Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/161

LEFT STRY, or STRYI 127 STUART FAMILY was the scene of a great conflagration in April, 1886, which destroyed over 600 houses and most of the public buildings. The chief manufactures are leather goods and matches. Pop. 33,400, STRYCHNINE, in chemistry, formula, CnHssNjO:, strychnia, a highly poison- ous alkaloid, discovered in 1818 by Pel- letier and Caventou in St. Ignatius' beans, and shortly afterward in Nux vom- ica seeds. It is obtained, together with brucine, by boiling Nux vomica seeds in dilute sulphuric acid till they become soft, crushing the seeds, and adding to the expressed liquid an excess of calcium hydrate, which throws down the two alkaloids. On washing with cold alcohol, brucine is dissolved, leaving strychnine in an impure state. When pure, it crys- tallizes in colorless, tetragonal prisms, having a very bitter, and somewhat me- tallic taste, is almost insoluble in water, absolute alcohol, and ether, but soluble in spirit of wine and chloroform. The symptoms are very marked, and com- prise violent tetanic convulsions, labori- ous respiration, from the tightening of the chest muscles, spasmodic contrac- tion of the heart, and rigidity of the spinal column. These are succeeded by a short calm, after which they are again repeated till death or progress toward recovery ensues, the time being about two hours after taking the poison. STRYCHNOS, in botany, the typical genus of Strychnese. Calyx, five-parted; corolla tubular, funnel-shaped, limb spreading; stamens five, inserted into the throat of the corolla; ovary two-celled; style one; fruit, a berry with a hard rind and a pulpy sarcocarp ; seeds many. Natives of Asia, America, and Australia. S. Nux Vomica, the snake wood, strych- nine tree, or nux vomica tree, is a moder- ate-sized evergreen, with dai'k gray bark and no spines; the leaves entire, strongly three to five nerved; the flowers small, greenish-white; the fruit round, like an orange in color, but smaller, with a brit- tle rind, a white, gelatinous pulp, and many seeds. It is found on hills and in forests in India and Burma. The seeds, which are about the size and shape of a 25-cent piece, constitute nux vomica and contain strychnine, and it is said, a brown dye. The wood is very bitter, especially the root, which has been given in inter- mittent fevers and as an antidote to the bites of venomous serpents. jS. pota- torum, a tree about 40 feet high, with only one seed, is the clearingnut tree of India ; so called because the seeds render muddy water clear. They are used also in diseases of the eye. The fruit, which is like a black cherry, is eaten by the natives; the wood is used for carts, agri- cultural implements, and building. S. toxifera, the Guiana poison plant, is a climber, with a stem covered with long, spreading, red hairs, and five-nerved acuminate leaves. It furnishes the chief ingredient of the poison called woorali, or oorali. S. tieute, from Java, has ellip- tical, acuminate, three-nerved, glabrous leaves, with simple tendrils opposite to them. It yields another deadly poison. S. ligustrina is said by Blume to furnish the genuine Lignum colubrinutn. It is given in Java in paralysis of the lower extremities and as an anthelmintic. 5. pseudoquina, a Brazilian tree about 12 feet high, has a corky bark (said to be equal to cinchona as a febrifuge), and short-stalked, ovate, quintuple-nerved leaves; all parts of it are intensely bit- ter except the fruit, which is eaten by children. The fruit of <S. colubrina, a large Indian climbing shrub, is esteemed by the Telegus as an antidote to the bite of the cobra. The fruit of S. innocua is eaten in Egypt. STRYKER, MELANCTHON WOOL- SEY, an American educator; born in Vernon, N. Y., Jan. 7, 1851; was gradu- ated at Hamilton College in 1872 and at the Auburn Theological Seminary in 1876. Subsequently he held pastorates in Au- burn, N. Y.; Ithaca, N. Y.; Holyoke, Mass.; and Chicago, 111.; and in 1892 became president of Hamilton College, serving until 1917. He was the author of numerous hymns and poems including, "Song of Miriam"; "Lattermath" ; "Let- ter of James"; "English Bible Versions and Origins" (1915) ; "Three Addresses on Lincoln" (1917). STRYPA RIVER, a stream in Eastern Galicia, joining the Dniester near Stanis- law, along whose banks severe fighting took place between the Germans and Russians during the World War. Dur- ing the summer of 1915 the German- Austrian armies had made a sweeping advance and compelled the whole Rus- sian front to fall back. Toward the end of their retreat the Russians suddenly developed unexpected resistance along the Strypa, having been reinforced in this region. While the troops in other sectors of the Eastern front settled down into trench life as the winter months came on, the Russians along the Strypa continued their activities during the cold months, inflicting heavy and continuous losses on the Germans, and prepared the way for the general Russian offensive, which began the following summer. STUART FAMILY, THE. This house derives its name from the impoi'tant office