Sweden the chancellor, Count Arvied Horn, she gradually recovered from her wounds. su The period between 1719 and 1772 is called by Swedish historians the 'period of freedom,' because it was a violent rebound from the absolutism of Charles XI. and Charles XII. to a strictly constitutional régime, the preme authority being vested in the Riksdag, or Parliament, composed of four estates-nobility, clergy, burgesses, and peasants -sitting in separate chambers. During the interval between Riksdag and Riksdag the country was governed by the senate. Throughout this period royalty in Sweden was degraded into a mere state decoration. Matters were not improved in 1738 by the rise of the notorious 'Hats' and 'Caps'-the former a martial party in the pay of France, the latter a pacific party leaning first to England and latterly to Russia. The violence and venality of these two factions eventually reduced Sweden to a condition of anarchy not unlike that of moribund Poland, and it was therefore with the hearty approval of the nation at large that Gustavus III. (1771-92) swept way both factions by the bloodless coup d'état of August, 1772, immediately afterwards reinstating the Riksdag, but modifying the constitution in a monarchical sense, though the power of the purse and other important privifeges were expressly reserved to the estates. The Gustavan era was in some respects the most brilliant period of Swedish history. Gustavus did much for literature and the arts, and his ingenious if somewhat adventurous foreign policy, and his successful wars with Denmark and Russia, did much to raise the prestige of Sweden in the eyes of Europe. On the other hand, his extravagance, flightiness, and above all his impolitic if chivalrous espousal of the Bourbon cause against revolutionary France, led to many entanglements. His assassination, in March, 1792, was a blunder as well as a crime, and during the disastrous reign of his semi-imbecile son, Gustavus IV. (1792-1809), Sweden embarked in a ruinous war with Russia, which ultimately resulted in the loss of all Finland and the Aland Is. Farther Pomerania, her last Continental possession, was ceded to Prussia five years later, but by the peace of Kiel (Jan. 14, 1814) she was compensated therefor by the union with Norway under one king. On the death (Feb., 1818) of the last king of the old line, Charles XIII., brother of Gustavus III., the throne passed to Charles John (formerly the French Mar 569 shal Bernadotte), who had been elected heir to the throne by the Orebro Riksdag (Aug. 25, 1810). The crown is now hereditary in his family. Since 1815 Sweden has ceased to exercise any influence upon European politics. Only her relations with Norway are of importance. Briefly, these relations have turned upon the efforts of Norway to break away from the union. The secession was peacefully accomplished in the autumn of 1905. (See NORWAY.) The principal domestic event during this period was the reform of the constitution on June 22, 1866, when the representation by estates was abolished, and the existing constitution was established. Only twice during the last sixty years has Sweden intervened in foreign politics. The first occasion was during the war between Denmark and the German Bund in 1848, when Sweden prepared to take part in the campaign on the Danish side, but was prevented by the conclusion of the truce of Malmö. The second occasion was at the time of the Crimean War, when, on November 8, 1855, a treaty was concluded with the Western powers, whereby they guaranteed the integrity of the Scandinavian kingdoms; but the sudden conclusion of peace at Paris put an end to any idea of Sweden's active participation in the war. See Montelius's Civilization of Sweden in Ancient Times (Eng. trans. 1888); Hildebrand's Das heidnische Zeitalter in Schweden (1873) and Sveriges medeltid (1879, etc.); Weidling's Schwedische Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation (1882); Schinkel's Minnen ur Sveriges Nyare Historia (185583); Mankell's Ofversigt af Svenska Krigens Historia (1890); Oscar II.'s Några Bidragtill Sveriges Krigshistoria (1859-65); Geijer's Svenska Folkets Historia (1832-36); Carlson's Sveriges Historia (1855-87); Fryxell's Berattelser ur Svenska Historien (183280); Malmström's Sveriges Politiska Historia (1855-77); Montelius, Hildebrand, Alin, and others' Sveriges Historia (1902, etc.); Thomas's Sweden and the Swedes (1898), and Baker's Pictures of Swedish Life (1894). Literature. It is not till the middle of the 17th century that we meet with anything that can be seriously regarded as literature, for the runic verses found on ancient monuments are of purely archæological interest, while the literary activity which centred round St. Bridget (130373) and the monastery of Vadstena is of a purely religious character. After the Reformation the University of Upsala was suffered to decay, and the Swedish gentry Sweden flocked to Wittenberg and Rostock for an education denied to them at home. Nevertheless the reformers, by their translation of the