pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
SODERAH, a town of the province of Lahore, in the Seik territories, situated on the east side of the Chinaub, forty-eight miles N.N.W. from the city of Lahore-Long. 73. 30. E. Lat. 32. 27. N.
SODOM, formerly a town of Palestine in Asia, famous in Scripture for the wickedness of its inhabitants, and their destruction by fire from heaven on account of that wickedness. The place where it stood is now covered by the waters of the Dead Sea, or the lake Asphaltites.
SOEST, a city of Prussian Westphalia, in the government of Minden, the capital of a circIe of the same name, which extends over 240 square miles, and has a population of 33,400 persons. It is situated on the Tosterbache, and is surrounded with old and Iofty walls. In 1834 it had 1200 houses in narrow and crooked streets, and 7854 inhabitants, chiefly occupied in manufactures of various kinds. Lat. 51. 34. 5. Long. 8. 0. 1. E.
SOFALA, or Sephala, a kingdom of Africa, lying on the east coast near Zanguebar. The name Sofala denotes, in the Hebrew and Arabic languages, low country. It has been celebrated by the Arabian geographers for its golden treasures, but it is from the interior that this precious metal is brought. The soil is fertile, and the climate tolerable. Numberless reefs and banks of sand render the approach dangerous. Long. 35. 40. E. Lat. 20. 20. S.
SOFFITA, or Soffit, in Architecture, any timber ceiling formed of cross beams of flying comices, the square compartments or pannels of which are enriched with sculpture, painting, or gilding; such are those in the palaces of Italy, and in the apartments of Luxembourg at Paris.

Soffita, or Soffit, is also used for the underside or face of an architrave; and more particularly for that of the corona or larmier, which the ancients called lacunar, the French plafond, and we usually the drip. It is enriched with compartments of roses; and in the Doric order has eighteen drops, disposed in three ranks, six in each, placed to the right of the guttae, at the bottom of the triglyphs.
SOFIA, a city of Turkey in Europe, the ancient Sardica. It is situated in Romelia, and is the capital of a province of its own name. It is on an extensive plain, between the two rivers Iscar and Rissava. It is surrounded with walls flanked by towers, and defended by a citadel. It is the seat of a Greek and of a Catholic bishop; has twenty-three mosques, several Greek, Catholic, and Armenian churches, some Jewish synagogues, 8000 houses, with about 48,000 inhabitants. It is one of the most flourishing cities of the empire, depending chiefly on its manufactures. They consist of silk, woollen and linen goods, and various smaller articles. The general appearance of the town is somewhat imposing; but many of the houses are of wood, and look meanly, as there are few glass windows, and generally iron grating in their stead. Sofia was built by the emperor Justinian out of the ruins of the ancient Sardica, and fell under the power of the Turks in 1382.
SOHAGEPOOR, a town and small district of Hindustan, in the province of Gundwana. The province is situated between the 23° and 24° of N. lat. It is a barren, mountainous, and unproductive country, possessed by various savage chiefs. The town is situated eighty miles S. by E. from Rewah. Long. 81. 45. E. Lat. 23. 29- N.
SOHAM, a town of the hundred of Staplac, in the county of Cambridge, seventy-one miles from London. It is usually called Monks-Soham, to distinguish it from some villages of the same name near it, and from having been formerly the seat of a large Benedictine monastery. It has a charity school and a market on Saturday. The inhabitants were, in 1801, 2004; in 1811, 2386; in 1821, 2856; and in 1831, 3667.
SOHAUL, a town of Hindustan, province of Allahabad, thirty-five miles S.E. from Callinger. Long. 80. 52. E. Lat. 24. 40. N.
SOHNPOOR, a town of the province of Gundwana, in Hindustan, possessed by independent chiefs, situated on the Mahanuddy river, 127 miles S.E. from Ruttunpoor. Long. 83. 45. E. Lat. 20. 47. N.
SOIGNES, a city of the Netherlands, in the province of Hennegan, and arrondisement of Mons. It stands on the river Senne, which rises at the distance of about six miles. The population amounts to 4800 persons, who are chiefly employed in obtaining stone from some valuable quarries. Lat. 50. 32. Long. 3 59. E.
SOIL, the mould covering the surface of the earth, in which vegetables grow. It serves as a support for vegetables, and as a reservoir for receiving and communicating nourishment. See Agriculture.
