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

See also Sack on Wikipedia; sack on Wiktionary; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​SACK, a large bag made of a coarse material such as is described under Sacking below. The word occurs with very little variation in all European languages, cf. Gr. σάκκος, Lat. saccus, Fr. sac, Span. saco, Du. zak, &c. All are borrowed from the Hebrew sag, properly a coarse stuff made of hair, hence a bag made of this material. Most etymologists attribute the widespread occurrence of the word to the story of Joseph and his brethren in Gen. xliv. The Hebrew word itself is probably Egyptian, as is evidenced by the Coptic sok. Apart from its ordinary meaning, the word is used as a unit of dry measure, which has varied considerably at different times and places and for different goods; it is the customary British measure for coals, potatoes, apples and some other goods, and is equivalent to three bushels. From the end of the 17th to the middle of the 18th century the sack or “ sacque ” was a fashionable type of gown for women, having a long flowing loose back—hanging in pleats from the neck. It is still used as a tailor's or dressmaker's term for a loose straight-back coat. The Fr. sac meant also pillage, plunder, whence saccager, to plunder a town, especially after it had been taken by assault or after a siege. There is no doubt that it is an extension of “ sack,” a bag, with a reference to the most obvious receptacle for booty. The slang expression “ to give the sack,” “ to get the sack,” of a person who has been turned out of a situation or been given notice to leave is an old French proverbial expression. Cotgrave gives On luy a donné sa sac et ses quilles, “ he hath his passport given him, he is turned out to grazing, said of a servant whom his master hath put away.” The New English Dictionary finds the expression also in 15th-century Dutch.
It remains to distinguish the name, familiar from English literature of the 16th and 17th centuries, of a Spanish wine, which was of a strong, rough, dry kind (in Fr. vin sec, whence the name), and therefore usually sweetened and mixed with spice and mulled or “ burnt.” It became a common name for all the stronger white wines of the South.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sackville, Mortimer Sackville-West, 1st Baron

See also William Sacheverell on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​SACKVILLE, MORTIMER SACKVILLE-WEST, 1st Baron (1820–1888), was descended from Sir Richard Sackville, a Kentish gentleman, and a cousin of Ann Boleyn. A member of parliament and courtier under Henry VIII., Richard Sackville became chancellor of the court of augmentations in 1548 and was knighted in 1549. He amassed a great deal of wealth, and Sir Robert Naunton said his name should be “fill-sack,” rather than “Sack-ville.” He was on friendly terms with Roger Ascham, whom he advised to write his Scholemaster. In 1604 his son Thomas was created earl of Dorset, and from him the earls and dukes of Dorset (q.v.) of the Sackville family were descended.
Mortimer Sackville-West was a younger son of George John Sackville-West, 5th Earl de la Warr (See De la Warr): his mother, Elizabeth, Baroness Buckhurst, being a daughter of John Frederick Sackville, 3rd duke of Dorset. When in 1873 his elder brother, Reginald Windsor, became 7th Earl de la Warr, Mortimer succeeded by arrangement to, the extensive estates of the Sackvilles, including Knole Park, their beautiful Kentish residence, which had come to his family through his mother. In 1876 he was created Baron Sackville of Knole, and died on the 1st of October 1888.
His brother, Lionel Sackville-West (1827–1908), succeeded as 2nd baron. He had a long career in the diplomatic service. From 1872 to 1878 he was ambassador to the Argentine Republic; from 1878 to 1881 he represented his country at Madrid-, and from 1881 to 1888 at Washington. His retirement was due to an unfortunate interference in American domestic politics, or what was taken as such, which caused some stir. He died in September 1908 and was succeeded by his nephew Lionel Edward (b. 1867) as 3rd baron. By a Spanish dancer, Josefa Duran de Ortega, known also as Pepita de Oliva, Mr Sackville-West, as the 2nd baron then was, had several children, and soon after his death one of these, calling himself Ernest Henri Jean Baptiste Sackville-West, claimed to be a lawful son and his father’s heir. He asserted that between 1863 and 1867 Sackville-West had married his mother. The case came before the English courts of law in 1909–1910, and it was decided that the children of this union were all illegitimate, as Pepita's husband, Jean Antonio Gabriel de Oliva, was alive during the whole period of his wife's connexion with Sackville-West.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sterling (Illinois)

