Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/99

STEM 73 STEPHEN looked. In duration a stem may be an- nual, biennial, or perennial. In struc- ture is may be exogenous, endogenous, or acrogenous. Aerial stems generally branch and bear leaves, flowers, and fruit. An underground stem, such as the rhizome or the tuber, is frequently mistaken for a root. The potato plant has a subterranean stem. In mechanics, the projecting-rod which guides a valve in its reciprocations. In mining, a day's work. In music, the line attached to the head of a note. All notes used in modem music but the semibreve, or whole note, have stems; quavers and their sub-divisions have stems and hooks. In writing a "single part" for a voice or instrument, it is usual to turn the stems of notes lying below the mid- dle line of the stave upward, of notes lying above the middle line downward. Notes on the middle line have their stems up or down as seems best. In a "short score," as for four parts the stems of the higher part in each stave are turned up, those of the lower part down. In ornitiiology, the main stalk of the feather bearing all the other external parts, and usually resembling a greatly elongated cone. At the lower part which is inserted in the skin, it is cylin- drical, hollow, and transparent; higher up it is filled with a cellular pith. The parenchymatous portion of the stem is called the shaft, and it is from the flat- tened sides of this that the barbs issue. In shipbuilding, the upright piece of timber or bar of iron at the fore end of a vessel, to which the forward ends of the stakes are united. With wooden stems the lower end is scarfed into the keel. The upper end supports the bow- sprit, and in the obtuse angle is the figure head. The advanced edge of the stem is the cut-water. It is usually marked with a scale of feet, showing the perpendicular height above the keel, so as to mark the draught of water at the forepart. Called also stem post. In vehicles, the bar to which the bow of a falling hood is hinged. STENCIL, a thin plate of metal, card- board, leather or other material (brass generally), out of which patterns, num- bers, or letters have been cut. The plate is laid on the surface to be painted or marked, and a brush dipped in ink or color is then rubbed over it, the surface receiving the color only through the parts cut out of the plate. STENDAL, a town of Prussian Saxony; 36 miles N. by E. of Magdeburg; was the former capital of the Altmark and has a Gothic cathedral (1420-1424), a Roland pillar, two old gateways, and a statue of Winckelmann, a native of the place. There are here large railway workshops and important textile indus- tries. Pop. about 27,500. STENDHAL. See Beyle, Marie Henri. STENNESS, or STENNIS, a loch in the Orkney Islands, a few miles N. E. of Stromness, 14 miles in circumference. It is remarkable for the two groups of standing stones, somewhat similar to those of Stonehenge, which are found on its shores. The smaller group, of which only two remain erect, belong to an area 100 feet in diameter with an outside ditch 50 feet in width. The larger group known as the Ring of Brogar, consists now of 15 stones in an inclosure 340 feet in diameter. STENOGRAPHY. See SHORTHAND. STENTOR, the name of a Greek herald in the Trojan war, famous for the loudness of his voice, which was said to equal that of 50 other men together; hence, a person having a very loud strong voice, STEPHANITE (after the Archduke Stephan of Austria), an ore of silver occurring both in crystals and massive; crystallization, orthorhombic ; hardness, 2-2.5; sp. gr. 6.269; luster, metallic; color and streak, iron-black. Composi- tion: Sulphur, 16.2; antimony, 15.3; sil- ver, 68.5 = 100. corresponding with the formula 5AgS-|-Sb;S3. Occurs with other silver ores in lodes in various localities. STEPHEN, the name of several popes; some authorities reckon 9, and others 10, the discrepancy arising from the omission of a pontiff who died betvpe)i election and consecration (752). (The table under Pope (q. v.) includes him, hence the numeration there is different.) Stephen I., ascended the pontifical chair after Lucius, in 253. He had a dif- ference with St. Cyprian and Firmilian about rebaptizing repentant heretics, which practice this Pope condemned. He died in 257. Stephen II., a native of Rome; elected Pope in 752. Astolphus, King of the Lombards, having menaced the city of Rome, Stephen implored the aid of Constantine Copronymus, Emperor of the East; but he being engaged in a war recommended his cause to Pepin, King of the Franks, who marched into Italy and deprived Astolphus of the exarchate of Ravenna and several cities, which he gave to the Pope, thus laying the foun-