figwort: S. chrysantha, of the Caucasus, with green-yellow flowers, is sometimes grown in flower borders. Maryland figwort (S. marilandica), up to 3 metres (10 feet) tall, has greenish purple flowers; it is also called carpenter’s square because of its four-sided grooved stems. At least one species,…

figwort: Maryland figwort (S. marilandica), up to 3 metres (10 feet) tall, has greenish purple flowers; it is also called carpenter’s square because of its four-sided grooved stems. At least one species, S. auriculata, is cultivated as an ornamental.

figwort: …North America is the British Scrophularia nodosa, with pea-sized flowers. S. chrysantha, of the Caucasus, with green-yellow flowers, is sometimes grown in flower borders. Maryland figwort (S. marilandica), up to 3 metres (10 feet) tall, has greenish purple flowers; it is also called carpenter’s square because of its four-sided grooved…

Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family of flowering plants, one of 26 in the order Lamiales, containing about 65 genera and 1,700 species with worldwide distribution. It contains no crop plants of great economic importance but is notable for many ornamental garden plants, such as butterfly bush

Lamiales: Plantaginaceae: …the reorganization of the former Scrophulariales into Lamiales. Molecular studies show that earlier morphologically based delimitations of many families, such as Scrophulariaceae, do not hold up well in a system based on common ancestry. Consequently, many familiar genera long treated as “scrophs” have been placed in families such as Plantaginaceae,…

Sir Percivall Pott: …at a high risk for scrotal cancer. Pott’s report was the first in which an environmental factor was identified as a cancer-causing agent. The disease became known as chimney-sweepers’ cancer, and Pott’s work laid the foundation for occupational medicine and measures to prevent work-related disease.

scrotum, in the male reproductive system, a thin external sac of skin that is divided into two compartments; each compartment contains one of the two testes, the glands that produce sperm, and one of the epididymides, where the sperm is stored. The scrotum is a unique anatomical feature of humans

scrotum, in the male reproductive system, a thin external sac of skin that is divided into two compartments; each compartment contains one of the two testes, the glands that produce sperm, and one of the epididymides, where the sperm is stored. The scrotum is a unique anatomical feature of humans

Arena Chapel, (consecrated March 25, 1305) small chapel built in the first years of the 14th century in Padua, Italy, by Enrico Scrovegni and containing frescoes by the Florentine painter Giotto (see photograph). A “Last Judgment” covers the entire west wall. The rest of the chapel is covered with

scrubland, diverse assortment of vegetation types sharing the common physical characteristic of dominance by shrubs. A shrub is defined as a woody plant not exceeding 5 metres (16.4 feet) in height if it has a single main stem, or 8 metres if it is multistemmed. The world’s main areas of scrubland

megapode: Megapodes are of three kinds: scrub fowl; brush turkeys (not true turkeys); and mallee fowl, or lowan (Leipoa ocellata), which frequent the mallee, or scrub, vegetation of southern interior Australia. The mallee fowl, the best known of the group, is 65 cm (25.5 inches) long and has white-spotted, light brown…

chigger, (suborder Prostigmata), the larva of any of approximately 10,000 species of mites in the invertebrate subclass Acari (the mites and ticks). The name is also erroneously applied to an insect better known as the chigoe, jigger, or jigger flea. Chiggers range in length from 0.1 to 16 mm

scrub oak: scrub oak refers to Q. ilicifolia, also known as bear oak, native to the eastern United States. It is an intricately branched ornamental shrub, about 6 meters (20 feet) tall, with hollylike leaves and many small striped acorns.