Scriptures, fixed, once for all, the form and character of the Swedish language. It was George Stjernhjelm (1598-1672) who first 'taught the muses how to play and sing in the Swedish tongue.' His ballets, or operatic sketches, such as Then Fangne Cupido, amused Queen Christina's court. Brollopsbesvars Ihugkommelse, the work of his old age, displays many of the qualities of a powerful humorist. The path opened up by Stjernhjelm was pursued by his friend and biographer, Samuel Columbus (164279), and by Peter Lagerlöf (164899), accounted the best religious poet of his day. Then followed a period of decline, during which Swedish literature fell beneath the pernicious influence of Marini and his German imitators. The vagaries of this school flourish most luxuriantly in the bombastic odes of Dahlstjerna (1658-1709). Amid the jarring babel only one faint but sweetly pathetic note strikes the ear-Jacob Frese's lyrics. A salutary change was effected by the rude and vigorous Satir mot våra dumma poeter, by Samuel von Triewald (1688-1743), the earliest Swedish satirist, and the dramas of Count Carl Gyllenborg, Johan Stagnell, and R. G. Modée (1698-1750), the two former being largely influenced by Swift, Addison, and Wycherley, and the latter by Molière. It was, however, in Dalin (1708-63) that the English influence produced its best fruits. Dalin's Svenska Argus is a close and clever, though inferior, imitation of Addison's Spectator. As a poetic satirist, too, notably in Aprilverk and the masterly Saga om Hästen, obviously suggested by Swift's Tale of a Tub, Dalin also did excellent work; but his plays are inferior to Gyllenborg's. On the other hand, his Svea Rikes Historia was the first serious attempt at a critical history of Sweden in popular form. The chief pioneer of the French school in Sweden was Hedwig Carlotta Nordenflycht, the directress of the 'Society for the Promotion of the Poetic Art in Sweden,' whose little house at Stockholm became the favorite resort of the élite of Swedish society a sort of anticipation in miniature of Madame Geoffrin's salon at Paris with a more romantic coloring. Conspicuous among its frequenters were two poetical young noblemen, Count Philip Creutz (1729-85) and Count Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg (1731-1808). Creutz speedily won renown by his exquisite pastoral poem, Atis och Camilla; while Gyllenborg's beautiful descriptive idylls-Vinterqv det and Vårquadet - are still read and admired. With the accession of Gustavus III. (1771) the classical period of Swedish literature begins. Gustavus, himself a man of brilliant parts and strong histrionic instincts, is the author of seven plays, most of which still keep the stage. One of them, Siri Brahe (1788), is not only the royal playwright's masterpiece, but is also by far the best original acting drama which the Swedish theatre possessed until quite modern times. Among the talented writers of the first rank whom the gifted young monarch discovered and promoted were the witty J. G. Oxenstjerna (17501818), a gay and graceful society poet, and the author of the descriptive idylls Dagens Stunder and Skerdarne, and the playfully mock-heroic legend Disa; the Voltairean Kellgren (1757 - 95), 'the glory and delight of the Gustavan era' and master of style who, as editor of the Stockholm Post, exercised for fourteen years an indisputable dictatorship over the national literature; and Leopold (1756-1829), also a critic and satirist of note, whose didactic tales, descriptive idylls, and moral odes, after being extravagantly belauded by his contemporaries, have been as unduly disparaged by a later age. Oxenstjerna, Kellgren, and Leopold were the chief representatives of the classical school which looked to France for its models. But along with, though independent of, the classical school, a purely national school of literature was springing up, whose chief exponents were Bellman, Lidner, Hallman, and Kexel. Bellman (1740-95), not merely the greatest of the Gustavan poets, but one of the few great lyric poets of modern times, was of a genius closely akin to that of Robert Burns, though it is difficult for any one but a Swede to appreciate, still less to define, his peculiar genius. Lidner's (175993) was a vagabond talent of great force and pathos. Hallman (1732-1800) enjoys the distinction of founding a purely national comic drama in Sweden. Kexel (1748-96) was a more graceful but far less original dramatist than his friend Hallman, and his historical tale, Zamaleski, is remarkable as being the first Swedish novel. More difficult to classify is that child of revolt, the eccentric Thorild (1759-1808), who had the audacity to attack the oracle Kellgren, and who seems utterly unable to express his often sublime and pregnant ideas in anything like fairly intelligible language. The formalism introduced into Swedish literature by the classical school was at last successfully combated by the protagonists of the rising romantic school, Askelöf (1787-1848) and Atterbom (1790-1855), the latter the author of