SOISSONS, an arrondisement of the department of the Aisne in France, which extends over 456 square miles, and is divided into six cantons and 167 communes, containing 68,761 inhabitants. The capital, a city of the same name, is situated in a fine valley on the river Aisne. It has a cathedral with two towers, only one of which has been completed. The town, in 1836, contained 8124 inhabitants, employed chiefly in making linens and leather, and in spinning cotton by machinery.
SOKOR ZOK, a town of Armenia, situated about midway between Bellis and Diarbekir, and governed by a powerful prince, who rules over many different tribes of Kurds and Turcomans. Population, 6000.
SOLANDER’S Island, in the South Pacific, near the south coast of New Zealand, discovered by Captain Cook in 1770. It is of a craggy surface, of great height. Long. 192. 49. W. Lat. 46. 31. S.
SOLDER, Sodder, or Soder, a metallic or mineral composition used in soldering or joining together other metals. Solders are made of gold, silver, copper, tin, bismuth, and lead. In the composition there must commonly be some of the metal that is to be soldered mixed with some higher and finer metals. Goldsmiths usually make four kinds of solder, viz. solder of eight, where to seven parts of silver there is one of brass or copper; solder of six, where only a sixth part is copper; solder of four,[7:20:472] and solder of three. It is the mixture of copper in the solder that makes raised plate come always cheaper than flat.
SOLDIER, a military man enlisted to serve a prince or state in consideration of a certain daily pay. See Αrμυ.
SOLDIN, a town of the government of Frankfurt on the Oder in Prussia. It is the capital of a circle of the same name, which extends over 404 square miles, and contains 26,600 inhabitants. The town, which is near the Soldin lake, is surrounded with walls, and contains 434 houses, with 2860 inhabitants.
SOLECISM in Grammar, a false manner of speaking, contrary to the rules of grammar, either in respect of declension, conjugation, or syntax. The word is Greek, σoλoικισμὸς, derived from the Soli, a people of Attica, who being transplanted to Cilicia, lost the purity of their ancient tongue, and became ridiculous to the Athenians for the improprieties into which they fell.
SOLEURE. See Solothurn.
SOLFA, (Ital.) a musical exercise for the voice when learning to sing, in which the syllables do, re, mi,fα, sol, la, si, are applied to their respective notes in the exercise.
SOLFAING, (Fr. Solfler, Ital. Solfeggiare,) means the performance of such an exercise; and also the singing of a piece of music at sight with these syllables. On this subject consult the large work on singing, published for the use of the French Conservatory of Music.
SOLFATARA, a lake in the Campagna of Rome, near to Tivoli. It is of small extent, but is remarkable for containing several floating islets formed of matted sedge and herbage, with a soil of dust and sand blown from the adjacent country, and cemented by the bitumen and sulphur with which the water of the lake is impregnated. Some of these islands are more than forty feet long, and will bear five or six persons, who, by means of a pole, may move to different parts of the lake. From this lake there issues a whitish stream, emitting a sulphureous vapour, until it reaches the small river Teverone, which discharges itself into the Tiber. The water of that rivulet is of a petrifying quality, which increases in strength the farther it flows from the lake. Fish are only to be found in the Teverone before it receives this impure stream.
SOLFATERRA, a mountain of Italy in the kingdom of Naples and Terra di Lavorro. This mountain appears evidently to have been a volcano in ancient times; and the soil is yet so hot, that the workmen employed there in making alum need nothing else besides the heat of the ground for evaporating their liquids.
SOLICITOR, a person employed to take care of and manage suits depending in the courts of law or equity. There is also a great officer of the law, next to the attorney-general, who is styled the king or queen’s solicitor-general; who holds his office by patent during the sovereign’s pleasure, assists the attorney in managing the law business of the crown, and has fees for pleading, besides other fees arising by patents, &c. He attends on the privy-council; and the attorney-general and he were anciently reckoned among the officers of the Exchequer. They have their audience, and come within the bar in all the courts.
