His chief title to celebrity is a most important discovery—that of the law of the ordinary refraction of light, viz., that the sines of the angles of incidence and of refraction bear to each other a constant ratio depending on the nature of the two media, at whose surface of contact the refraction takes place.—W. J. M. R.
SNIADECKI, Jan, a Polish astronomer and mathematician, born 1756, and died 1830. He for some time, amongst the numerous avocations of his life, taught natural philosophy, logic, and political economy at Cracow; and for nearly half a century was, as was generally acknowledged, at the head of the sciences in Poland. His miscellaneous writings were published, 1822-24, in 4 vols., and his works," in 8 vols., 1837-39.
SNORRO STURLESON, a celebrated Scandinavian, was the son of Sturle, and born near Hoams-fiord in Iceland, on a domain belonging to his family, in 1178. He was therefore upwards of a century later than his famous literary predecessor, Saemund, whose birth was between 1050 and 1060.—(See Saemund.) Snorro's descent was illustrious, and could be traced to the ancient Ynglings and the jarls of Moria. At the age of four he was sent to Odde, the former residence of Saemund, and educated under the direction of that learned person's grandson. There he remained till his twentieth year, developing the great talents with which he had been so amply endowed by nature, and evincing a special predilection for the study of the old Sagas, afterwards one of the ruling passions of his life. In 1197 he left Odde, and made a wealthy marriage, thus largely increasing his paternal inheritance. He became the richest and most influential man in Iceland, and was appointed in 1213 logsögumadr; that is, interpreter of the law, being the highest official dignity in the state. His peculiar genius as a scald or poet also spread his renown to foreign countries; and when in 1218 he visited Norway, he was well received by king and nobles. But naturally haughty, avaricious, cunning, and revenegful, when he returned to Iceland he made enemies on every side; and after a chequered and turbulent career, this great yet unprincipled man became at last their victim. He was murdered by his own sons-in-law at Reykiaholt, on the 22nd September, 1241. Snorro's name will be ever memorable in Scandinavian literature, as the compiler of the noble collection of Sagas, called the Heimskringla, and also of the prose or younger Edda.—J. J.
SNYDERS, Frans, the celebrated painter of animals and hunting scenes, was born at Antwerp in November, 1579. He learned painting of Pieter Breughel the younger, and of Hendrik van Balen the elder. He was made a master of the corporation of St. Luke in 1602; and in 1611 married Margaret, the sister of the painters Cornelis and Paul de Vos, who died in 1647. Snyders visited Rome; and he was the intimate friend of Rubens, for whom he often painted animals, and who made him one of his executors. We have a fine head of Snyders among the well-known Hundred Portraits, or Centum Icones, &c., after Vandyck. He died at Antwerp on the 19th of August, 1657.—(Catalogue du Musêe D'Anvers.)—R. N. W.
SOANEN, John: this French divine was born at Rioms in 1647, in the presidial court of which city his father practised as an attorney. His mother was the niece of the Jesuit Sirmond, the author of the preface to the collection of the proceedings of the general councils, published during the reign of Louis XIV. At the age of fourteen he entered the Oratory at Paris, and there attached himself to the celebrated Quesnel, for whose teaching he ever showed a predilection. In 1695 he was created Bishop of Sineza. On the publication of the bull Unigenitus, which contained a condemnation of Quesnel's doctrines, he published a quasi-defence of his master in the form of a pastoral letter, and called for the assembling of a general council for the settlement of the points at issue between the papacy and the Jansenists. His obstinacy and resolution called down upon him the wrath of Cardinal Fleury, who had long determined to make an example of some of the leading Jansenists. He selected Soanen, and in 1727 having caused him to be cited before the council of Embrun, procured his condemnation by that tribunal. Soanen was accordingly suspended from his episcopal functions, and exiled. He died in 1740, aged ninety-two.—W. J. P.
