SOKA. 347 SOBBONNE. ■with black and white, and beneath (in the fall) it is plain brownish. In breeding plumage the face and tliruat are black, the other under parts slate-gray. The .sora breeds from the Middle States northward to Hudson Bay, and winters t from the Carolinas southward to South America. The nest is of grass on the groiuid in swamps and the eight to fifteen eggs are bully, spotted with lirown. See Plate of Kails, etc. SORATA, s6-ra'ta, or Illaiipu. The highest mountain of Bolivia and one of the highest of the South American continent ( Jlap : Bolivia, D 7). It is situated in the Bolivian Department of La Paz, about 16 miles east of Lal<e Titicaca, and reaches an altitude of 21,500 feet. It was first ascended by Sir William ilartin Conway in 1898. SORATJ, zu'rou. A town in the Province of Brandenl)urg. Prussia, on the Sorebacli, 60 miles sioutli-southeast of Frankfort-on-the-Oder (Jlap: Prussia, F 3 ) . It has an old eastle ( now a prison) and a new castle (the seat of the magis- tracy). There are important bleach-fields, print- works, color-works, iron foundries, and manu- factories of cloth, machinery, glass, porcelain, tubing, waxwares, wooden shoes, and glazed bricks. In the neighborhood are deposits of lignite. Sorau, the oldest town of Lusatia, re- ceived municipal privileges in 1260. It was ceded by Saxonv to Prussia in I8I5. Popula- tion, in moo, 15,945. SORAtTEK, zo'rou-er, Paul (1839—). A German botanist, born at Breslau. In 1871 he became director of the experiment station at the Proskau Pomological Institute, and in 1892 he was made professor. In 1893 he went to Berlin as secretary of the International Phytopathologi- cal Commission. He became distinguished for his investigations in the diseases of phrnts, and founded tlic Zcifschrift fiir Pflaii::rnkrankheiten (Stuttgart), besides writing such books as: Das Eandbuch der Pflau^oilcrankhcHen (ed. 1886; its atlas, 1887-93); Die Ohstbaiimkrank- heiten (1879); Die Schaden der einheimischen Kulturpflanzen. durch Schmarotzer, etc. (1888) ; Populare Plujsiolo(iie fiir GUrtner (1891) ; Pflan- ^ensrluif- (with Frank, 1892 and 1896). SORBONNE, sor'bon'. La. An institution of learning in Paris, founded by Robert de Sorbon. Robert was born October 9, 1201, in Sorbon, near the town of Rethel, not far from Rheims. During the subsequent cen- turies and even to the present day, the place-name of this man has been attached to the focus of intellectual activity in France. Robert pursued his studies in Paris, look- ing forward to the priesthood. He became a priest, a doctor of theology, and a canon, first in the Cathedral of Cambrai, and then in that of Paris. By his eloquence and piety he soon won renown and was presently made clraplain, and perhaps confessor to King Louis IX,, known as Saint Louis. Impressed by the importance of theological science and by the necessities of poor young men who might need support while engaged in the study of theology, Robert de Sorbon es- tablished a society of secular ecclesiastics. The King and some of the ecclesiastical dignities favored this enterprise; and in the year 1257 a site was secured by royal bounty for the home of Vol,. XVIII— 23. ' the societj'. It was near the Palais des Thermes, in the heart of what has long borne the name of the Latin Quarter. Therc were other similar associations or colleges, but this was destined to perpetuity and distinction. . The founder called the establishment La CommunauK- des paurrcs maitres ctiidiant en iheoioyie ; but the public shortened this long phrase, and before the close of the century the college was called, from its founder's name. La Sorbonne. which it has borne amid all the changes of social and intellectual life from that day to the ))resent. Its Latin title was Domus Sorbonna'. The House was a hall of residence and of stu<ly — not a place for sys- tematic instruction and Iccturi-s. For the work of Robertas, the Pap.-il approbation was secured in 1268. Several years later, to this theological seminarj- the foumler added a college for the hu- manities and philosophy, and he died soon after- wards, at Paris, seventy-three years old (1274). His life is full of interest and may be read in a memoir by Jadart. published at Rheims, in 1880. The principal incidents are well presented in the Biograpliie generate, and by Baroux in Aft (jra>ide eyclopedie (vol. xxx.). The early muniments of this foundation may be found in Denille's masterly eomijcndium of Documents retatifs a I'Vnirersiti de Paris (Paris, 1883), and in the C'artiilaiium Universitatis Parisiensis, tom. i., (Paris, 1889). From its origin until the present time the Sor- bonne has been the centre of intellectual activity, and until the French Revolution it was recog- nized as especially the .seat of theological learn- ing. The Faculty pronounced their opinions on the most important questions and their decisions were recognized as of great authority. The read- er need only consult the History of France by Henri JIartin to discover many illustrations of this statement. The Faculty intervened in the trial of Jeanne d'Arc; it condemned the views of Luther and showed great hostility toward re- formers; censured many noteworthy books and writers; oppo.sed the Cartesian philosophy; and addressed the Czar in regard to a reunion of the Greek and Latin churches. Among the books which it condemned were the treatise of Hel- vetius, De I'Esprit. the fourth volume of Buft'on's Xatiiral History, and Rousseau's Emile. Among the glories of the Sorbonne was its encourage- ment of printing in France, by giving quarters for their presses to Ulric Gering and other early printers. The buildings of the Sorbonne were recon- structed at the beginning of the seventeenth cen- tury by Richelieu, who merits the distinction of a second founder. The church which he caused to be built as the college chapel is one of the celebrated monuments of ecclesiastical ar<'hitecture in Paris. His tomb is there, not far from the tomb of Robert de Sorbon. The Sor- b(ume was given to the city of Paris in the mid- dle of the nineteenth century, and the con- struction was begun of a magnificent building for the departments of science and letters. This edifice, called La Nouvclle Sorbonne, was com- pleted in 1889, and it is perhaps the finest uni- versity building in the world. Its lecture-rooms and laboratories are well equipped, and the mural decorations (especially the great picture of Puvis de Chavannes) are of rare beauty, hi the transition from the old to the new Sorbonne
