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STERILIZING PROCESSES

1824

STEUBEN

burgh goldsmith, about 1725. A cast is first made by pouring a mixture of plaster of paris and water over the types and, when it is hardened or set, taking it off and drying it in an oven. This cast, which is a perfect copy of the page to be printed, is dipped into the melted type-metal, forming a cast of the metal, which is trimmed and planed to fit the block on which it is to be mounted. This cast is called a stereotype plate. The process used now is the invention of Genoux in 1829, called the papier mache process. It is much cheaper and more rapid, and has come into general use. Folds of soft, thin paper, pasted together and wet, are laid on the face of the type and beaten with a hard brush, so as to" fit in all the holes in the type. The hollows made in this way on the outside of the paper are filled with clay and brown paper pasted over, and the whole is dried till it can be lifted off the type, when the cast of type metal is made from it by pouring in the ho^ metal. The paper cast can be kept and any number of new casts made from it. In printing newspapers the stereotype plates are made to fit round a cylinder, and the paper is pressed into the holes of the type by a roller. In large newspaper-ofHces a cast can be made in three to five minutes. See Stereotyping and tElectrotyp-ing by Wilson.

Ster'ilizing Processes are intended to destroy the micro-organisms to which fermentations and often diseases are due. Louis Pasteur (see PASTEUR INSTITUTE) was the originator of the theory and practice of these processes. Milk is the chief food which needs to be sterilized, both for the wide range of its use and th^ nature of the diseases which it may help to convey, as consumption, typhoid fever, diarrhoea in children, scarlet fever and cholera. Milk may be pasteurized at a temperature of 167° P. Boiling and treatment with superheated steam are even surer methods. Freezing assists to sterilize milk; but is less sure. Water is most conveniently sterilized by boiling. There can be no doubt that sterilization is one of the great, general advantages of the process of cooking food. Chemicals ought not to be used in sterilizing processes; for it is necessary to employ them, if at all, in quantities too large for health.

Sterling, III., a city in Whiteside County, on Rock River and the Chic., Burl, and Quincy and Chic, and Northwestern railways, no miles west of Chicago. Among its public institutions it includes good schools and a well-equipped library. Its industries embrace machinery, hardware, agricultural implements, paper and flour mills, canned goods, watches, caskets and a foundry. Population 7>4-67.

Stern'burg, Hermann von Speck, a German diplomat, born at Leeds, England,

in 1852, and educated in Saxony and at Potsdam Military Academy. He took part in the Franco-Prussian War in the 2d Dragoons of Saxony, and in 1890 was drawn to official life, first as secretary of the legation at Peking, and secondly as charge-d'affaires at Belgrade, Servia, and then as first-secretary of the embassy at Washington, D. C.; subsequently becoming envoy extraordinary to the United States^in 1903 and, in the same year, ambassador. In 1898 he acted on the Samoan Commission, and in 1900 was consul-general for British India and Ceylon. He died in 1908.

Sterne, Laurence, a British writer, was born at Clonmel, Ireland, Nov. 24, 1713. He studied at Cambridge and became a clergyman. In 1759 he wrote the first two volumes of the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, which has made him forever * famous. Its success was signal and he became the 'lion'' of the fashionable world. The other two volumes followed in the same year and were as heartily welcomed as the earlier ones. The remainder of the work, which reached nine volumes, was written at Coxwold, where he had moved from his Yorkshire parish. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, published in 1768, was the result of a tour through those countries in 1765. He also published two volumes of sermons. His fame rests on his humor and the immortal characters of Corporal Trim, Yorick and My Uncle Toby, found in Tristram Shandy. He died at London, March 18, 1768. See Life by Fitzgerald and Sterne, in the English Men of Letters Series, by Traill.

Stettin (stet-ten'), a Prussian city, is the capital of Pomerania. It is on the Oder, 60 miles northeast of Berlin. The citadel and several forts which formed the ancient fortifications were removed in 1874. The churches of St. Peter (1124) and St. James, founded in the i4th century, the palace, town-hall, two ornamental arches and several fine squares are among the noticeable features. It is one of the chief seaports of Germany, and manufactures soap, matches, clothing, sugar, paper, sewing-machines and bricks; has oil-refineries; and engages extensively in shipbuilding. Stettin was the seat of a princely dynasty, 1107-1637; was occupied by Sweden, 1648-1720; and by the French, 1806-13. Population 236,145.

Steu'ben, Frederic William Augustus, Baron, a general in the Revolutionary War, was born at Magdeburg, Prussia, Nov. 15, 1730. He served when only 14 in the siege of Prague, and rose in the army until in 1752 he was on the staff of Frederick the Great. He came to America in 1778 and offered his services to Washington, who gladly accepted them, as it was in the dark days of Valley Forge. He was appointed inspector-general, and remodeled the army. He took part in the siege of Yorktown, and