Sayles, John (b. Sept. 28, 1950, Schenectady, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. film director. He graduated from Williams College and wrote short stories and novels, including Union Dues (1977), before becoming a screenwriter for Roger Corman. He made his directorial debut with the acclaimed Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980). He explored social and political issues in other thoughtful films such as Lianna (1982), Matewan (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), City of Hope (1991), Lone Star (1996), and Sunshine State (2002), and he usually wrote his own screenplays. He also directed the
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1694 I Sayyid Qutb ► Scandinavia
children’s movie The Secret of Roan Inish (1994). Sayles was one of America’s most successful independent filmmakers.
Sayyid Qutb See Sayyid Qutb
Sazonov Xso-'zo-nofX, Sergey (Dmitriyevich) (b. Aug. 10, 1860, Ryazan province, Russia—d. Dec. 25, 1927, Nice, Fr.) Russian diplomat. After he became minister of foreign affairs in 1910, Sazonov promoted close relations with Britain and France and supported the Balkan League against Turkey. He contributed to the precipitating events of World War I by affirming Russia’s support for Serbia against Austria and insisting that Nicholas II order the mobilization of the Russian army (July 30, 1914); two days later, Germany declared war on Russia. He set Russia’s war aim as the annexation of Constantinople and the Turkish straits but was dis¬ missed when he urged the tsar to grant Poland autonomy. After the Rus¬ sian Revolution of 1917, Sazonov moved to France.
scabious \'ska-be-os\ Any of about 100 species of annual and peren¬ nial herbaceous plants that make up the genus Scabiosa (family Dip- saceae), native to temperate Eurasia, the Mediterranean, and mountains of eastern Africa. Some are important garden plants, including the southern European annual pincushion flower (S. atropurpurea), also called sweet scabious, mourning bride, or garden scabious. All species have leaf rosettes at the base of the plant, and leafy stems. Flower heads have an outer ring of female flowers and a circle of leaflike bracts below. Dev¬ il’s bit scabious belongs to the genus Succisa (see bluebonnet).
Scaevola Vse-vo-loV Quintus Mucius or Pontifex (d. 82 bc)
Roman lawgiver. He served successively as consul, as governor of the province of Asia, and from c. 89 as pontifex maximus. About 95 he obtained the passage of the lex Licinia Mucia, removing certain groups from the citizen rolls, which led to the Social War of 90-88. His major work was an 80-volume systematic treatise on civil law, which was fre¬ quently quoted and followed by subsequent writers. His handbook Horoi consisted of short rules of law and explanations of legal terms; it was the oldest work excerpted in Justinian I’s Digest.
scaffold Temporary platform used to elevate and support workers and materials during work on a structure or machine. It consists of one or more wooden planks and is supported by either a timber or a tubular steel or alu¬ minum frame; bamboo is used in parts of Asia. Scaffolding may be raised and lowered by means of cables controlled by a ratchet or electric motor.
scalawag U.S. Southerner who supported Reconstruction. Opponents also applied the pejorative term to those who joined with carpetbaggers and freedmen to support Republican Party policies. The term, of unknown origin, was used from the 1840s to denote a worthless farm animal and later a worthless person. Scalawags included former Whigs and hill- country farmers with Unionist sympathies and constituted nearly 20% of the white electorate after the American Civil War. Many held government positions in the South and advocated moderate reforms.
scale In music, primary pitches of a key or mode arranged within an octave. Scales are distinguished by the pattern of the intervals between
chromatic scale
§ sm J J » J J » J J ” J r r l r r t J J JiJ
C major scale
!iJJj JJ rr
C natural minor scale
Examples of the chromatic, major, and minor scales.
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adjacent notes. A scale can be seen as an abstraction from melody —that is, the pitches of a melody arranged in stepwise order.
scale insect Any member of several families of sap-sucking insects (order Homoptera) whose bodies are covered by a waxy shell (the scale). The eggs are protected by the female’s body or scale or a waxy filamen¬ tous mass. Scale insects may attack any part of a plant, but each species is host-specific. Many species are serious plant pests; others have com¬ mercial value. The lac insect is used in a red dye and in shellac. Cochineal, a red dyestuff, consists of the dried, pulverized bodies of females of the species Dactylopius coccus. See also cottony-cushion scale, San Jose scale.
Scalia Xsks-'le-sV Antonin (b. March 11, 1936, Trenton, N.J., U.S.) U.S. jurist. He studied at Georgetown University and Harvard Law School, where he edited its law review. Successively, he worked for a Cleveland law firm (1961-67), taught at the University of Virginia (1967- 74), served as an assistant U.S. attorney general (1974-77), and taught at the University of Chicago (1977-82). He was appointed by Pres. Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Court of Appeals (1982) and then to the Supreme Court of the United States (1986). Among the court’s most outspoken justices, he quickly earned a reputation for aggressive oral argument and scath¬ ingly critical written opinions, especially when expressing dissenting views. An opponent of “judicial activism,” he favoured a restrained judi¬ ciary, deference to the original intent of the framers in constitutional interpretation, and a limited role for the federal government.
Scaliger Vska-b-jor\, Julius Caesar, and Scaliger, Joseph Jus¬ tus (respectively b. April 23, 1484, Riva, Republic of Venice—d. Oct. 21, 1558, Agen, France; b. Aug. 5, 1540, Agen, France—d. Jan. 21, 1609, Leiden, Holland) Classical scholars. Julius worked in botany, zoology, and grammar but was chiefly interested in developing an understanding and critical evaluation of the ancients. His most widely read book was his Poetics (1561), in which Greco-Roman rhetoric and poetics are used as a foundation for literary criticism. His son Joseph, a precocious student of language, studied in France, Germany, and Italy and taught in France before he was called to the University of Leiden, where he became known as the most erudite scholar of his time. His major works are the Study on the Improvement of Time (1583) and Thesaurus of Time (1609), which brought order to ancient chronology.
scallop Any of more than 400 species (family Pectinidae) of marine bivalves found worldwide, from the intertidal zone to deep waters. The two halves of the shell (valves) are usually fan-shaped, except for a winglike projection at either side of the straight hinge. The shells are 1-6 in. (2.5—15 cm) long. They may be smooth or ribbed and red, purple, orange, yellow, or white. Cilia filter microscopic plants and animals from the water and move them toward the mouth. Scallops swim by clapping the valves, propelling themselves forward. The muscle that closes the valves is a popular food item.
scalping Removal of all or part of the scalp, with hair attached, from an enemy’s head. It is best known as a practice of North American Indian warfare. At first confined to eastern tribes, it spread as a result of boun¬ ties offered by the French, English, Dutch, and Spanish for the scalps of enemy Indians and sometimes of enemy whites. Many American fron¬ tiersmen and soldiers adopted the custom. Among Plains Indians, scalps were taken for war honours, usually from dead enemies, although some warriors preferred a live victim. The operation was not necessarily fatal, and some victims were released alive.