Solomon's days the beginnings of a genuine literary activity in Israel, though several centuries elapsed before the movement assumed important dimensions. The new epoch thus marked by Solomon's reign is sufficient t-o account for the view taken by the later tradition, which makes Solomon liiniself an author of high rank and prodigious fertility. The books ascribed to him, Proverbs, Canti- cles, and Ecclesiastes (qq.v.), belong to vari- ous periods which, however, are all considerably subsequent to his days. That the sim- |der sanctuary of former days was replaced in his reign by a more ambitious edifice was a natural consequence of a general politi- cal growth, but the descriptioir of the new edifice is colored by the desire to extol the grand- eur of Solomon's achievements, while the account of the ceremonies, including the prayer, is prob- ably a post-exilic production. Similarly the visit of the (Jueen of Sheba is a bit of folk lore brought by tradition into connection with Solomon as the most commanding figure in the annals of Hebrew royalty. Consult the chapters on Solomon in the Hebrew histories of Guthe. Stade, Kent, Well- hausen, Piepenln'ing. Kittel, and Cornill; also JlcCurdv. Uifiloni. I'rophecy, and the Monuments (New York. 1S!)4-1!)01 ) . SOLOMON, Wisdom of (Gk. Sop/a ^a'Aoficn-. rof, .s'o/)/iiV(, SalomOntos, Lat. Liber Sapientix, Book of Wisdom). One of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament, sometimes called also the Book of Wisdom. Solomon is introduced as the speaker (cf. chaps, vii.-ix. ), whence the name first mentioned. 'The book consists of three parts : (1) chapters i.-v. commend wisdom to rulers and incidentally attack Greek philosophy, particular- ly the Epicurean school, and show how absorption in worldly afl'airs leads to spiritual ruin; (2) chapters vi.-ix. teach how wisdom, which is above all other benefits, may be gained, and Solomon relates how he came to choose wisdom as his life's companion; the section closes with Solo- mon's prayer for wisdom; (.3) chajjters x.-xix. il- lustrate the influence of wisdom on Isi-ael's his- tori'. the miracles in the history are ascribed to wisdom, and. by way of contrast, the results of folly in the history of heathen nations are held up to scorn. SOLOMON BEN GABIEOL, lien gii'bs-rol'. A .Tewisli philosopher and poet, best known as Aviceliron ( q.v. ) . SOLOMON ISLANDS. A group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, extending in a direction from northwest to southeast between latitudes 5° and 11° S., and longitudes 154° 40' and 162° 3(1' E. (Map: Australasia. .J 3). It is .about 120 miles distant from the Bismarck Arcliipelago on the west. Area, estimated at over 10.000 square miles. The principal islands are Bougain>'ille, Choiseul. N^^y Georgia, Ysabel, Malaita, Guadal- canar, and San Cristoval. Most of the islands are oblong in shape, mountainous, and lined with coral reefs along the coast. Traces of the vol- canic origin of the group are found in the shape of craters, hot springs, etc. There are some active volcanoes, and earthquakes are of frequent ■occurrence. The flora is luxuriant and many of Vol. xai.—i-^. the islands have dense forests of ebony and san- dalwood. The fauna is essentially Papuan in character, and the climate hot, moist, and un- healtliful. The value of copra, pear-shell, and vegetable ivory exported is about $150,000 per annum. The population, estimated at over 176,000, be- long to the Melanesian division of the Papuan Melanesian stock. Their physical type is not uni- form, the people of the islands on Bougainville Strait being taller, darker, more robust, and more brachycephalic, those of San Cristoval and the islands adjacent shorter, lighter, less vigorous, and more dolichocephalic. The lan- guages of the islands (very little intercommuni- cation exists between some of them) show great variation, amounting sometimes to mutual unin- telligibility. Traces of Malay and Polynesian in- fluences occur in speech, institutions, etc. Head- hunting, slavery, cannibalism, and taboo (here tambu) are among the native institutions now mostly on the wane. 'ith the exception of the island of Bougain- ville and a few smaller islands, belonging to (ier- many, in the northwestern part of the archi- )ielago. Great Britain controls the group. The discovery of the Solomon Islands is attributed to the Spanish navigator Mendana (1507). By an agreement in 1SS5 the group was divided between Great Britain and Germany and by that of 1890 Cireat Britain acquired a large part of the Ger- man share. Consult: Guppy. The l^olomon Isl- ands and Their Kntives (London, 1887) ; id., The Solomon Islands, Their Geoloyy, etc. (ib., 1887) ; Woodford, A Naturalist Among the Bead Hunters (ib., 1890) ; Eeclus, Kourelle g6ographie uni- rersrllr. vol. xiv. (Paris, 1889). SOLOMON'S-SEAL (Pohjgonatum) . A genus of plants of the natural order Liliaeea>. differing from lily of the valley chiefly in the cylindrical ' tubular perianth, and in having the flowers joined to their flower-stalks. Of several European species, the common Solomon's-seal (Poli/gonatum multiflorum) has a stem about two feet high, the upper part of which bears two rows of large, ovate-elliptical, alternate leaves. The flower- stalks are generally branched; the small flowers white and drooping. The young shoots of Poly- gonatum officinale are eaten by the Turks like asparagus. The root is white, fleshy, inodorous, with a sweetish, mucilaginous, acrid taste. It has been applied to bruises to prevent or remove BOLOMON'8-9EAL (I'ol.vgiiaatum). A fruiting apra.v nt Solonion's-spal. with a t<?rmiiial piece of a root-stem ; 5, showing the scars or '• seals." discoloration and has been made into bread in times of scarcity. Among the American species Pohjgonatum giganteiim, the great Solomon's- seal, and Pohjgonatum hiftorum, smaller Solo-
