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SOMEEVILLE

Library, and in 1889 Adams professor of Arabic. He was Burnett lecturer at Aberdeen in 1888-91. Eobertson Smith may be described as just within the range of our definition of Eationalism, and a decided Eationalist by the standards of his time. He was a strong Theist, but rejected .all the supernatural claims of Christianity. See his articles in the Enc. Brit,., Prophets .of Israel (1882), and Religion of the Semites (1889). D. Mar. 31, 1894.

SNOILSKY, Count Karl Johan Gustav,

Swedish poet. B. Sep. 8, 1841. Ed. Upsala University. He entered the diplo matic service, and was for many years either in the Foreign Office at Stockholm or in foreign embassies. In 1879 he retired, to devote himself to letters. His early poems (Smd Dikter, 1861 ; Orchidecr, 1862 ; etc.) were very successful, and in 1876 he translated into Swedish the ballads of Goethe. His poems were collected in five volumes (Samlade Dikter) in 1903-1904. Snoilsky makes eloquent appeals for reli gious liberty and enlightenment, and in some of his poems shows himself a Theistic Eationalist. D. May 19, 1903.

SNOWDEN, James Keighley, novelist. B. June 23, 1860. Ed. Keighley School of Science and Art. His original name is James Snowden. He adopted journalism as his profession, and served on a number of provincial papers. In 1894 he tried the field of fiction with his Yorkshire Tales, and since that date he has published a score of successful novels. During the War he edited the National Food Journal. His Eationalist views are given in his Myth and Legend in the Bible (1915), which was written for the Eationalist Press Associa tion. It is an excellent popular presentation of the results of modern criticism.

SNYDER, Carl, American writer. B. Apr. 23, 1869. Ed. Iowa University and Paris (&quot; but chiefly self-educated,&quot; he says). He took to journalism, edited the Council Bluffs Nonpareil for some time, and passed 747

to the staff of the Washington Post. In 1903 Snyder attracted a good deal of atten tion by his vividly written New Conceptions in Science. It was uncompromisingly Eationalistic. &quot; The influence of the Chris tian Church was evil, incomparably evil,&quot; he says (p. 27). His World Machine (1907) is an equally powerful and up-to-date book. He has also translated works from the German and Italian, and he contributes to the American scientific periodicals.

SOLOYIEY, Vladimir Sergievitch,

Eussian sociologist. B. 1853. In 1875 he began to teach at Moscow University, and in 1880 he was appointed professor at St. Petersburg. He was deposed for demanding the abolition of the death penalty at a time when the Tsar was using it liberally. Several of his works demand that reform. Quitting the school for literature, he issued a number of socio logical works of great ability. In his Crisis of Western Philosophy he follows Hegel, and in his French work, La Russie et I eglise universelle (1889), he discards all supernaturalism. D. 1900.

SOMERSET, twelfth Duke of. See

SEYMOUR, EDWARD ADOLPHUS.

SOMERYILLE, Mary, writer. B. 1780. Daughter of Vice- Admiral Sir W. G. Fairfax, she made a thorough study of mathematics and Latin, and early attracted attention by her ability. In 1804 she married Captain Greig, who died three years later, and she then married Dr. W. Somerville. In 1816 they moved to London, and Mrs. Somerville soon had a brilliant circle of admirers. The leading statesmen and men of science in London sought her society, and she was esteemed one of the most charming and most cultivated women of her time. In 1827 she wrote a work on astronomy for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and it brought her such repute that the Eoyal Society ordered a bust of her, by Chantrey, to be placed in its hall. In her Connection of the Physical Sciences 748