Scorpion
an animal allied to the spider. The scorpion has a large pair of feelers strikingly like the claws of a lobster or crayfish. These claws are used to seize spiders and large insects which the scorpion pursues at night with great activity. The last seven segments of the abdomen are extended like a tail. The last segment terminates in a sting with which the scorpion paralyzes its prey. When aroused, the scorpion brandishes its sting in a threatening manner. Scorpions are natives of warm or torrid countries. Some twenty species are found in the South. The sting of certain tropical species is represented to be fatal to man. In Rev. ix: 5 extreme pain is likened to "the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man." The various species are from two to six inches in length. The people of southern Europe are careful to shake their shoes before they put them on, least a scorpion may have taken shelter in them. Scorpions are not rare in the arid regions of the Southwest. Mounted specimens are sold as curios. One dealer in Pasadena, California, claims to sell 5,000 scorpions a year. He employs Indians and boys to collect for him. See Tarantula ; Centipede ; Zodiac
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Scorpion
in antiquity, a military engine, formerly used chiefly in the defense of a castle or town. It resembled the balista. In Scripture, a painful scourge; a kind of whip armed with points like a scorpion's tail. In zoology, any individual of the family Scorpionides. The European species are three or four inches long, and confined to the S. parts of the Continent, but scorpions have a wide geographical range in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and in Equatorial Africa and South America they grow to a length of 9 or 10 inches. The sting in the tropical species is much more formidable than that of the European scorpion. They are nocturnal in habit. They prey on spiders and other insects; and, seizing their prey in their palpi, which are practically useless as weapons of offense, sting it to death. The eggs are hatched in the enlarged oviducts, AM CAROLINA SCORPION and the young, usually from 40 to 60, are carried about for some time on the back of the mother.
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Scot
REGINALD, or REYNOLD, one of the first and boldest writers against the belief in witchcraft, alchemy, astrology, and other prevalent superstitions of his time, born in Kent early in the 16th century. He studied at Oxford, and spent his life in the study of old and obscure mystical authors, and in gardening. His reputation is founded on "The Discoverie of Witchcraft," published in 1584. By order of James I. the first edition of the book was burned by the common hangman, and the king replied to it in his "Demonology." He died in 1599.
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Scoti
A people mentioned, together with the Picti, by the later Roman writers as one of the chief tribes of the ancient Caledonians. They dwelt in the south of Scotland and in Ireland; and from them the former country has derived its name. Scylla and Charybdis . The names of two rocks between Italy and Sicily. In the one nearest to Italy was a cave, in which dwelt Scylla, a daughter of Crataeis, a fearful monster, barking like a dog, with twelve feet, and six long necks and heads, each of which contained three rows of sharp teeth. The opposite rock, which was much lower, contained an immense fig tree, under which dwelt Charybdis, who thrice every day swallowed down the waters of the sea, and thrice threw them up again. 2026 Editor's Note: Scoti was a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century, and originally referred to the inhabitants of Ireland. The Romans called Ireland Scotia around 500 A.D.; the name only shifted to refer to what is now Scotland from the 9th century onward. The kingdom of the Gaels in northern Britain eventually became known as Scotland, and its people as Scots. (Ed: BR 2026-06-25)
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Scotia
the Latin name of Scotland, often used by her poets. The word is said to be derived from Queen Scota, the wife of a King of Ireland, who is thought to have invaded Scotland in 258 A. D. Previous to this event the land was known as CALEDONIA (q. v.).
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Scotland Yard
the police headquarters of London. There are about 1,000 policemen in the old city of London. The entire force of policemen for greater London, detectives included, is not less than 16,000. Scotland Yard is situated near Charing Cross . It contains in one section the Black Museum, a motley collection of objects connected with crime and noted criminals. The premises are said to have been owned at an early date by the sovereigns of Scotland, hence the name. Scotland Yard is noted the world over.
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Scott
Dred. See Dred Scott Decision ; Taney
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Scott
HUGH STOWELL, an English novelist, writing under the pen-name of Henry Seton Merriman. He was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1862. His stories of adventure were widely read. They include "Phantom Future" (1889); "Slave of the Lamp" (1892); "With Edged Tools" (1894); "Velvet Glove" 1901); "The Vultures" (1902). He died ( in 1903.
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Scott
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) HUGH LENOX, an American military officer; born in Danville, Ky., Sept. 22, 1853; was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1876, and detailed to duty in the West, where he served in numerous Indian c mention from the War Department for his gallantry in the "Ghost-dance" outbreak in 1891. At the beginning of the Spanish- American War he was placed in command of the 1st Army Corps; was appointed adjutant-general of the Department of Havana in 1898, and of the Department of Cuba in 1900. His other assignments included: Acting-Governor of Cuba, 1900-1902; Governor of the Philippines, 1903-1906; Superintendent United States Military Academy, demy, 1906-1910; Lieutenant-Colonel , 1911; Commanand Colonel of Cavalry der United States troops on southern border of Texas to California, 1913-1914; assistant Chief-of-Staff, 1914; settler of trouble on Mexican border at Naco, Ariz., June, 1915; appointed Major-General, 1915; service in Mexico, 1917; Commander 78th Division of National Army, Camp Dix, 1917. Was active at Arras, Chalons, Passchendael Ridge, 1917; awarded honorary degrees by Princeton and Columbia. Besides a monograph "Sign Language of the Plains Indians," he published numerous papers.
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