Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/106

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STEELING Besides being at various times in com- mand of various ships in the United States Navy, he saw service with the Hydrographic Office, at the Washington Navy Yard, with the Lighthouse Board, at the naval station at San Juan, P. R., at the navy yard, Puget Sound, and with the Asiatic Fleet, of which he was commander-in-chief from 1904 to 1905. In the latter year, upon reaching the legal age limit, he was retired. STERLING GOLD, gold having the value or fineness of the standard estab- lished by the British Government. It consists of 22 parts (called carats) of pure gold and two parts of alloy, either silver or copper. But fancy gold articles may be manufactured with only 15, 12, or even 9 carats of gold and the rest alloy. One pound Troy of standard gold is coined into 46 sovereigns. There re- mains a small fraction over; but 46 sov- ereigns will do for a pound Troy weight. A sovereign weighs 5 dwts. 3.27447 grains; but 5 dwts. 2% grains is a legal tender. The Bank of England gives 46i 14s. 6d. a pound for gold. STEELING SILVEE, silver having the value or fineness of the standard estab- lished by the British Government. It consists of 37 parts of silver and 3 of copper. One pound Troy of silver is coined in 66 shillings. A shilling from the mint weighs 15.27272 grains. The standard value of silver is very variable. In 1870 it was worth at the Bank of England 5s. an ounce. In 1890 it varied from 4s. to 4s. 2d. In December, 1919, it was 6s. 71^ d. See Bimetallism. STEEN, DANIEL, pseudonym of Marie Catherine Sophie de Flavigny, ^ COMTESSE d'Agoult (da-go'), a famous French writer; born in Frankfort-on- the-Main, Germany, Dec. 31, 1805. One of her three daughters, that by Franz Liszt, married Von Biilow, and subse- quently Richard Wagner. Her works in- clude: "Moral and Political Essays" (1849) ; "History of the Revolution of 1848" (1851); and "Nelida," an auto- biographical romance. She died in Paris March 5, 1876. STEENBEEG, GEOEGE MILLEE, an American surgeon; born in Otsego co., N. Y., June 8, 1838; was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City in 1860. He was ap- pointed an assistant surgeon in the army in 1861; promoted captain and assistant surgeon May 28, 1866; major, Dec. 1, 1875; lieutenant-colonel Jan. 2, 1891; and brigadier-general and surgeon-gen- eral May 30, 1893. During the Civil 80 STETSON War he served in the Army of the Potomac and in the Department of the Gulf. Afterward he served through sev- eral cholera and yellow fever epidemics, and in 1898 at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War he planned the army hospital train, and had charge of the medical service of the army. He was secretary of the Havana Yellow Fever Commission in 1879; president of the American Medical Association in 1898; and the author of "Photo-Micro- graphs, and How to Make Them"; "Manual of Bacteriology"; "Immunity, Protective Inoculations, and Serum- Therapy"; etc. He died in 1915. STESICHOETJS, one of the nine great lyric poets of antiquity; is said to have been born in 632 B. c, either in Himera in Sicily, or Metaurus in Magna Grsecia, and to have died about 556, but nothing certain is known concerning him. His own name, Tisias, he changed to Stesi- chorus ("leader of choirs") as the in- ventor of strophe, antistrophe, and epode, and with his predecessor Alcman he stands at the head of Dorian choral poets. His fragments include erotic, pas- toral, and mythologrical pieces, fables and elegies, hymns, paeans, and epithalmia, and are collected in Bergk's "Poeta Lyrici Graeci." STETHOSCOPE, an instrument em- ployed in auscultation. It was invented by Lsennec, who at first used a roll of blotting paper for the purpose of concen- trating and conveying sound to the ear; but, according to Tyndall, the philosophy of the stethoscope was enunciated by Dr. Robert Hooke (1635-1702). The common stethoscope consists of a hard rubber funnel to which two flexible rubber ear- tubes are attached. The funnel is ap- plied to the chest, and the tubes to the ear of the physician who perceives the condition of the lungs by the sounds pro- duced when the patient draws long breaths. The phoneidoscope is an im- provement which conveys the most mi- nute sounds to the ear. STETSON, FEANCIS LYNDE, an American lawyer, born at Keeseville, N. Y., in 1846. He graduated from Wil- liams College in 1867 and from the Co- lumbia Law School in 1869. In the same year he was admitted to the bar and engaged in practice in New York as a member of the firm of Stetson, Jennings & Russell, and became one of the best- known lawyers in the United States, ap- pearing as counsel in many important litigations. He was also well known in political life and took a leading part in many reform movements in New York. He was a director of several railways