SOBIESKI, John, King of Poland, was born in Galicia or Austrian Poland in 1629. He was descended from a long line of noble ancestors; and his father, James Sobieski, was castellan of Cracow and governor of Poland. After spending some time in Paris for the purpose of completing his education, and serving in the body guard of Louis XIV., John Sobieski travelled with his brother Mark through Italy and Turkey. They were residing in Constantinople when the news of a fierce insurrection of the Cossacks and Polish serfs made them return home with all speed. The two brothers took up arms to assist in suppressing the revolt, and in repelling an invasion of the khan of Tartary, who had espoused the cause of the insurgents. Mark Sobieski fell in battle; but John continued to fight with conspicuous gallantry against these enemies of his country, as well as against the Swedes and Russians, who availed themselves of this favourable opportunity to invade Lithuania. The war was long and bloody, and the Poles suffered several reverses; but in 1660 the Muscovite general, Sheremetoff, was defeated by Sobieski, and a succession of brilliant exploits against both Muscovites and Tartars obtained for him the dignities of grand marshal and grand hetman of Poland. His most signal success was gained in 1667 over an army of Cossacks and Tartars amounting to one hundred thousand men, whom he defeated with only twenty thousand, and thus saved his country from destruction. Four years later he routed an army of Turks, consisting of three hundred thousand men, led by Sultan Mahomet IV. in person, and of whom only fifteen thousand escaped; and afterwards took the fortress of Kotzin, which till then had been considered impregnable, with a loss to the enemy of twenty thousand men. Meanwhile the country, torn by intestine feuds and assailed by foreign enemies, had been in a state of complete anarchy. The well-meaning but weak John Casimir resigned the crown in despair in 1668. After two years of interregnum, Michael Wieçnowiecki was elected in his room. On the death of this incapable prince in 1674 another scene of confusion ensued, which however was happily terminated by the unanimous election of John Sobieski to the vacant throne. The energy and valour of the new sovereign soon retrieved the fortunes of the kingdom, which were at the lowest ebb. He was besieged in Lemberg by a formidable Ottoman force; but taking advantage of a snow storm he sallied out at the head of a small but devoted band and completely routed the besiegers. A fresh army, consisting of upwards of two hundred thousand men, invaded the country in 1676, under the pasha of Damascus, the bravest general of the Turks. Sobieski advanced to meet him with ten thousand men, and such was the terror of his name that the soldiers declared that it was useless to contend with the wizard king, and their leader was glad to offer Sobieski honourable terms of peace. For a few years after this Poland enjoyed immunity from external attacks, and Sobieski strove earnestly to redress the grievances of the people, and to introduce order and security into the country; but the ambition and factious spirit of the nobles frustrated all his efforts. Meanwhile the Turks were preparing to make another irruption into Europe, but on this occasion their attack was directed against Austria. They were encouraged in their aggression by Louis XIV. of France; and in 1683 the grand vizier, Kara Mustapha, overran Hungary, and led an army of three hundred thousand men against Vienna, from which the Emperor Leopold and his family had fled. The fall of the capital seemed imminent, and Europe was in a state of consternation. Sobieski had no reason to trust or respect the imperial government; but in this extremity he responded to the call of christian Europe and the entreaties of Leopold, and having assembled an army of sixteen thousand men, he marched to the seat of war. On his way he was joined by some auxiliaries, who swelled his army to seventy thousand men; and crossing the Danube, he ascended on the 11th of September the ridge of the Kalemberg, which overlooks the capital of Austria. On the following day he rushed down upon the enemy, and after a brief but desperate struggle, drove them from their camp and captured all their artillery and baggage. He soon after pursued them into Hungary, and expelled them from the country. All Europe resounded with the praises of a victory which effectually stemmed the tide of mussulman invasion; but the king who had performed such a signal service to Germany and to the christian world, was requited with base and characteristic ingratitude by the imperial court; and all his attempts to regenerate his own kingdom were thwarted by his turbulent, factious nobles, whom he in vain warned of the ruin that they were bringing upon their country. "I am powerless," he said, "to save her. I can do no more than leave the future of my beloved land, not to destiny, for I am a christian, but to God the High and Mighty." Sobieski was an accomplished scholar as well as a great warrior. He died suddenly in 1696, and the greatness and glory of Poland were buried in his tomb.—J. T.
