OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Rastell, William

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​RASTELL, WILLIAM (c. 1508-1565), English printer and judge, son of the preceding, was born in London about 1508. At the age of seventeen he went to the university of Oxford, but did not take a degree, being probably called home to superintend his father's business. The first work which bears his own imprint was A Dyaloge of Sir Thomas More (1531), a reprint of the edition published by his father in 1529. He also brought out a few law-books, some poetry, an edition of Fabyan's Cronycle (1533), and The Apologye (1533) and The Supplycacyon of Soulys of his uncle Sir Thomas More. His office was “in Fletestrete in saynt Brydys chyrche yarde.” He became a student at Lincoln's Inn on 12th September 1532, and gave up the printing business two years later. In 1547 he was appointed reader. On account of his Catholic convictions he left England for Louvain; but upon the accession of Mary he returned, and was made serjeant-at-law and treasurer of Lincoln's Inn in 1555. His patent as judge of the Queen's Bench was granted on the 27th of October 1558. Rastell continued on the bench until 1562, when he retired to Louvain without the queen's licence. By virtue of a special commission issued by the barons of the Exchequer on the occasion an inventory of his goods and chattels was taken. It furnishes an excellent idea of the modest nature of the law library (consisting of twenty-four works) and of the chambers of an Elizabethan judge (see Law Magazine, February 1844). He died at Louvain on the 27th of August 1565.
It is difficult to distinguish between the books written by him and those by his father. The following are believed to be his: A Collection of all the Statutes (1559), A Table collected of the Yeares of the Kynges of Englande (1561), both frequently reprinted with continuations, and A Colleccion of Entrees, of Declarations, &c. (1566), also frequently reprinted. The entries are not of Rastell's own drawing, but have been selected from printed and MS. collections; their “pointed brevity and precision" are commended by Story. He supplied tables or indexes to several law-books, and edited La novel natura brevium de Monsieur Anton. Fitzherbert (1534) and The Workes of Sir T. More in the English Tonge (1557). He is also stated to have written a life of Sir T. More, but it has not come down to us.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Rath, Gerhard vom

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​ RATH, GERHARD VOM (1830-1888), German mineralogist, was born at Dinsburg in Prussia, on the 20th of August 1830. He was educated at Cologne, at Bonn University, and finally at Berlin, where he graduated Ph.D. in 1853. In 1856 he became assistant to Nöggerath in the mineralogical museum at Bonn, and succeeded to the directorship in 1872. Meanwhile in 1863 he was appointed extraordinary professor of geology, and in 1872 he became professor of geology and mineralogy in the university at Bonn. He was distinguished for his accurate researches on mineralogy and crystallography; he described a great many new minerals, some of which were discovered by him, and he contributed largely to our knowledge of other minerals, notably in an essay on tridymite. He travelled much in southern Europe, Palestine and the United States, and wrote several essays on petrology, geology and physical geography, on earthquakes and on meteorites. He died at Coblenz on the 23rd of April 1888.
His separate publications included Ein Ausflug nach Kalabrien (1871); Der Monzoni im südöstlichen Tirol (1875); and Durch Italien und Griechenland nach dem Heiligen Land (2 vols., 1882). See Obituary with bibliography by Professor H. Laspeyres, in Sitzungsbericht des nat. Vereins der preussischen Rheinlande (1888).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ratibor

