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# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Malik Ibn Anas

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​MALIK IBN ANAS (c. 718–795), the founder of the Malikite school of canon law, was born at Medina about A.D. 718: the precise date is not certain. He studied and passed his life there, and came to be regarded as the greatest local authority in theology and law. (For his legal system and its history see Mahommedan Law.) His life was one of extreme honour and dignity, but uneventful, being given to study, lecturing on law and acting as muftī and judge. Only two episodes stand out in his biography. When Mahommed ibn ʽAbdallāh, the ʽAlid, rose in A.D. 762 at Medina against the ʽAbbāsids, Malik gave a fatwā, or legal opinion, that the oath of allegiance to the ʽAbbāsids was invalid, as extorted by force. For this independence he was severely scourged by the ʽAbbāsid governor, who, apparently, did not dare to go beyond scourging with a man of his standing with the people. The second episode gave equal proof of independence. In 795 Hārūn al-Rashīd made the pilgrimage, came with two of his sons to Medina, and sat at the feet of Malik as he lectured in the mosque. The story, legendary or historical, adds that Malik had refused to go to the caliph, saying that it was for the student to come to his teacher. Late in life he seems to have turned to asceticism and contemplation. It is said that he retired from all active, public life and even neglected plain, public duties, replying to reproaches, “Not every one can speak in his own excuse” (Ibn Qutaiba, Ma ʽārif, 250). He is also entered among the early ascetic Sūfīs (cf. Fihrist, 183). He died in Medina, A.D. 795.
For a description of his principal book, the Muwaṭṭa’, see Goldziher’s Muhammedanische Studien, ii. 213 sqq. He wrote also a Koran commentary, now apparently lost, and a hortatory epistle to Hārūn al-Rashīd. See further, de Slane’s trans. of Ibn Khallikān, ii. 545 sqq.; von Kremer, Culturgeschichte, i. 477 sqq.; Brockelmann, Gesch. der arab. Litt., i. 175 sqq.; Macdonald, Muslim Theology, &c., 99 sqq. and index; Fihrist, 198 seq.; Nawawi, 530 sqq. (D. B. Ma.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Malines

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​MALINES (Flemish, Mechelen, called in the middle ages by the Latin name Mechlinia, whence the spelling Mechlin), an ancient and important city of Belgium, and the seat since 1559 of the only archbishopric in that country. Pop. (1904), 58,101. The name is supposed to be derived from maris linea, and to indicate that originally the sea came up to it. It is now situated on the Dyle, and is in the province of Antwerp, lying about half-way between Antwerp and Brussels. The chief importance of Malines is derived from the fact that it is in a sense the religious capital of Belgium—the archbishop being the primate of the Catholic Church in that country. The archbishop’s palace is in a picturesque situation, and dates from the creation of the dignity. The principal building in the city is the exceedingly fine cathedral dedicated to St Rombaut. This cathedral was begun in the 12th and finished early in the 14th century, and although modified in the 15th after a fire, it remains one of the most remarkable specimens of Gothic architecture in Europe. The massive tower of over 300 ft., which is described as unfinished because the original intention was to carry it to 500 ft., is its most striking external feature. The people of Malines gained in the old distich—“gaudet Mechlinia stultis”—the reputation of being “fools,” because one of the citizens on seeing the moon through the dormer windows of St Rombaut called out that the place was on fire, and his fellow-citizens, following his example, endeavoured to put out the conflagration until they realized the truth. The cathedral contains a fine altar-piece by Van Dyck, and the pulpit is in carved oak of the 17th century. Another old palace is that of Margaret of Austria, regent for Charles V., which has been carefully preserved and is now used as a court of justice. In the church of Notre Dame (16th century) is Rubens’ masterpiece “the miraculous draught of fishes,” and in that of St John is a fine triptych by the same master. Malines, although no longer famous for its lace, carries on a large trade in linen, needles, furniture and oil, while as a junction for the line from Ghent to Louvain and Liège, as well as for that from Antwerp to Brussels and the south, its station is one of the busiest in Belgium, and this fact has contributed to the general prosperity of the city.
The lordship of Malines was conferred as a separate fief by Pippin the Short on his kinsman Count Adon in 754. In the 9th century Charles the Bald bestowed the fief on the bishop of Liége, and after being shared between Brabant and Flanders it passed into the hands of Philip the Bold, founder of the house of Burgundy, in 1384. During the religious troubles of the 16th century Malines suffered greatly, and in 1572 it was sacked by Alva’s troops during three days. In the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries it was besieged many times and captured by the French, Dutch and English on several occasions. The French finally removed the fortifications in 1804, since which year it has been an open town.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Malibran, Marie Félicité

