Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/383

* SOLINGEN. 329 SOLMIZATION. SOLINGEN, zO'ling-cn. A town in the Khine Province, Prussia, 18 miles nortli-nortlicast of Cologne (Map: Prussia, B 3). It has long been famous for its steel and ironware manufactures, especially sword blades, helmets, cuirasses, knives, scissors, and hand bells. Population, including the town of Dorp, in 1900, 45,249. SOLIPSISM (from Lat. solus, alone, only + ipse. self). A term applied, usually by opponents, to any system of philosophy the principles of which do not logically warrant the belief in any other being than the mind of the thinker. It is a subjective idealism (q.v. ) which is so sub- jective as to leave no valid ground for belief in objectivity. SOLIS, s6-les', Jl-.vx Di.s de (c,1470-151(i) . A Spanish navigator. He is said, although without good authority, to have discovered Yucatan with Vicente Yaiiez Pinzon in 1.506. After the death of Vespucci in 1512 he was appointed pilot- major of Spain. In October. 1515, he sailed in command of an expedition in search of a south- west passage to India. He discovered the en- trance to the Rio de la Plat.a and explored the river as far as the region of the Charrua tribe, by whom he was killed, and it is reported, eaten, before September, 1516. His brother-in-law, Francisco de Torres, conducted the survivors of the expedition back to Spain. SOLITAIRE, sol'i-tar' (Fr.. solitary). An extinct dodo-like bird iPezophaps solitiiriiis), dif- fering from the dodos in a smaller bill and longer legs. It inhabited Rodriguez, and appears to have been peculiar to that small and lonely isl- and. Francois Leguat, in his Voyages et aventures (London, 1708), has left an interesting and trust- worthy account of the soli- taire. He describes it as a large bird, the male sometimes weighing 45 pounds, the head of the male without comb or crest, that of the female with something like a widow's peak above the bill; the wings small, and the bird incapable of fly- ing, but using the w'ings to flap itself or to flutter when calling for its mate, or as a weapon of offense or defense. He further describes the plumage as very full and beautiful, but the tail was a round- ish mass of feathers. It became extinct about 1775, but many skeletons are pi-eserved in Euro- pean museums. See Dodo ; Extinct A>'imal.s. In America the name solitaire is given to the flycatching thrushes of the genus Jlyadestes, spe- cies of which occur in .Jamaica, ilartinique, and other VTest Indian islands, as well as on the continent. One species. Mt/adesfes Toirnsendi, dwells in the Western United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. It is about 8 inches long, and dull brownish .ish in color, and is a superb singer, as indeed are all the members of the genus. The name 'solitaire' refers to the habit of several species of hiding in the most THE soLiTAraE (After a drawiug by Leguat). solitary and out-of-the-way depths of the forests, especially when singing. SOLITAIRE. A game played by only one person. The date and place of its origin is not known, but it is supposed to have been in- vented by a prisoner in the Bastille some time during the sevententh centur.y. It is played with 37 balls (usually of glass) on a circular board which has 37 hemispherical cups or de- pressions. The game is playeil by removing one ball from the board and then ])lacing an adjoin- ing ball into the vacanc.y, passing over one inter- vening ball. The ball passed over is then taken from the board. This process is then continued till only one ball remains, when the game is said to be won. Should two or more balls Ije left and they more than one space apart, and consequently isolated so as not to be liable to capture by each other, the game is lost. SOLIT.IRE WITH C.RD.S, Or Patien'ck. The pack or packs (sometimes with the exception of certain cards, which are laid face upward on the table) are first shuffled. Tlie player then takes the cards, backs uppermost, and plays them one by one. turning them face upward as he does so. His object is to arrange the cards in "families,' each family being a complete series from ace to king, although not necessarily of the same suit. They may be formed by building upward, i.e. placing a higher card on the one next below it, or vice versa. The cards mav' be taken from the pack in the player's hand as already described, or they may be taken from an arrangement of card-piles on the table, or from eitlier. If the player places any top card of these piles (should he elect to arrange the game that way) on any other just above or below it in rank, he is said to be making a marriage, by which he frees the cards imderneath and utilizes them in 'building.' Cards that the player is unable to use at the time are laid aside and constitute 'stock.' Thus the stock may be used over again once or twice, but must first be shuffled. There are several other varieties of solitaire played with cards. SOLLOGTJB, suro-gonp', Vladimir Alexax- droitch. Count (1814-82). A Russian author, born at Saint Petersburg. He graduated at the University of Dorpat (1834) and held various diplomatic and official positions. He made his literary debut in 1837 with the novelettes Two ^Indents and Three Fiances, but attracted general attention with his Stori/ of Tiro Rubber Shoes (1839), and still more so with his Taraiitas (1845). Of his numerous works for the stage the farce Grief from a Tender Heart (1850) and The Offieial (1856) are the best known. His works of fiction appeared in five volumes (Saint Petersburg, 1855-56). SOLL UND HABEN, z61 unt hliljen (Ger., Debit and Credit ). A noted romance by Gustav Freytag (1855). It is based on a study of mod- ern industrial conditions, and is a glorification of the German merchant class at the expense of the worn-out nobility. SOLMIZATION (from sol -f mi, names of two notes of the gamut ), ar Solfeggio. A peculiar method in use for centuries for teaching musical intervals and scales by means of certain syllables, 'ine syllables are ut (or do). re. mi. fa. sol. la. and si. The first six are the conmiencement of the lines of an ancient hymn to John the Baptist,