scrub oak, any of several small shrubby trees of the genus Quercus, in the beech family (Fagaceae), native to dry soils in North America. See also oak. Specifically, scrub oak refers to Q. ilicifolia, also known as bear oak, native to the eastern United States. It is an intricately branched

cypress pine: Major species: …columellaris), found throughout Australia; the black cypress pine (C. endlicheri) of eastern Australia, locally also called black pine, red pine, and scrub pine; the Port Macquarie pine, or stringybark (C. macleayana), of southeastern Australia; and the common cypress pine (C. preissii) of southern Australia, often shrubby near the seacoast, with…

amethystine python, (Simalia amethistina), long, slender, nonvenomous snake belonging to the family Pythonidae. The amethystine python inhabits mainly coastal rainforests in Indonesia, New Guinea, and northern Australia. The snake is not currently at risk of extinction and is considered an invasive

scrub typhus, acute infectious disease in humans that is caused by the parasite Orientia tsutsugamushi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of certain kinds of trombiculid mites, or chiggers. The causative agent of scrub typhus, the bacterium O. tsutsugamushi, is primarily a parasite of certain

wallaby: Often called pademelons, the three species of scrub wallabies (Thylogale) of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Tasmania are small and stocky, with short hind limbs and pointy noses. They are hunted for meat and fur. A similar species is the short-tailed scrub wallaby, or quokka (Setonix…

scrub-bird, either of two species of rare Australian birds comprising the family Atrichornithidae (order Passeriformes), allied to lyrebirds. Both species are brown, with a longish, pointed tail—rather like the brown thrasher of the United States. The 22-centimetre (9-inch) western, or noisy,

air pollution control: Scrubbers: Devices called wet scrubbers trap suspended particles by direct contact with a spray of water or other liquid. In effect, a scrubber washes the particulates out of the dirty airstream as they collide with and are entrained by the countless tiny droplets in the spray.

scrubbing tower, a form of carbon capture in which carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed from air funneled into a large, confined space by wind-driven turbines. As air is taken in, it is sprayed with one of several chemical compounds, such as sodium hydroxide or calcium hydroxide. These chemicals react

scrubland, diverse assortment of vegetation types sharing the common physical characteristic of dominance by shrubs. A shrub is defined as a woody plant not exceeding 5 metres (16.4 feet) in height if it has a single main stem, or 8 metres if it is multistemmed. The world’s main areas of scrubland

Scrubs, medical-themed American television comedy that aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network for seven seasons beginning in 2001 before moving to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network; the show ended in 2010. Much praised by critics, Scrubs received a George Foster

Earl Scruggs: …to be called the “Scruggs style.” In December 1945, he joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. The group became the prototypical bluegrass band and was often heard on the Grand Ole Opry radio show.

Earl Scruggs was an American bluegrass banjoist, the developer of a unique instrumental style that helped to popularize the five-string banjo. Scruggs, who came from a musical family, began to play his father’s banjo at age 4, and by the age of 15 he was playing on local radio broadcasts. During

Earl Scruggs was an American bluegrass banjoist, the developer of a unique instrumental style that helped to popularize the five-string banjo. Scruggs, who came from a musical family, began to play his father’s banjo at age 4, and by the age of 15 he was playing on local radio broadcasts. During

Mary Lou Williams was a jazz pianist who performed with and composed for many of the great jazz artists of the 1940s and ’50s. Williams received early instruction from her mother, a classically trained pianist. Picking out simple tunes at age two, Mary Lou was a prodigy with perfect pitch and a

rugby: Principles of play: …forward (called a “knock-on”), a scrum is formed. The forwards form a pack into which a back from the team that recovered the loose ball feeds the ball. The ball is retrieved from the scrum when advantageous, and it is passed to the back line.

rugby: Principles of play: …forward (called a “knock-on”), a scrum is formed. The forwards form a pack into which a back from the team that recovered the loose ball feeds the ball. The ball is retrieved from the scrum when advantageous, and it is passed to the back line.

cider: English and French ciders: The English-style cider sometimes called scrumpy, or West Country cider, is also popular, though its definition is somewhat blurred. In general, the name bespeaks a “rough” reputation. Scrumpy is higher in alcohol content and tannins. It is usually still rather than sparkling and cloudy rather than clear, and it is…

scruple, unit of weight in the apothecaries’ system, equal to 20 grains, or one-third dram, and equivalent to 1.296 grams. It was sometimes mistakenly assigned to the avoirdupois system. In ancient times, when coinage weights customarily furnished the lower subdivisions of weight systems, the

little magazine: History of little magazines: …1939, and in Great Britain, Scrutiny, edited by F.R. Leavis (1932–53). This and related kinds of support, such as that of publishers maintaining their own reviews or miscellanies, represented a form of institutionalism which was radically different from the more spontaneous and erratic nature of the little magazines of earlier…

crystal gazing, divination of distant or future events based on visions seen in a ball of rock crystal. Divination based on an analysis of reflections in water, on polished metal, or on precious stones was practiced by early humans, who probably interpreted these phenomena as a vision of the spirit

