Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/805

Rh S H A S H A 779 naturalists regard, therefore, this fish as " the oldest living type of vertebrate." The Notidani are very pro- bably ground-sharks, perhaps descending into deep water ; and, although nothing positive is known at present of the habits of Chlamydoselachus, the fact that this singu- lar type has escaped so long the observation of the ! numerous collectors in Japjin renders it probable that it inhabits depths the exploration of which has been initiated only recently. A few words have to be added with reference to the economic uses of this group of fishes. Their utility to man is insignificant ! in comparison with the havoc they commit among food-fishes and ' at fisheries, and with the loss of life which is caused by the larger kinds. As mentioned above, some of the smaller dog-fishes are eaten at certain seasons by the captors, and by the poorer classes of the population. An inferior kind of oil, chiefly used for the adulteration of cod-liver oil, is extracted on some of the northern fishing-stations from the liver of the spiked dog-fishes, and occa- sionally of the larger sharks. Cabinet-makers make extensive use of shark's-skin under the name of "shagreen" for smoothing or polishing wood. This shagreen is obtained from species (such as our dog-fishes) whose skin is covered with small, pointed, closely- set, calcified papillae, whilst very rough skins, in which the papillfe are large or blunt, are useless for this purpose. The dried fins of sharks (and of rays) form in India and China an important article of trade, the Chinese preparing gelatin from them, and using the better sort for culinary purposes. They are assorted in two kin> Is, viz., " white " and " black. The former consists exclusively of the dorsal fins, which are on both sides of the same light colour, and reputed to yield more gelatin than the other fins. The pectoral, ventral, and anal fins constitute the "black" sort; the caudal are not used. One of the principal places where shark fishing is practised as a profession is Kurrachee, and the principal kinds of sharks caught there are species of Carcharias, Galcocerdo, and ZygsRna. Dr Buist, writing in 1850, states that there are thirteen large boats, with crews of twelve men each, constantly employed in this pursuit, that the value of the fins sent to the market varies from 15,000 to 18,000 rupees, that a boat will capture sometimes at a draught as many as a hundred sharks of various sizes, and that the number of sharks captured annually amounts probably to not less than 40,000. Large quantities are imported from the African coast and the Arabian Gulf, and various ports on the coast of India. In the year 1845-46 8770 cwt. of sharks' fins were exported from Bombay to China. (A. C. G. ) SHARON", a borough of the United States, in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, 14 miles west of Mercer, is the seat of considerable iron manufacture, with blast furnaces, rolling mills, foundries, and nail factories, and had in 1880 a population of 5684. SHARP, JAMES (1618-1679), archbishop of St Andrews, was the son of William Sharp, sheriff-clerk of Banffshire, and of Isabel Leslie, daughter of Leslie of Kininvie, of the family of Halyburtons of Pitcur in Angus, and was born in Castle Banff on May 4, 1618. He was a clever boy, and his early disposition for the church led to his being called in jest "the young minister." In 1633 he went to King's College, Aberdeen, and graduated in 1637. He there studied divinity for one or two years, and probably derived his Episcopal tendencies from the "Aberdeen doctors," Aberdeen being at that time the home of Episcopal sentiment. On the outbreak of the Covenanting war he went to England (1639) and visited Oxford and perhaps Cambridge, becoming acquainted with the principal English divines. Upon his return he was chosen in 1643 through the influence of Lord Rothes to be one of the " regents " of philosophy in St Leonard's College, St Andrews. He appears to have continually risen in reputation until in December 1647 he went through his ordinary trials for the ministerial office before the presby- tery of St Andrews, and was appointed minister of Crail in Fifeshire, on the presentation of the earl of Crawford, on January 27, 1648. In the great schism of Resolutioners and Protestors, he, with the large majority of educated men, took active part with the former ; he was the friend of Baillie, Douglas, Dickson, Wood, Blair, and others, and as early as March 1651 was recognized as one of the lead- ing men of the party. His first public employment was in 1656, when he went to London on their behalf to endeavour to counteract with the Protector the influence of Warriston, who was acting for the Protestors. Here he became acquainted with Calamy, Ash, and other leading London Presbyterian ministers, and letters passed between him and Lauderdale, then prisoner in the Tower. He displayed all his undoubted talents for petty diplomacy and considerable subtlety in argument while on this service, and his mission was decidedly successful. He returned to Scotland in 1659, but upon Monk's march to London was again, in February 1660, sent by the Resolutioners to watch over their interests in London, where he arrived on February 13. He was most favourably received by Monk, to whom it was of great importance to remain on good terms with the dominant party in Scotland. His letters to Douglas and others during this period, if they may be trusted, are useful towards following the intrigues of the time day by day. It must not be forgotten, however, that there is good reason for thinking that Sharp had already made up his mind not to throw away the chances he might have of prominent employment under the Restoration. In the beginning of May he was despatched by Monk to the king at Breda " to deal that he may be sent with a letter to the London Presbyterian ministers, showing his resolution to own the godly sober party." His letters on this occasion to Douglas show that he regarded himself equally as the emissary of the Scottish kirk. It is to be noticed that he was also the bearer of a secret letter from Lauderdale to the king. He was in fact playing a game admirably suited to his peculiar capacity for dark and crooked ways of dealing. There can be little doubt that while on this mission he was finally corrupted by Charles and Clarendon, not indeed so far as to make up his mind to betray the kirk, but at any rate to decide in no way to imperil his own chances by too firm an integrity. The first thing that aroused the jealousy of his brethren, who, as Baillie says, had trusted him as their own souls, was his writing from Holland in commendation of Clarendon. This jealousy was increased on his return to London (May 26) by his plausible endeavours to stop all coming of Presbyterian commissioners from Scotland and Ireland, though he professed to desire the presence of Douglas and Dickson, by his urgent advice that the Scots should not interfere in the restoration of Episcopacy in England, and by his endeavours to frustrate the proposed union of Resolutioners and Protestors. He informed them that Presbyterianism was a lost cause in England, but as late as August 11 he intimated that, though there had been great danger for the Scottish kirk as well, this danger had been constantly and successfully warded off by his efforts. He returned to Scotland in this month, and busied himself in endeavouring to remove all suspicions of his loyalty to the kirk ; but at the same time he successfully stopped all peti- tions from Scottish ministers to king, parliament, or council. His letters to Drummond, a Presbyterian minister in London, and to Lauderdale, without absolutely committing him, show clearly that he was certain that Episcopacy was about to be set up. How far he was actively a traitor in the matter had always been fairly disputed until the ques- tion was at last set at rest by the discovery of his letter, dated May 21, from London, whither he went in April 1661, to Middleton, the High Commissioner, whose chap- lain he now was, from which it is proved that he was in confidential communication with Clarendon and the English bishops, that he was earnestly and eagerly co-operating in the restoration of Episcopacy in Scotland, that he had before leaving Scotland held frequent .conferences with Middleton on the subject (a fact which he had explicitly and vehemently denied) and was aware that Middleton had