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​RATIBOR (Polish Raciborz), a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, pleasantly situated on the left bank of the Oder at the point where the river becomes navigable, 13 m. from the Austrian frontier and Q7 m. by rail S.E. of Breslau, on the main line to Odcrberg. Pop. (1905) 32,690. The most prominent buildings are the handsome law-courts by Schinkel and the imposing chateau of the dukes of Ratibor, which occupies a commanding position on the right bank of the Oder. The town is the seat of various industries, the chief products of which are machinery, railway gear, iron wares, tobacco, cigars, paper, sugar, furniture and glass. Trade is carried on in these and in coal, wood and agricultural produce, while hemp and vegetables are largely grown in the environs. Ratibor, which received municipal privileges in 1217, was formerly the capital of an independent duchy, 380 sq. m. in extent, which existed from 1288 to 1532, and afterwards passed successively into the hands of Austria and Prussia. In 1821 a small mediate principality was formed out of the old lordship of Ratibor and certain ecclesiastical domains, and was conferred upon Victor Amadeus, land grave of Hesse-Rotenburg, as compensation for some Hessian territory absorbed by Prussia. The title of duke of Ratibor was revived in 1840 for his heir, Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfiirst (1818-1893). See A. Weltzel, Geschichte der Stadt and Herrschaft Ratibor (2nd ed., Ratibor, 1881).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Rastenburg

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​RASTENBURG, a town of Germany, in the province of East Prussia, lying in a flat sandy plain on the Guber, 64 m. S.E. of Konigsberg by the railway to Prostken. Pop. (1905) 11,889. Its principal manufactures are flour, sugar, oil, beer and machinery. In the vicinity is Karlshof, a celebrated establishment for the cure of epileptic diseases. See Beckherrn, Mittheilungen aus Rastenburgs Vergangenheit (Rastenburg, 1891); and Schaffer, Chronik von Rastenburg (Rastenburg, 1889).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ratafia

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​RATAFIA, a liqueur or cordial flavoured with peach or cherry kernels, bitter almonds, or other fruits; many different varieties are made. The same name is given to a Havouring essence resembling bitter almonds, and also to a light biscuit. The word is adapted from the French of the 17th century. Skeat (Etym. Dict., 1910) quotes as a possible origin a combination of Malay aroq, arrack, and tafia, rum.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sequani

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​SEQUANI, in ancient geography, a Celtic people who occupied the upper basin of the Arar (Saône), their territory corresponding to Franche-Comté and part of Burgundy. Before the arrival of Caesar in Gaul, the Sequani had taken the part of the Arverni against their rivals the Aedui and hired the Germans under Ariovistus to cross the Rhine and help them (71 B.C.). But although his assistance enabled them to defeat the Aedui, the Sequani were worse off than before, for Ariovistus deprived them of a third of their territory and threatened to take another third. The Sequani then appealed to Caesar, who drove back the Germans (58), but at the same time obliged the Sequani to surrender all that they had gained from the Aedui. This so exasperated the Sequani that they joined in the revolt of Vercingetorix (52) and shared in the defeat at Alesia. Under Augustus, the district known as Sequania formed part of Belgica. After the death of Vitellius, the inhabitants refused to join the Gallic revolt against Rome instigated by Julius Civilis and Julius Sabinus, and drove back Sabinus, who had invaded their territory. A triumphal arch at Vesontio (Besançon), which in return for this service was made a colony, possibly commemorates this victory. Diocletian added Helvetia, and part of Germania Superior to Sequania, which was now called Provincia maxima Sequanorum, Vesontio receiving the title of Metropolis civitas Vesontiensium. Fifty years later Gaul was overrun by the barbarians, and Vesontio sacked (355). Under Julian it recovered some of its importance as a fortified town, and was able to withstand the attacks of the Vandals. Later, when Rome was no longer able to afford protection to the inhabitants of Gaul, the Sequani became merged in the newly formed kingdom of Burgundy.
See T. R. Holmes, Caesar’s Conquest of Gaul (1899), p. 483; A. Holder, Altceltischer Sprachschatz, ii. (1904); Mommsen, Hist. of Rome (Eng. trans.), bk. v. ch. vii.; Dunod de Charnage, Hist. des Séquanois (1735); J. D. Schöpflin, Alsatia illustrata, i. (1751; French trans. by L. W. Ravenèz, 1849).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sepulchre, Canons Regular of the Holy

