OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Silhouette, Étienne de

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SILHOUETTE, ÉTTIENNE DE (1700-1767), controller-general of France, was born at Limoges on the 5th of July 1709. He travelled extensively while still a young man and drew attention to himself by the publication of English translations, historical writings, and studies on the financial system of England. Successively councillor to the parlement of Metz, secretary to the duke of Orleans, member of the commission on delimitation of Franco-British interests in Acadia (1749), and royal commissioner in the Indies Company, he was named controller-general through the influence of the marquess de Pompadour on the 4th of March 1759. The court at first reposed a blind confidence in him, but soon perceived not only that he was not a financier but also that he was bent on attacking privilege by levying a land-tax on the estates of the nobles and by reducing the pensions. A storm of opposition gathered and broke: a thousand cartoons and jokes were directed against the unfortunate minister who seemed to be resorting to one financial embarrassment in order to escape another; and in allusion to the sacrifices which he demanded of the nobles, even the conversion of their table plate into money, silhouette became the popular word for a figure reduced to simplest form. The word was eventually (1835) admitted to the dictionary by the French academy. Silhouette was forced out of the ministry on the 21st of November 1759 and withdrew to Brie-sur-Marne, where during the remainder of his life he sought refuge from scorn and sarcasm in religious devotion. He died on the 20th of January 1767.
Silhouette left several translations from the English and the Spanish, accounts of travel, and dull historical and philosophical writings, a list of which is given in Quérard, France littéraire, ix. 138. A Testament politique, published under his name in 1772, is apochryphal. See J. P. Clement and A. Lemoine, M. de Silhouette (Paris, 1872).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sill (door)

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​SILL (O.Eng. syl, Mid. E. sylle, selle; the word appears in Icel. syll, svill, Swed. syll, and Dan. syld, and in German, as Schwelle; Skeat refers to the Teutonic root swal-, swell, the word meaning the rise or swell formed by a beam at a threshold; the Lat. solea, from which comes Fr. seuil, gives Eng. “sole,” also sometimes used for “sill”), the horizontal base of a door or window-frame. A technical distinction is made between the inner or wooden base ​of the window-frame and the stone base on which it rests—the latter being called the sill of the window, and the former that of its frame. This term is not restricted to the bases of apertures; the lower horizontal part of a framed partition is called its sill. The term is sometimes incorrectly written " cill." (See Masonry.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Maclaren, Ian

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​MACLAREN, IAN, the pseudonym of John Watson (1850–1907), Scottish author and divine. The son of John Watson, a civil servant, he was born at Manningtree, Essex, on the 3rd of November 1850, and was educated at Stirling and at Edinburgh University, afterwards studying theology at New College, Edinburgh, and at Tübingen. In 1874 he entered the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland and became assistant minister of Barclay Church, Edinburgh. Subsequently he was minister at Logiealmond in Perthshire and at Glasgow, and in 1880 he became minister of Sefton Park Presbyterian church, Liverpool, from which he retired in 1905. In 1896 he was Lyman Beecher lecturer at Yale University, and in 1900 he was moderator of the synod of the English Presbyterian church. While travelling in America he died at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on the 6th of May 1907. Ian Maclaren’s first sketches of rural Scottish life, Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush (1894), achieved extraordinary popularity and were followed by other successful books, The Days of Auld Lang Syne (1895), Kate Carnegie and those Ministers (1896) and Afterwards and other Stories (1898). Under his own name Watson published several volumes of sermons, among them being The Upper Room (1895); The Mind of the Master (1896) and The Potter’s Wheel (1897).
See Sir W. Robertson Nicoll, Ian Maclaren (1908).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Macklin, Charles