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​MALIBRAN, MARIE FÉLICITÉ (1808–1836), operatic singer, daughter of Manoel Garcia, was born in Paris on the 24th of March 1808. Her father was then a member of the company of the Théâtre des Italiens, and she accompanied him to Italy and London. She possessed a soprano voice of unusual beauty and ​phenomenal compass, which was carefully cultivated by her father. She was only seventeen when, in consequence of an indisposition of Madame Pasta, she was suddenly asked to take her place in The Barber of Seville at Covent Garden. She was forthwith engaged for the remaining six weeks of the season, and then followed her father to New York, where she appeared in Othello, The Barber of Seville, Don Juan, Romeo and Juliet, Tancred. Her gifts as an actress were on a par with her magnificent voice, and her gaiety made her irresistible in light opera, although her great triumphs were obtained chiefly in tragic parts. She married a French banker of New York, named Malibran, who was much older than herself. The marriage was an unhappy one, and Mme Malibran returned alone to Europe in 1828, when she began the series of representations at the Théâtre des Italiens, which excited an enthusiasm in Paris only exceeded by the reception she received in the principal towns of Italy. She was formally divorced from Malibran in 1835, and married the Belgian violinist, Charles de Beriot; but she died of fever on the 23rd of September 1836.
See Memoirs of Mme Malibran by the comtesse de Merlin and other intimate friends, with a selection from her correspondence (2 vols., 1840); and M. Teneo, La Malibran, d’après des documents inédits, in Sammelbände der internationalen Musik-Gesellschaft (Leipzig, 1906).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Malignant

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​MALIGNANT (Lat. malignus, evil-disposed, from maligenus), wicked, of a malicious or wilfully evil disposition. The word was early applied by the Protestants to the Romanists, with an allusion to the “congregation of evil doers” (Vulgate Ecclesiam malignantium) of Psalm xxvi. 5. In English history, during the Great Rebellion, the name was given to the Royalists by the Parliamentary party. In the Great Remonstrance of 1641 occur the words “the malignant partie, wherof the Archbishop (Laud) and the earl of Strafford being heads.” The name throughout the period had special reference to the religious differences between the parties. In medical science, the term “malignant” is applied to a particularly virulent or dangerous form which a disease may take, or to a tumour or growth of rapid growth, extension to the lymphatic glands, and recurrence after operation.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mallanwan

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​MALLANWAN, a town in Hardoi district, the United Provinces, India. Pop. (1901), 11,158. Under native rule the town possessed considerable political importance, and upon the British annexation of Oudh it was selected as the headquarters of the district, but was abandoned in favour of Hardoi after the Mutiny. Saltpetre and brass utensils are manufactured.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sancy, Nicolas de Harlay, Seigneur de

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SANCY, NICOLAS DE HARLAY Seigneur de (1546–1629), French soldier and diplomatist, belonged to the Protestant branch of the family of Harlay but adopted the Catholic religion in 1572 during the massacres of the Huguenots. In 1589 he obtained in Geneva and Berne sums sufficient to raise an army of mercenaries for Henry III., partly by the sale of jewels, among them the "Sancy" diamond which in 1835 found its way to the Russian imperial treasure, and partly by leading the Swiss to suppose that the troops were intended for serious war against Savoy. Henry IV. made him superintendent of his finances in 1594, but in 1599 he was replaced by Sully. Meanwhile he had been a second time converted to Catholicism, but his influence at court waned, and he retired from public life in 1605. He survived until the 13th of October 1629, leaving a Discours sur l’occurrence des affaires.
His son, Achille Harlay de Sancy, bishop of Saint Malo (1581–1646), was educated for the church but resigned his vocation for the career of arms on the death of his elder brother in 1601. For seven years, from 1611 to 1618, he was ambassador at the Turkish court, where he amassed a fortune of some £16,000 sterling by doubtful means, and was bastinadoed by order of the sultan for his frauds. Harlay de Sancy was a learned man and a good linguist, who used his opportunities to acquire a valuable collection of oriental MSS., many of which are now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. On his return to France he joined the Oratorian Fathers, and when Marshal Bassompierre was sent to England in 1627 to regulate the differences between Henrietta Maria and her husband, Harlay de Sancy was attached to the queen's ecclesiastical household, but Charles I. secured his dismissal. He became bishop of St Malo in 1632, and died on the 20th of November 1646.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sanctis, Francesco de

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​SANCTIS, FRANCESCO DE (1817–1883), Italian publicist, was born at Morra Irpino, and educated at the institute of the Marchese Basilio Puoti. Becoming a teacher in a private school of his own, he made a name as profound student of literature; and after the troubles of the ’48, when he held office under the revolutionary government and was imprisoned for three years at Naples, his reputation as a lecturer on Dante at Turin brought him the appointment of professor at Zurich in 1856. He returned to Naples as minister of public instruction in 1860, and filled the same post under the Italian monarchy in 1861, 1878 and 1879, having in 1861 become a deputy in the Italian chamber. In 1871 he became professor at Naples University. As a literary critic, De Sanctis took a very high place, notably with his Storia della letteratura italiana (2nd ed., 1873) and with his critical studies, published in several volumes, some of them since his death at Naples in 1883.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sandalwood

