OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Winchester (Massachusetts)

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​WINCHESTER, a township of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., about 8 m. W. of Boston at the head of Upper Mystic Pond, one of the sources of the Mystic river. Pop, (1900) 7248,of whom 1968 were foreign-bom and 140 were negroes, (1910) 9309. Area, 6 sq. m. Winchester is served by the southern division of the Boston & Maine railway, and is connected with Boston, Arlington, Medford, Stoneham and Woburn by electric lines. It is chiefly a residential suburb of Boston. Through the centre of the township winds the Aberjona river, which empties into Mystic Pond, in Winchester township, both favourite resorts for canoeing, &c. Wedge Pond and Winter Pond, in the centre of the township, are clear and beautiful sheets of water. The streets of Winchester are heavily shaded, the view as presented from the neighbouring hills being that of a continuous forest stretching from the beautiful Mystic Valley parkway (of the Metropolitan park system), of which more than one-half (50.2 acres) is in the southern part of the, township, to the Middlesex Fells Reservation (another Metropolitan park) of which 261.9 acres are in the eastern part; and there are a large public playground and a common. Horn Pond Mountain and Indian Hill are about 320 ft. above sea-level. One of the pleasantest residential districts is Rangely, a restricted private park. The town-hall and library building is a fine structure; the library contains about 20,000 volumes, and the museum and collections of the Winchester Historical and Genealogical Society. The principal manufactures are leather and felt goods.
Winchester was originally within the limits of Charlestown. In 1638 allotments of land between the Mystic Pond and the present Woburn were made to various Charlestown settlers, including John Harvard and Increase Nowell (1590–1655), secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1644–1649, and the new settlement was called Waterfield. Most of this territory in 1642 was incorporated in Woburn and was called South Woburn. In 1850 Winchester was separately incorporated, parts of Arlington (then West Cambridge) and Medford going to make up its area, and was named in honour of Colonel W. P. Winchester of Watertown, who left to the township a legacy for municipal works.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wind Braces

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​WIND BRACES, in architecture, diagonal braces to tie the rafters of a roof together and prevent “racking.” In the better sort of medieval roofs they are arched, and run from the principal rafters to catch the purlins.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Winchester (Kentucky)

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​WINCHESTER, a town and the county-seat of Clark county, Kentucky, U.S.A., in the E. part of the Blue Grass region of the state, about 18 m. E. by S. of Lexington. Pop. (1890) 4519; (1900) 5964, including 3128 negroes; (1910) 7156.It is served by the Louisville & Nashville, the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Lexington & Eastern railways, the last being a short road (from Lexington to Jackson) extending into the mineral and timber region of Eastern Kentucky. The town is the seat of the Kentucky Wesleyan College (co-educational; Methodist Episcopal, South), opened in 1866, and of the Winchester Trades and Industrial School (1900). Winchester is in an agricultural, lumbering and stock-raising region, and has various manufactures. It was first incorporated in 1792.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Winchester (Virginia)

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​WINCHESTER, an independent city and the county-seat of Frederick county, Virginia, U.S.A., 87 m. by rail W.N.W. of Washington. Pop. (1890) 5196; (1900) 5161, including 1105 negroes; (1910) 5864. Winchester is served by the Baltimore & Ohio and the Cumberland Valley railways. It is pleasantly situated in the fertile Shenandoah Valley about 720 ft. above sea-level. Fort Loudoun Seminary for girls occupies the site of old Fort Loudoun, and in the city is the Shenandoah Valley Academy, a military school for boys. The Handley library ​(1910), a memorial to John Handley, a part of whose estate was bequeathed to establish industrial schools for the poor of Winchester, and an auditorium are owned by the municipality. The United States National Military Cemetery at Winchester contains the graves of 4480 Union soldiers, 2382 of them unknown, and adjoining it is the Confederate Stonewall Cemetery, with about 8000 graves. The manufacture of gloves is the leading industry; among the other manufactures are woollen and knit goods, flour, leather, lumber, paper and bricks. Electricity, generated at the Shenandoah river, is used for power in many of the factories.
A settlement was established in this vicinity as early as 1732. In 1752 the present name was adopted and the town was established by act of the colonial legislature. In 1756, during the Seven Years' War, George Washington, in command of the provincial troops of Virginia, established his headquarters here and built Fort Loudoun. The town was incorporated in 1779. The Virginia Gazette and Winchester Advertiser, the first newspaper published in the Shenandoah Valley, was established here in 1787. In the Civil War, Winchester, because of its position in the lower Shenandoah Valley, played a great part, and was several times the scene of engagements between the Union and Confederate forces—in 1862, Jackson's actions of Kernstown and Winchester; in the Gettysburg campaign, the capture of a Union garrison by Ewell (14-15 June 1863); and in Sheridan's campaign of 1864 the battle of Winchester or Opequon (Sept. 19, 1864), for all of which see Shenandoah Valley Campaigns. Winchester was chartered as a city in 1852 and in 1906 the corporate limits were enlarged.
See J. E. Norris (ed.), History of the Lower Shenandoah Valley (Chicago, 1890), and T. K. Cartmell, Shenandoah Valley Pioneers (Winchester, 1909).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wind

