"Geological Society," founded in 1807, has a very extensive geological museum and a good library; its admission fee is 6 guineas, and annual subscription 3 guineas; the number of fellows is nearly 900. It publishes a quarterly journal. There are a number of societies bearing the title "Asiatic," both in Europe and the East. The earliest was the "Asiatic Society" founded by the Dutch in Batavia in 1780, and which prior to 1833 had published 15 volumes of transactions. In 1784 the "Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal" was founded by Sir William Jones at Calcutta, and has published its transactions as "Asiatic Researches," and afterward as the "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal." In 1823 the "Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland" was formed by Messrs. Colbrook, Ouseley, and others; since 1833 its transactions have been published in the society's quarterly journal. The "Oriental Translation Committee," founded in 1828, which has published versions in English, French, and Latin of many valuable oriental books, is connected with this society. The Société Asiatique of Paris, founded in 1822 by De Sacy, Rémusat, De Gerando, and others, has been very active. It has a museum, and holds an annual public meeting; it has published many oriental works, and a monthly journal from its organization. In St. Petersburg there is an oriental institution with oriental professorships and a museum. There are several German oriental societies. On the continent of Europe, some of the most distinguished literary and scientific societies are: the Société philomathique de Paris, founded in the latter part of the 18th century, and whose Bulletin des sciences has been issued since 1797; the Société impériale des antiquaires de France, which has published interesting memoirs on antiquities; the Société de géographie de Paris, which has published collections from time to time, and of late a geographical journal; the "Dutch Society of Sciences" (Hollandsche Maatschappij der Weetenschappen), which has published its transactions since 1754; the "Batavian Society of Language and Poetry," transactions published in 1804 and subsequent years; the "Royal Botanical Society" of Bavaria; the "Society of Natural History" of Berlin; the "Royal Society of Sciences" of Göttingen, founded in 1751, which publishes a scientific periodical that was established before its foundation; and the "Royal Antiquarian Society" of Copenhagen, whose zealous investigations have thrown much light on the early discoveries of America. In the United States there are but few scientific societies of the higher degree. Beside those named in the article ACADEMY, there are the "American Genealogical Society" of Boston; the "American Antiquarian Society" of Worcester; the "Geographical and Statistical Society" and the "New York Historical Society" of New York; the "American Oriental Society" of New Haven; the "American Philosophical Society" of Philadelphia; the

"American Ethnological Society" of New York; the "National Institution" of Washington; and the "American Association for the Advancement of Science." The principal natural history societies are the "Lyceum of Natural History" in New York, the "Boston Society of Natural History," the "American Academy of Natural Sciences" at Philadelphia, and several societies in the smaller cities. Historical societies have been organized in almost every state, and in many counties. The New York historical society, already named, has a neat classic building, a library of about 30,000 volumes, a gallery of valuable portraits, landscapes, &c., a considerable collection of statues, and an extensive and valuable museum, including the great collection of Egyptian antiquities of the late Dr. Abbott, and a series of sculptured marbles from Nineveh. It has published a number of volumes of transactions. The "Massachusetts Historical Society," founded in 1791, has also a respectable library and museum, and has published many volumes of transactions. The "Connecticut Historical Society" has a choice library of about 12,000 volumes, a large collection of antiquities and coins, and has published 3 volumes of transactions. The historical societies of Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio are all prosperous and have considerable libraries. There are few societies of special sciences in the United States. Medicine, pharmacy, geology, and chemistry are each represented by one or more, but these are mostly in a languishing state. There are several fine art associations, the membership of which is confined almost exclusively to practical artists; the most prominent of these is the "National Academy" in New York.

SOCIETY ISLANDS, a group in the S. Pacific ocean, under the protection of France, extending between lat. 16° and 18° S., and long. 148° and 155° W.; area, about 700 sq. m.; pop. about 15,000. The group is formed of two clusters of islands, one of which lies about 70 m. W. of the other. These clusters were formerly politically distinct, and distinguished by separate designations; but as the whole are now united under the French, it is no longer of any importance to preserve this distinction. Mariners usually speak of one cluster as the windward and the other as the leeward, applying the term Society islands to both combined. The Society islands, thus defined, exclusive of several islets which surround the others, are about 13 in number, viz.: Maitia, Tahiti or Otaheite, Eimeo, Maiaoiti, Tetuaroa, Huaheine, Raiatea, Otaha, Borabora, Marua, Tuba, Lord Howe's island, and Scilly island. The whole of the Society islands are mountainous in the interior, the highest peak, on the island of Tahiti, reaching an elevation of 8,500 feet above the sea, and have a border from 1 to 5 m. wide of rich level ground extending from the base of the high lands to the In general appearance they all resemble each other, and lava, basalts, and pumice stone,

sea.