SOLID, in Philosophy, a bo<ly whose parts are so firmly connected together, as not easily to give way or slip from each other; in which sense solid stands opposed to fluid. Geometricians define a solid to be the third species of magnitude, or that which has three dimensions, viz. length, breadth, and thickness or depth. Solids are commonly divided into regular and irregular. The regular solids are those terminated by regular and equal planes, and are only five in number, vie. the tetrahedron, which consists of four equal triangles; the cube or hexahedron, of six equal squares; the octahedron, of eight equal triangles; the dodecahedron, of twelve; and the icosahedron, of twenty equal triangles. The irregular solids are almost infinite, comprehending all such as do not come under the definition of regular solids; as the sphere, cylinder, cone, parallelogram, prism, parallelopiped, &c.
SOLIDITY, that property of matter, or body, by which it excludes all other bodies from the place which itself possesses; and as it would be absurd to suppose that two bodies could possess one and the same place at the same time, it follows, that the softest bodies are equally solid with the hardest.

Among geometricians, the solidity of a body denotes the quantity or space contained in it, and is called also its solid content. The solidity of a cube, prism, cylinder, or parallelopiped is had by multiplying its basis into its height. The solidity of a pyramid or cone is had by multiplying either the whole base into a third part of the height, or the whole height into a third part of the base.
SOLILOQUY, a reasoning or discourse which a man holds with himself; or, more properly, according to one account, it is a discourse by way of answer to a question which a man proposes to himself.
SOLIMAN II. emperor of the Turks, surnamed the Magnificent, was the only son of Selim I., whom he succeeded in 1520. He was educated in a manner very different from the Ottoman princes in general; for he was instructed in the maxims of politics and the secrets of government. He began his reign by restoring those persons their possessions whom his father had unjustly plundered. He re-established the authority of the tribunals, which was almost annihilated, and bestowed the government of provinces upon none but persons of wealth and probity. “I would have my viceroys,” he used to say, “resemble those rivers that fertilize the field through which they pass, not those torrents which sweep every thing before them.” After concluding a truce with Ishmael Sophy of Persia, and subduing Gozeli Bey, who had raised a rebellion in Syria, he turned his arms against Europe. Belgrade was taken in 1522, and Rhodes fell into his hands the year following, after an obstinate and enthusiastic defence. In 1526 he defeated and slew the king of Hungary in the famous battle of Mohatz. Three years afterwards he conquered Buda, and immediately laid siege to Vienna; but after continuing twenty days before that city, and assaulting it twenty times, he was obliged to retreat with the loss of 80,000 men. Some time after he was defeated by the Persians, and disappointed in his hopes of taking Malta. He succeeded, however, in dispossessing the Genoese of Chio, an island which had belonged to that republic for more than two hundred years. He died at the age of seventy-six, while he was besieging Sigeth, a town in Hungary, on the 30th August 1566.
SOLINGEN, a town of the Prussian government of Cleves, the capital of a circle of the same name. It has been long celebrated for the excellent temper of the sword blades and other cutting instruments fabricated in the town and district. The circle is small, including only forty-two square miles, but it contains 28,500 inhabitants, of whom about four thousand reside within the town. Lat. 51.12.31. Long. 7. 2. 20. E.
SOLIS, Αntonio de a Spanish writer, of an ancient and illustrious family, was born at Placentia, in Old Castile, on the 18th of July 1610. He was intended for the law; but his inclination toward poetry prevailed, and he cultivated it with great success. Philip IV. of Spain made him one of his secretaries; and after the king’s death, the queen-regent appointed him historiographer of the Indies, a place of great profit and honour. His history of the conquest of Mexico shows that she could not have named a fitter person. “Historia de la Conquista de Mexico" Madrid, 1684, fol. He is better known by this history, than by his poetry and dramatic writings, though in these he was also distinguished. At the age of fifty-six he took orders. He died at Madrid on the 19th of April 1686.[7:20:473]
SOLITARIES, a denomination of nuns of St. Peter of Alcantara, instituted in 1676. The design of the institution was to imitate the severe penitent life of that saint. Thus they were to keep a continual silence; never to open their mouths to a stranger; to employ their time wholly in spiritual exercises, and leave their temporal concerns to a number of maids, who had a particular superior in a separate part of the monastery. They were always to go barefooted, without sandals; gird themselves with a thick cord, and wear no linen.
SOLITARY Island, in the South Pacific ocean, discovered by Mendana in 1595. It is low, and surrounded with rocks. Long. 178. 20. W. Lat. 10. 4. S.