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​WIND (a common Teut. word, cognate with Skt. vatas, Lat. ventus, cf. “weather,” to be of course distinguished from to “wind,” to coil or twist, O. Eng. windan, cf. “wander,” “wend,” &c.), a natural motion of the air, a current of air coming from any particular direction or with any degree of velocity. For the general account of winds, their causes, &c., see Meteorology. Winds may be classified according to the strength or velocity with which they blow, varying from a calm, a breeze to a gale, storm or hurricane; for the varying scale of velocity per hour of these see Beaufort Scale, and for the measurement Anemometer. Another classification divides them into “regular” or “constant” winds, such as the “trade winds” (q.v.), and “periodic” winds, such as the “monsoon” (q.v.). There are many special winds, such as the “Föhn,” “chinook,” “mistral,” “harmattan,” “sirocco,” which are treated under their individual names. For the group of musical instruments known by the generic name of Wind Instruments see that heading.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shammai

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See also House of Shammai and Council of Jamnia on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
SHAMMAI, a Jewish scribe of the time of King Herod, whom tradition almost invariably couples with Hillel (q.v.), with whom he stood in striking contrast, not merely in legal-religious decisions and discussions, but also in character and temperament. His motto (Aboth i. 15) reads: "Make thy study of the Thora a firmly established duty; say little and do much; and receive every man with friendly countenance." The last admonition is characteristic, as Shammai was choleric and brusque. The opposition between Shammai and Hillel was perpetuated by their respective schools, till, under Gamaliel II., the strife was decided at Jabneh in favour of the school of Hillel. (W. Ba.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shampoo

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SHAMPOO, a word now principally used as a hair-dresser's term for washing the head and hair with soap and water or some special preparation. It is properly the Hindustani word (champna, to thrust, press; imperative champo) for the kneading and rubbing of the body, &c., which is one of the principal features of the various forms of hot bath as practised in the East.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shamanism

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​SHAMANISM, the name commonly given to the religion of the Ural-Altaic peoples. Properly speaking, however, there is nothing to distinguish Shamanism from the religions of other peoples in a similar stage of culture. On the other hand, the shaman or priest (Tungus saman, Altain Turk kama, cf. Russian kamlanie) performs duties which differ in some respects from those of the ordinary magician; one of his main functions is to protect individuals from hostile supernatural influence. He deals both with good and bad spirits; he also performs sacrifices and procures oracles. The drum (tungur) is an important instrument in his ceremonies; it may be assumed that in many cases the effect of the preliminary performances is to induce autohypnotic phenomena. The shaman's office is held to be hereditary and his chief assistants are ancestral spirits.
See Radloff, Aus Sibirien, ii.; C. de Harlez, Religion nationale des Tatares orientaux; Hiekisch, “Die Tungusen,” Mitt. der anthropologischen Gesellschaft, Wien, xviii. 165-182; Revue de l'histoire des religions, xl. 321, xlvii. 51.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shambles

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​SHAMBLES, a slaughter-house, a place where butchers kill animals for domestic food, an " abattoir." The word in the singular means properly a bench or stall on which butchers display their meat for sale in a market, and appears in O. Eng. fōt-scamel, foot-stool. It represents the La. scamellum, diminutive of scamnum, step, bench; the root is seen in Greek σκήπτρειν, to prop, cf. "sceptre." The distinct word "shamble," meaning to walk awkwardly, is to be traced to the O. Du. schampelen, to stumble, an adaptation of O. Fr. escamper, to decamp (Lat. ex, out of, and campus, field). The same French word has given the English " scamp," a worthless rascal, a rogue, vagabond.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shamokin

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​SHAMOKIN, a borough of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on Shamokin Creek, about 45 m. (73 m. by rail) N. by E. of Harrisburg. Pop. (1900) 18,202, of whom 2703 were foreign-born; (1910 U.S. census) 19,588. Shamokin is served by the Philadelphia & Reading, the Northern Central, and two interurban railways. There are two parks. The mining and shipping of anthracite coal and the manufacture of silk goods and of hosiery and knit goods are the borough's principal industries, but it has, also, foundries and machine shops, and manufactories of powder, powder-kegs, shirts, overalls, hooks and eyes, brick, flour and dressed lumber. The total value of its factory product in 1905 was $1,443,915. The borough was named from Shamokin Creek; the name is probably a mutilation of a Delaware Indian word meaning “ full of eels." The Indian village named Shamokin was on the site of the present Sunbury, Pa. Shamokin was formed in 1852 by the union of two villages, Groveville, and Mary Ann. It was incorporated as a borough in 1864.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shallot