Fågel Blå and Lycksalighetens O, in their respective journals Polyfem and Fosfor. These so-called Phosphorists included in their ranks the critic Hammerskjöld, the romance writer W. F. Palmblad, and the poet and novelist, K. F. Dahlgren. Two independent poets of the same period are the lyrist F. M. Franzén (1772-1847), and J. O. Wallin, Sweden's best hymn-writer and most eloquent preacher. Another illustrious group of writers and thinkers formed about this time the Gothic Union, whose chief aim it was to cultivate and idealize old Scandinavian literature and heroic tradition, and which numbered in its ranks the poet and historian Geijer (1783-1847), the poet Esaias Tegnér (1782-1846), author of Frithjofs Saga; Beskow, the chivalrous apologist of Gustavus III.; and Lindeblad. Quite apart from these contending coteries we find E. J. Stagnelius (17931823), a mystical nature, who achieved excellence in almost every branch of poetry; the new romantic, J. L. Almqvist (17931866), who yet, in his novel Det går an, anticipated the realism of a later day; Böttiger; and many others. Epoch-making were the works of Runeberg, (1804-77), notably Fanrik Stals Sagner, undoubtedly the finest poet of the younger generation. In the forties appeared a group of romance writers reminiscent of Jane Austen, foremost among whom were two ladies, Frederika Bremer and Emilie Flygare-Carlén, while the historical romance was successfully cultivated by Starbäch and Crusenstolpe, though by far the best work in this department is Topelius's Faltskärens Berättelser, still the most popular of all Swedish story-books. In the fifties we meet with group of writers who founded the poetic society 'N.S.'-Nyblom, Snoilsky, Björck, Wirsén, Wickner, and Bäckström, all of them neo-romanticists. Wirsén was the leading critic of the party, and Snoilsky incomparably its finest poet-indeed, his patriotic cycle of poems, Svenska Bilder, is one of the masterpieces of the literature. The realistic school, which arose almost simultaneously, owed much of its impetus to the Danish critic Georg Brandes, and is remarkable for its thorough-going, not to say unscrupulous, radicalism and its propensity to pornographic detail. August Strindberg, the shining a light of the Swedish realists, has outraged every convention; but latterly he has taken a mystical turn, and his more recent works strikingly resemble those of Huysmans. Other notable realists are Fru Leffler-Edgren, Gustaf af Geierstam, and Ola Hansson. The banner of idealism was, however, speedily unfurled again by Victor Rydberg, whose Singoalla would alone suffice to immortalize his name. All his writings are eloquent protests against the extravagances of the ultra-realists. Two independent writers of great ability are Von Heidenstam and Levertin, both remarkable for the gorgeous beauty and vividness of their style. Heidenstam has lately restored the historical novel to favor by his brilliant cycle of tales Karolinerna, whose hero is Charles XII.; while Levertin is equally famous as a novelist, a poet, and a critic. Quite recently a writer of the first rank has emerged in Selma Lagerlöf, who in such works as Antekrists Mirakler and Legender och Fortal linger has invented an entirely new genre of an idealistic-religious tendency. In fact, Swedish literature abounds with rising talent-Lundegård, Henning, Lundqvist, Schröder, Hallström, Elkan, Wickström, D. Fjällström, and Fröding. The scientific and philosophical literature of Sweden is also considerable, and includes such names as Höijer, Boström, Ribbing, and Nyblæus among the Fryxell, philosophers; Geijer, Carlson, Malmström, Odhner, E. Tegnér, Alin, and Hildebrand among the historians; geographers, such as Nordenskjold; chemists, such as Berzelius; botanists, such as Linnæus, Agardh, and Fries; philologists, such as Rydqvist and Söderwall. See Horn's Hist of Scandinavian Literature (1884); Hammerskjöld's Svenska Vitterheten (1883); Linström's Svenska Poesiens Historia (1839); Dietrichsen's Ind ledning i studiet af Sveriges Literatur (1862); Wieselgren's Sveriges Sköna Literatur (184349); Malmström's Grunddragen af svenska Vitterhetens Historia (1866-8); Ljunggren's Svenska Vitterhetens Hafder efter Gustaf III's Död (1873; etc.); Schück and Warburg's Illustrerad Svensk Literatur-Historie (1886, etc.); Ljunggren's Svenska Dramat (1864); Klemming's Sveriges dramatiske Literatur (1870); Schweitzer's Geschichte der Skandina vischen Litteratur (1885-9). Swedenborg, EMANUEL (16881772), Swedish sectary and physiologist, was born at Stockholm Jan. 29, 1688, and graduated at Upsala in 1709. Charles XII. appointed (1716) him assessor in the Royal College of Mines, and he rendered eminent service to Swedenborg that monarch as military engineer. He published, in 1734, his Opera Philosophica et Mineralia, in 3 vols. the first being an attempt to furnish a philosophical explanation of the elementary world, the others treating of methods of mining and preparing iron, copper, and other ores. In 1735 he was made an honorary member