Solitary Islands, a cluster of small islands near the east coast of New Holland. Lat. 30. 8. S.
SOLO, or Saura-Corta, an inland town of Java, the capital of a district, and the residence of an emperor. It is large and populous, intersected with broad and shaded avenues or streets, running at right angles. The emperor’s palace is very spacious, and comprises several palaces in its area. The European town and port are very neat. The resident’s house is also a large and handsome building. A fine river, which flows near the town, and falls into the harbour of Grepie, affords in the rainy season a ready conveyance for the various productions of a large tract of country, in exchange for commodities which are sent up in boats from the coast.

Solo, (Ital.) a term used in musical compositions of several parts, to mark those voices or instruments that are to perform alone or in a more prominent manner; as, sofrano solo, violino solo, See. The plural is used when two or more voices or instruments of the same name are to perform alone. Solo is also a name given to a composition written for a single instrument, such as a violin, an oboe, a flute, &c., which is accompanied by a bass for the violoncello, or a thorough-bass for the pianoforte.
SOLOFRA, a city of Italy, in the Neapolitan province Ulteriore. It contains three churches and 6050 inhabitants, who are manufacturers of gold and silver articles, of leather and parchment, and are celebrated for their salted hams and bacon.
SOLLER, a town in Majorca, one of the Balearic islands in the Mediterranean, belonging to Spain. The valley in which it stands is productive of olives and oranges. It is situated in Lat. 39∙ 61., and contains 5614 inhabitants.
SOLOMBO, GREAT, a small island in the Eastern seas, of a moderate height. Long. 114. 45. E. Lat. 5. 36. S. Little Solombo is near the north-east coast of Great So- 1ombo.
SOLOMON, the son of David king of Israel, renowned in Scripture for his wisdom, riches, and magnificent temple and other buildings. Towards the end of his life he sullied his former glory by his apostacy from God; from which cause vengeance was denounced against his house and nation. He died about 977 b c. Solomon's Islands. This group is in the South Pacific ocean, situated chiefly between long. 155° and 160° E. lat. 5° and 12° S. Little is known of the precise situation or number of these islands. The longest are Ysabel, Guadalcanar, San Cristoval, and an island called New Georgia. The first two are affirmed by the Spaniards to be very large islands; the latter nearly seventy miles in extent. Georgia is still larger, and San Cristoval is not less than sixty. These islands were discovered in 1567.
SOLOON, a small island in the Eastern seas, twenty-five miles from the island of Samar. Long. 125. 42. E. Lat. 10. 55. N.
SOLOR Isle, an island in the Eastern seas, separated from the island of Floris by the straits of Floris. It is about thirty miles in length, by fifteen in average breadth.
SOLOTHURN, a canton of Switzerland. It is bounded on the north by France and by Basel, on the east by Basel and Zurich, and on the south and west by Berne. It extends over two hundred and fifty-eight square miles, comprising two cities, one market-town, and one hundred and thirty-seven villages, with 59,122 inhabitants, of whom 54,000 are catholics, and the remainder protestants. The revenues amount to 180,000 francs, and the yearly expenditure to 164,000. It is bound to contribute 904 men, and 1365 francs to the general confederation. The mountains are a continuation of the Jura range, and none of them exceeds 3900 feet in height. The river Aar receives the smaller streams. There are no extensive lakes. The climate is temperate, and the soil produces good com, hemp, flax, fruit, and wine. The chief employment is agriculture and cutting the extensive woods, which supply some fuel and building timber for exportation.

Solothurn, a city of Switzerland, the capital of the canton of that name. It stands at the foot of the Jura mountains, on both sides of the river Aar. It is surrounded with walls and defended by bastions, is well, but irregularly built, and contains 560 houses, with 4470 inhabitants. It has a college with five professors and a good public library. Solothurn contains several manufactories for making and printing cotton, and some other goods. Lat. 47. 12. Long. 7. 26. E.
SOLOTONOSCHA, a town of Russia, the capital of a circle of the same name, in the province of Pultowa, 947 miles from Petersburg. It stands at the point where the Solontschia falls into the Dneiper. It contains three churches, two monasteries, eight hundred houses, and 5650 inhabitants, chiefly employed in agriculture. Lat. 49∙58. Long. 31.58. E.
