Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/683

SCALES OF NOTATION. 615 SCALLOP. pound are evidences of its longevity. The nota- tion for suuli a system would evidently require 12 figures and possess peculiar advantages. Thus, ii 3i ' h °^ ^^ units are all integral, while i, I, J of 10 units are not. For manipulation and direct measurement which depend upon the convenient graduation of the measuring scale the duodecimal system is convenient, but for the other purposes of calculation the decimal scale is superior. The primitive Scandinavians. the Caribbecs, and the Mexicans seem to have used the scale of 20. The .sexagesimal system (scale of 00) was undoubtedly originated by the Babylonian ]uiests for astronomical calculations. Perhaps the Babylonians also divided their days into 00 equal parts, as is found in the Veda cal- endars of the ancient Hindus. This svstem was also used among the Greeks, having been intro- duced by Hipparchus. For the history of various scales, consult : Tylor, I'rlmitivc Culture (London, 1S71): Co- nant, Thv Number Concept (New York, 18!)0), and the bibliographies there given. For doubts as to the commonly accepted origin of the sexa- gesimal system, consult Sayce and Bosanquet, "Babylonian Astronomy," in the ilonthJy Xotices of the Royal Astronomical Society ( 1880, vol. xl., No. 3). SCAL'IGER. Joseph Justus (1.540-l(;nO). A celebrated French scholar, the tenth child of Julius Casar Scaliger, born August 4, 1.540, at Agen. in Guienne. whence at the age of twelve he was sent to the college of Bordeaux. A pestilence breaking out in Bordeaux, he was recalled by his father, who put him under a narrow but rigorous classical training, under which he attained great proficiency as a Latinist; and in his nineteenth year, on the death of his father, he went to Paris, where he studied Greek under the famous Turne- bus. He was less indebted, however, to any master than to himself; and finding that his progress was slow under his great preceptor, he closeted himself alone with Homer, and in 21 days read him through, with the aid of a Latin translation, and committed him to memory. In less than four months he mastered all the Greek poets. Hebrew, Sj'riac. Persian, and most of the modern European languages Avere acquired in rapid succession. He was a professor at Geneva, 1572-74: became a Protestant, and was thus cut off from any considerable appoint- ment in France. Except that he traveled a good deal, and visited the chief universities of France and Germany, and even found his way to Scot- land, we know little of his life up to 1593. In that year he was invited to succeed Lipsius in the chair of literature at the University of Leyden, where he spent the rest of his life. He died January 21, 1009, recognized as the leading scholar in Europe. He was a man of im- mense vigor of understanding and must be cred- ited with having been the first to lay down in his treatise De Emendaiione Tcmporum (Paris, 1583) a complete system of chronolog' formed upon fixed principles. It was this achievement that secured for him the title of father of chrono- logical science. It was subjected to much emen- datory criticism by critics like Petavius, and also by liimself. its errors having Ijecii partly corrected by him in his later work, the Thesaurus Temporum (Amsterdam. 1058). Among the classical authors whom he criticised and anno- tated are Theocritus, Seneca (the tragedies), Varro, Ausonius, Catullus, Tiluillus, Propertius, Manilius, and Festus. His other works are: De Tribua Scclis Judworum ; I'oriiiiitu : Epist<il<r: a translation into Latin of Arabian proverbs, etc. Interesting notices of hiin are preserved in the two volumes of Scaligerann. which embody his conversations. Consult: Bernay. Joseph Justus Sciiliiier (Berlin, 18551, with a list of his works; Mark Pattison, "The Lives of the Two Scaligers," in Essays, cd. l,y Xetlleship (Oxford, 18Si)j. SCALIGER, Julius C.es.k (14841558). An Italian classical scholar, born at Hiva, on Lake (iarda. Italy. Up to his forty-second year (iiulio Bordoni, as he was originally called, re- sided chiefly in Venice or Padua, engaged in the study of medicine and natural science. In 1529 he went to Agen to practice medicine and resided there until his death. He left a mass of publica- tions and a great reputation for the exti-iit and depth of his learning. His best known luiblications are: C'ommcutarii in liipporratis Litirum de In- somniis; De Causis Linyua: Lalimr Liliri Will., celebrated as the first considerable work written on tile Latin language in modern times, and not without value even to-day; his Latin translation of Aristotle's History of Auiiiials; his E.rireitn- tiouuin Exotericarum liber quiitlus decinius de Subtililate ad llieroiiyinuui Cardaiiuui ; his seven books of Poetics (also in Latin, and on the whole his best work); his Commentaries on .-iristotle and Theophrastus : his two orations against Eras- mus; his Latin poems, etc. Consult: Pattison, E.^says (Oxford, 1889) ; Nisard. Lcs (/ludiateurs de la repuhliijue des lettres (Paris. 1800) ; Bou- rousse de Lallorc. Jules Cesar de VEseale (Agen, 1800) : Magen, Documents sur Julius Casar fioalirier et sa fainille (ib., 1873). SCALLOP (OF. e.icalope. from MDutcli .schel- pc, Dutch schelp, shell: probably connected wilh ICng. scalp, scale, shell). A bivalve mollusk of the faiuilj' Pectinida;. The outline is regularly fan-shape, though one valve is often more convex than the other. The hinge is extended by ears, and in most species both valves have ribs radiat- ing from the umbo to the margin. The animal has a small foot. Some of the species are capable of attaching themselves by a Inssus; they are capable also of leaping by opening and rajiidly chising the valves. Two species occur along the Atlantic coast of the United States, the eonimon scallop (Pecten irradians) and the larger and handsomer Northern one {Pecten Islandicus) , which is sometimes four or five inches across, the valves very much flattened and without radiating ridges ; the latter species is found from Vineyard Sound northward, but is most common along the coast of Maine, Nova Scotia, etc. The ccuiinion scalloj) is scarcely half the size of the other, the shell is consideralily arched, and the radiating ridges are prominent. The scallop is in great demand as a delicacy, the large adductor muscle being the part specially sought after. Careful and extended studies on the breeding habits of the scallop of Narragansett Bay have been made by Risser. It is a hermaphrodite, and the entire mass of eggs, probably more than a million, may be discharged in the course of an hiiiir and a half. The breeding season is in June. The eggs, which may be artificially fertilized, are spherical and about ^fj'^f; of an inch in diameter. The embryo begins to swim within 36 hours after