See also Sterling, Illinois on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​STERLING, a city of Whiteside county, Illinois, U.S.A., on the north bank of Rock river, 109 m. by rail W. of Chicago. Pop. (1900), 6309, of whom 815 were foreign-born and 23 were negroes; (1910), 7467. Sterling is served by the Chicago & North- western and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railways, and by inter-urban electric railway to Dixon, 12 m. N.N.W. Across the river is Rock Falls (pop. in 1910, 2657), practically a suburb of Sterling, with foundries and machine-shops and manufactories of agricultural implements, barbed wire and bolts and rivets. Three bridges cross the river. The river is tapped here by the feeder of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, so that there is direct water communication with Chicago and St Louis. Two great dams on the river (one built by the Federal government) provide good water power. The public library (1878) had 12,000 volumes in 1910. In the city are large ironworks, and numerous other manufactures. Sterling was formed in 1839 by the consolidation of two towns, Harrisburg and Chatham, founded here in 1836 and 1837 respectively; it was chartered as a city in 1857.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Steppe

See also Steppe on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​STEPPE (from the Russ. stepi, a waste), the name given to the level treeless plains in certain parts of the Russian Empire, and thence sometimes, though not commonly, extended, in physical geography, to signify similar plains elsewhere. The name is most commonly applied specifically to the plains in the south and south-east of European Russia and in the south-west of Asiatic Russia, and in this connexion the term sometimes connotes semi-desert conditions. Otherwise the Russian steppes may be considered as kindred to and connected with the Heiden (heaths) of northern Germany.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Steppes, General-Governorship of

See also Governor-Generalship of the Steppes on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​STEPPES, GENERAL-GOVERNORSHIP OF, a portion of Russian Central Asia which includes both what was formerly known as the Kirghiz Steppe, and the region around Omsk, which was formerly part of Western Siberia. It consists of four provinces: Akmolinsk, Semipalatinsk, Turgai and Uralsk, having a total area of 711,000 sq. m. and a total population of 2,472,931 in 1897. Details are given under the names of the provinces respectively. Omsk is the capital.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sterling, Antoinette

See also Antoinette Sterling on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​STERLING, ANTOINETTE (d. 1904), Anglo-American vocalist, was born at Sterlingville, New York state. She studied with Mme Marchesi, with Mme Viardot Garcia and with Manuel Garcia, and after singing for two years in America came in 1873 to England, where she made her first appearance at Covent Garden under Sir Julius Benedict and rapidly became a popular favourite among the contraltos of the day. She gained her greatest successes as a ballad-singer, especially in such songs as " Caller Herrin'," " The Three Fishers " and " The Lost Chord." She was a woman of deep religious feeling and many enthusiasms, and her name was constantly associated with philanthropic enterprise. She died on the 10th of January 1904. In 1875 she had married Mr John Mackinlay, and her life was written by her son, Mr Sterling Mackinlay, in 1906.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Stepniak, Sergius

