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STERNER STERNER, ALBERT EDWARD, an American portrait painter, born in Lon- don, in 1863, of American parents. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and studied art in Paris, In 1879 he removed to the United States. Settling in Chicago, he worked as an artist, scene painter, and lithographer. In 1885 he opened a studio in New York. He illustrated many well-known books and received medals at several exposi- tions. He v/as an associate member of the National Academy, and was presi- dent of the Painter-Gravers of America in 1918. STERNUM, the breast bone; in man, the flat bone, occupying the front of the chest, and formed by the meeting of the visceral arches. It is flattened from be- fore background, and presents a slight vertical curve with the convexity in front. It is divided into the manubrium or presternum, the mesosternum, and the ensiform or xiphoid process of metaster- num. All mammals and birds possess a sternum, and the presence or absence of a keel on that bone in birds is used as a means of classification. Fishes, am- phibians, and ophidians have no sternum, and in saurians the broad portion is gen- erally expanded. Some suppose that the plastron of the Chelonia is a highly- developed sternum; others hold that it is a mere integumentary ossification. The name sternum is also given to the plate on each segment of the breast of a crus- tacean and an arachnidan, but these are integumentary, and have no relation to a true sternum. STERILITY, the quality or state of being sterile; barrenness. According to Darwin, sterility in animals and plants may be constitutional or accidental and often arises from changed conditions of life. Thus most raptorial birds from the tropics do not lay fertile eggs in captiv- ity in temperate climates, and many exotic plants brought to England have worthless pollen. Sometimes a little more or less water will decide whether or not a plant will seed. STERILIZED MILK, milk which has been subjected to a process that destroys the bacteria causing lactic or butyric acid fermentation and the germs of dis- ease. Experiments have been made with chemical sterilizers, but these must be used in quantities so large as to be in- jurious. A freezing temperature checks the development of bacteria, but cannot be relied on, in every instance, to destroy them. Superheated steam is preferable to boiling water, in sterilization. Steri- 79 STERLING lization is now largely carried on under the supervision of state and county boards of health. STERLING, originally a substantive, "a coin of true weight," as applied at first to the English penny, then to all current coin. The adjective is now used of all the money of the United King- dom, and has long been a synonym foi pure and genuine. STERLING, a city in Illinois, in White- side CO. It is on the Rock river, the Hennepin canal, and the Chicago and Northwestern and the Chicago, Burling- ton, and Quincy railroads. Its industries include the manufacture of hardware, agricultural implements, gasoline en- gines, canned goods, paper, machine- shop products, etc. There is a public hospital and a library. Pop. (1910) 7,467; (1920) 8,182. STERLING, GEORGE, an American author, born in Sag Harbor, N. Y., in 1869. He was educated in the privatfl and public schools and at St. Charles College, EUicott City, Md. He wrote "The Testimony of the Suns and Other Poems" (1903) ; "A Wine of Wizardry and Other Poems" (1908) ; "The House of Orchids and Other Poems" (1911) ; "Beyond the Breakers and Other Poems" (1914); "Exposition Ode" (1915); "Yosemite" (1915); "The Caged Eagle and Other Poems" (1916) ; "The Bind- ing of the Beast and Other Poems" (1917); "Lilith," a dramatic poem (1919). STERLING, THOMAS, a United States Senator from South Dakota; born in Fairfield, Ohio, in 1851. He graduated from the Illinois Wesleyan University in 1875. In 1878 he was admitted to the bar and removed to South Dakota in 1882. From 1901 to 1911 he was dean of the College of Law at the University of South Dakota. He was district attor- ney of Spink CO. from 1887 to 1889; a member of the South Dakota Constitu- tion Convention, and a member of the first State Senate in 1890. He was twice elected to the United States Senate, the last time for the term ending 1925. STERLING, YATES, an American naval officer, born in Baltimore, Md., in 1843. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1863, became an ensign in the same year, and rose through the various grades to the rank of rear-admiral in 1902. During the Civil War he served with the North At- lantic blockading squadron, and partici- pated in both attacks on Fort Fisher.