SCSI, once-common standard for connecting peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, etc.) to small and medium-sized computers. SCSI has given way to faster standards, such as FireWire and USB (Universal Serial

coal mining: Health, safety, and environment: For example, the self-contained self-rescuer (SCSR) represents a significant development in raising a miner’s chances of survival and escape after an explosion, fire, or similar emergency contaminates the mine atmosphere with toxic gases. This lightweight, belt-wearable device is available worldwide and is mandated in several countries to be…

Eugene Levy: SCTV and mockumentaries: …the Canadian sketch comedy show SCTV. Levy later noted that he learned important lessons from working on the program. In 2020 he told Variety that he did not know how to write for television when he first joined SCTV:

scuba diving, swimming done underwater with a self-contained underwater-breathing apparatus. See underwater

Shchūchīnsk, city, northern Kazakhstan. It is located on Lake Shchuchye, about 35 miles (55 km) southeast of Kökshetaū. It was founded in 1828 as a Cossack settlement and is the centre of a large agricultural area. Shchūchīnsk is also a health resort and the railway station for Kazakhstan’s leading

20th-century international relations: UN coalition and ultimatum: …neutral Israel, firing 39 Soviet-made Scud surface-to-surface missiles at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Most fell harmlessly, none contained the poison gas warheads Hussein had threatened to use, and after the first days many were destroyed in flight by American Patriot antimissile missiles. Furthermore, Hussein’s purpose in launching the Scuds at…

amphipod, any member of the invertebrate order Amphipoda (class Crustacea) inhabiting all parts of the sea, lakes, rivers, sand beaches, caves, and moist (warm) habitats on many tropical islands. Marine amphipods have been found at depths of more than 9,100 m (30,000 feet). Freshwater and marine

freak show: In 1841 Barnum purchased Scudder’s American Museum in New York City. That moment is considered the beginning of the “Golden Age” of the freak show and its performers, which would persist until the 1940s. Among those at the museum were the notorious and controversial Broadway actor Harvey Leach, also…

flag of Mississippi: E.N. Scudder. Its three horizontal stripes recalled the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy, while the Confederate Battle Flag formed its canton. The separation of the canton from the blue and red stripes by a white fimbriation (narrow border) was confirmed by gubernatorial decree in…

Christianity: Missions to Asia: …monument to the missionary physician Ida Scudder (1870–1959).

Janet Scudder was an American sculptor remembered for the highly popular fountains she created for many private patrons and public institutions in the early 20th century. Scudder attended the Cincinnati (Ohio) Academy of Art, where she adopted the first name Janet. She studied drawing, anatomy, and

Janet Scudder was an American sculptor remembered for the highly popular fountains she created for many private patrons and public institutions in the early 20th century. Scudder attended the Cincinnati (Ohio) Academy of Art, where she adopted the first name Janet. She studied drawing, anatomy, and

Vida Dutton Scudder was an American writer, educator, and reformer whose social welfare work and activism were predicated on her socialist beliefs. Scudder was the daughter of a Congregationalist missionary. In 1862 she and her widowed mother moved from India to the United States, settling in

Madeleine de Scudéry: …younger sister of the dramatist Georges de Scudéry. Madeleine de Scudéry moved to Paris to join her brother after the death of her uncle, who had cared for her after she and her brother had been orphaned. Clever and bright, she soon made her mark on the literary circle of…

Madeleine de Scudéry was a French novelist and social figure whose romans à clef were immensely popular in the 17th century. De Scudéry was the younger sister of the dramatist Georges de Scudéry. Madeleine de Scudéry moved to Paris to join her brother after the death of her uncle, who had cared for

baseball: The pitching repertoire: …sought by those who illegally scar the surface of the ball with a sharp object such as a belt buckle or tack or with an abrasive tool such as a file or emery board.

rowing: …sculling, the oars are called sculls.