See also Sergey Stepnyak-Kravchinsky on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​STEPNIAK, SERGIUS (1852-1895), Russian revolutionist, whose real name was Sergius Michaelovitch Kravchinski, was born in South Russia, of parents who belonged to a noble family. He received a liberal education, and, when he left school, became an officer in the artillery; but his sympathy with the peasants, among whom he had lived during his boyhood in the country, developed in him at first democratic and, later, revolutionary opinions. Together with a few other men of birth and education, he began secretly to sow the sentiments of democracy among the peasants. His teaching did not long remain a secret, and in 1874 he was arrested. He succeeded in making his escape—possibly he was permitted to escape on account of his youth—and immediately began a more vigorous campaign against autocracy. His sympathetic nature was influenced by indignation against the brutal methods adopted ​towards prisoners, especially political prisoners, and by the stern measures which the government of the tsar felt compelled to adopt in order to repress the revolutionary movement. His indignation carried him into accord for a time with those who advocated the terrorist policy. In consequence he exposed himself to danger by remaining in Russia, and in 1880 he was obliged to leave the country. He settled for a short time in Switzerland, then a favourite resort of revolutionary leaders, and after a few years came to London. He was already known in England by his book, Underground Russia, which had been published in London in 1882. He followed it up with a number of other works on the condition of the Russian peasantry, on Nihilism, and on the conditions of life in Russia. His mind gradually turned from belief in the efficacy of violent measures to the acceptance of constitutional methods; and in his last book, King Stork and King Log, he spoke with approval of the efforts of politicians on the Liberal side to effect, by argument and peaceful agitation, a change in the attitude of the Russian government towards various reforms. Stepniak constantly wrote and lectured, both in Great Britain and the United States, in support of his views, and his energy, added to the interest of his personality, won him many friends. He was chiefly identified with the Socialists in England and the Social Demo- cratic parties on the Continent; but he was regarded by men of all opinions as an agitator whose motives had always been pure and disinterested. Stepniak was killed by a railway engine at a level crossing at Bedford Park, Chiswick, where he resided, on the 23rd of December 1895. He was cremated at Woking on the 28th of December. (H. H. F.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Stereobate

See also Stylobate on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​STEREOBATE (Gr. στερεός, solid, and βάσις, a base), the term in architecture given to the substructure of rough masonry of a Greek temple.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Stereochemistry

See also Stereochemistry on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​STEREOCHEMISTRY (Gr. στερεός, solid, and chemistry), a branch of chemistry which considers the spatial arrangement of the atoms composing a molecule (see Stereo-isomerism).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sea-wolf

See also Seawolf (fish) on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
SEA-WOLF, also Sea-cat and Wolf-fish (Anarrhichas lupus), a marine fish, the largest of the family Blenniidae or blennies. In spite of its large size, it has retained the bodily form and general external characteristics of the small blennies. Its body is long, subcylindrical in front, compressed in the caudal portion, smooth and slippery, the rudimentary scales being embedded and almost hidden in the skin. An even dorsal fin extends the whole length of the back, and a similar fin from the vent to the caudal fin, as in blennies. The pectorals are large and rounded, the pelvic fins entirely absent. Its dentition distinguishes the sea-wolf from all the other members of the family. Both jaws are armed in front with strong conical teeth, and on the sides with two series of large tubercular molars, a biserial band of similar molars occupying the middle of the palate. By these teeth the sea-wolf is able to crush the hard carapaces or shells of the crustaceans and molluscs on which it feeds; that it uses
the teeth as a weapon of defence and deserves the character of ferocity generally attributed to it would appear to be rather
questionable. Sea-wolves are inhabitants of the northern seas of both hemispheres, one (A. lupus) being common on the coasts of Scandinavia and North Britain, and two in the seas round Iceland and Greenland. Two others occur in the corresponding latitudes of the North Pacific. They attain to a length exceeding 6 ft., and in the north are esteemed as food, both fresh and preserved. The oil extracted from the liver is said to be in quality equal to the best cod-liver oil.
Teeth of the lower and upper jaws of the Sea-wolf.
To the fishermen of the North Sea this fish is generally known as the cat-fish, and for some years past numbers of this species have been marketed. As it would be impossible to sell the fish in its natural state on account of its forbidding appearance, it is skinned and beheaded, and the flesh retailed under the name of rock-salmon.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Seafield, Earls of

