OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sprat

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​SPRAT, a marine fish (Clupea sprattus), named "garvie" in Scotland, one of the smallest species of the genus Clupea or herrings, rarely exceeds 5 in. in length, and occurs in large shoals on the Atlantic coasts of Europe. Sprats are very often confounded with young herrings, which they much resemble, but can always be distinguished by the following characters: they do not possess any teeth on the palate (vomer), like herrings; their gill-covers are smooth, without the radiating striae which are found in the shad and the pilchard; the anal fin consists of from seventeen to twenty rays, and the lateral line of forty-seven or forty-eight scales. The ventral fins are slightly anterior to the origin of the dorsal fin; and the spine consists of from forty-seven to forty-nine vertebrae. The sprat spawns in the open sea from February to May and is only occasionally captured in the ripe condition. Its eggs are buoyant and pelagic and easily recognized. The sprat is one of the more important food-fishes on account of the immense numbers which are caught when the shoals approach the coasts. They are somewhat capricious, however, as regards the place and time of their appearance, the latter falling chiefly in the first half of winter. They are caught with the seine or with the bag-net in the tideway. Large quantities are consumed fresh, but many are pickled or smoked and others prepared like anchovies. Frequently the captures are so large that the fish can be used as manure only.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spree

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​SPREE, a river of Prussia, Germany, rising in the district of Upper Lusatia, in the kingdom of Saxony, close to the Bohemian frontier, and flowing nearly due north past Bautzen, Spremberg and Cottbus, dividing between the first two towns for a time into two arms. Below Cottbus the river splits into a network of channels, and swings round in a big curve to the west forming the peculiar marshy region (30 m. long and 3 to 6 m. wide) known as the Spreewald. Having returned to its predominant direction, it turns W.N.W., and passing Fürstenwalde and Köpenick threads Berlin in several arms, and joins the Havel at Spandau. Its length is 227 m. of which 112 are navigable; the area of its drainage basin is 3660 sq. m. It is connected with the Oder by the Friedrich Wilhelm or Müllrose Canal made in 1862-1868, which is 17 m. long, and by the Oder-Spree Canal, made in 1887-1888, and with the Havel by the Berlin-Spandau Navigation Canal, 5½ m. long, and by the Teltow Canal completed in 1905.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sprat, Thomas

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​SPRAT, THOMAS (1635-1713), English divine, was born at Beaminster, Dorsetshire, and educated at Wadham College, Oxford, where he held a fellowship (1657-1670). Having taken orders he became a prebendary of Lincoln in 1660. In the preceding year he had gained a reputation by his poem To the Happie Memory of the most Renowned Prince Oliver, Lord Protector (London, 1659), and he was afterwards well known as a wit, preacher and man of letters. His chief prose works are the Observations upon Monsieur de Sorbier's Voyage into England (London, 1665), a satirical reply to the strictures on Englishmen in Samuel de Sorbière's book of that name, and a History of the Royal Society of London (London, 1667), which Sprat had helped to found. In 1669 he became canon of Westminster, and in 1670 rector of Uffington, Lincolnshire. He was chaplain to Charles II. in 1676, curate and lecturer at St Margaret's, Westminster, in 1679, canon of Windsor in 1681, dean of Westminster in 1683 and bishop of Rochester in 1684. He was a member of James II.'s ecclesiastical commission, and in 1688 he read the Declaration of Indulgence to empty benches in Westminster Abbey. Although he opposed the motion of 1689 declaring the throne vacant, he assisted at the coronation of William and Mary. As dean of Westminster he directed Wren's restoration of the abbey. He died on the 20th of May 1713.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spreewald