Apple Inc.: 1985–1997: Leadership struggles after Jobs and Wozniak: …by chief executive officer (CEO) John Sculley. (Wozniak had left Apple in February 1985 to become a teacher.)

James Henry Scullin was a statesman and leader of the Australian Labor Party who as prime minister guided the country through the early years of the Great Depression but was plagued by dissension within his own party. After joining the Labor Party in 1903, Scullin served in Parliament (1910–13) and

sculling, in small-craft racing, the use of two oars, one in each hand—in single, double, and quadruple events. See

rowing: The course and equipment: …(27 feet) for a single scull. There are no specifications for weight, which varies according to materials used and ranges from 14 kilograms (30.8 pounds) for a scull to 96 kg (212 pounds) or more for a shell for eights. The size, shape, and weights of oars are also not…

Vin Scully was an American sports broadcaster recognized by the American Sportscasters Association as the top in his field of all time. Starting out in Brooklyn and following the team to Los Angeles in 1958, Scully was the voice of the Dodgers baseball franchise for some 67 years. He was also a

Vincent Scully was an American architectural historian and critic considered by many to be the most influential teacher of the history of architecture in the United States. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, Scully earned a doctorate at Yale University in 1949. He remained at

Vin Scully was an American sports broadcaster recognized by the American Sportscasters Association as the top in his field of all time. Starting out in Brooklyn and following the team to Los Angeles in 1958, Scully was the voice of the Dodgers baseball franchise for some 67 years. He was also a

sculpin, any of the numerous, usually small fish of the family Cottidae (order Scorpaeniformes), found in both salt water and fresh water, principally in northern regions of the world. Sculpins are elongated, tapered fish, usually with wide, heavy heads. The gill covers have one or more spines, the

sculpture, an artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are worked into three-dimensional art objects. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in reliefs on surfaces, or in environments ranging from tableaux to contexts that envelop the spectator. An enormous variety of media

Sculptor, constellation in the southern sky at about 1 hour right ascension and 30° south in declination. Its brightest star is Alpha Sculptoris, with a magnitude of 4.3. The French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille formed this constellation in 1754. It represents a sculptor’s

The Troll Garden: The story “The Sculptor’s Funeral,” originally published in McClure’s in 1905, concerns the reactions of the townspeople in a prairie village when the body of a famous sculptor is returned to be buried there. The book’s climactic story, now considered an American classic, is “Paul’s Case.”

John Evelyn: In 1662 Evelyn produced Sculptura, a small book on engraving and etching, in which he announced a new process, the mezzotint.

sculpture, an artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are worked into three-dimensional art objects. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in reliefs on surfaces, or in environments ranging from tableaux to contexts that envelop the spectator. An enormous variety of media

Glyptothek, museum in Munich that houses a renowned collection of Greek and Roman sculptures owned by the Bavarian state. The building, commissioned by the crown prince (later king) Ludwig of Bavaria and designed in the Neoclassical style by Leo von Klenze, was erected in 1816–30. It is part of the

sculpture: Sculpture in the round: The opportunities for free spatial design that such freestanding sculpture presents are not always fully exploited. The work may be designed, like many Archaic sculptures, to be viewed from only one or two fixed positions, or it may in effect be…

environmental sculpture, 20th-century art form intended to involve or encompass the spectators rather than merely to face them; the form developed as part of a larger artistic current that sought to break down the historical dichotomy between life and art. The environmental sculptor can utilize

Western sculpture, three-dimensional artistic forms produced in what is now Europe and later in non-European areas dominated by European culture (such as North America) from the Metal Ages to the present. Like painting, Western sculpture has tended to be humanistic and naturalistic, concentrating

Vatican Museums and Galleries: The Pio-Clementino Museum (Museo Pio-Clementino or Musei di Scultura) was founded in the 18th century by Pope Clement XIV and enlarged by Pope Pius VI. It exhibits the pontifical collection of ancient sculpture that originated with the collection of Pope Julius II. The Chiaramonti Sculpture Gallery…

William Wharton: …in World War II, while Scumbler (1984) fantastically embroiders upon his experiences as an artist in Paris. Later novels—including Pride (1985), a story of the Depression; Tidings (1987), a family saga; and Last Lovers (1991), a tale of sexual exploration—drew less attention than his early work. He also illustrated his…

painting: Oil: Scumbling is the technique of scrubbing an undiluted, opaque, and generally pale pigment across others for special textural effects or to raise the key of a dark-colored area.