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​SANDALWOOD (from Fr. sandal, sandal, Gr. σάνταλον, or σάνδαλον, Pers. sandal, chandan, Skt. chandana, the sandal tree; the form “ sanders ” is probably an English corruption), a fragrant wood obtained from various trees of the natural order Santalaceae, and principally from Santalum album, a native of India. The use of sandalwood dates as far back at least as the 5th century B.C. It is still extensively used in India and China, wherever Buddhism prevails, being employed in funeral rites and religious ceremonies. Until the middle of the 18th century India was the only source of sandalwood. The discovery of a sandalwood in the islands of the Pacific led to difficulties with the natives, often ending in bloodshed, the celebrated missionary John Williams (1796–1839), amongst others, having fallen a victim to an indiscriminate retaliation by the natives on white men visiting the islands. The loss of life in this trade was at one time even greater than in that of whaling, with which it ranked as one of the most adventurous of callings. In India sandalwood is largely used in the manufacture of boxes, fans and other ornamental articles of inlaid work, and to a limited extent in medicine as a domestic remedy for all kinds of pains and aches. ​The oil, obtained by distilling the wood in chips, is largely used as a perfume, few native Indian attars or essential oils being free from admixture with it. In the form of powder or paste the wood is employed in the pigments used by the Brahmans for their distinguishing caste-marks.
Red sandalwood, known also as red sanders wood, is the product of a small leguminous tree, Pterocarpus santalinus, native of S. India, Ceylon and the Philippine Islands. A fresh surface of the wood has a rich deep red colour, which on exposure, however, assumes a dark brownish tint. In medieval times red sandalwood possessed a high reputation in medicine, and it was valued as a colouring ingredient in many dishes. It is pharmacologically quite inert. Now it is little used as a colouring agent in pharmacy, its principal application being in wool-dyeing. Several other species of Pterocarpus, notably P. indicus, contain the same dyeing principle and can be used as substitutes for red sandalwood. The barwood and camwood of the Guinea Coast of Africa, from Baphia nitida or an allied species, called santal rouge d’Afrique by the French, are also in all respects closely allied to the red sandalwood of Oriental countries.
As a substitute for copaiba (q.v.), sandalwood oil, distilled from the wood of Santalum album, is more expensive and pleasanter to take, but it is less efficient, as it does not contain any analogue to the valuable resin in copaiba.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sand-Eel

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​SAND-EEL, or Sand-Launce. The fishes known under these names form a small family (Amrmodytidae) now included with the Scombresocidae in the sub-order Percesoces. They were formerly placed in the Anacanthini and supposed to be allied to the Gadidae, but a fossil form Cobitopsis has recently been described in which the pelvic fins are present, and are abdominal in position as in Belone and Scombresox.
Their body is of an elongate-cylindrical shape, with the head terminating in a long conical snout, the projecting lower jaw forming the pointed end. A low long dorsal fin, in which no distinction between spines and rays can be observed, occupies nearly the whole length of the back, and a long anal, composed of similar short and delicate rays, commences immediately behind the vent, which is placed about midway between the head and caudal fin. The caudal is forked and the pectorals are short. The total absence of ventral fins indicates the burrowing habits of these fishes. The scales, when present, are very small; but generally the development of scales has only proceeded to the formation of oblique folds of the integuments. The eyes are lateral and of moderate size; the dentition is quite rudimentary.
Sand-eels are small littoral marine fishes, only one species attaining a length of 18 in. (Ammodytes lanceolatus). They live in shoals at various depths on a sandy bottom, and bury themselves in the sand on the slightest alarm. Other shoals live in deeper water. When they are surprised by fish of prey or porpoises they are frequently driven to the surface in such dense masses that numbers of them can be scooped out of the water with a bucket or hand-net. ​Sand-eels destroy a great quantity of fry and other small creatures, such as the lancelet (Amphioxus), which lives in similar localities. They are excellent eating, and are much sought after for bait. They are captured by small meshed seines, as well as by digging in the sand. The eggs of sand-eels are small, heavier than sea-water and slightly adhesive: they are scattered among the grains of sand in which the fishes live, and the larvae and young at various stages of growth may be taken with the row-net in sandy bays in summer.
Sand-eels are common in the N. Atlantic; a species scarcely distinct from the European common sand-launce occurs on the Pacific side of N. America, another on the E. coast of S. Africa. On the British coasts three species are found: the greater sand-eel (Ammodytes lanceolatus), distinguished by a tooth-like bicuspid prominence on the vomer; the common sand-launce (A. tobianus), from 5 to 7 in. long, with unarmed vomer, even dorsal fin, and with the integuments folded; and the southern sand-launce (A. siculis), with unarmed vomer, smooth skin, and with the margins of the dorsal and anal fins undulated. The last species is common in the Mediterranean, but local, farther N. It has been found near the Shetlands at depths from 80 to 100 fathoms.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sandal