which are found in several places, indicate that, like all the other high land of the Pacific, their origin was volcanic. All these islands are 'surrounded by a belt of coral rock, of various width, situated from a few yards to perhaps 5 m. from the shore. The long rolling swell of the Pacific, caused by winds often blowing far to the S., is driven against these barriers, and breaks with terrific violence. Opposite every valley on the land there is generally a break or opening in the reef which allows the passage of the native canoes. Some of these passes are deep enough to admit vessels of the largest size, while inside them are everywhere found smooth water and good anchorage. There are several small lakes and lagoons in some of the islands, and all are watered by numerous streams, upon the banks of which, or along the shores, the inhabitants reside.There is considerable variety of soil, the sides of the mountains being frequently covered with a thin layer of light earth; the summits of many of the hills have a thick stratum of red ochre or yellow marl, while the soil of the level tracts along the shores is a rich alluvial deposit, mixed with vegetable mould, and is exceedingly fertile. The climate is healthy and very mild, the range of the thermometer throughout the year being inconsiderable. Beside the breadfruit, these islands produce almost every tropical vegetable and fruit known in other parts of the world, together with some of less importance peculiar to the group. Many fruits and vegetables have been introduced from the temperate regions, but, with the exception of the orange, lime, and guava, they have not succeeded well. The guava shrub was brought from Norfolk island, where it had been naturalized, and has caused considerable change on the low lands. For miles the woodlands and bush are composed almost entirely of it, and it bears a profusion of large and delicious fruit, upon which pigs and cattle feed with great avidity. Garden produce, as known to us, is little cultivated, and exceed ingly scarce and dear, and agriculture is not well attended to. Pigs, dogs, and rats were the only quadrupeds found upon the islands at the time of their discovery; but all our domestic animals have been introduced, and with the exception of the sheep and rabbit have thriven remarkably well. Horned cattle are abundant upon some of the islands. There are several varieties of birds on this group, and some of them are very numerous. There are numbers of aquatic fowl; the albatross, tropic birds, and petrel are found on all the islands; herons and wild ducks frequent the lakes and lagoons; and there are several kinds of birds of prey, woodpeckers, and small paroquets of rich and splendid plumage. Domestic fowl are abundant, and were upon the group at the time it was discovered. The natives belong evidently to the Malay race, and are generally above the middle stature. Their countenances are open and prepossessing, though their features are

bold and sometimes prominent. Their complexion is olive or reddish brown, but there are great varieties of shades. The appearance of the men is vigorous and graceful, and their behavior affable and courteous. In their dispositions they seem to be candid; have a great deal of curiosity, ingenuity, and imitation; and are found to possess very creditable mental capabilities. The custom of tattooing their bodies is now rarely practised. The native costume has been altogether abandoned for dresses bearing some resemblance to those worn by civilized nations. Shoes and stockings are rarely worn, and many have no covering to the head. The children go entirely naked till they are 3 or 4 years old, and are remarkably healthy and active. The native manufactures have been entirely superseded by imported goods. The commerce of the Society islands is trifling. The chief intercourse is carried on with Valparaiso, Sydney, and San Francisco, and the domestic exports of the group consist principally of oranges, small quantities of cocoanut oil, and arrowroot. During the first 7 months of 1860, 75 vessels, of an aggregate of 6,945 tons, arrived at Tahiti, and 85 sailed, of an aggregate of 8,210 tons. The value of the imports was $397,667, and of the exports $324,958, of which only $62,813 worth was domestic produce. There are only a few ports throughout the group at which foreign vessels are permitted to anchor, and many obstacles are thrown in the way of traders.-The Spaniards lay claim to the discovery of Tahiti, the chief island of this group, so early as 1606; but it is generally supposed that their discovery did not belong to the Society islands. Capt. Wallis, in a British ship sent to make discoveries in the South sea, reached Tahiti in 1767, and named it King George's island. Bougainville touched at it the year following; and Capt. Cook reached it in 1769. During Cook's stay at Tahiti he discovered most of the islands in the N. W. cluster, and gave to the whole group the name of Society islands, in honor of the royal society of London. The Spaniards attempted to colonize Tahiti in 1772-'4; and about that date Cook visited the group a second time, and again on his last voyage in 1777, when he found a house and the cross, which the Spaniards had erected, carefully preserved by the natives. After this 11 years passed without any communication between the Society islands and the rest of the world, when the Bounty arrived to transport plants of the breadfruit tree to the British West India islands. All these voyages excited great interest in England, and the result was the formation of the London missionary society, which fitted out a ship to carry missionaries into the islands of the Pacific. This vessel arrived at Tahiti early in 1797. For 19 years the labors of the missionaries were fruitless, and they were even treated with contempt, till Pomare II. embraced Christianity in 1816. Pomare died in 1821, and during the minority of his son