Scunthorpe, town, unitary authority of North Lincolnshire, historic county of Lincolnshire, eastern England. Scunthorpe is an industrial community dominated by steelmaking. The town sprang up after 1870 with the establishment of ironworks using local low-grade ironstone worked at the neighbouring

Venice: Trade guild buildings: …of these was through the scuole, six major and numerous minor philanthropic confraternities and guilds that originated in the 13th century. Each school had a two-story meeting hall used for gatherings of its members and for discharging its charitable functions. The six great schools became enormously wealthy, enriching their buildings…

Ignazio Silone: …La scuola dei dittatori (1938; The School for Dictators, 1939).

Tintoretto: Career: …1564 the councillors of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco decided to have the Sala dell’Albergo decorated with paintings, in place of the movable decorations used during feast days. San Rocco (St. Roch) is the protector against plagues; the numerous epidemics of that period had given new impetus to the…

Metaphysical painting, style of painting that flourished mainly between 1911 and 1920 in the works of the Italian artists Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà. These painters used representational but incongruous imagery to produce disquieting effects on the viewer. Their work strongly influenced the

porgy: …are such species as the scup, or northern porgy (Stenotomus chrysops), a small fish, brownish above and silvery below, and the sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus), a black-banded grayish fish growing to about 75 cm and 9 kg, both valued for food and sport.

Skopje, principal city and capital of North Macedonia. Standing on the banks of the Vardar River amid mountainous country, Skopje began as ancient Scupi, an Illyrian tribal centre. It became the capital of the district of Dardania (part of the Roman province of Moesia Superior) under the emperor

scurfy scale, (Chionaspis furfura), a species of insect in the armoured scale family, Diaspididae (order Homoptera), that is found on shaded trees, giving the bark a scurfy appearance. This insect has gray, pear-shaped females (about 3 mm [0.1 inch] long) and smaller, white males with three

scurvy, one of the oldest-known nutritional disorders of humankind, caused by a dietary lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), a nutrient found in many fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly the citrus fruits. Vitamin C is important in the formation of collagen (an element of normal tissues), and

cress: Upland cress (Barbarea verna), a hardy biennial native to Europe, is a coarse, often weedy plant rarely cultivated. The closely related winter cress, or yellow rocket (B. vulgaris), is a common weed, conspicuous in fields for its bright yellow spring flowers. Bitter cress, cuckoo flower,…

scutage, (scutage from Latin scutum, “shield”), in feudal law, payment made by a knight to commute the military service that he owed his lord. A lord might accept from his vassal a sum of money (or something else of value, often a horse) in lieu of service on some expedition. The system was

Üsküdar, former city, northwestern Turkey, now a district of Istanbul. It lies at the foot of the Bulgurlu Hills on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus Strait opposite central Istanbul. Known as Chrysopolis in ancient times, it was a dependency of the older and better-sited colony of Chalcedon (modern

Shkodër, town, northwestern Albania. It lies at the southeast end of Lake Scutari, at a point where the Buenë (Serbian and Croatian: Bojana) River, one of Albania’s two navigable streams, flows out of the lake toward the Adriatic Sea. The city is situated at the edge of a wide plain surrounded by

Lake Scutari, largest lake in the Balkans, on the frontier between Montenegro and Albania. Its area is 150 square miles (390 square km), but it reaches 205 square miles (530 square km) at its seasonal high water. The lake was formerly an arm of the Adriatic Sea. On its west and northwest are steep

crocodile: Form and function: …groups of bony scales called scutes. Small postoccipital scutes are located just behind the head and are present in all crocodiles except the estuarine crocodile. Behind the postoccipital scutes are the larger nuchal scutes, which in some species are connected to the adjacent horny plates of the back.

