SCALIGER, JULIUS CAESAR, surnamed the Elder, classical scholar, became page to the Emperor Maximilian, and served him in war and peace for 17 years; at 40 quitted the army, and took to study the learned languages among other subjects; wrote a treatise on poetics and a commentary on the physics and metaphysics of Aristotle, and became an authority on the Aristotelian philosophy (1484-1558).

SCANDERBEG (i. e.  Prince or Bey Alexander), the patriot chief of Albania, and the great hero of Albanian independence, who in the 15th century renounced Islamism for Christianity, and by his military prowess and skill freed Albania from the Turkish yoke; throughout his lifetime maintained its independence, crushing again and again the Turkish armies; was known among the Christians as George Castriot (1403-1468).

SCANDEROON or ALEXANDRETTA (2), the port of Aleppo, in Turkey in Asia, situated in the Gulf of Scanderoon, in the NE. of the Levant, 77 m.  NW. of Aleppo; is itself an insignificant place, but has a large transit trade.

SCANDINAVIA, the ancient name (still used) of the great northern peninsula of Europe, which embraces NORWAY (q. v.) and SWEDEN (q. v.); also used in a broader sense to include Denmark and Iceland.

SCARBOROUGH (34), a popular seaside town and watering-place on the Yorkshire coast; built on rising ground on the shores of a fine bay; is a place of great antiquity, with interesting ruins; has churches, harbour, piers, and a fine promenade; noted for the manufacture of jet.

SCARPA, ANTONIO, Italian anatomist, professor at Pavia (1747-1832).

SCARRON, PAUL, a French humourist, writer of the burlesque, born, of good parentage, in Paris; entered the Church, and was for some years somewhat lax-living abbe of Mans, but stricken with incurable disease settled in Paris, and supported himself by writing; is chiefly remembered for his “Virgile Travesti” and “Le Roman Comique,” which “gave the impulse out of which sprang the masterpieces of Le Sage, Defoe, Fielding, and Smollett”; married in 1652 Francoise d’Aubigne, a girl of fifteen, afterwards the famous MADAME DE MAINTENON (q. v.); was a man who both suffered much and laughed much (1610-1660).

SCATTERY ISLAND, in the Shannon estuary, 3 m.  SW. of Kilrush; an early Christian place of pilgrimage, with ruins and a “round tower”; is fortified and marked by a lighthouse.

SCEPTICISM, primarily doubt respecting, and ultimately disbelief in, the reality of the super-sensible, or the transcendental, or the validity of the evidence on which the belief in it is founded, such as reason or revelation, and in religious matters is tantamount to infidelity more or less sweeping.

SCEPTRE, the symbol of royal power, power to command and compel, originally a club, the crown being the symbol of dominion.

SCHADOW, JOHANNES GOTTFRIED, sculptor, born in Berlin; was trained in Rome under the best masters, returned to Berlin, and became Director of the Academy of Arts; laboured here for 62 years, and produced works which placed him among the first rank of artists; he had two sons, one of whom distinguished himself as a sculptor, and the other as a painter (1764-1850).