of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. Later he turned his attention to physiology and anatomy with the special object of finding the soul, his works-Economia Regni Animalis (1740-1), Regnum Animale (1744-5), De Cerebro, and Psychologia Rationalis-dealing with man, not the brute creation, and containing many striking anticipations of later scientific development. The Worship of the Lord, the last of his philosophical works, appeared in 1745. His career, however, took a fresh trend in 1743-5. In the fatter year he says the spiritual world was fully revealed to him. He claimed to have been called by the Lord to unfold the true, because interior, teachings of the divine Word on all Christian doctrine. His chief theological works are Arcana Calestia (1749-56), an exposition of Genesis and Exodus, his largest and most valuable work; De Cœlo et Injerno (1758); Sapientia Angelica de Divino Amore et de Divina Sapientia (1763); Vera Christiana Religio (1771), a complete statement of his doctrinal system. The spread of Swedenborgian doctrines was at first greatly due to a clergyman of the Church of England, the Rev. John Clowes, who translated many of the seer's books; and since then their adherents, known as the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation, have been divided into separatists and non-separatists. Of the former there are about 7,000 in 70 congregations throughout Great Britain. A society for publishing Swedenborg's works has existed since 1810. Complete editions of his theological works in English, with some of his works in Latin, and others in Latin-English, have been issued by the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society of New York, while the Rotch Edition of his works is published by the Massachusetts New Church Union. See R. L. Tafel's Documents Concerning the Life and Character of Swedenborg (18757), and Lives by Wilkinson (1849), Paxton Hood (1854), W. White (ed. 1868), Worcester (1883), S. Warren's Compendium of the Theological Writings of E. Swedenborg (1885); E. Swift's Manual of the Doctrines of the New Church (1885); and for his physiological works, C. G. Santesson, in Nor VOL. XI 571 disk Tidskrift (1904, No. 5). See SWEDENBORGIAN CHURCH. Swedenborgian Church, properly the CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, whose doctrines are set forth in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (q.v.), recognized by the church as a divinely called and illumined seer and revelator. The New Jerusalem or the New Church, as it is referred to throughout Swedenborg's writings, is so named from Revelation xxi., and the establishment of this church on the earth to-day is believed by Swedenborgians to be the fulfilment of that and all other prophecy in the Scriptures respecting the second coming of the Lord and his institution then of a kingdom or church which should endure to eternity (v. Dan. vii. 13, 14). The faith of the New Church is as follows: The Lord Jesus Christ is the one only God. In the Old Testament His name is most commonly Jeh vah (THE LORD in A. V.), a Hebrew word signifying The Being, 'I am Who I am, the self-existent and eternal, from whom all things are, thus who is all in all things of his creation. God in the New Testament is called Lord, Jesus Christ, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, besides other names. Since the Word is God's revelation and expression of himself, the different names by which he is called therein distinguish and define his essence and existence, his love, wisdom, and power, his ends, his methods, and his acts. By the Father, therefore, is not meant a divine being or person separate and apart from other divine persons called the Son and the Holy Spirit, but the Father signifies the divine inmost, the divine esse, the divine love; the Son signifies the divine existence, the divine appearing, divine revelation, divine truth, the divine Word, the Divine Human. The Holy Spirit is the divine proceeding, the divine operation, divine influx adapting and appropriating to man the divine gifts of life, love, and truth. Thus the Trinity is not of God in three persons or of three persons in God, but of Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, and Divine Proceeding, in our Lord Jesus Christ, who, therefore, is the one only God. Man, as an image and likeness of God, is constituted of the trinity of soul, body, and operation. It is now the consummation of the age or the last time of the church-the 'end of the world' as mistranslated in the A. V. By this is not meant the destruction of the natural world, but the devastation of the life of genuine charity and living faith among the sects of Christendom. In 1757 occurred the Last Judgment in the spiritual world, which Swedenborgian Church Swedenborg witnessed throughout that year and has described at length. By that judgment the evil were cast into hell and the good lifted up into heaven. The world of spirits, whither every soul departs after death, was thus cleared of the infernal hordes who had congregated