Scutellosaurus, genus of small ornithischian dinosaurs from the Early Jurassic Period (roughly 200 million to 176 million years ago) characterized by the presence of small scutes along the back and sides of the body. Scutellosaurus had small forelimbs and robust hind limbs indicative of a bipedal

Poaceae: Characteristic morphological features: …fruit wall with the large scutellum facing the endosperm. The scutellum is thought to be a modified cotyledon, or seed leaf. In grasses this seed leaf never develops into a green structure but serves only to digest endosperm and transfer nutrients to the rest of the embryo. The remainder of…

hymenostome: …species now known as the scuticociliates are classified here as well.

symphylan: The so-called garden centipede (Scutigerella immaculata) of North America, Europe, and Hawaii damages beets, celery, lettuce, and other crops. Scolopendrella is common in North America.

centipede: The 25-mm (1-inch)-long house centipede (order Scutigerida, or Scutigeromorpha) of Europe and North America is the only one common in dwellings. It has a short, striped body and 15 pairs of very long legs. Other centipedes have shorter, hooklike legs. In some species the last pair is pincerlike.

centipede: The 25-mm (1-inch)-long house centipede (order Scutigerida, or Scutigeromorpha) of Europe and North America is the only one common in dwellings. It has a short, striped body and 15 pairs of very long legs. Other centipedes have shorter, hooklike legs. In some species the last pair is pincerlike.

Trump Tower: It was designed by Der Scutt of the New York firm of Swanke Hayden Connell Architects and was built between 1980 and 1984. The site had been occupied previously by the Bonwit Teller department store, a building with an artistic façade that was destroyed in the course of demolition,…

Scutum, constellation in the southern sky at about 19 hours right ascension and 10° south in declination. Its brightest star is Alpha Scuti, with a magnitude of 3.8. The star Delta Scuti is the prototype of a class of pulsating variable stars. In 1687 Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius invented

coleopteran: Annotated classification: Family Scydmaenidae (antlike stone beetles) Under stones, logs; in ant nests; very small, hairy; widely distributed; about 1,200 species; example Scydmaenus. Family Silphidae (large carrion beetles, burying beetles) Relatively large, bright-coloured; usually feed on carrion; some predatory, some plant feeders; examples

Scylax Of Caryanda was an ancient Greek explorer who was a pioneer in geography and the first Western observer to give an account of India. It is known from Herodotus that Scylax was sent by the Persian king Darius I (in about 515 bc) to explore the course of the Indus River and that he returned by

cat shark: …genera that span the families Scyliorhinidae and Pentanchidae. Some classifications, however, place all cat sharks in the family Scyliorhinidae. The genus Apristurus, which is made up of the demon cat sharks and ghost cat sharks, contains as many as 39 species and may be the most diverse shark genus known.

cat shark, any of more than 150 species of small mottled sharks (order Carcharhiniformes). Most are less than 90 cm (3 feet) long, and many have bold body markings. They have slender bodies and eyes that are elongate, giving them a catlike appearance. Cat sharks prey on invertebrates and small

John Scylitzes was a Byzantine historian, the author of a Synopsis historiarum dealing with the years 811–1057. Scylitzes was a high officeholder at the Byzantine court. He may have written a legal work for Alexius I in 1092. In his history he drew on the work of others for the early part and then

Nisus: …Crete besieged Megara, Nisus’ daughter Scylla fell in love with Minos (or, in some accounts, was bribed): she betrayed her city by cutting off her father’s purple lock. Nisus was killed (or killed himself) and became transformed into a sea eagle. Scylla later drowned, possibly at the hand of Minos,…

Scylla and Charybdis, in Greek mythology, two immortal and irresistible monsters who beset the narrow waters traversed by the hero Odysseus in his wanderings described in Homer’s Odyssey, Book XII. They were later localized in the Strait of Messina. Scylla was a supernatural female creature, with