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​SEPULCHRE, CANONS REGULAR OF THE HOLY, an order said to have been founded in 1 1 14 (or, according to other accounts, during the rule of Godfrey of Bouillon in Jerusalem) on the rule of St Augustine. Pope Celestine III., in 1 143, confirms the Church and Canons of the Holy Sepulchre in all their possessions, and enumerates several churches both in the Holy Land and in Italy belonging to the Canons. According to Jacques de Vitry, the canons served the churches on Mount Sion and Mount Olivet in addition to that of the Holy Sepulchre. The canons survived in Europe till the French Revolution. In Italy they seem to have been suppressed by Innocent VIII. in 1489, and their property given to the Knights of St John. The canons are now extinct, but canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre are still to be found in various countries of Western Europe.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sepulchre, Easter

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​SEPULCHRE, EASTER, in church architecture an arched recess, generally in the north wall of the chancel, in which from Good Friday to Easter day were deposited the crucifix and sacred elements in commemoration of Christ's entombment and resurrection. It was generally only a wooden erection, which was placed in a recess or on a tomb. There are throughout England many fine examples in stone, some of which belong to the Decorated period, such as at Navenby and Heckington (1370) in Lincolnshire, Sibthorpe and Hawton (1370) in Nottinghamshire, Patrington in Yorkshire, Bampton in Oxfordshire, Holcombe Burnell in Devonshire, and Long Itchington and other churches in Warwickshire.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sepoy

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​SEPOY, the usual English spelling of sipāhī, the Persian and Urdu term for a soldier of any kind, cf. spahi. The word sipāh, “ army,” from which sipāhi, “ soldier,” is derived, corresponds to the Zend çpādha, Old Persian çpāda, and has also found a home in the Turkish, Kurdish and Pashto (Pushtu) languages (see Justi, Handbuch der Zendsprache, p. 303, 6), while its derivative is used in all Indian vernaculars, including Tamil and Burmese, to denote a native soldier, in contradistinction to gord, “ a fair-complexioned (European) soldier.” A sepoy is at the present day strictly a private soldier in the native infantry of the Indian army.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Seppings, Sir Robert

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​SEPPINGS, SIR ROBERT (1767–1840), English naval architect, was born at Fakenham, Norfolk, in 1767, and in 1782 was apprenticed in Plymouth dockyard. In 1800, when he had risen to be master shipwright assistant in the yard, he invented a device which, as compared with the laborious process of lifting then in vogue, greatly reduced the time required for effecting repairs to the lower portions of ships in dry dock. His plan was to make the keel of the ship rest upon a series of supports placed on the floor of the dock and each consisting of three parts—two being wedges arranged one on each side of the keel at right angles to it, with their thin ends together, while the third was a vertical wedge fitting in and supported by the lower pair. The result was that it became possible in a comparatively short time to remove these supporting structures by knocking out the side wedges, when the workmen gained free access to the whole of the keel, the vessel remaining suspended by the shores. For this invention Seppings received £1000 from the Admiralty, and in 1804 was promoted to be a master shipwright at Chatham. There, in spite of the repugnance to innovation displayed by the naval authorities of that period, he was able to introduce important improvements in the methods of ship-construction. In particular he increased the longitudinal strength of the vessels by a system of diagonal bracing, and modified the design of the bows and stern, so that they became stronger, not only offering better protection than the old forms to the crews against the enemy's fire, but also permitting a powerful armament to be fitted. Seppings, who received a knighthood in 1819, was appointed surveyor of the navy in 1813, and held that office till his retirement in 1832. He died at Taunton on the 25th of September 1840.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sept