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​SANDAL (from the Latinized form of Gr. σανδάλιον, or σάνδαλον: this probably represents the Persian sandal, slipper; it is not to be referred to Gr. σανίς, board), the foot-covering which consists of a sole of leather or other material attached to the sole of the foot by a thong of leather passing between the great and second toe, crossed over the instep and fastened round the ankle (see Shoe and Costume, section Greek and Roman). Sandals are only worn regularly among the peoples of Western civilization by friars, though forms of them are found among the peasants in Spain and the Balkans. They have in recent times been adopted by the extreme advocates of hygienic dress, especially for young children. In the early part of the 19th century a form of low, light slipper fastened by a ribbon crossed over the instep and round the ankle, and worn by women, was known as a sandal.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sandarach

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​SANDARACH (Fr. sandaraque, Lat. sandaraca, Gr. σανδαράκη, realgar or red sulphide of arsenic, cf. Pers. sandarus, Skt. sindura, realgar), in mineralogy realgar or native arsenic disulphide, but generally (a use found in Dioscorides) a resinous body obtained from the small coniferous tree Callitris quadrivalvis, native of the north-west regions of Africa, and especially characteristic of the Atlas mountains. The resin, which is procured as a natural exudation on the stems, and also obtained by making incisions in the bark of the trees, comes into commerce in the form of small round balls or elongated tears, transparent, and having a delicate yellow tinge. It is a little harder than mastic, for which it is sometimes substituted. It is also used as incense, and by the Arabs medicinally as a remedy for diarrhoea. It has no medicinal advantages over many of the resins employed in modern therapeutics. An analogous resin is procured in China from Callitris sinensis, and in S. Australia, under the name of pine gum, from C. Reissii.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Scold

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​SCOLD, one who scolds, i.e. chides, finds fault with or rebukes with violence or persistence or vituperation. It is usually a term applied to women, and a “ common scold ” (in Low Lat. communes rixatrix) was indictable in England at common law as a public nuisance, special instruments of punishment being devised in the “branks” or “scold’s bridle,” and the “cucking stool.” The word is apparently an adaptation of the Norse skald, skald or scald, a poet, and according to the New English Dictionary the intermediate meaning through which the sense develops is “ libeller ” or “lampooner.” Skeat derives from Du. schold, schellen, and takes the word as originally meaning a loud talker, cf. Icel. skjalla, to clash, Ger. schallen. The Norse word is also to be connected in this case, the “ skald ” being one who talks loudly.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Scissors

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​SCISSORS, a cutting instrument, consisting of two crossed blades with the inner edges sharpened, pivoted at the crossing, and terminating with two looped handles for the insertion of the fingers of the person using them. The term is usually confined to small cutting implements, the larger being known as “shears” (q.v.). The modern form of the word points to a derivation from Lat. scindere, to cleave or cut, and is no doubt due to Lat. scissor, a cutter, which was used only of a carver, a butcher and a class of gladiators, never of a cutting instrument; but the earlier forms, cysowres, sisoures, cisors, cissers, sizers, &c., show the origin to be found in O. Fr. cisoires, shears, mod. ciseaux, plural of ciseau, earlier cisel, a chisel, and therefore to be referred to Lat. caedere, to cut, cisorium, a cutting instrument.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sciolist

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​SCIOLIST, one who, with only a superficial knowledge or a smattering of knowledge on any particular subject, claims or pretends to a complete or profound learning. The Lat. sciolus, a diminutive of scius, learned, from scire, to know, is only found in post-classical times, e.g. Hieronymus, A.D. 420, Epist. 48. 18. It first appears in English at the beginning of the 17th century.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Scire Facias

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​SCIRE FACIAS, in English law, a judicial writ founded upon some record directing the sheriff to make it known (scire facias) to the party against whom it is brought, and requiring the latter to show cause why the party bringing the writ should not have the advantage of such record, or why (in the case of letters patent and grants) the record should not be annulled and vacated. Proceedings in scire facias are regarded as an action, and the defendant may plead his defense as in an action. The writ is now of little practical importance; its principal uses are to compel the appearance of corporations aggregate in revenue suits, and to enforce judgments against shareholders in such companies as are regulated by the Companies Clauses Act 1845, or similar private acts, and against garnishees in proceedings in foreign attachment in the lord mayor's court. Proceedings by scire facias to repeal letters patent for inventions were abolished by the Patents, Designs and Trademarks Act 1883, and a petition to the court substituted. It is not used in Scottish procedure.