Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/765

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SUERA. 663 SUEZ. STJERA, swu'ia. A seaport of Morocco. See JIOCJAUOU. SUESS, si.is. KDiARn (1S31 — ). An Austrian geologist. He was born in London, .studied the natural sciences at Prague and Vienna, and from 1857 to IS'Jl was ])rufi'ssor of yculogy at the Vniver.sity of 'ienna. From 1873 to 18'Jt; he was a member of the Austrian Lower House. In 1897 he became president of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. His more important contributions to geology, which have opened up a new path in geological inquiry, and laid the foundation for what is now frn|uently termed the 'new geology,' deal with the construction and relations of con- tinents and mountain ranges, the dynamics of volcanoes and earthquakes, and the general movements of the earth's crust. His .liitlitt tier Erde (begun in 1885 and not yet completed) is a masterful exposition of the relations of the dominant features of the earth's surface, and the first luminous efi'ort to correlate their multi- form aspects and give to them their true geo- graphic expression. His other works include: Bohmische Grai>tolichten (1852): lirachiopoden der Kossener Schichteii (1854); Brachiopoden dcr Kdllsliitter ScJiicIiten (1855); Ueber den Loss (18U0): Die iertiiiren Landfaunen Mittrl- ituliens (1871); Die Entstehung der Alpen (1875). StrETO'NIirS TRANQUIL'LUS, Gaius. A Roman historian, born probably a few years after the death of Nero. Pliny procured him the dignity of military tribune, which, by Suetonius's desire, was transferred to another. He was after- wards secretary of the Emperor Hadrian, whose favor he had secured. The date of his death is unknown, but it probably occurred about a.d. 160. All his works (among which, as we learn from Suidas, there were several on topics usually treated by grammarians) have been lost, except his Lives" of the Csesars, his Lives of Eminent Grammarians, and (in part only) his Lives of Eminent Rhetoricians. It is by the first of these works that he is most favorably known, contain- ing information about the twelve Caesars, from Julius Coesar to Domitian, which is to be had nowhere else, and abounding with anecdotes which, while they too often prove the profligacy of his heroes, testify to the impartiality of their chronicler. The best editions are by Baumgar- tcn-Crusius (Leipzig, 1816-18), ReifTerscheid (ib.. 1860), and Roth (ib., 1886). There are English translations of the Lives by Clark (Lon- don, 173'2), and by Thomson and Forrester (ib., 1855). STJE'VI. The collective designation of a great number of Germanic peoples, as mentioned in C.TPsar, De Bella Oallieo, iv. 1. They occupied a district of indefinite extent on the eastern side of the Rhine, and may have been the same tribes as those subsequently known as Chatti, Longo- bardi, etc. Coesar states that their territory comprised 100 cantons, and was densely wooded, that they had towns ioppida), but no strong- holds, and that every year a part of the popula- tion left their homes to seek employment in war. The Suevi of whom Tacitus speaks (Germania. 38, etc.) seem to have dwelt north and east of the country of the Suevi of Cnesar, extending as far as the Elbe and the Baltic, which Tacitus calls the 'Suevic sea.' The peo- ples united under the rule of Maroboduus, the Alarcomannic chief, were Suevic, and hence the Jlarconianni and t^uadi who figure in the reigns of JIareus Aurelius and Aurelian are often called Suevi. After the name had fallen into disuse as a collective designation, it reappeared in Animiauus ilarcellinus, an historian of the third century ..u., as the name of a people occupying the same territory as the Suevi of Ca.'sar. We find them in alliance with the Burgundians, Alenuuini, Alani, Vandals, etc. They are among the most notable of the l)arbaric peoples that broke up the Roman Empire in th8 northwest and west. Bursting through the passes of the Pyrenees (a.d. 40',)), they, along with the Vandals, overran and wasted Spain (q.v.). Those who remained at home in Ger- many seem to have spread during the fifth cen- tury east of the Neckar and the Rauhe Alb, and south as far as Switzerland. The mediaeval Swabians were their direct descendants. SUEZ, suo-ez'. A town of Egypt, situated on the south coast of the Isthmus of Suez, at the northern extremity of the Gulf of that name, and near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal (Map: Egypt, F 3). It is built on a desert peninsula, and consists chiefly of unpretentious- looking houses. The European quarter, however, is regularly laid out, and contains the large warehouses of the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company. There are also a large Eng- lish and a French hospital, and the town is sup- plied with water from a long distance through a fresh-Vater canal. To the south a large stone causeway, carrying a railroad, runs to the im- mense harbor of Port Ibrahim, at the entrance to the canal, 2 miles south of the town. Suez has railroad connection with Cairo and Ismailia, but its commerce is not very large, as only a small portion of the transit trade passing through the canal afl'ects the town. Population, in 1882, 10,- 909; in 1897, 17,457, Previous to the discovery of the sea route to India aroimd the Cape of Good Hope Suez was a flourishing emporium for the trade between Europe and the East. It subsequently fell into decay, and before the opening of the canal it was a wretched village of 1500 inhabitants. SUEZ, Gulf op. One of the two arms in which the Red Sea terminates, and which inclose the Sinai Peninsula (Map: Egypt, F 3). It is the western and larger of the two, and its head is the extreme northern end of the Red Sea. It lies between the peninsula and the main portion of Egypt, and has an extreme length of 187 miles with a breadth of from 14 to 30 miles. It is artificially connected with the Mediter- ranean Sea by the Suez Canal. SUEZ, TsTHMt'S OF. The neck of land con- necting Africa with Asia, and separating the Mediterranean from the Red Sen (iSIap: Africa, HI). The shortest straight-line distance across it, between the site of the ancient Pelusiuir. and the head of the Gulf of Suez, is 72 miles. The istlimus consists of a low. sandy, !vnd stony desert, the lowest depressions being occu- pied by salt lakes and marshes, and it is almost wholly destitute of fresh water. A series of such depressions extends across the isthmus from the great coast lagoon in the north to the Gulf of Suez, and afTords the route for the Suez Canal (q.v.).