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​MACKLIN, CHARLES (c. 1699–1797), Irish actor and playwright, whose real name was McLaughlin, was born in Ireland, and had an adventurous youth before coming to Bristol, where he made his first appearance on the stage as Richmond in Richard III. He was at Lincoln’s Inn Fields about 1725, and by 1733 was at Drury Lane, where the quarrel between the manager and the principal actors resulted in his getting better parts. When the trouble was over and these were taken from ​him, he went to the Haymarket, but he returned in 1734 to Drury Lane and acted there almost continuously until 1748. Then for two seasons he and his wife (d. c. 1758), an excellent actress, were in Dublin under Sheridan, then back in London at Covent Garden. He played a great number of characters, principally in comedy, although Shylock was his greatest part, and Iago and the Ghost in Hamlet were in his repertory. At the end of 1753 Macklin bade farewell to the stage to open a tavern, near the theatre, where he personally supervised the serving of dinner. He also delivered an evening lecture, followed by a debate, which was soon a hopeless subject of ridicule. The tavern failed, and Macklin returned to the stage, and played for a number of years in London and Dublin. His quick temper got him into constant trouble. In a foolish quarrel over a wig in 1735 he killed a fellow actor in the green-room at Drury Lane, and he was constantly at law over his various contracts and quarrels. The bitterest of these arose on account of his appearing as Macbeth at Covent Garden in 1772. The part was usually played there by William Smith, and the public would not brook a change. A few nights later the audience refused to hear Macklin as Shylock, and shouted their wish, in response to the manager’s question, to have him discharged. This was done in order to quell the riot. His lawsuit, well conducted by himself, against the leaders of the disturbance resulted in an award of £600 and costs, but Macklin magnanimously elected instead that the defendants should take £100 in tickets at three benefits—for himself, his daughter and the management. He returned to Covent Garden, but his appearances thereafter were less frequent, ending in 1789, when as Shylock, at his benefit, he was only able to begin the play, apologize for his wandering memory, and retire. He lived until the 11th of July 1797, and his last years were provided for by a subscription edition of two of his best plays, The Man of the World and Love in a Maze. Macklin’s daughter, Mary Macklin (c. 1734–1781), was a well-known actress in her day.
See Edward A. Parry, Charles Macklin (1891).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Maclaren, Charles

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​MACLAREN, CHARLES (1782–1866), Scottish editor, was born at Ormiston, Haddingtonshire, on the 7th of October 1782, the son of a farmer and cattle-dealer. He was almost entirely self-educated, and when a young man became a clerk in Edinburgh. In 1817, with others, he established the Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh and at first acted as its editor. Offered a post as clerk in the custom house, he resigned his editorial ​position, resuming it in 1820, and resigning it again in 1845. In 1820 Maclaren was made editor of the sixth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. From 1864–1866 he was president of the Geological Society of Edinburgh, in which city he died on the 10th of September 1866.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Parament

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​PARAMENT (Fr. parement, from Late Lat. paramentum, adornment, parare, to prepare, equip), a term applied by ancient writers to the hangings or ornaments of a room of state.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Parandhar

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​PARANDHAR, a hill fort of British India, in Poona district, Bombay, 4472 ft. above the sea, 20 m. S.E. of Poona: pop. (1901), 944. It figures repeatedly in the rising of Sivaji against the Mahommedans, and was the favourite stronghold of the Peshwas whenever the unwalled city of Poona was threatened. It gave its name to a treaty with the Mahrattas, signed in 1776 but never carried into effect. It is now utilized as a sanatorium for British soldiers.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Parallelism, Psychophysical

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​PARALLELISM, PSYCHOPHYSICAL, in psychology, the theory that the conscious and nervous processes vary concomitantly whether or not there be any causal connexion between them; in other words “that modifications of consciousness emerge contemporaneously with corresponding modifications of nervous process” (Stout). The theory is the third possible alternative in considering the relation between mind and body, the others being interaction and one-sided action (e.g. materialism). It should be observed that this theory is merely a statement, not an explanation. (See Psychology.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paralus and Salaminia

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​PARALUS and SALAMINIA, the name of two ancient Athenian triremes used for sacred embassies, the conveyance of despatches and tribute money, the transportation of state criminals, and as flagships in time of war. It is probable that a third vessel of the same kind (called Delia) was used exclusively for Delian embassies, although it has been identified by some with the Salaminia.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paramaribo

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​PARAMARIBO, the capital of Dutch Guiana or Surinam (see Guiana), in 5° 44′ 30″ N., 55° 12′ 54″ W., 20 m. from the sea on the right bank of the Surinam, here a tidal river nearly a mile broad and 18 ft. deep. Pop. (1905), 33,821. Built on a plateau about 16 ft. above low-water level, Paramaribo is well-drained, clean and in general healthy. The straight canals running at right angles to the river, the broad, straight tree-planted streets, the spacious squares, and the solid plain public buildings would not be unworthy of a town in the Netherlands.
The Indian village of Paramaribo became the site of a French settlement probably in 1640, and in 1650 it was made the capital of the colony by Lord Willoughby of Parham. In 1683 it was still only a “cluster of twenty-seven dwellings, more than half of them grog-shops,” but by 1790 it counted more than a thousand houses. The town was partly burned down in 1821, and again in 1832.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paramount

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​PARAMOUNT (Anglo-Fr. paramont, up above, par à mont, up or on top of the mountain), superior, supreme, holding the highest authority, or being of the greatest importance. The word was first used, as a term of feudal law, of the lord, the “lord paramount,” who held his fief from no superior lord, and was thus opposed to “mesne lord,” one who held from a superior. To those who held their fiefs from one who was not a “lord paramount” was given the correlative term “paravail,” par à val, in the valley. The word was confused by English lawyers with “avail,” help, assistance, profit, and applied to the actual working tenant of the land, the lowest tenant or occupier.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paranaguá

