Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/98

STEIN 72 STEM STEGOSAURUS and another final collection was Issued by the German Goethe Society in 1886. The lady's letters to Goethe were destroyed by her shortly before her death. She wrote a tragedy, "Dido." She died in Weimar Jan. 6, 1827. STEIN, HEINRICH FRIEDBICH KABL, BARON VON, a Prussian states- man; born in Nassau, Germany, Oct. 26, 1757. After being educated at Gottingen and studying public law at Wetzlar, he entered the Prussian civil service, and after filling several important offices, was, in 1786, appointed president of the Westphalian Chambers, which post he held till 1804, in which year he became Minister of Finance and Trade. In this capacity he laid the foundation of im- portant social reforms; but, exciting the jealousy of Napoleon, he was exiled to Prague. In 1812 he went to St. Peters- burg, where he rendered great services to the Russian Government during the French invasion. Subsequently return- ing to his own country, he was placed at the head of administrative affairs, from which position he retired in 1827. He died in Kappenberg, Prussia, June 29, 1831. STEINBOK, or STEENBOK, in zool- ogy, the Antilope tragulus, from the stony plains and mountains of South Africa; rather more than 3 feet long, and about 20 inches high at the shoulder ; red brown above, white below; tail rudi- mentary, ears large; horns straight, about 4 inches long in the male, absent in female; no false hoofs. Also, the ibex. STELA, or STELE, in architecture, a small column without base or capital, serving as a monument, milestone, or the like. In archaeology, a sepulchral slab or column, which in ancient times an- swered the purpose of a gravestone. STELVIO, PASS OF THE, the highest carriage road across the Alps (9,042 feet), leads from Bormio near the head of the Italian Valtelline to Spending in the Vintschgau valley of the Austrian Tyrol. It forms part of the great road between Milan and Innsbruck, and was completed by the Austrian Government in 1825. It has a length of 33 miles, and is remarkable for its magnificent scenery. STEM, in botany, the ascending axis of a plant. It seeks the light, strives to expose itself to the air, and expands it- self to the utmost extent of its nature to the solar rays. With regard to direction, it may be erect, pendulous, nodding, de- cumbent, flexuose, creeping, or climbing. It is generally cylindrical; but may be triangular, as in Carex; square, as in the Labiatse; two-edged, as in some Cacti; filiform, as in flax; or leaf-like, as in Ruscus. It consists of bundles of vascular and woody tissue embedded in various ways in cellular substance, the whole being inclosed with an epidermis. Stems may be aerial or underground. The most highly developed form of the former is the trunk of a tree, the next is that of a shrub. There are also herbaceous stems. Sometimes a plant appears stemless; only, however, because the stem is short enough to be over-