The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 408

SOCIALISM, a social system which, in opposition to the compet.i.tive system that prevails at present, seeks to reorganise society on the basis, in the main, of a certain secularism in religion, of community of interest, and co-operation in labour for the common good, agreeably to the democratic spirit of the time and the changes required by the rise of individualism and the decay of feudalism.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, a society founded in 1698 which during the last 200 years has originated and supported a number of agencies, both in this country and abroad, for propagating Christian knowledge; distributed into a number of separate departments.

SOCIETY ISLANDS (24), an archipelago in the South Pacific, consisting of 13 princ.i.p.al islands and numerous islets, the chief being Tahiti; they are mountainous, and engirdled by belts of flat land as well as coral reefs; have a fertile soil and luxuriant vegetation, while the climate is healthy though enervating; the inhabitants are intelligent but indolent, and the land is worked by immigrant races.

SOCIETY OF JESUS, the Jesuit order founded by IGNATIUS LOYOLA (q. v.).

SOCINIANS, a sect of the Unitarian body who, in the 16th century, take their name from FAUSTUS SOCINUS (q. v.), who, besides denying the doctrine of the Trinity, deny the divinity of Christ and the divine inspiration of Scripture; they arose into importance originally in Poland, and in the 17th century spread by degrees in Prussia, the Netherlands, and England.

SOCINUS, FAUSTUS, a theologian, born in Italy; had for his views to exile himself for years, and was much persecuted for his opinions; in Cracow, where he dwelt for a time, he was by a mob dragged from a sick-bed half-naked along the street, had his house robbed and his papers burned (1530-1601).

SOCIOLOGY, the science which treats of the nature and the developments of society and of social inst.i.tutions; a science to which Herbert Spencer, in succession to Comte, has contributed more than any other scientist, deducing, as he does, a series of generalisations by comparison of individual organisms with social.

SOCOTRA (10), an island off the E. coast of Africa, 148 m. NE. of Cape Guardafui, over 70 m. long and 20 m. broad; it is mountainous, surrounded by a margin of plain land from 2 to 4 m. broad; is comparatively barren; is inhabited by Mohammedans, who rear sheep, goats, and cattle; exports aloes, hides, and pearls; the sultan is a feudatory of Britain.

SOCRATES, Athenian philosopher, p.r.o.nounced by the Delphic oracle the wisest of men; was the son of Sophroniscus, a statuary, and Phaenarete, a midwife; was brought up to his father's profession, in which it would seem he gave promise of success; he lived all his days in Athens, and gathered about him as his pupils all the ingenuous youth of the city; he wrote no book, propounded no system, and founded no school, but was ever abroad in the thoroughfares in all weather talking to whoso would listen, and instilling into all and sundry a love of justice and truth; of quacks and pretenders he was the sworn foe, and he cared not what enmity he provoked if he could persuade one and another to think and do what was right; "he was so pious," says Xenophon in his "Memorabilia," "that he did nothing without the sanction of the G.o.ds; so just, that he never wronged any one, even in the least degree; so much master of himself, that he never preferred the agreeable to the good; so wise, that in deciding on the better and the worse he never faltered; in short, he was the best and happiest man that could possibly exist;" he failed not to incur enmity, and his enemies persecuted him to death; he was charged with not believing in the State religion, with introducing new G.o.ds, and corrupting the youth, convicted by a majority of his judges and condemned to die; thirty days elapsed between the pa.s.sing of the sentence and its execution, during which period he held converse with his friends and talked of the immortality of the soul; to an offer of escape he turned a deaf ear, drank the hemlock potion prepared for him with perfect composure, and died; "the difference between Socrates and Jesus Christ,"

notes Carlyle in his "Journal," "the great Conscious, the immeasurably great Unconscious; the one cunningly manufactured, the other created, living and life-giving; the epitome this of a grand and fundamental diversity among men; but did _any_ truly great man ever," he asks, "go through the world without _offence_, all rounded in, so that the current moral systems could find no fault in him? most likely never"

(469-399 B.C.).

SOCRATES, APOLOGY OF, a work of Plato's, being a speech put into the mouth of Socrates before the AREOPAGUS (q. v.) in his defence in answer to the charge brought against him, and which Plato wrote after his death.

SOCRATES, Church historian of the 4th century, born at Byzantium; bred to the bar; his "Ecclesiastical History" embraces a period from 306 to 439, a work of no great merit.