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​SPREEWALD, a district of Germany, in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, a marshy depression of the middle Spree valley, extending to some 106 sq. m., its length being 27 m. and its width varying from 1 to 7 m. It owes its marshy character to the river Spree, which above Lübben splits into a network of over two hundred arms, and in seasons of flood generally overflows considerable portions of the region. In the parts which are especially liable to inundation, as, for example, the villages of Lehde, Leipe and Burg, many of the homesteads are built each on a little self-contained island, approachable in summer only by boat, and in winter over the ice. In spite of its marshy character the Spreewald is in part cultivated, in part converted into pasturage, and almost everywhere, but more especially in the lower districts, wooded like a park, the predominant trees being willows. Fishing, cattle-breeding and the growing of vegetables, more particularly small pickling cucumbers, are the chief occupations of the people, about 30,000 in all. In great part they are of Wendish blood, and though the majority have been Germanized, there is a small residue who have faithfully preserved their national speech, customs, and their own peculiar styles of dress. The attractive blending of wood and water makes the Spreewald in summer a resort of the people of the Prussian capital, but also in winter the district is largely Visited by people bent on skating, sleighing and other winter pastimes. The chief town is Lübben, 45 m. south from Berlin on the railway to Görlitz.
See W. von Schulenburg, Wendische Volkssagen und Gebräuche aus dem Spreewald (Leipzig, 1880); Kuhn, Der Spreewald und seine Bewohner (Cottbus, 1889); and Braunsdorf, Spreewaldfahrten (Lübbenau, 1901).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spottsylvania

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​SPOTTSYLVANIA, a county of Virginia, U.S.A., so called after Alexander Spotswood (q.v.), lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1710-1722, who owned extensive estates and mines therein. It is bounded on the N. by the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers and on the S. by the North Anna. It is celebrated as containing several of the most famous battlefields of the Civil War—Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and particularly that of Spottsylvania Court House, where the armies of Grant and Lee contended for nearly two weeks (May 8-21, 1864). The battles of Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spottsylvania are described in the article Wilderness.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spouse

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​SPOUSE, (O. Fr. espous, mod. époux, espouse, épouse, Lat. sponsus, sponsa, a betrothed or promised man or woman, from spondere, to promise), a husband or wife, properly one promised or betrothed to another in marriage.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spreckels, Claus

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​SPRECKELS, CLAUS (1828-1908), American capitalist, was born in Lanstedt, Hanover, in 1828. In 1846, to escape army service, he emigrated to the United States and became a grocer. In 1856 he removed from New York City to San Francisco, where he set up as a grocer, then a brewer, and later a sugar refiner. He gradually obtained control of most of the sugar refineries on the Pacific coast; he was able to undersell his competitors because he bought his raw sugar in Hawaii, where he purchased large plantations and contracted for the produce of others. He built a large refinery in Hawaii, and his influence with the Hawaiian government was for a time paramount. By financing the Pacific Steamship Company he was able to reduce the freight charges on his sugar, and he also introduced various improvements in the methods of manufacture. It was he who built the railway from Salinas to San Francisco, by buying which the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé first made a through line into San Francisco. Spreckels died in San Francisco on the 26th of December 1908. His eldest son, John Diedrich Spreckels (b. 1853), became proprietor of the San Francisco Morning Call and succeeded to his father's steamship interests; and another son, Rudolph Spreckels (1873-), became president of the First National Bank of San Francisco.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spratt, Thomas Abel Brimage

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​SPRATT, THOMAS ABEL BRIMAGE (1811-1888), English vice-admiral, hydrographer and geologist, was born at East Teignmouth on the nth of May 1811. He was the eldest son of Commander James Spratt, R.N., and entered the navy in 1827. He was attached to the surveying branch, and was engaged almost continuously until 1863 in surveying the Mediterranean. As commander of the "Spitfire " he rendered distinguished service in the Black Sea during the Crimean War, and was appointed C.B. in 1855. At an earlier date he was associated with Edward Forbes, then naturalist to the "Beacon," and during the years 1841-1843 they made observations on the bathymetrical distribution of marine life. To Forbes he was specially indebted for his interest in natural history and geology, ​and together they published Travels in Lycia, &c. (1847). Spratt investigated the caves at Malta and obtained remains of the pigmy elephant (Elephas melitensis), which was described by Dr H. Falconer. He investigated the geology of several Greek islands, also the shores of Asia Minor, and made detailed observations on the Delta of the Nile. He was especially distinguished for his Travels and Researches in Crete (2 vols., 1865), in which he ably described the physical geography, geology, archaeology and natural history of the island. He was commissioner of fisheries from 1866 to 1873; and acting conservator of the Mersey from 1879 until the close of his life. He died at Tunbridge Wells on the 10th of March 1888.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Spremberg

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​SPREMBERG, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, situated partly on an island in the river Spree and partly on the west bank, 76 m. S.E. of Berlin by the railway to Görlitz. Pop. (1905) 11,188. There are a Roman Catholic and two Evangelical churches, a pilgrimage chapel, dating from 1100, a ducal château, built by a son of the elector John George about the end of the 16th century (now utilized as government offices), classical, technical and commercial schools and a hospital. It carries on considerable manufactures of woollen cloth.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Plain

