Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/442

 426 STROSSMAYER name. The mineral was then regarded as a carbonate of barium, but Crawf urd's supposi- tion that it contained a peculiar earth was con- firmed by Hope in 1792, and by Klaproth in 1793. Principal Salts. The chloride (SrCla), the iodide (SrI 2 ), and the bromide (SrBr a ) are all easily soluble in water and decomposable by heat. The nitrate (Sr2NOs) is extensively used in producing the crimson lights of fire- works. A mixture of 40 parts of strontium nitrate with from 5 to 10 parts of potassic chlorate, 12 of sulphur, and 4 of antimonious sulphide, deflagrates with a magnificent crim- son color. Its preparation is dangerous, in consequence of its liability to ignite spontane- ously. Nitrate of strontia may be prepared by treating the native carbonate with dilute nitric acid, but it is more usual to employ the native sulphate, which is reduced to a sul- phide by heating it with charcoal, and then subjected to the action of dilute nitric acid. It crystallizes from hot, concentrated solu- tions in anhydrous octahedrons, which are in- soluble in alcohol, but soluble in half their weight of boiling water and in five parts of cold water. From the cold solution it may be obtained in monoclinic crystals, having four molecules of water. Sulphate of strontium (SrSCK) is found native as the mineral celes- tine, so named from its occasional delicate blue color, although it occurs white, gray, yel- low, and red. It may also be prepared by the action of sulphuric acid on strontianite, or of a soluble strontia salt, as the nitrate, on another metallic sulphate. Its crystals are modifica- tions of the right rhombic prism, being iso- morphous with the sulphates of barium and calcium. The mineral is usually associated with limestone, or sandstone of the Silurian, Devonian, and other formations. It is also found in beds of gypsum, rock salt, and clay, and sometimes in trap rocks, and with volcanic sulphur. Splendid crystals are found at Gir- genti, Sicily, associated with sulphur and gyp- sum. It is found at Bex in Switzerland, at Dornburg in Saxe-Weimar, in Tyrol, in rock salt at Ischl in Austria, and in trap rocks near Tantallan in East Lothian, Scotland. Beauti- ful bluish crystals occur in Trenton limestone about Lake Huron, particularly on Strontian island, and at Kingston, Canada. Fine speci- mens have been found at Schoharie and at Lockport, N. Y. A blue, fibrous celestine is found near Frankstown, Huntingdon co., Pa. ; on Drummond island, Lake Erie, it occurs mixed with barium. STROSSMAYER, Joseph George, a Croato-Slavo- nian prelate, born in Eszek, Feb. 4, 1815. He was educated at Pesth, Vienna, and Padua, and became bishop of the united sees of Bos- nia and Sirmia, May 20, 1850. At the Vatican council he strenuously maintained the inop- portuneness of defining the doctrine of pon- tifical infallibility. He was represented as having delivered a violent opposition speech in one of the sessions, the text of which was re- STROUSBERG produced by several journals; but in 1872 he addressed a letter to the Fran$ais denying the authenticity of this speech, and affirming that he "never said one word during the entire council which could in any way diminish the authority of the holy see, or tend to promote discord in the church." He is known as a zealous champion of Slavic autonomy, and a munificent promoter of Slavic culture. In 1875 he published a pastoral letter on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as bishop, declining a public manifestation in his honor, " while the fellow countrymen of the Croats across the frontier are shedding their blood for liberty, and Christian charity makes it a duty to aid the widows and orphans of the fallen." STROTHER, David Hunter, an American artist, born in Martinsburg, Va., Sept. 26, 1816. He studied drawing and painting, in 1845 went to New York, learned to draw on wood and il- lustrated some books, and in 1849 returned to Virginia. From 1853 till 1861 he published, under the pseudonyme of Porte Crayon, a series of illustrated papers, mostly relating to Virginia and the south, some of which were collected in his "Virginia Illustrated" (New York and London, 1857). On the outbreak of the civil war he volunteered in the United States service, was a colonel of cavalry, and at the close retired as a brevet brigadier gen- eral. Since 1866 he has resided at Berkeley Springs, W. Va., and continues his illustrated papers on southern subjects. STROl'SBERti, Bethel Henry, known as doctor, * a German adventurer, born of Jewish parents at Neidenburg, East Prussia, Nov. 20, 1823. His original name was Baruch Hirsch Straus- berg. In 1835 he entered the commission house of his uncles in London, became a Christian, and married an English woman. He finally engaged in the insurance business, incurred losses in 1847, taught languages at New Orleans in 1848, returned in 1849 to London with money made by trading in dam- aged goods, and was interested in publishing "The Chess Player," "Lawson's Merchant's Magazine," and " Sharpe's London Magazine." In 1855 he settled in Berlin as agent for an insurance company, and in 1861 obtained for English capitalists the concession of an East Prussian railway. After building other rail- ways for different companies, he built many on his own account, chiefly in northern Ger- many, Hungary, and Roumania, and became the owner of vast establishments for produ- cing all the materials required for them, as well as of beet-sugar, porcelain, and other fac- tories, mines, the Berlin cattle yard, the An- twerp south citadel grounds, and the great Zbirow domain in Bohemia. At one time he employed more than 100,000 persons, and was engaged in speculations involving several hun- dred millions of dollars. He eclipsed princes in his luxurious living and ostentatious char- ities, and was popularly known in Berlin as