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SEPT, a clan, the term generally applied to the tribes or families of Ireland, used also sometimes as by Sir H. Maine (Early History of Institutions, 231) of the Indian joint undivided family, the “combined descendants of an ancestor long since dead.” Wedgewood (Dict. of Eng. Etym.), quoted by Skeat, takes the word as a corruption of “sect” (q.v.), and cites from the State Papers of 1536 and 1537, where secte and septe are used respectively. If so, the word must have been influenced by Lat. saeptum, fence or enclosure (saepire, to enclose, saepes, hedge), a word which has been adopted as “septum” into scientific terminology for any partition or wall dividing two cavities — e.g. in anatomy, of the partition between the nostrils, septum naris, or that between the right and left ventricles of the heart, septum cordis.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/September

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​SEPTEMBER (Lat. septum, seven), the seventh month of the old Roman year, in which it had thirty days assigned to it. In the Julian calendar, while retaining its former name and number of days, it became the ninth month. The Ludi Magni (Ludi Romani) in honour of Jupiter, ]uno and Minerva began on the 4th of September. The principal ecclesiastical feasts falling within the month are: the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin on the 8th, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the 14th, St Matthew the apostle on the 21st, and St Michael the archangel on the 29th. September was called “ harvest month ” in Charlemagne's calendar, and it corresponds partly to the Fructidor and partly to the Vendémiaire of the first French republic. The Anglo-Saxons called the month Gerstmonath, barley month, that crop being then usually harvested. It is still called Herbstmonat, harvest month, in Switzerland.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sickles, Daniel Edgar

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​SICKLES, DANIEL EDGAR (1825- ), American soldier and diplomatist, was born in New York City on the 20th of October 1825. He learned the printer's trade, studied in the university of the City of New York (now New York University), was admitted to the bar in 1846, and was a member of the state Assembly in 1847. In 1853 he became corporation counsel of New York City, but resigned soon afterward to become secretary of the U.S. legation in London, under James Buchanan. He returned to America in 1855, was a member of the state Senate in 1856-1857, and from 1857 to 1861 was a Democratic representative in Congress. In 1859 he was tried on a charge of murder, having shot Philip Barton Key, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, whom Sickles had discovered to have a liaison with his wife; but was acquitted after a dramatic trial lasting twenty days. At the outbreak of the Civil War Sickles was active in raising United States volunteers in New York, and was appointed colonel of a regiment. He became a brigadier-general of volunteers in September 1 86,1 , led a brigade of the Army of the Potomac with credit up to the battle of Antietam, and then succeeded to a divisional command. He took part with distinction in the battle of Fredericksburg, and in 1863 as a major-general commanded the III. army corps. His energy and ability were conspicuous in the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville (q.v.); and at Gettysburg (q.v.) the part played by the III. corps in the desperate fighting around the Peach Orchard was one of the most noteworthy incidents in the battle. Sickles himself lost a leg and his active military career came to an end. He was, however, employed to the end of the war, and in 1867 received the brevets of brigadier-general U.S.A. and major-general U.S.A. for his services at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg respectively. General Sickles was one of the few successful volunteer generals who served on either side. Soon after the close of the Civil War he was sent on a confidential mission to Colombia to secure its compliance with a treaty agreement (of 1846) permitting the United States to convey troops across the Isthmus of Panama. In 1866-1867 he commanded the department of the Carolinas. In 1866 he was appointed colonel of the 42nd infantry (Veteran Reserve Corps), and in 1869 he was retired with the rank of major-general. He was minister to Spain from 1869 to 1873, and took part in the negotiations growing out of the "Virginius Affair" (see Santiago, Cuba). General Sickles was president of the New York State Board of Civil Service Commissioners in 1888-1889, was sheriff of New York in 1890, and was again a representative in Congress in 1893-1895.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sicani