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​PLAIN (O. Fr. plain, from Lat. planum), a level surface; hence in physical geography a tract of country generally quite flat or comparatively so (see Geography). The adjective “plain” signifies “level,” and thence smooth, clear, simple, ordinary, &c.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Plainfield

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​PLAINFIELD, a city of Union county, New Jersey, U.S.A., about 24 m. W. by S. of New York City. Pop. (1910 U.S. census), 20,550. It is served by the Central Railroad of New Jersey and by electric lines connecting with neighbouring towns. It is situated for the most part on a plain; north-east are heights occupied by the suburb of Netherwood, and north in Somerset county, on the slope of the first Watchung Mountain, is the borough of North Plainfield (pop. 1910 U.S. census, 6117), which forms with Plainfield virtually a single residential and business community. Plainfield is one of the most attractive residential suburbs of New York. The city has an excellent public school system, a good public library, with an art gallery and museum. The Muhlenberg hospital, club houses and a driving track are features of the city. The value of the factory products increased from $2,457,454 in 1900 to $5,572,154 in 1905, or 46·6%. Plainfield was settled in 1684, but it was not until 1755 that the first frame house was erected. In 1760 a grist mill was erected, and for several years the place was called Milltown. The township of Plainfield was created out of Westfield township in 1847, and in 1867 Plainfield was chartered as a city.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Plaintiff

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​PLAINTIFF, one who brings a “ plaint ” (Low Lat. plancta plangere, beat the breast, lament), the name, in law, of the party who brings an action against another, who is called the ​“defendant.” In suits for divorce the party bringing the suit is styled the “petitioner,” the party against whom it is brought the “respondent.”
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Plaice

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​PLAICE (Pleuronectes platessa), a species of flat-fish, common on the coasts of northern Europe from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay. It is readily recognized by the yellow or orange-coloured spots which are placed in a row along the dorsal and anal fins, and scattered over the body. The eyes are on the right side, and the teeth in the jaws compressed and truncate. The scales are minute and smooth. Plaice, like other flat-fishes, prefer a sandy flat bottom to a rocky ground, and occur in suitable localities in great abundance; they spawn early in spring, and are in finest condition in the month of May. Individuals of seven or eight pounds weight are considered fish of large size, but specimens of double that weight have been caught.
See the monograph by F. J. Cole and J. Johnstone (Liverpool, 1901); and W. Garstang’s “Reports on the Natural History of the Plaice” (Rapports et procès-verbaux du conseil international pour l’exploration de la mer, 1905 seq.).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Plagiarism

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​PLAGIARISM, an appropriation or copying from the work of another, in literature or art, and the passing off of the same as original or without acknowledgment of the real authorship or source. The Lat. plagiarius meant a kidnapper, stealer or abductor of a slave or child though it is also used in the modern sense of a literary pilferer or purloiner by Martial (I. 53, 9). The word plagium is used in the Digest of the offence of kidnapping or abduction, and the ultimate source is probably to be found in plaga, net, snare, trap, cognate with Gr. πλέκειν, to weave, plait. The idea of plagiarism as a wrong is comparatively modern, and has grown up with the increasing sense of property in works of the intellect. (See Copyright.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Plaid

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​PLAID (Gael. plaide, Ir. ploid, usually taken to be derived from Gael. peall, sheepskin, Lat. pellis, skin), an outer garment, consisting of an oblong piece of woollen cloth, which has formed the principal outer part of the costume of the Highlanders of Scotland. The wearer wrapped himself in the plaid, the lower portion, reaching to the knees and belted, forming the kilt. Later the lower portion was separated, being called the phili beg, the plaid being used as a covering for the shoulders and upper part of the body. The plaids were usually of a checked or tartan pattern. The word is thus used of any cloth made with such a pattern. “Shepherd’s plaid” is a cloth with a chequer of black on a white ground.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sharp, Richard

