Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/638

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
544
*

STEGOCEPHALIA. 544 ilies: (1) Branchiosaurida; ; (2) Microsauri Js ; (3) Aistopodida?, the serpent-liUe footless forms. UoIic)iosonia, which attained a lengtli of three feet, and Ophidorpeton are the best linown forms. B. — Suboider Uanocephala or Temnospondjdi. The most familiar type is Arclicgosaitnis Declieni from the Lower Permian of Germany, a species which attained a length of four feet. Crieotus and Eryops, from the North American Permian, measure ten feet, and are the largest American amphibia. G. — Suborder Labyrinthodontia or Stereo- spondyli. The true labyrinthodonts are clearly differentiated by the form of the teeth, which have the dentine infolded in a more or less com- plicated manner, and by the 'ertebra', which are completely ossified, with biconcave centra some- times perforated for the passage of the con- stricted notochord. A few genera occur in the Carboniferous and Permian, but the maximum development of the group is attained in the Trias, chiefly of Europe. The genera Labyrin- thodon, Capitosaurus, Trematosaurus, and Jlas- todonsaurus, from the European Trias, are all enormous animals, the last-named, with a skull four feet in length, being the largest amphibian known. Consult: Woodward. Vertebrate Pulce- oiitohKjii (London, 1898) ; Zittel, Text-hook of Pakeoii'tologii (ib., 1902). STEG'OSAU'KUS (Xeo-Lat., from Gk. <rT4. 7fii'. stegein, to cover + iravpos, sauros, lizard). A .Jurassic dinosaur of most peculiar appearance. Fossil skeletons are found in Wyoming and Colorado. It was from 2.5 to 30 feet long, had a very small head, highly arched back, short fore and long hind legs, and heavy long tail. The great bulk of the hinder part of the body depended for its nervous control upon a ganglion in the neural cavity of the sacrum, and this ganglion was of a size several times greater than the brain in the head, which latter is by com- parison very small. See Dinosauri.. STEIER, sti'er. A town of Upper Austria. See Stkyr. STEIN, stin. Cii.RLOTTE von (1742-1827). A friend of Goethe. She was platonically intimate with him from 1775 to the time of his Italian journey (17801), by which he won emancipation. To her he addressed the Briefe aus der Schweiz (1779), which are among the classics of travel, and a multitude of letters, first published in 1848. and best edited in the Weimar edition of his Works (1886). Her letters to Goethe were long supposed destroyed, but they have recently been recovered in part. After Goethe's union with Christiane Vulpius there was an estrange- ment between him and Fran von Stein, gradually overcome later on. Consult: Hofer, Goethe vnd Vhrirlotfe von Stein (Stuttgart, 1878) ; Diintzer, Chiirlolte von Stein (ib., 1874). STEIN, Heinricii .Friedricii Karl, Baron VOM (1757-18.31). A Prussian statesman. He belonged to an old Franconian family, and was born at Nassau. He studied at Giittingen, entered the Prussian civil .service, and in 1784 was at the head of the Department of Mines for Westphalia. In 1786 he visited England and made a study of its institutions, and his experi- ences bore fruit at a later period in his guidance of Prussian afTairs. In October. 1804, he entered the Prussian Ministry as chief of indirect im- STEIN. posts, taxes, manufactures, and commerce. He introduced useful reforms in his department, par- ticularh' by abolishing various restrictions on the internal trade of the nation ; but he was ham- pered in his endeavors by the spirit of Prussian conservatism. In 1807 he was dismissed from office by the King, but the Peace of Tilsit opened the eyes of the sovereign to the wisdom of Stein's policy, and lie was recalled, with the approbation of Napoleon, who had as yet no idea of the deep and earnest patriotism of the ]linister. Seeing clearly that, from a military point of view, Prussia was powerless for the moment, he set about developing her internal resources by initiat- ing a series of administrative and political re- forms, the princijial of which were the abolition of serfdom, with indemnification to the territorial lords; the subjection of the nobles to manorial imposts; promotion in the State service by merit alone, without distinction of caste; and the es- talilishment of a modern municipal system. While he was paving the way for German unity, the Prussian army was being reorganized by Seliarnhorst and Gneisenau ( qq.v. ) As the result of a letter criticising Napoleon's policy, which was brought to the knowledge of the French Em- peror, Stein was obliged to resign (November 24, 1808), and retired to Austria. In danger of be- ing surrendered by Austria to Napoleon, Stein was summoned in 1812 to Russia b,y the Emperor Alexander, and contributed by his counsels to the formation of the coalition of the German States against Napoleon. After the battle of Leipzig, in 181.3, Stein became head of the council for the administration of the reconquered German coun- tries, as well as of the territory which France had annexed west of the Rliine. He was a leader in all the military diplomacy of that stirring time up to the Congresses of Vienna and Aix-la- Chapelle. After his retirement from political life he devoted himself to the promotion of Ger- man science and art and formed the society for the study of early German history whose publi- cations are celebrated as the Monumenta Oer- niunice Eistorica. He died at Kappenberg (West- phalia) June 29, 1831. Consult: Seeley, Li/e ond Times of Stein (London. 1879) ; Pertz, Leben des Frriherrn vom Stein (1885). STEIN, LoRENZ VON (1815-90). A distin- guished German political scientist, born at Eekernforde, in Schleswig. He studied law and philosophy at Kiel and Jena; became a professor in Kiel in 1846; and from 1855 till 1885 was pro- fessor of political science at Vienna. He pub- lished: Franzosische Staeits- und Rcchtsqesehichte (1846-48) ; System der Staatsimssenschoft (1852- 56); Lehrbuch der Volkswirtschaft (1858. 1878, 1SS7) ; Lehrbuch der Finanxwissenschaft (1885- 86). STEIN, M.RK AuREL (1862—). An English Orientalist, archaeologist, and educator. He wa3 born at Budapest, Hungary. He studied at Vi- enna and Tilbingen, and in England at Oxford and London. In 1888 he was appointed registrar of the Punjab L^niversity and principal of the Oriental College at Lahore, and in 1899 principal of the Calcutta JLadrasah. He was deputed by the Indian Government to conduct archceological and topographical explorations in Chinese Tur- kestan. The first results of his discoveries on this journey are published in his Preliminary Report (London, 1901). On his return from