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​SHALLOT, Allium ascalonicum, a hardy bulbous perennial, which has not been certainly found wild and is regarded by A. de Candolle as probably a modification of A. Cepa, dating from about the beginning of the Christian era (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 71). It is extensively cultivated and is much used in cookery, besides which it is excellent when pickled. It is propagated by offsets, which are often planted in September or October, but the principal crop should not be got in earlier than February or the beginning of March. In planting, the tops of the bulbs should be kept a little above ground, and it is a commendable plan to draw away the soil surrounding the bulbs when they have got root-hold. They should not be planted on ground recently manured. They come to maturity about July or August. There are two sorts—the common, and the Jersey or Russian, the latter being much larger and less pungent.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Snow

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​SNOW (in O. Eng. snáw; a common Indo-European word; cf. in Teutonic languages, Ger. Schnee, Du. sneeuw; in Slavonic snieg’, Lith. snëgas; Gr. νίφα, Lat. nix, nivis, whence the Romanic forms, Ital. neve, Fr. neige, &c.; Ir. and Gael. sneachd; the original sense of the root may be to moisten, cf. Skt. sneha, moisture), that form of precipitation of water-vapour condensed from the atmosphere which reaches the ground in a frozen and crystalline condition. Snow thus occurs when the processes of condensation and fall take place at a temperature below 32° F. The crystals, which vary greatly in form, belong to the hexagonal system. They are formed upon a nucleus, in the same way as a raindrop, and sometimes reach the ground singly, but more commonly in small coherent masses or flakes. If in its passage from the upper atmosphere snow passes through a temperature above 32° F. it reaches the ground as sleet or rain (according to the degree of heat encountered), and thus after a fall of rain over lowlands, the higher parts of mountains in the vicinity may be seen to have received the fall as snow.
See further Climate and Meteorology; and for the transformation of snow into ice under pressure, see Glacier.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Snoilsky, Carl Johan Gustaf

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​SNOILSKY, CARL JOHAN GUSTAF, Count (1841–1903), Swedish poet, was born at Stockholm on the 8th of September 1841. He was educated at the Clara School, and in 1860 became a student at Upsala., He was trained for diplomacy, which he quitted for work at the Swedish Foreign Office. As early as 1861, under the pseudonym of “Sven Tröst,” he began to print poems, and he soon became the centre of the brilliant literary society of the capital. In 1862 he published a collection of lyrics called Orchideer (“Orchids”). During 1864 and 1865 he was in Madrid and Paris on diplomatic missions. It was in 1869, when he first collected his Dikter under his own name, that Snoilsky took rank among the most eminent contemporary poets. His ​Sonneter in 1871 increased his reputation. Then, for some years, Snoilsky abandoned poetry, and devoted himself to the work of the Foreign Office and to the study of numismatics. In 1876, however, he published a translation of the ballads of Goethe. Snoilsky had in 1876 been appointed keeper of the records, and had succeeded Bishop Genberg as one of the eighteen of the Swedish Academy. But in 1879 he resigned all his posts, and left Sweden abruptly for Florence with the Baroness Ruuth-Piper, whom he married in 1880. Count Snoilsky sent home in 1881 a volume of Nya Dikter (New Poems). Two other volumes of Dikter appeared in 1883 and 1887, and 1897; Savonarola, a poem, in 1883, and Hvita frun (“The White Lady”) in 1885. In 1886 he collected his poems dealing with national subjects as Svenska bilder (2nd ed., 1895), which ranks as a Swedish classic. In 1891 he returned to Stockholm, and was appointed principal librarian of the Royal Library. He died at Stockholm on the 19th of May 1903. His literary influence in Sweden was very great; he always sang of joy and liberty and beauty, and in his lyrics, more than in most modern verse, the ecstasy of youth finds expression. He is remarkable, also, for the extreme delicacy and melodiousness of his verse-forms.
His Samlade dikter were collected (Stockholm, 5 vols.) in 1963-1904.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Polotsk