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SHARP, RICHARD (1750-1835), known as “Conversation Sharp,” was born in Newfoundland in 1759, the son of a British officer in garrison there. He was for many years in business in London, and amassed a large fortune. He was the host of leading literary and political men at his houses in Park Lane and near Dorking. Johnson, Burke, Rogers, Hallam, Grattan, Sydney Smith, James Mill, Wordsworth and Coleridge were among his many friends. From 1806 to 1812 he was M.P. for Castle Rising, and subsequently he represented Portarlington
and Ilchester. He was the author of a volume of Letters and Essays in Prose and Verse (1834), which the Quarterly Review declared to be remarkable for “wisdom, wit, knowledge of the world and sound criticism.” Sharp died at Dorchester on the 30th of March 1835.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shaw, Henry Wheeler

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SHAW, HENRY WHEELER (1818-1885), American humorist, known by the pen-name of “Josh Billings,” was born of Puritan stock at Lanesborough, Massachusetts, on the 21st of April 1818, the son of Henry Shaw (1788-1857), who was a representative in Congress in 1817-1821. The son left Hamilton College to go West. In 1858 he settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., as a land-agent and auctioneer, and began writing newspaper articles, especially for the Poughkeepsie Daily Press. His “Essa on the Muel bi Josh Billings” (1860) in a New York paper was followed by many similar articles, chiefly in the New York Weekly and the New York Saturday Press, and by several popular volumes, among which are Josh Billings: His Sayings (1866), Josh Billings on Ice (1868), Everybody's Friend (1876), Josh Billings: His Works, Complete (1876), Trump Kards (1877), Old Probabilities (1879), Josh Billings' Spice-Box (1881), and Josh Billings' Farmers' Allminax, burlesquing the Old Farmers' Almanac, issued annually between 1870 and 1880, and collected into a volume in 1902 under the title Josh Billings' Old Farmers' Allminax. He died in Monterey, California, on the 14th of October 1885. His platform lectures, such as “Milk,” “Hobby Horse,” “The Pensive Cockroach,” and “What I kno about Hotels,” his mannerisms and apparently unstudied witticisms made him conspicuous.
See Life and Adventures of Josh Billings (New York, 1883), by Francis S. Smith.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sharp, John

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SHARP, JOHN (1645-1714), English divine, archbishop of York, was born at Bradford on the 16th of February 1645, and was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. He was ordained deacon and priest on August 12th 1667, and until 1676 was chaplain and tutor in the family of Sir Heneage Finch at Kensington House. Meanwhile he became archdeacon of Berkshire (1673), prebendary of Norwich, rector of St Giles's-in-the-Fields, and in 1681 dean of Norwich. In 1686, when chaplain to James II., he was suspended for ten months on a charge of having made some reflections on the king, and in 1688 was cited for refusing to read the declaration of indulgence. Under William and Mary he succeeded Tillotson as dean of Canterbury in 1689, and (after declining a choice of sees vacated by non-jurors who were his personal friends) followed Thomas Lamplugh as archbishop of York in 1691. He made a thorough investigation of the affairs of his see, and regulated the disordered chapter of Southwell. He preached at the coronation of Queen Anne and became her almoner and confidential adviser in matters of church and state. He welcomed the Armenian bishops who came to England in 1713, and corresponded with the Prussian court on the possibility of the Anglican liturgy as a means of reconciliation between Lutherans and Calvinists. He died at Bath on the 2nd of February 1714.
His works (chiefly sermons) were published in 7 volumes in 1754, and in 5 volumes at Oxford in 1829.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sharp, William (line-engraver)

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SHARP, WILLIAM (1749-1824), English line-engraver, was born at London on the 29th of January 1749. He was originally apprenticed to what is called a bright engraver, and practised as a writing engraver, but gradually became inspired by the higher branches of the engraver's art. Among his earlier plates are some illustrations, after Stothard, for the Novelists' Magazine. He engraved the “Doctors Disputing on the Immaculateness of the Virgin” and the “Ecce Homo” of Guido Reni, the “St Cecilia” of Domenichino, the “Virgin and Child” of Dolci, and the portrait of John Hunter of Sir Joshua Reynolds. His style of engraving is thoroughly masterly and original, excellent in its play of line and rendering of half-tints and of “colour.” He died at Chiswick on the 25th of July 1824. In his youth, owing to his hotly expressed adherence to the politics of Paine and Home Tooke, he was examined by the privy council on a charge of treason. Mesmer and Brothers found in Sharp a stanch believer; and for long he maintained Joanna Southcott at his own expense. As an engraver he achieved a European reputation, and at the time of his death he enjoyed the honour of being a member of the Imperial Academy of Vienna and of the Royal Academy of Munich.