there since the Lord's first coming and were holding bound, as in prison, myriads of the simple good who were deceived by their hypocrisies. Since the Lord, when upon earth, glorified and made divine his human nature, therefore his second coming is the revelation of his Divine Human. In order that this revelation of the Lord God in his Divine Human might be known and perceived in the world to eternity and since the Lord cannot manifest himself in person, and yet has foretold that he would come and establish a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that he is to do it by means of a man, who is able not only to receive the doctrines of this church with his understanding, but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord has manifested himself before me, his servant, and sent me on this office, and that, after this, he opened the sight of my spirit, and thus let me into the spiritual world, and gave me to see the heavens and the hells, and also to speak with angels and spirits, and this now for many years I testify in truth; and also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything that pertains to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I was reading the Word.' (T. C. R. 779.) In 'Heaven and Hell' (No. 1) Swedenborg declares his writings to be an immediate revelation from God the Lord Jesus Christ constituting His Second Advent. It follows, therefore, that these Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem' are the Divine Word itself in its spiritual and celestial senses or such as it is in heaven. Nothing is taken from or added to the Sacred Scripture or the literal sense of the Word but all the truth concealed therein from the beginning is now revealed to the world in a rational and philosophical form of doctrine. In America there are two general organizations of those who receive the testimony of Swedenborg. One, The General Convention of The New Jerusalem,' dating from 1817; the other, 'The General Church of the New Jerusalem,' holding its first 'General Assembly' in June,, 1897. The former is represented by a weekly paper, The New Church Messenger; the latter by monthly magazine, The New Church Life. a At Bryn Athyn, Pa., is a settlement of New Church families devoted especially to the work of education in accordance with the philosophy, psychology, instrucfion, and the formation of character as set forth in the new revelation. "The Academy of the New Church,' established in 1876, is a corporation instituted and chartered for the purpose of conducting a universal system of schools, wherein shall be taught the doctrine and religion of the church, as well as every useful science and art. The end and aim of the Academy is to educate its pupils, not only for a life of efficiency in this world, but preeminently to prepare them for usefulness in the spiritual world to eternity. The influence of this organization has been incalculable and far-reaching, extending to the remotest borders of the church. By its profound study and learning in the doctrines of the church it has created a standard of interpretation of the writings of Swedenborg, and by its attitude of loyalty and faithfulness has exalted them within the church to a position of supreme authority and power. Consult Burnham's Discrete Degrees; Hindmarsh's Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church, etc.; Odhner's A Brief View of the Heavenly Doctrines, etc.; Annals of the New Church; Swedenborg, The True Christian Religion, et al.; The Journals of Convention, and The General Church. Sweeny, THOMAS WILLIAM (1820-92), American soldier, born in Cork, Ireland. He emigrated to the U. S. in 1832; served in the Mexican War as a second lieutenant and lost an arm at Churubusco, and afterwards had active service on the frontier. At the outbreak of the Civil War he commanded the St. Louis arsenal. He assisted in the capture of Camp Jackson, and received a severe wound at the battle of Wilson's Creek. Afterwards he became colonel of the 52d Illinois, took part in the operations against Fort Donelson; distinguished himself Shiloh; and was commissioned brigadier-general in November, 1862. He commanded a division in the Atlanta campaign, and was mustered out of the service in 1865. In the following year he took part in the Fenian raid into Canada. He re-entered the army soon after, and was retired in 1870. at Sweepstakes, a way of gambling by which a number of persons stake their money in a common pool, the whole of which falls to the winner. When a horse race is the subject of the stakes, each one who is concerned draws the name of a horse entered for the event, and either the holder of the winning horse takes the entire stakes, or those who hold the names of 'placed' horses receive a certain proportion. Sweet, BENJAMIN JEFFREY (1832-74), American soldier, born in Kirkland, Oneida co., N. Y., whence at the age of sixteen he removed to Stockbridge, Wis. He was for a time a member of the state senate; became a major in the 6th Wisconsin regiment of volunteers, and soon afterwards colonel of the 21st, and was dangerously wounded at the battle of Perryville. In 1864, as commander of Camp Douglas, he frustrated a plot on the part of Confederate emissaries and Knights of the Golden Circle to liberate the Confederate prisoners confined there. He was afterwards commissioned brigadiergeneral of volunteers. Sweet Bay. See LAUREL; MAG NOLIA. Sweetbread, the pancreasi.e. a gland of the body which lies between the bottom of the stomach and the vertebræ of the loins. This organ, when taken from cattle and properly treated, forms a delicate article of food. Sweet Brier. See ROSE. Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus), a rush-like plant, natural order Araceæ, with sword-shaped leaves and two-edged, leaf-like scapes, from one edge of which emerges a cylindrical spadix. It has pungent and aromatic properties, and its root-stock, the officinal Calamus aromatics, is sparingly used as a stomachic, and in confectionery. It reaches from three to six feet, and is common in marshy ground. Sweet Gale, or BOG MYRTLE Sweet Gale. 1, Male catkin; 2, male flower; 3, female flower 4, fruit. (Myrica gale), of the order Myricaceæ; looks like a dwarf willow, and forms low slender bushes on Sweet Pea, the popular name of Lathyrus odoratus, an annual plant. It is of the easiest culture, but will repay in larger and better blooms for a little care in the preparation of the soil. A rich, deeply dug soil is desirable, and the seed may be sown in pots or boxes in a frame in January or February for planting out in April, or it may be sown in the open, from March to April, about two inches being allowed from seed to seed. Mr. Eckford has done more than any one to improve these flowers. It is always wise to red lead the secd in order to protect them from birds and mice. Support the growing plants with brush or chickenwire; small twigs should be given as soon as the plants are well through the ground, as these will afford shelter and help the plants up on the larger stakes. Before the hot weather sets in sweet peas should be given a thick mulch of long litter or grass or straw. Sweet Potato. A trailing vinelike plant (Ipomoea batatas) native to the tropics and producing tuberous roots which are extensively used as a table vegetable, for pies, canning, and food for stock. The plant is widely grown in all temperate and tropical climates, the United States producing about 50,000,000 bushels annually. The states of largest production are Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and the Carolinas. New Jersey is the northernmost state where the crop is grown on a commercial scale. The plant is propagated from the sets or shoots which spring from mature tubers planted in a hot bed or propagating house furnishing bottom heat or from cuttings taken from the tips of growing vines. The sets or cuttings are set out about 18 inches apart in ridged rows 3 ft. apart after danger from frost is over. The crop matures in 90 to 110 days, and the yield varies from 150 to 400 bushels per acre. In storage they keep best in a dry room maintained at a temperature of 50° to 60° F. and handled as little as possible. The crop thrives best on fertile, warm, sandy loam soils. There are a large number varieties in cultivation. In the Sweet-william South a soft sugary potato is most in demand, while in the North a more mealy potato is desired. The more popular southern varieties are Sugar Yam, Spanish, Barbadoes, etc. Farther north Jersey, Nansemond, and Early Carolina are most popular. The term yam as commonly used refers to varieties of sweet potatoes. The true yam (Dioscaren) is seldom grown in this country. Sweet potatoes contain on the average from 4 to 6 per cent. of sugar and 16 to 18 per cent. of starch, and are therefore richer in food constituents than the common or Irish potato. It is calculated that a bushel of tubers weighing 60 pounds could be converted into 1 to 2 gals. of absolute alcohol. See also U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bulletins 26 and 129 and Sweet Potato Culture by either James Fitz or R. H. Price. Sweet-william, a biennial plant (Dianthus barbatus) of the easiest culture in any ordinary garden soil. The first variety with a distinct eye is referred to by Parkinson in 1629. Swetchine, MADAME ANNE SOPHIE SOYMANOFF (1782-1857), Russian-French author, was born at Moscow; and though brought up in the Orthodox Greek Church, she joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1815, and shortly afterwards settled in Paris. In appearance unattract-ive, she nevertheless possessed a mingled spirituality and intellectual force which charmed a large circle of friends, and made her salon famous. Her Letters were published in 2 vols. (1861), and by Preston in 1867. See Life, in French by Falloux (1860). Swete, HENRY BARCLAY (1835), English theologian, was born at Bristol, and appointed professor of pastoral theology at King's College, London (1882-90), and zegius professor of divinity at Cambridge (1890). He has written Church Services and Service