Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/315

LEFT SCABBARD 269 SCALE oil, and arsenical solutions such as are used for sheep dipping. SCABBARD, the sheath of a sword or bayonet, made of metal, wood, leather, rawhide, or paper. SCABBARD FISH, the Lepidopus cau- datus, fairly common in the Mediterra- nean and the warmer parts of the Atlan- tic. It is probably a deep sea fish. Its length is from five to six feet, dorsal ex- tending the whole length of the body, which is much compressed. It is well known in New Zealand, where it is called the frost fish and is much esteemed for food. SCABIOSA, the scabious; a genus of Dipsacese, involucel, membranous or mi- nute; receptacle hemispherical, hairy, or with scaly floral bracts; fruit with eight depressions; known species about 90, from the Eastern Hemisphere. S. succisa yields a green dye, and seems astringent enough to be used in tanning. SCABIOUS (Scabiosa), an extensive genus of annual and perennial herbs, be- longing to the natural order Dipsacese. They are annual or perennial herbs, with entire or divided leaves and heads of blue, pink, white or yellowish flowers. S. succisa, devil's bit, is a common plant. It was formerly supposed to be of great efficacy in all scaly eruptions, hence the name. SCAD or HORSE MACKEREL (Ca- ranx trachurus, or Trachurus vulgaris) , a genus of fishes included in the family Scomberidse or mackerels, and found around the coasts of Great Britain. It appears in large shoals, and the flesh, though coarse, is esteemed and eaten salted during the winter months. SCffiVOLA, GAIUS MUCIUS, an il- lustrious Roman, who distinguished him- self when Porsenna besieged Rome, 507 B. C. Mucius entered the camp of Por- senna to assassinate him and by mistake stabbed one of his attendants. Being seized and brought before Porsenna, he said that he was one of 300 who had en- gaged, by oath, to slay him; and added, "This hand, which has missed its pur- pose, ought to suffer." On saying this, he thrust it into the coals which were burning on the altar, and suffered it to >e consumed. Porsenna, struck with his intrepidity, made peace with the Romans. The name of Scsevola, or "Left-handed," was given as a mark of distinction to Mucius and his family. SCAFELL (ska-feT), a double-peaked mountain, the loftiest summit in Eng- land, on the Westmoreland border of Cumberland; 14y 2 miles S. S. W. of Kes R— Cyc wick. Of the two peaks, the higher, Sea- fell Pike, attains 3,210 feet, the other 3,161. SCAGLIA, a red, white, or gray argil- laceous limestone occurring in the Vene- tian Alps, and believed by De Zigno to be the age of the chalk. The beds are usually thin, fragile, and almost schis- tose, whence the name of scaglia. SCALE, a measure, consisting of a slip of wood, ivory, or metal, divided into equal parts, usually main divisions and subdivisions; as, inches or octonary frac- tions for carpenters' work, decimal divi- sions and subdivisions for chain work, duodecimal for plotting carpenters' work, which is in feet and inches. The meter and its decimal subdivisions are also sometimes employed. Also any instru- ment, figure, or scheme graduated for the purpose of measuring extent or propor- tions. In music, the sounds in consecutive order used by various nations in differ- ent forms as the material of music. In a proper succession such sounds form melody, in proper combinations they con- stitute harmony. The modern scale, uni- versally used among the more civilized nations, consists of 12 divisions, called semitones, included in one octave. The ancient Greeks and Asiatics, ancient and modern, exhibit the use of less intervals. Such scales are called enharmonic. Other nations have intervals of a third between some of the steps. This is exhibited in the Chinese and ancient Scotch scales, and in the scales of some savage nations. A scale containing only five unequal di- visions of the octave has been called pen- taphonic or, less correctly, pentatonic. All scales are purely arbitrary, consist- ing of a selection of sounds produced by the aliquot divisions of a monochord. When the divisions of a monochord are slightly altered to suit the required steps in an octave, as is the case in the modern scale, the scale is said to be tempered; when the harmonic divisions of the mono- chord are strictly followed, the scale is said to be in just intonation. The modern scale when used as a succession of 12 semitones is called chromatic, when used in the ordinary mixture of tones and semitones it is called diatonic, when the third and sixth are flattened it is called the modern minor diatonic scale, when the third and sixth remain major, the scale is said to be a major diatonic scale. The scale is also called the gamut (French, gamme) from the words gamma and ut, the names of sol and do, found in the Guidonian system of overlapping hexachords. The Italian names for the degrees of the scale, ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, are derived from the initial syllables of Vol 8