Sheldrake
in ornithology, the Tadorna cornuta (or vulpanser) of modern ornithologists; Anas tadorna. It is somewhat larger than an ordinary duck, with a fleshy protuberance at the base of the bill, whence its specific name. It is a very handsome bird; head and upper neck dark, glossy green, broad white collar, below which a broader band of bright SHELDRAKE bay extends from the back across the breast; outer scapulars, primaries, a median abdominal stripe, and a bar on tip of middle tail quills black; inner secondaries and lower tail coverts gray; speculum rich bronze green; rest of plumage white. The female is smaller and less brilliantly colored. It frequents sandy coasts in Europe and North Africa, ranging across Asia to Japan; nesting usually in a rabbit hole. The ruddy sheldrake, T. casarca, is a native of Barbary, south eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Its color is an almost uniform bay, the male with a black ring round the neck. The common sheldrake breeds freely in captivity.
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Shell
in warfare, a modern missile used in bombardments. It is loaded with a powerful explosive, and is designed to burst on striking. The modern shell is of cylindrical shape, perhaps three times as long as wide. The shells used by the Japanese in the siege of Port Arthur were loaded with English lyddite. Each shell was eleven inches in diameter and weighed five hundred pounds. The value of the shell alone was $175. The cost of each discharge, reckoning the shell and the powder with which it was discharged, is placed at $400. They were fired from rifled mortars with a range of seven or eight miles. The favorite position for a battery of mortars is in shelter behind a range of hills out of sight of the object to be bombarded. An observer, with a telephone on the crest of the intervening hill, directs the gunners in finding their range. The charge is so uniform and the management of the gun is rendered so exact by the use of mechanical devices, that, after wasting a shell or two, a battery is expected to land a dozen shells within the space occupied by a battleship, and this without the gunners seeing the object at all. Shells fired in this manner come down literally like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. See Cannon Marine shells. Conus. Fasciolaria
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Shell-lac
A resinous exudation from the branches of several trees in the tropics. The crude lac is called stick-lac; this is bruised, the fragments of wood removed, and the resin digested in weak carbonate-of-soda solution. The residue is the seed-lac of commerce, which when melted down becomes shell-lac. See RESIN.
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Shells
The shells of oysters, clams, etc., and of the eggs of birds, are composed almost wholly of carbonate of lime, cemented by a very small portion of animal gluten; while those of lobsters, crabs, etc., generally consist of only half carbonate of lime, the remainder being animal matter with a small proportion of phosphate. See CARBONATES; LIME
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Shem
one of the three cording to many commentators the elder sons, and acson, of Noah (Gen. v. 32), from whom descended the nations enumerated in Gen x. 22, sq., and who was the progenitor of that great branch of the Noachian family called from him Shemitic or Semitic, to which the Hebrews belong. See SEMITES.
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Shemakha
a town casia, Russia; on the Zagolavan river; in Transcau- 70 miles from Baku; 2,230 feet above the level of the Black Sea. It has numerous ruins of large caravansaries and public buildings; and is the capital , churches, of Shirvan. In February, 1902, it was visited by a great earthquake, in which 4,000 houses were destroyed and 2,000 people perished . Pop. about 23,000. States, which flows N. E. through the
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Shemhamphorash
In the Talmud , the external term representing the hidden word of power, by whose virtues it were possible to create a new world. But it is lost to man, though even sounds approximating to it have a magic power, and can give to him who pronounces them dominion in the spirit-world. Some of the Rabbis say that the word of power contains twelve letters, others, forty-two, and yet others seventy-two; but these are the letters of the divine alphabet, which God created from certain luminous points made by the concentration of the primal universal Light . Shemhamphorash is, in fact, the name of this word.
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Shen-Si
a province of China; bounded on the N. by Mongolia, on the E. by the Hwang-ho and Honan, on the S. by Hupeh and Sze-chuen, and on the W. by Kansuh; area, 75,270 square miles. The Tsing-ling mountains divide the province into two distinct regions, of which the northern is the more important. Shen-Si is chiefly an agricultural province, but contains very extensive coal fields, both anthracite and bituminous, and abundant deposits of iron ore. A British syndicate obtained a concession for working the Shen-si mines. In 1901 the famine in Shen-si was so severe that cannibalism was resorted to and it was estimated that 30 per cent of the population died. From Si-ngan-foo, the provincial ncial capital. and anciently the capital of the empire, and W., and Shen-si is thus the great channel of communication between China and Central Asia. Pop. 6,725,000.
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Shenandoah Mountains
a range of the Alleghenies forming the W. boundary of the Shenandoah valley in Virginia.
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Shenandoah Valley
a valley in Virginia; between the Blue Ridge on the E. and the Shenandoah Mountains on the W. It is noted for its beautiful scenery, hilly and broken, with intervening fertile slopes and extents of high rolling land. It has large forests of various kinds of trees, including oak, chestnut, and hickory. Th The entire valley is of great historic interest, having been the arena of thrilling events in the American Civil War, including "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign in 1862, and that conducted by Sheridan in 1864.
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Shenango
a river in the N. W. part of Pennsylvania, joining the Mahoning near New Castle, the two rivers forming the Beaver. It is about 90 miles long.
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