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​SICANI, in ancient geography, generally regarded (together with the Elymi) as the oldest inhabitants of Sicily. Sicania (the country of the Sicani) and the Siculi (q.v.) or Siceli are mentioned in Homer (Odyssey, xx. 383, xxiv. 307), the latter apparently being known to the Greeks as slave-dealers. There existed considerable difference of opinion among the ancients as to the origin of the Sicani. From the similarity of name, it would be natural to identify them with the Siculi, but ancient authorities expressly state that they were two distinct peoples (see Sicily: History, ad init.). At first the Sicani occupied nearly the whole of the island, but were gradually driven by the Siceli into the interior and the N. and N.W. They lived chiefly in small towns and supported themselves by agriculture. These towns were not subject to a single king, but each had its own ruler and constitution. The most important of the towns to which a Sicanian origin can be with certainty assigned and whose site can be determined, are: Hyccara (Muro di Carini), taken and plundered by the Athenians during the Sicilian expedition (415 B.C.); Omphake, between Agrigentum (Girgenti) and Gela (Terranova) ; and Camicus (site unknown), the residence of the mythical Sicanian king Cocalus, constructed for him by Daedalus (q.v.), to whom he had given shelter when pursued by Minos, king of Crete.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sibthorp, John

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​SIBTHORP, JOHN (1758–1796), English botanist, was born at Oxford on the 28th of October 1758, and was the youngest son of Dr Humphrey Sibthorp (1713–1797), who from 1747 to 1784 was Sherardian professor of botany at Oxford. He graduated at Oxford in 1777, and then studied medicine at Edinburgh and Montpellier. In 1784 he succeeded his father in the Sherardian chair. Leaving his professional duties to a deputy he left England for Göttingen and Vienna, in preparation for a botanical tour in Greece (1786). Returning to England at the end of the following year he took part in the foundation of the Linnaean Society in 1788, and set to work on a flora of Oxfordshire, which was published in 1794 as Flora Oxoniensis. He made a second journey to Greece, but developed consumption on the way home and died at Bath on the 8th of February 1796. By his will he bequeathed his books on natural history and agriculture to Oxford university, where also he founded the Sibthorpian professorship of rural economy, attaching it to the chair of botany. He directed that the endowment should first be applied to the publication of his Flora Graeca and Florae Graecae Prodromus, for which, however, he had done little beyond collecting some three thousand species and providing the plates. The task of preparing the works was undertaken by Sir J. E. Smith, who issued the two volumes of the Prodromus in 1806 and 1813, and six volumes of the Flora Graeca between 1806 and 1828. The seventh appeared in 1830, after Smith’s death, and the remaining three were produced by John Lindley between 1833 and 1840.
Another member of the family, Ralph Waldo Sibthorp (1792–1879), a grandson of Dr Humphrey Sibthorp, was a well-known English divine. He was educated at Oxford and took Anglican orders in 1815. He became known as a prominent “evangelical” in London, but in 1841 was received into the Roman Church. Two years later he returned to the Anglican Church, though he was not readmitted to the ministry till 1857. Finally he re-entered the Roman communion in 1865, but on his death in 1879 he was, by his own request, buried according to the service of the English Church. His elder brother, Colonel Charles de Laet Waldo Sibthorp (1783–1855), represented Lincoln in parliament from 1826 until his death, except for a short period in 1833–1834, and was notorious for the vigour with which he expressed his opinions and for his opposition to the Catholic Emancipation Bill and the Reform Bill. The eldest son of Colonel Sibthorp, Gervaise Tottenham Waldo Sibthorp (1815–1861), was also M.P. for Lincoln.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sicard, Roch-Ambroise Cucurron

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​SICARD, ROCH-AMBROISE CUCURRON (1742–1822), French abbe and instructor of deaf-mutes, was born at Le Fousseret, Haute-Garonne, on the 20th of September 1742. Educated as a priest, he was made principal of a school of deaf-mutes at Bordeaux in 1786, and in 1789, on the death of the Abb6 de l’Epée (see Épée), succeeded him at Paris. His chief work was his Cours d’instruction d’un sourd-muet de naissance (1800). See Deaf and Dumb. The Abb6 Sicard managed to escape any serious harm in the political troubles of 1792, and became a member of the Institute in 1795, but the value of his educational work was hardly recognized till shortly before his death at Paris on the 10th of May 1822.