SODOM AND GOMORRAH, two ancient cities which, for their wickedness were, as the Bible relates, consumed with fire from heaven; they are supposed to have stood near the S. border of the Dead Sea, though they were not, as was at one time supposed, submerged in the waters of it.

SOFALA, a Portuguese maritime district of South-East Africa, stretching from the Zambesi S. to Delagoa Bay, and forming the S. portion of the colony of Mozambique. Sofala (1), chief port on a bay of the same name, is a place of little importance.

SOFIA (50), capital since 1878 of Bulgaria; is a fortified town, situated in the broad valley of the Isker, a tributary of the Danube, 75 m. NW. of Philippopolis; has recently largely undergone reconstruction, and with hotels, banks, a government palace, &c., presents a fine modern appearance; has a national university; is an important trade emporium, and is on the Constantinople and Belgrade railway; manufactures cloth, silks, leather, &c., and has long been famed for its hot mineral springs.

SOFRONIA, a Christian maiden of Jerusalem, who, to avert a general ma.s.sacre of the Christians by the Mohammedan king, accused herself of the crime for which they were all to suffer, and whose story with the issue is touchingly related in Ta.s.so's "Jerusalem Delivered."

SOISSONS (11), a fortified town of North France, dep. Aisne, on the Aisne, 65 m. NE. of Paris; has a 12th-century cathedral and ruins of a famous abbey; chief industries are brewing and the manufacture of various textiles; was a place of much importance in early times, and figures in the wars of Clovis and Pepin, frequently in the Hundred Years' War, and in 1870 was captured by the Germans; is considered the key to Paris from the Netherlands side.

SOKOTO (11,000), a native kingdom of West Central Africa, within territories administered now by the British Government; lies between the Soudan (N.) and the river Benue (S.), the main affluent of the Niger; the dominant people are the Fulahs, exercising sway over various native tribes; is a country capable of much agricultural development, and has large deposits of iron. Wurno (15), the capital, is on the Gandi, 18 m.

E. of the town of Sokoto.

SOLANO, name given to a hot oppressive wind in the Mediterranean.

SOLAR CYCLE, a period of 28 years, within which the first day of the year pa.s.ses successively through the same sequence of week-days.

SOLAR MYTH, a myth, the subject of which is a deified personification of the sun or phenomena connected with it.

SOLAR YEAR, the period of 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 52 seconds which the earth takes to complete a revolution of the sun.

SOLDAN, a corruption of Sultan, and denoting in mediaeval romance the Saracen king.

SOLECISM, the name given to a violation of the syntax or idiom of a language, as well as to an incarnate absurdity of any kind, whether in mind or morals.

SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT. See COVENANT.

SOLENT, the western portion, SPITHEAD (q. v.) being the eastern, of the strait which separates the Isle of Wight from the mainland of Hants, 17 m. long, with an average breadth of 3 m., but at its W. entrance, opposite Hurst Castle, contracts to m.

SOLEURE (86), a canton of North-West Switzerland, between Bern (W.

and S.) and Aargau (E); is hilly, but fertile and well cultivated, especially in the valley of the Aar; inhabitants are mainly Catholics and German-speaking. Soleure, the capital (8), situated on the Aar, 18 m. NE.

of Berne, has a fine cathedral, and manufactures of cottons, clocks, and cement.

SOLFATA'RA, a fissure or crevice in the earth which emits sulphurous and other vapours, and in regions where volcanoes have ceased to be active; they are met with in South Italy, the Antilles, Mexico, and Java.

SOLFERINO, a village in North Italy, 20 m. NW. of Mantua, where the Austrians were defeated by the French and Piedmontese in 1859.

SOLIDARITY, community of interest or responsibility; also that community of being which binds humanity into one whole, so that each affects and is affected by all.

SOLIDUS, a Roman gold coin adopted by the Franks, and first coined by them in gold, but subsequently in silver, when it was equivalent to one-twentieth of the libra, or pound; as the "sol" or "sou" it depreciated greatly in value; was minted in copper, and on the introduction of the decimal system its place was taken by a five-centime piece; the "soldo" in Italy, and the Solidus L.S.D. owe their origin to this coin.

SOLINGEN (37), a manufacturing town of Prussia, situated near the Wupper, 13 m. E. of Dusseldorf; has long been famed for its steel and iron works and cutlery manufactures.