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​POLOTSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Vitebsk, at the confluence of the Polota with the Dvina, 62 m. by rail N.W. of the town of Vitebsk. Pop. 20,751. Owing to the continuous wars, of which, from its position on the line of communication between central Russia and the west it was for many centuries the scene, scarcely any of its remarkable antiquities remain. The upper castle, which stood at the confluence of the rivers and had a stone wall with seven towers, is in ruins, as is the lower castle formerly enclosed with strong walls and connected with the upper castle by a bridge. The cathedral of St Sophia in the upper castle, built in the 12th century, fell to ruins in the 18th century, whereupon the United Greek bishop substituted a modern structure. Upwards of two-thirds of the inhabitants are Jews; the remainder have belonged mostly to the Orthodox Greek Church since 1839, when they were compelled to abandon the United Greek Church. Flax, linseed, corn and timber are the leading articles of commerce.
Polotesk or Poltesk is mentioned in 862 as one of the towns given by the Scandinavian Rurik to his men. In 980 it had a prince of its own, Ragvald (Rogvolod or Rognvald), whose daughter is the subject of many legends. It remained an independent principality until the 12th century, resisting the repeated attacks of the princes of Kiev; those of Pskov, Lithuania, and the Livonian Knights, however, proved more effective, and Polotsk fell under Lithuanian rule in 1320. About 1385 its independence was destroyed by the Lithuanian prince Vitovt. It was five times besieged by Moscow in 1500–18, and was taken by, Ivan the Terrible in 1563. Recaptured by Stephen Bathory, king of Poland, sixteen years later, it became Polish by the treaty of 1582. It was then a large and populous city, and carried on an active commerce. Pestilences and conflagrations were its ruin; the plague of 1566 wrought great havoc among its inhabitants, and that of 1600 destroyed 15,000. The castles, the town and its walls were burned in 1607 and 1642. The Russians continued their attacks, burning and plundering the town, and twice, in 1633 and 1705, taking possession of it for a few years. It was not definitely annexed, however, to Russia until 1772, after the first dismemberment of Poland. In 1812 its inhabitants resisted the French invasion, and the town was partially destroyed.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Poltrot, Jean de

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​POLTROT, JEAN DE (c. 1537–1563), sieur de Méré or Mérey, a nobleman of Angoumois, who murdered Francis, duke of Guise. He had lived some time in Spain, and his knowledge of Spanish, together with his swarthy complexion, which earned him the nickname of the “Espagnolet,” procured him employment as a spy in the wars against Spain. Becoming a fanatical Huguenot, he determined to kill the duke of Guise, and gained admission as a deserter to the camp of the Catholics who were besieging Orleans. In the evening of the 18th of February 1563 he hid by the side of a road along which he knew the duke would pass, fired a pistol at him, and fled. But he was captured the next day, and was tried, tortured several times, and sentenced to be drawn and quartered. On the 18th of March 1563 he underwent a frightful punishment. The horses not being able to drag off his limbs, he was hacked to pieces with cutlasses. He had made several contradictory declarations regarding the complicity of Coligny. The admiral protested emphatically against the accusation, which appears to have had no foundation.
See Mémoires du prince de Condé (London, 1743); T. A. D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle (ed. by de Ruble, Soc. de l’histoire de France, 1886); A. de Ruble, L’Assassinat du duc François de Lorraine (Paris, 1897).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Poltroon

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​POLTROON, a coward, a worthless rogue without courage or spirit. The word comes through Fr. poltron from Ital. poltrone, an idle fellow, one who lolls in a bed or couch (Milanese polter, Venetian poltrona, adapted from Ger. Polster, a pillow; cf. English “bolster”). The old guess that it was from Lat. pollice truncus, maimed in the thumb, and was first applied to those who avoided military service by self-mutilation, gave rise probably to the French application of poltron to a falcon whose talons were cut to prevent its attacking game.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Polyandry

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​POLYANDRY (Gr. πολύς, many, and ἀνήρ, man), the system of marriage between one woman and several men, who are her husbands exclusively (see Family). The custom locally legalizing the marriage of one woman to more than one husband at a time has been variously accounted for as the result of poverty and of life in infertile lands, where it was essential to check population as the consequence of female infanticide, or, in the opinion of J. F. McLennan and L. H. Morgan, as a natural phase through which human progress has necessarily passed. Polyandry is to be carefully differentiated from communal marriage, where the woman is the property of any and every member of the tribe. Two distinct kinds of polyandry are practised: one, often called Nair, in which, as among the Nairs of India, the husbands are not related to each other; and the second, the Tibetan or fraternal polyandry, in which the woman is married to all the brothers of one family. Polyandry is practised by the tribes of Tibet, Kashmir and the Himalayan regions, by the Todas, Koorgs, Nairs and other peoples of India, in Ceylon, New Zealand, by some of the Australian aborigines, in parts of Africa, in the Aleutian archipelago, among the Koryaks and on the Orinoco.
See McLennan’s Primitive Marriage (London, 1886); Studies in Ancient History (London, 1886); “The Levirate and Polyandry,” in The Fortnightly Review, new series, vol. xxi. (London, 1877); L. H. Morgan, System of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (Washington, 1869); Lord Avebury, Origin of Civilization; E. Westermarck, History of Human Marriage.