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SOAPWORT. 285 SOCIAL CONTRACT. nin, in consequence of which they are sometimes employed for washing; the bark of the root, how- ever, is apt to redden white articles. Some species of Gypsophila, an allied genus, are called soaproot, and contain much saponin. Thus the Egyptian soaproot (Ui/i)soi>]iila Htnilhiiiin) and the Spanish soaproot or jubonera (Oypsophila Xaccaria) , which are in commerce, have been employed for washing from time innneiuorial, and the roots, not having a dark rind, can be used upon white articles and upon fabrics that will not bear the action of soap. SOBAT, s6-bat'. A tributary of the Upper Nile. It is formed by several headstreams in British East Africa in the regions northwest of Lake Rudolf, and flows northward till it joins the Nile in about latitude 9° 30' N. (Map: Afri- ca, H 4). Its length is about 700 miles, and it has been ascended by gunboats over 200 miles. Several of its tributaries are also navigable. At high water it is 26 feet deep at the Nile conflu- ence, and its volume of discharge is then so great that it forces back the current of the main river: Its whitish water, seen first in the main river below the confluence, is supposed to have given to the latter the name of White Nile. SOBIESKI, so'be-es'ke, John. See John III. SOBIESKI. SOBK, or SEB'EK (Gk. SoCxos, Houchos) . An Egyptian deity. He is represented either in the likeness of his sacred animal, the crocodile, or as a man with a crocodile's head. At Ombos he was combined with the sun-god Re, and in the Libyan nome he was regarded as a manifestation of Osiris, but it Was in the Fayum (q.v.) that his worship especially flourished. There in a lake near the city of Crocodilopolis dwelt the in- carnation of the god, the sacred crocodile Sou- chos, which was fed and ministered to by priests devoted to its cult. After death the body of the sacred reptile was carefully embalmed and was laid away in one of the crypts of the Labyrinth (q.v.). The worship of Sobk extended far down into the Roman period, and the god is mentioned in Fayum papyri as late as the third century A.D. Consult: Brugsch, Religion und Mytjiologie der alien Aegypter (Leipzig, 1888-90) : Wiede- mann, if eZijfiore of the Ancient Egi/ptianst (trans., New York; 1897). SOCAGE (OF. socage, from AS. soc, jurisdic- tion, inquiry, from sacan, to contend, litigate, Goth, sakan, OHG. sahJian, to blame, upbraid). A tenure of lands in England, by which a 'ten- ant' or owner of land is obliged to render certain fixed services, or pay a fixed annual rent, to the lord of whom the lands are held. Some land was so held liefore the Conquest, but it was not a common tenure until about the reign of Ed- ward I. Originally there were three distinct species of socage tenure: that 'in ancient tenure or demesne,' base or copyhold tenure, and frank tenure. The first two were considered "base' ten- ures and the latter was called 'free and common' socage. Its incidents were usually a fixed rent, in money or certain articles: a relief, or sum paid by an heir on the death of his ancestor: an oath of fealty to the lord; aids, paid to the lord for certain ceremonies and attendance at court. The statute of 12 Car. II., c.24, abolished tenures by knight's service, and all the military tenures of estates in individuals, except copyholds and frankalmoigne or ecclesiastical tenures, were converted into tenures by free and common socage. The above incidents are seldom enforced to-day, or are made of trifling nature, as a nominal rent. Tenure by free and common socage formerly pre- vailed in the United States, but has now been practically abolished. Consult: Blackstone, Com- tnciilaries ; Williams, Real Property (19th ed., London, 1901). SOCIAL BRETHREN CHURCH, The. A religious body, represented chielly in the States of Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri. It was formed in 1867 by members of dilierent churches, whose views diverged as to certain points of doc- trine and discipline. Other societies were added and a book of doctrine and discipline was pub- lished in 1887. In the ten articles of the Con- fession of Faith, the doctrines of the Trinity, the authority of the Holy Scriptures, redemption, and regeneration are defined substantially as they are understood by the evangelical churches. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are regarded as ordinances that were made binding by Christ, and were instituted for believers only. Candidates are permitted to choose by what method they will be baptized. All the members are voters, and their right to speak freely is upheld. The voice of the church is taken on the admission of candi- dates to full membership. In addition to the regular preachers, exhorters, stewards, and or- dained deacons are recognized. Consult Carroll, The Religious Forces of the United States (2d ed.. New York. 1896). SOCIAL CLASSES. See Sociology. SOCIAL CONTRACT, or SOCIAL COM- PACT. Terms used interchangeal)ly liy many writers and having reference to a theory of the origin of human society. The theory was first systematically enunciated by Hobbes in the sev- enteenth century, but received its fullest develop- ment at the hands of Rousseau toward the mid- dle of the eighteenth. It was discussed with much force also by Thomas Hooker and John Locke. The theory assumes that society is not a natural institution, but the result of convention among men. It assumes the existence of a pre- social state, in which men were in a state of nature without rights or obligations and subject to no law except the law of nature. Hobbes's view of a state of nature was that of a condition in which all men were at war with one another. Each individual was entitled to whatever he could appropriate and hold by physical force. The idea of justice had no place in such a state, nor had the conception of property yet arisen. Locke diff'ered somewhat with Hobbes in his view of the state of nature, holding that it was one of perfect freedom, but limited by the fact that a man must perform every action in subservience to the law of nature. He did not regard it as a state cf license or a condition of perpetual war- fare. He recognized the individual rigid of prop- erty in the pre-social state. Similarly Rousseau maintained that pre-social men were not warlike, but averse to combat, if not actually timid. -Ac- cording to any view of the nature of the pre- social state the life of man was beset by many difficulties. To escape from these, men agreed to surrender certain of their so-called rights and to form a covenant for the protection of other