Books before the Reformation (1896). Sweyn, SVEIN, or SWEGEN (d. 1014), king of Denmark, son of Harold Bluetooth, succeeded his father in 986. In the beginning of his reign he was defeated and imprisoned by the Swedes. In 994 he began his raids against England, and compelled Ethelred the Unready to pay him tribute. After recovering his lost Danish possessions from Sweden he formed an alliance with the Swedish king Olaf against Olaf Tryggvason, king of Norway, whom the allies defeated at the battle of Svoldr (1000), conquering at the same time S. Norway. The massacre of the Danes by Ethelred drew Sweyn once more to England, and by the end of 1013 he had conquered nearly the 573 whole of that kingdom. He died at Gainsborough. As Swens he is mentioned by Shakespeare in Macbeth. Swift, a general name applied to the members of the family Cypselida, which includes forms allied to humming - birds, but presenting some superficial resemblance to the passerine swallows and martins (Hirudinida), with which they were formerly confused. Swifts differ from humming-birds in their broad flat skulls, the short, curved bills, and the extremely wide gape, as well as in their sober coloration. They are distributed over the whole world, except the extreme north and south, but they are absent from New Zealand. There are about eighty species. Swifts are among the most aerial of birds, seldom alighting on the ground, and rarely perching save at night. The flight is exceedingly swift and powerful, and during it the birds not only feed and mate, but also often collect the materials for the nest, which are glued together by the secretion of the salivary glands. the genus Collocalia (see EDIBLE BIRDS' NESTS) this last is greatly in excess. The eggs usually number from two to four, or exceptionally only one. The note is a harsh scream, and the food consists of insects, whose indigestible portions are ejected as pellets. Swifts are divided into three sub-families: (1) the Cypselinæ, including the true swifts, of which the European swift is an example; (2) Chaturinæ, including Swifts. In the genus Collocalia; and (3) Macropteryginæ, the tree-swifts of the Indian region, with but one genus. The common American, sooty brown swift (Chatura pelagica) is popularly called chimney swallow, and is familiar in all parts of the country, breeding in chimneys, but originally it sorted in flocks to hollow trees for the same purpose. It spends its winters in Central America. In the tree-swifts (Macropteryx) the single egg is laid in a small nest glued to the side of a branch. re Swift, EDWIN CHARLES (? Swift 1906), American merchant, born in Sandwich, Cape Cod, Mass. He was apprenticed to farming at an early age, and in 1875 went to Chicago with his elder brother, Gustavus F. Swift, and engaged in the butchering business. He afterwards entered into partnership with his brother, and founded the packing firm of Swift & Co., formed in Chicago in 1885 into a public corporation with a capital of $300,000, which was subsequently enlarged to $15,000,000. From 1885 to 1903 Edwin Swift was vice-president of Swift & Co., and on the death of his brother Gustavus he became chairman of the board of directors. Swift, GUSTAVUS FRANKLIN (1839-1903), American merchant, born in Sandwich, Cape Cod, Mass. At an early age he left home and worked on a farm. Subsequently he became a cattledriver, and settled in Chicago in 1875. For several years he was engaged in the butchering business, and, recognizing the value of refrigerated cars for conveying meat, he endeavored to interest the leading railroad companies in fitting some out and running them into Chicago. His efforts in this direction failed, and in conjunction_with his brother, Edwin Charles Swift, he recognized the success of the frozen-meat experiments carried out in Australia by Henry Mort, the founder of the frozen-meat industry between Australia and England, and built several refrigerator cars and ran them over the various Chicago railroads. They were instantly successful and the business thus begun grew so rapidly that in 1885 it was found advisable to convert it into a corporation. The firm not only revolutionized the packing industry, but introduced a new factor in economic development-the private freight car-which proved a greater bonanza to the trust than the wonderfully successful Pullman sleeping-car system. Swift, JONATHAN (1667-1745), Irish satirist, was born in Dublin. In 1689 he became confidential secretary to Sir William Temple at Moor Park, Surrey. He took orders (1694), and was presented to the living of Kilroot, near Belfast, but about two years afterwards he returned to Temple. As chaplain to the deputy, Lord Berkeley, Swift returned to Ireland, and was given the small living of Laracor and a prebend in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. In 1704 he published an anonymous volume containing The Battle of the Books and The Tale of a Tub. Meanwhile in England he had been the friend and associate of the Whigs Somers and Halifax, Addison and Steele. |