Stephens (IV)
WILLIAM DENNISON, an American public official, born at Eaton, O., in 1859. He was educated in the public schools of his native city and then taught school and read law. From 1880 to 1887 he did engineering work in connection with railway construction in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Louisiana. In 1887 he removed to Los Angeles, Cal., where he engaged in business. From 1906 to 1907 he was a member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, in 1909 mayor of Los Angeles, and in 1910 president of the board of water commissioners. He was elected to Congress in 1911, serving until 1916, when he resigned upon being appointed lieutenant-governor of California by Governor Johnson. Upon the latter's resignation in 1917, he became governor and was elected for another term in 1919, in which year he was also admitted to the bar. From 1903 to 1917 he was a commissioned officer in the California National Guard.
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Stephens (JAMES an Irish poet)
JAMES, an Irish poet and novelist. His childhood and youth were spent in wandering about Belfast and Ireland, enduring great hardships. He finally became a clerk in a solicitor's office in Dublin. He published his first volume of verse, entitled "Insurrections," in 1900. This attracted wide attention. It was followed by a second volume of verse, "The Hill of Vision," in 1912. In the same year he published two novels, "Mary, Mary," and "The Crock of Gold.' His writings contain evidence of un doubted genius. His later books include "Here Are Ladies" (1913); "The Demi- Gods" (1914); "The Rocky Road to Dublin" (1915); "Songs from the Clay" (1915).
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Stephenson (GEORGE an English engineer)
GEORGE, an English engineer; born in Wylam, England, June 9, 1781. At the age of 14 he joined his father in his work as fireman in a colliery. In 1812 he was appointed engineer to the colliery. Soon after this he built his first traveling engine to draw the wagons along the tramway. Improvement followed on improvement in rapid succession, in every department to which steam was applicable. In 1822 he opened the first railway, 8 miles long. The whole system of railway locomotion with all its complications of stations, signals, tenders, and carriages, was completed by the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway in 1830. In 1845 he retired from all railway undertakings, after having been instrumental in estab- GEORGE STEPHENSON lishing all the foreign and home lines. He died near Chesterfield, England, Aug. 12, 1848.
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Stephenson (ROBERT a British civil)
ROBERT, a British civil engineer, only son of George Stephenson; born near Newcastle-upon- Tyne, Oct. 16, 1803; joined his father in ROBERT STEPHENSON his operations on the Liverpool line; became the permanent engineer of that company; surveyed several new lines, visited South America to inspect the gold and silver mines of that country; and established a name as the first civil engineer in Europe. Among the works with which Robert Stephenson's name is associated, are the High Level Bridge over the Tyne, the Tweed Viaduct, the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits, the Victoria Bridge at Montreal across the St. Lawrence, one of the grandest of engineering achievements, and the Alexandria and Cairo railway. In 1847 he entered Parliament for Whitby; he was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of nearly all the scientific societies of Europe. He published two valuable works, "The Locomotive Steam Engine," and "The Atmospheric Railway System." He died in London Oct. 12, 1859, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where there is a memorial window in his honor.
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Stepniak
SERGIUS MICHAEL DRAGOMANOV, a Russian revolutionist; born in Gadjatch, Poltava, Russia, in 1841. Exiled in 1876 on account of his criticisms on the system followed by Count Tolstoy, minister of justice, he settled in Geneva in 1877. Among his works are "The Turks Within and Without" (1876); "Underground Russia" (1881); "Tyrannicide in Russia" (1881); "The Russian Peasantry"; "Historical Poland and the Muscovite Democracy" (1881); "Little Russian Internationalism"; "The Propaganda of Soialism"; "Russia under the Czars"; and "The Career of a Nihilist,' a novel (1889). He assisted in editing the folk songs of Little Russia. In 1891 he visited the United States. He died in London, England, Dec. 23, 1895.
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Stere
the French unit for solid measure, equal to a cubic meter, or 35.3156 cubic feet.
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Stereo-Chemistry
that branch of chemistry which studies the arrangement of the atoms of a molecule in space. It concerns itself especially with compounds of carbon. Many examples are F known where two compounds are found to consist not only of the same atoms but of the same groups of atoms, and yet they differ in their properties, both chemical and physical. For instance, both fumaric acid and maleic acid have the chemical formula C4H4O4, and the atoms are grouped in this manner: COOH.CH: CH.COOH. The two compounds are known as isomers, and the fact that two substances could exist with the same structural formula, and yet be entirely different and distinct compounds for a long time remained unexplained. The solution to the problem was offered by stereo-chemistry. Following the theories of Van't Hoff, the carbon atom is conceived as being situated at the center of a regular tetrahedron, the groups combined with it being located at the angles. The differing pro g properties of isomers is explained by the theory that the arrangement of the groups at the corners, relative to one another, differs in the two compounds. For instance, if a projection were made of the "solid formula" of the two compounds given above, they would appear as: H-C-COOH H-C-COOH 11 11 COOH-C-H H-C-COOH Fumaric Acid Maleic Acid
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Stereochromy
a process of mural painting in which water glass is employed to fix or consolidate the colors. It has not proved successful.
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Stereopticon
a magic lantern having two objective tubes that can be focused on the same part of a screen, and by the alternate projection of pictures from the separate tubes produce the well-known phenomena of " "dissolving views."
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Stereotype
fixed type; hence plate cast from a plaster, papier-mache, or composition mold, on which is a facsimile of the page of type as set up by the compositor, and which, when fitted to a block, may be used under the press, exactly as movable type.
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