Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/840

SWAN. 736 the upper mandible, and with a black nail. (See Colored Plate of Water Birds.) In its wild state this sijecies is found in Eastern Europe and in Asia; in a half-domesticated state it has long been a common ornament of ponds, lakes, and rivers. The ancients ascribed to it remarkable musical powers, which it was supposed to exer- cise particularly when its death approached. It has, in reality, a soft low voice, plaintive, and with little variety, to be heard chietij' when it is moving about with its young. Swans, according to the law of England, are birds royal ; those actually kept by the Crown had a mark, and the King's swan-lierd once was an important person. The royal swans of the Thames are so marked to this day by notches and lines cut upon the beak, and the process of col- lecting and marking them annually is called 'up- ping.' Other Old XVorld swans are the Polish, with an orange bill ; the whistling swan or 'whooper;' Bewick's swan, and the aberrant black swan {Cheiiopis atrata) of Australia, which is comparatively small and deep black except the white wing-quills and the red bill. The North American swans belong to the genus Olor. The most common species (Olor Coliini- bianvs) breeds in the far North and is seen in the United States only on its migrations, which extend to the Gulf of Mexico ; and it is very rare east of the Alleghanies. The trumpeter swan (Olor buccinator), noted for its sonorous cry, breeds from Iowa and Dakota northward, and Avinters southward to the Gulf. It is one of the largest species, measuring 5% feet in length. The black-necked and duck-billed swans are South American species. See Duck, and authorities there cited. SWAN, Knight of the. A very old and popular myth found in French, German, and English media>val romances, first mentioned by William of Tyre about 1180. Helias, Knight of the Swan, is one of eight children of Oriant of Lilefort. Seven are changed to swans, one draw- ing the hero in a boat to become champion for Clarissa of Bouillon, the ancestor of Godfrey, thus connecting the story with the Crusades. After marriage the knight departs when his wife breaks the taboo on his name, a Giail feature common to all variants, as Lohengrin, showing its pai'tly Celtic origin. The scene is generally on the Lower Rhine, connecting it with the dukes of Brabant and Cleves, whose symbol was a swan. SWAN, Order of the, A religions associa- tion of princes and nobles formed in 1440 by Elector Frederick II, of Brandenburg for benevo- lent purposes. It was extinguished during the Reformation, but was renewed in 1843 by Fred- erick William TV. of Prussia as an association, open to men and women of all creeds, for the amelioration of phj'sical and moral ills. SWAN, .ToHN Macallan (1847—). An Eng- lish painter and sculptor, born at Old Brentford. He studied in London and in Paris. In 1889 his "Proiiiaal Son" (bought by the Chantrey Fund) established his reputation. His sculptured works — in nearly every material — are usually studies of cats, and his modeling is broad, flexible, and naturalistic, "The Jaguar," "Puma and Ma- caw," "Wounded Leopard," and "Leopard Run- ning," challenge comparison with Barye. His subjects in oil include animals, figures, and land- SWARTH, scapes, and are distinguished by massive, simple treatment, and a strongly imaginative element. His color is delicate and discriminating, but nearly always low in tone. Notable paintings are: "Ocelot and Fish;" "Tigers;" "Tigers Drinking;" "Ceylon Leopards;" "Lioness Defend- ing Her Cubs;" and "Polar Bear Swimming." He was elected an associate of the Royal Acad- emy in 1894. SWAN, .losEPH Wilson (1828—). An Eng- lish inventor, born at Sunderland, and there edu- cated. He made several inventions of great value, among them the carbon process for making per- manent photographs, called autotypes, a miner's electric safety lamp, improvements in electro- metallurgical deposition, but most notable of all the incandescent electric lamp which bears his name, the forerunner of all the electric lamps now in use. These inventions brought him many honors, including a fellowship in the Royal So- ciety. SWANPAN. A Chinese calculating device. See Calci L.TiNG Machines. SWAN BIVER. A small river of Western Australia entering the Indian Ocean at the Fre- mantle, a few miles below Perth (Map: Aus- tralia, B 5). It is navigable for steamers to the latter city. On its banks was founded in 1829 the Swan River Colony, which formed the nu- cleus around which the colony of Western Aus- tralia was built up. SWANSEA, swon'si. A seaport in Glamor- ganshire, South Wales, at the mouth of the Tawe, 00 miles west-northwest of Bristol (Map: Wales, B 5). Swansea is the chief seat of the tin-plate trade of England, and one of the most important copper smelting and refining centres in the world. The vast resources of the surround- ing coal field began to be exploited about 1830, and since that time the progress of Swanse.i has made it next to Cardiff the most important town in South Wales. The principal edifices, for the most part of modern construction, comprise a guild hall with the crown and law courts and nni- nicipal offices, the Royal Institution of South Wales, the gi'ammar school foimded in 1682, a good public hall, and a spacious and well-ar- ranged infirmary. The harbor is formed by piers of masonry projecting from either side of the mouth of the Tawe into Swansea Bay, a wide inlet of the Bristol Channel. An ave- rage of 6000 vessels enter and clear nearly 4,000,000 tons of merchandise annually. In the immediate vicinity are smelting works, in which many thousands of tons of copper ores, silver ores, and zinc ores are smelted an- nually. About 20,000 tons of copper, valued at .$1.5,000.000 to $20,000,000, are annual- ly produced, and about 2,000,000 tons of tin plate, valued at .$15,000,000, are exported an- nually. The annual value of exports and im- ports" is estimated at .$.50,000,000 to $60,000,000. Swansea owes its origin to a castle erected in 1099. In 1260 the castle was burned down. It was twice rebuilt, but was finally dismantled by the Parliamentarians in 1647, and is now an in- teresting ruin. Population, in 1891, 90,349; in 1901, 94.514. SWARTH, swilrt, Helene ( 1859—) . A Dutch poet, linrn at Amsterdam and, since 1893, married to the poet Frits Lapidoth at The Hague, From