See also Earl of Seafield on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​SEAFIELD, EARLS OF. The 1st earl of Seafield, in the Scottish peerage, was James Ogilvy (1663–1730), son and heir of James Ogilvy, 3rd earl of Findlater. Although in the convention parliament of 1689 he had spoken for James II., he took the oath of allegiance to William and Mary, and after filling some minor official positions he was made secretary of state in 1696, and lord chancellor in 1702. In 1707 he was made chief baron in the court of exchequer. In 1701 he was created earl of Seafield, and in 1711 succeeded to his father’s earldom of Findlater. When his great grandson, James, 7th earl of Findlater and 4th earl of Seafield died in October 1811 the earldom of Findlater became dormant or extinct, while the earldom of Seafield passed to a cousin, Lewis Alexander Grant (1767–1840), who was descended from Margaret, a daughter of the 2nd earl. He took the name of Grant-Ogilvy and was succeeded as 6th earl by his brother, Francis William Ogilvy-Grant (1778–1853), whose descendant, James Ogilvie-Grant (b. 1876) became the 11th earl in 1888. The earl of Seafield is a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Strathspey.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Seaforth, Earl of

See also Earl of Seaforth on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​SEAFORTH, Earl of, a Scottish title held by the family of Mackenzie from 1623 to 1716, and again from 1771 to 1781. The Mackenzies trace their descent to one Colin of Kintail (d. 1278), and their name is a variant of Mackenneth. Kenneth, the twelfth head of the clan, was made Lord Mackenzie of Kintail in 1609, and his son Colin, who succeeded his father as 2nd Lord Mackenzie in March 1611, was created earl of Seaforth in 1623. Colin’s successor was his half-brother George (d. 1651), who became the 2nd earl in 1633. George was alternately a royalist and a covenant er between 1636 and 1646, and was afterwards in Holland with Charles II., who made him secretary of state for Scotland. His grandson, Kenneth, the 4th earl, followed James II. to France and was with the dethroned king in Ireland. Sent by James in 1690 to head a rising in Scotland, he was captured and imprisoned, but in 1697 he was released and he died in Paris in January 1701. His successor was his son William, who joined the Jacobite standard at Braemar in 1715, and then, having raised 3000 men, was present at the battle of Sheriffmuir and was appointed lieutenant-general of the northern counties. He also took part in the Jacobite enterprise of 1719, being wounded at Glenshiel. In 1716 he was at tainted and his titles and estates forfeited; before his death in January 1740, he had been relieved of some of the penalties of his treason, although his titles were not restored. His son Kenneth (c. 1718–1761), who but for the attainder would have been the 6th earl, helped the English government during the rising of 1745, and was a member of parliament for some years. His son Kenneth (c. 1744–1781) was created earl of Seaforth in 1771, but his peerage became extinct when he died in August 1781, although there were still heirs to the older earldom, which was under attainder. This earl raised the regiment of Highlanders, the 78th, known later as the 2nd battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Seaham Harbour

See also Seaham Harbour on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​SEAHAM HARBOUR, a seaport and urban district, in the South-eastern parliamentary division of Durham, England, 6 m. S. of Sunderland by a branch of the North-Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 10,163. The harbour was built (1828) by the third marquis of Londonderry to facilitate the export of coal from the mines on his adjacent property. Besides the coal trade there are extensive bottle and chemical works.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Seaford