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​PARANAGUÁ, a seaport of the state of Paraná, Brazil, on the southern shore of the Bay of Paranaguá, about 9 m. from the bar of the main channel. Pop. of the municipality (1890), 11,794, of which a little more than one half belonged to the town. Paranaguá is the principal port of the state, and is a port of call for steamers in the coastwise trade. It is the coastal terminus of a railway running to Curityba, the capital (69 m.), with extensions to other inland towns and a branch to Antonina, at the head of the bay, 101/2 m. west of Paranaguá by water. Its exports consist chiefly of maté, or Paraguay tea. The town was founded in 1560.
The Bay of Paranaguá opens into the Atlantic in lat. 25° 32′ S. through three channels and extends westward from the bar about 19 m. It is irregular in outline, receives the waters of a large number of small streams, and is comparatively shallow. Light-draught steamers can ascend to Antonina at the head of the bay. The broad entrance to the bay, which is the gateway to the state of Paraná is nearly filled by the large Ilha do Mel (Honey Island) on which stands an antiquated fort commanding the only practicable channel.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Parallels

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​PARALLELS, in siegecraft, a term used to express the trenches drawn by besiegers in a generally parallel direction to the front of a fortress chosen for attack. Parallels are employed along with “zigzag approaches” in the “formal attack” or siege proper. They are traced in short zigzag lengths (the prolongation of each length falling clear of the hostile works), in order to avoid enfilade; but their obliquity is of course made as slight as is consistent with due protection in order to save time and labour. The “first parallel” is opened at a convenient distance from the fortress, by numerous working parties, who dig (under cover of night) a continuous line of entrenchments facing the point or points of attack. Zigzags are next dug to the rear (when necessary) to give sheltered access to the parallel, and from this new zigzags are pushed out towards the defenders, to be connected by a “second parallel,” and so on until finally a parallel is made sufficiently close to the fortress to permit of an assault over the open, the parallels becoming stronger and more solid as they approach to closer range. This system of parallels provides, within range of the defenders’ weapons, shelter in which the besieger can safely mass men and material for the prosecution of the attack. Parallels and approaches are constructed either by ordinary “trench work,” executed simultaneously by a large number of men strung out along the intended line, or by “sapping” in which one trained “sapper,” as it were, burrows a trench in the required direction, others following him to widen and improve the work.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paramecium

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​PARAMECIUM, O. F. Müller, (often misspelt Paramaecium, Paramoecium), a genus of aspirotrochous ciliate Infusoria (q.v.), characterized by its slipper-like shape, common in infusions, especially when they contain a little animal matter. It has two dorsal contractile vacuoles, each receiving the mouths of five radiating canals from the inner layer of the ectosarc, and a large ovoid meganucleus, and one or two micronuclei. From its abundance, the ease with which it can be cultivated and observed, its relatively simple structure and adequately large size (1/125 in.), it is most frequently selected for elementary study and demonstration, as well as for purposes of research.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sail

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​SAIL, the English equivalent of the common Teutonic word for one of the two universal means of propulsion of a vessel through the water, the other being the oar (q.v.). For the various types of sail see Rigging, and for the textile material used see Sailcloth below. The origin of the O. Eng. segl or segel and its cognates, e.g. Dutch zeil, Dan. seil, Ger. Segel, &c., is not known; it is certainly not connected with the Lat. sagulum, cloak, mantle. It may be derived from the Indo-European root sagh-, seen in Sanskrit sah, endure, the idea being of that which bears up against or resists the wind.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Saint-Amant, Marc Antoine de Gérard, Sieur de

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​SAINT-AMANT, MARC ANTOINE DE GERARD, Sieur de (1594–1661), French poet, was born near Rouen in the year 1594. His father was a. merchant who had, according to his son’s account, been a sailor and had commanded for 22 years une escadre de la reine Élizabeth—a vague statement that lacks confirmation. The son obtained a patent of nobility, and attached himself to different great noblemen-the duc de Retz and the comte d'Harcourt among others. He saw military service and sojourned at different times in Italy, in England—a sojourn which provoked from him a violent poetical attack on the country, Albion (1643)—in Poland, where he held a court appointment for two years, and elsewhere. Saint-Amant’s later years were spent in France; and he died at Paris on the 29th of December 1661.
Saint-Amant has left a not inconsiderable body of poetry. His Albion and Rome ridicule set the fashion of the burlesque poem, a form in which he was excelled by his follower Paul Scarron. In his later years he devoted himself to serious subjects and produced an epic, Moïse sauvé (1653). His best 'work consists of Bacchanalian songs, his Débauche being one of the most remarkable convivial poems of its kind.
The standard edition is that in the Bibliothèque Elzévirienne, by M. C. L., Livet (2 vols. Paris, 1855).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Saigo, Takamori