SOLSTICE, in Astronomy, the time when the sun is in one of the solstitial points; that is, when he is at his greatest distance from the equator; thus called because he then appears to stand still, and not to change his distance from the equator for some time; an appearance owing to the obliquity of our sphere, and to which those living under the equator are strangers.

The solstices are two in each year; the aestival or summer solstice, and the hyemal or winter solstice. The summer solstice is when the sun seems to describe the tropic of cancer, which is on June 22, when he makes the longest day: the winter solstice is when the sun enters the first degree, or seems to describe the tropic of capricon, which is on December 22, when he makes the shortest day. This is to be understood as in our northern hemisphere; for in the southern, the sun’s entrance into capricon makes the summer solstice, and that into cancer the winter solstice. The two points of the ecliptic, at which the sun’s greatest ascent above the equator, and his descent below it, are terminated, are called the solstitial points; and a circle, supposed to pass through the poles of the world and these points, is called the solstitial colure. The summer solstitial point is in the beginning of the first degree of cancer, and is called the aestival or summer point; and the winter solstitial point is in the beginning of the first degree of capricon, and is called the winter point. These two points are diametrically opposite to each other.
SOLYMANIA, called also Shehr Zaur, a town of Kurdistan, the residence of the Pacha. The town had fallen into decay, but was rebuilt by Solyman the Pacha, who, in 1810, having taken up arms against the Pacha of Bagdad, defeated him and put him to death. Population, 6000; fifty-four miles east of Kerkook.
SOMALPET, a town of Hindustan in the Nizam’s province of Nandere, fifty-two miles N.N.E. from the town of Nandere.
SOMBOR, or Ζομβοr, a city of the kingdom of Hungary, in the province of the hither Danube, in the circle of Kozep Jaras. It contains 2980 houses, with 14,860 inhabitants, whose chief trade is in corn and cattle. Lat. 48. 8. 32. Long. 21. 10. 33. E.
SOMERS, John Lord, high chancellor of England, was born at Worcester in 1652. He was educated at Oxford, and afterwards entered himself at the Middle-Temple, where he studied the law with great vigour. In 1688 he was one of the counsel for the seven bishops at their trial, and argued with great learning and eloquence against the dispensing power. In the convention which met by the prince of Orange’s summons, January 22, 1689, he represented Worcester; and was one of the managers for the House of Commons, at a conference with the House of Lords upon the word abdicated. Soon after the accession of William and Mary to the throne, he was appointed solicitor-general, and received the honour of knighthood. In 1692 he was made attorney-general, and in 1693 advanced to the post of lord-keeper of the great seal of England. In 1695 he proposed an expedient to prevent the practice of clipping the coin. In 1697 he was created Lord Somers, baron of Evesham, and made lord high chancellor of England. In the beginning of 1700 he was removed from his post of lord chancellor, and the year after was impeached of high crimes and misdemeanours by the House of Commons, of which he was acquitted upon trial by the House of Lords. He then retired to a studious course of life, and was chosen president of the Royal Society. In 1706 he proposed a bill for the regulation of the law; and the same year was one of the principal managers for the union between England and Scotland. In 1708 he was made lord president of the council; from which post he was removed in 1710, upon the change of the ministry. In the latter end of Queen Anne’s reign his lordship grew very infirm in his health; which is supposed to be the reason that he held no other post than a seat at the council-table, after the accession of King George I. He died of an apoplectic fit in 1716. Mr. Addison has drawn his character very beautifully in the Freeholder.
SOMERTON, a town in the hundred of that name in the county of Somerset, 125 miles from London. It is pleasantly situated in a fertile country. The inhabitants were in 1801, 1145; in 1811, 1478; in 1821, 1643; and in 1831, 1786.
SOMMEANY, a town of Persia, in the province of Mek ram, and the principal seaport of Lus. It is situated on an elevated bank, at the mouth of the river Pooralee, which forms a bar about a mile from the town, with three fathoms depth at low water, and boats can anchor close to the shore. It is an inconsiderable place, and the inhabitants, with the exception of a few Hindu merchants, subsist by fishing.
SOMMEE, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Gu; rat. It is a large place, but has a wretched appearance, and the wall by which it is surrounded is in many parts falling to pieces. It stands in a swamp, and is surrounded by numerous puddles, and in the rainy season is almost under water. It is situated to the southeast of Rahdunpupr.