See also Seaford on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​SEAFORD, an urban district and watering-place in the Eastbourne parliamentary division of Sussex, England, 58 m. S. by E. from London by the London, Brighton & South Coast railway. Pop. (1901) 3355. In recent years there has been a considerable increase in the number of visitors. The climate is bracing, and the town is sheltered by high cliffs. There are golf links on the neighbouring downs. The church of St Leonard is Norman of various dates, but received large additions in the Perpendicular period. In former days the river Ouse entered the English Channel here, and the natural harbour so formed accounts for the origin of Seaford (Sefford, Safford, Seford), probably in Roman times. In the “Domesday of Cinque Ports” (which existed in the reign of Edward III., but was lost before 1728), it stood first among the members of Hastings, and was doubtless of considerable importance until about the end of the 14th century, when its rapid decline began owing to the constant alteration of the sea-coast and the decay of the harbour. In the 16th century the town was finally deserted by the Ouse, which now runs into the sea at Newhaven, 2 m. westward, and no revival of its prosperity occurred until the early 19th century, when it began to be frequented as a watering-place. Fishing has always been the chief industry.
Seaford is not mentioned in Domesday Book, but evidently pertained to the lordship of the 1st Earl Warenne and his descendants, who were succeeded in 1347 by the earls of Arundel. It was probably a mesne borough in the 12th century, growing up under the protection of the earls of Warenne, and was certainly called a borough in 1236. Bailiffs are mentioned in the 14th century, but the town was not incorporated until 1544, when notwithstanding its decayed condition Henry VIII. annexed it to Hastings by charter, and incorporated it under the title of bailiff and commonalty, presumably as a reward for assisting the head port to provide its proportion of ships to the crown. The corporation was dissolved by an act of 1883. The town returned two representatives to parliament from 1298 to 1399, and again from 1640 until 1832, when it was disfranchised. In the 13th century the earls of Warenne held a market or fair, or both, apparently by prescriptive right. In 1792 the fairdays were Whit-Monday and the 10th of August, and the market-days Wednesdays and Saturdays, but no market or fair now exists.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lepcha

See also Lepcha people on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​LEPCHA, the name of the aboriginal inhabitants of Sikkim (q.v.). A peace-loving people, the Lepchas have been repeatedly conquered by surrounding hill-tribes, and their ancient patriarchal customs are dying out. The total number of speakers of Lepcha, or Rong, in all India in 1901, was only 19,291. Their rich and beautiful language has been preserved from extinction by the efforts of General Mainwaring and others; but their literature was almost entirely destroyed by the Tibetans, and their traditions are being rapidly forgotten. Once free and independent, they are now the poorest people in Sikkim, and it is from them that the coolie class is drawn. They are above all things woodmen, knowing the ways of beasts and birds, and possessing an extensive zoological and botanical nomenclature of their own.
See Florence Donaldson, Lepcha Land (1900).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lepidolite

See also Lepidolite on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​LEPIDOLITE, or Lithia-Mica, a mineral of the mica group (see Mica). It is a basic aluminium, potassium and lithium fluo-silicate, with the approximate formula KLi [Al(OH, F)$_2$] Al(SiO$_3$)$_3$. Lithia and fluorine are each present to the extent of about 5%; rubidium and caesium are sometimes present in small amounts. Distinctly developed monoclinic crystals or cleavage sheets of large size are of rare occurrence, the mineral being usually found as scaly aggregates, and on this account was named lepidolite (from Gr. λεπίς, scale) by M. H. Klaproth in 1792. It is usually of a lilac or peach-blossom colour, but is sometimes greyish-white, and has a pearly lustre on the cleavage surfaces. The hardness is 21/2-4 and the sp. gr. 2.8–2.9, the optic axial angle measures 50°–70°. It is found in pegmatite-veins, often in association with pink tourmaline (rubellite) and sometimes intergrown in parallel position with muscovite. Scaly masses of considerable extent are found at Rozena near Bystrzitz in Moravia and at Pala in San Diego county, California. The material from Rozena has been known since 1791, and has sometimes been cut and polished for ornamental purposes: it has a pretty colour and spangled appearance and takes a good polish, but is rather soft. At Pala it has been extensively mined for the preparation of lithium and rubidium salts. Other localities for the mineral are the island of Utö in Sweden, and Auburn and Paris in Maine, U.S.A.; at Alabashka near Mursinka in the Urals large isolated crystals have been found, and from Central Australia transparent cleavage sheets of a fine lilac colour are known.
The lithium-iron mica zinnwaldite or lithionite is closely allied to lepidolite, differing from it in containing some ferrous iron in addition to the constituents mentioned above. It occurs as greyish silvery scales with hexagonal outlines in the tin-bearing granites of Zinnwald in the Erzgebirge, Bohemia and of Cornwall.  (L. J. S.)