of his unpublished letters are in the library of Sienna.-Though Socinus was the founder of a school in theology, his influence was rather negative than positive, and his fame came from what he denied more than from what he asserted. He denied the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the personality of the devil, the native and total depravity of man, the vicarious atonement, and the eternity of punishment. His theory was that Christ was a man divinely commissioned, who had no existence before he was conceived by the Virgin Mary; that human sin was the imitation of Adam's sin, and that human salvation was the imitation and adoption of Christ's virtue; that the Bible was to be interpreted by human reason, and that its metaphors were not to be taken literally. He professed great reverence for the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testaments, and for Christ as the messenger of the Father sent to reconcile man to God. The personal morality of Faustus Socinus was pure, and no serious charge was made against his character as a man. His learning was less extensive than that of his uncle, yet he was expert in the original tongues of the Bible and well acquainted with the works of the Christian fathers. The name Socinian, which is often given to those who hold Unitarian opinions as a term of reproach, was for a century the honorable designation of a powerful and numerous religious body in Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania. It was only the union of the secular and ecclesiastical force that succeeded in breaking up and dispersing the Socinian party in Poland; and the Racovian catechism, compiled mainly from the writings of Socinus, is still the text book of faith and worship in many Hungarian and Transylvanian churches. The opinions of Socinus are professed still by churches in Holland, Switzerland, Great Britain, and the United States.-The life of Lælius Socinus was written in Latin by Christian F. Illgen (8vo., Leipsic, 1814), who also published in 1826 2 parts of another work in quarto, entitled Symbola ad Vitam et Doctrinam Lælii Socini il lustrandum. The life of Faustus Socinus was written by the Pole Przypkovius, and by the Rev. Joshua Toulmin (8vo., London, 1777). His works are collected in the first two volumes of the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum.

SOCK (Lat. soccus), a kind of low shoe or slipper without fastenings, worn by Roman comic actors, and hence metaphorically applied to comedy itself, as in the expression "Jonson's learned sock."

SOCONUSCO, a Mexican province, dependent on the state of Chiapas, lying on the Pacific ocean, between lat. 15° and 16° N., and long. 92° 30' and 93° 30′ W.; area about 2,400 sq. m. Its population is small, probably not exceeding 20,000. It is very fertile, and celebrated for its cacao. Under the Spanish rule the entire crop was a monopoly of the crown, and taken to Spain. The province is without good ports, and has a very

limited commerce, its trade being chiefly confined to an exchange of cacao for other commodities with the neighboring departments of Guatemala.-Soconusco formerly belonged to the captain-generalcy of Guatemala, and was embraced in the republic of Central America. During the political troubles of the republic it was occupied by a Mexican force, and its possession afterward became a subject of dispute between Mexico and Guatemala, until 1856, when the latter relinquished its pretensions to sovereignty for a pecuniary consideration.

SOCORRO, a central co. of New Mexico, bounded E. by Texas, S. in part by the Rio Gila, separating it from Arizona, and W. by the Colorado, separating it from California, and intersected by the Rio Verde, Rio Grande del Norte, and Rio Pecos; area, over 30,000 sq. m.; pop. in 1860, 5,787. There are numerous fertile valleys along the streams, but the greater part of the county is mountainous and unproductive. It is traversed by the Sierra Madre and other mountain ranges. Gold, iron, and other minerals are found. Capital, Socorro.

SOCOTRA, an island in the Indian ocean, belonging to the imam of Muscat, about 150 m. E. N. E. from Cape Guardafui, the eastern extremity of Africa; length about 70 m., breadth 22 m.; area estimated at 1,000 sq. m.; pop. about 4,000. Tamarinda, the capital, is situated in lat. 12° 39' N., long. 54° 1′ E. The surface is generally elevated about 800 feet above the sea, and the shores are bold. Toward the N. there is a ridge of mountains with several peaks rising to the height of 5,000 feet. There are some small streams, and where there is sufficient moisture vegetation is remarkably luxuriant. Date trees and cotton are cultivated; but the productions for which Socotra is particularly famous are aloes and the gum of the dragon's blood tree, both of which are said to be the finest in the world. Camels, horned cattle, sheep, asses, and goats are reared. There is some trade carried on with Muscat.

SOCRATES, a Greek philosopher, born in Athens in 469, died there in 399 B. C. The son of Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and of Phænarete, a midwife, he was of humble rank and always poor. He was trained in his father's art, and tradition ascribed to his chisel 3 draped figures of the Graces which in the time of Pausanias were shown on the acropolis. There is no authoritative indication of his skill in sculpture, of the time when he abandoned this art for the profession of public teacher, nor of his antecedent studies. Of the ancient statements that he was a disciple of Anaxagoras or of Archelaus, the first is disproved, and the second is improbable. He called himself self-taught, and referred his knowledge sometimes to books, but more frequently to intercourse with distinguished men in that culminating period of Athenian patriotism and culture. Though tradition ally represented as an old, bald-headed man, it is probable that his extraordinary peculiarities were early manifested, and it is certain that he