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​SAIGO, TAKAMORI (1832-1877), Japanese patriot, was born in Satsuma in 1832. From early youth he took a prominent part in the politics of his clan, and owing to his extreme opinions with regard to the expediency of abolishing the Tokugawa administration, he was banished (1858) to the island of Oshima (Satsuma), where he attempted unsuccessfully to commit suicide. Ultimately he rose to high rank in the newly organized imperial government, but in 1873 he retired from the cabinet by way of protest against its decision not to take armed action against Korea. Thenceforth he became the rallying point of a large number of men dissatisfied with the new administration, and in 1877 he headed a rebellion which taxed all the resources of the central government. After several months of desperate fighting, Saigo and a small remnant of his followers made a swift retreat to Kagoshima, and fell fighting (September 14) within sight of their homes. Saigo's patriotism and his great services in the cause of the restoration of the administrative power to the throne were so fully recognized that his son was raised to the peerage with the title of marquess, and his own memory was honoured by the erection of a bronze statue in Tokyo.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Said Pasha Kurd

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​SAID PASHA KURD (1834–1907), Turkish statesman, son of Hussein Pasha, was born at Suleimanié. After holding various administrative posts he became governor-general of the Archipelago (1881), minister; for foreign affairs (1882), ambassador at Berlin (1883) and again foreign minister in 1885. He was afterwards president of the Council of State, an office which he held till his death on the 29th of October 1907.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Saidapet

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​SAIDAPET, a town of British India, administrative headquarters of Chingleput district, Madras, on the South Indian railway, 5 m. S.W; of Madras city, from which it is separated by a line of tanks. Pop. (1901) 14,254. The government teachers’ college has a hostel or boarding-house for Brahmans, opened in 1897. The agricultural college, originally (1865) at model farm, has been transferred to Coimbatore.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Saigon

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​SAIGON, a town of French Indo-China, capital of the colony of Cochin-China, on the right bank of the river Saigon, 34 m. from the sea. Pop. (1905) 54,745, of whom 8749 were French (exclusive of troops), 152 Europeans of other nationalities, about 30,000 Annamese, 14,000 Chinese. The town is enclosed by the river Saigon on the east, the Chinese Arroyo on the south and the Arroyo of the Avalanche on the north, while on the west it extends towards the neighbouring town of Cholon. Double rows of trees give shade in all the streets, the width and uniformity of which, together with the beautiful gardens (including the zoological gardens), make Saigon one of the finest towns of the Far East. It is lighted chiefly by electricity and its water-supply is secured by a filtering reservoir. The chief public buildings are the government house, the palace of the lieutenant-governor of Cochin-China, the law courts, the theatre, the post-office and the cathedral. The commercial port, at the mouth of the Chinese Arroyo, carries on a large rice trade. The naval harbour comprises an arsenal and has a repairing dock.
Saigon is the seat of two chambers of the court of appeal of French Indo-China, of tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and of the vicar apostolic of Cochin-China. Its municipal council consists of eight French and four native members elected by universal suffrage. This body elects a mayor and two assistants.
Before the French conquest, Saigon, then known as Gia-dinh-thanh, was the capital of Lower Cochin-China, which consisted of the “six southern provinces” of the Annamese empire, and constituted a vice-royalty under the government of a kinhluoc. In 1836 it was fortified for the emperor Gia Long by Colonel Ollivier. The French captured it in 1859, and it was part of the territory ceded in 1862.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sainfoin

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​SAINFOIN (Onobrychis sativa) in botany is a low-growing perennial plant with a woody rootstock whence proceed the stems, which are covered with fine hairs and bear numerous long pinnate leaves, the segments of which are elliptic. The flowers are borne in closing pyramidal or cylindrical clusters on the end of long stalks.
Sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa). 1, Fruit, nat. size.
Each flower is about half an inch in length with lanceolate calyx-teeth shorter than the corolla, which latter is papilionaceous, pink, with darker stripes of the same colour. The indehiscent pods or legumes are fattened from side to side, wrinkled, somewhat sickle-shaped and crested, and contain a single olive-brown seed shaped like a small bean. In Great Britain the plant is a native of the calcareous districts of the southern counties, but elsewhere it is considered as an escape from cultivation. It is native throughout the whole of Central Europe and Siberia; but it does not seem to have been cultivated in Great Britain till 1651, when it was introduced from France or French Flanders, its French name being retained. Alphonse de Candolle (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 104) considers that the cultivation of sainfoin originated in the south of France as late perhaps as the 15th century. It is grown as a forage plant, being especially well adapted for dry limestone soils. It has about the same nutritive value as lucerne, and is esteemed for milch cattle and for sheep in winter. Besides the common form, a second known as giant sainfoin is met with in cultivation, being more rapid in its growth.