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    "source_key": "britannica_1926",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926)",
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    "chunk_id": "1926:singapore:f6cbac66556b",
    "title": "SINGAPORE",
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    "verified_text": "a hundred years ago, singapore was no more than an insignificant fishing village built on piles on the outskirts of a tropical forest. to-day it is one of the world’s greatest ports, with a population of 457,000, and is the capital of the crown colony, the straits settlements. its amazing growth is due to three causes, so closely interdependent that no one of them would have been effective without the other two. first must be put its geographical position on the island of the same name which lies at the southern extremity of the malay peninsula (1° 20’ n.—103° 50’e.); secondly, british enterprise; thirdly, chinese business capacity and efficient labour. strate- gically and commercially it occupies a unique position. it is a a0! natural gateway through which must pass all the vast traffic on its way from europe to china and japan, and upon which con- verge the great ocean routes connecting india with the dutch east indies, australia and the far east. with its great advantages singapore is able to cover expenses without either income tax or death duties; but nearly onc half of the revenue is derived from opium. by treaty the straits settlements may be called upon to pay 20% of their revenue towards the upkeep of the military establishment maintained for defence, but for many years past the cost has never been more than about two-thirds of that sum. the main defences and the artillery barracks are at present on the island of blakan mati; the royal engineers are on a smaller island, pulau brani, on which also stand the largest tin-smelting works in existence; the infantry are stationed at tanglin on the main island. the war situation —at the outbreak of war in 1914 the british battalion which forms the backbone of the garrison was with- drawn for active service elsewhere, and the protection of the island was entrusted to indian troops, who were not altogether well affected. a large number of german civilians were placed in an internment camp, and there is reason to believe that some communication passed between the prisoners and the troops. a dangerous mutiny broke out in rors. the indian troops shot several of their officers, and many other europeans were killed. for several days the situation was extremely critical, and all women and children were removed from their houses to ships in the harbour. in the absence of regular troops the mutiny was suppressed by local volunteers (by no means all of whom were familiar with the use of arms), who received great assistance from h.m.s. “cadmus” and from h.h. the sultan of johore. french, japanese and russian ships hurried to the spot, but by the time they arrived serious trouble was at an end. with this exception the years 1914 to 1918 may be said to have been un- eventful in comparison with the terrible experiences in europe and elsewhere; but so soon as hostilities ceased and the german fleet had surrendered, the military importance of singapore underwent a remarkable change. singapore as a naval base.—yroperly to understand this change, it is necessary to go back to the russo-japancse war, and to remember that the destruction of the russian fleet in the battle of the sea of japan completely altered the balance of sea-power in the far east. upto that moment it had been neces- sary for great britain to maintain a considerable naval force in the china seas, but so soon as the supremacy of the japanese was unchallenged every available ship was brought back to the north sea, where the german menace was already making itself felt, and our eastern interests were confided to our ally. these conditions underwent another complete alteration when the german fleet had been safely escorted to scapa flow. on the one hand all danger had been removed from european waters, while on the other hand our commitments in the east had grown. it was no longer right, or indeed possible, to ask others to shoulder responsibilities which were our own, and it was argued that we must ourselves be in a position to safeguard our vast trade with china and japan, as well as with australia and new zealand. this could not be done without a base in the far east, and the choice evidently lay between hongkong and singapore. hongkong had many advantages, but it was somewhat isolated and distant from possible support in india; morcover, a naval fortress there might be taken as provocative and a direct threat to japan and china. singapore, on the other hand, provided adequate facilities, and as it was not less than 3,500 m. from tokyo the establishment of a naval base there could be rep- resented as a reasonable precaution and not as a_ hostile decision, this decision was followed soon afterwards by the naval conference at washington (q.v.), when the anglo-japanese alliance was replaced by the four-power pact. england, as part of her contribution towards peace, bound herself to under- take no new fortification east of rro° of latitude. hongkong was thus definitely ruled out, and the decision to establish the base at singapore was almost immediately made public. 902 opponents of this decision have declared that it is an infringe- ment of the spirit of the washington conference, but for this allegation there are no grounds whatever. great britain’s inten- tion was well known both to america and japan. other objec- tions which have been raised are that we are threatening our former ally, and that great britain cannot afford the expense entailed. the former objection has already been answered; with regard to the second it can only be said that security cannot be measured in terms of pounds, shillings and pence. a more serious objection is that malaya and the straits, with all their wealth, provide none of the real necessities of life. everything is im- ported: meat from australia, vegetables from java, rice from siam, burma and china, milk in tins from switzerland. with a large asiatic population this is a serious consideration; but if we can safeguard our trade routes we can equally safeguard our own supplies. the singapore base is now an established fact in british imperial strategy. the government of the straits set- tlements have made a free gift of the necessary land, and many of the dominions and colonies have contributed, or promised to contribute, towards the expense of construction. its imperial significance could not receive more sincere or more practical acknowledgment. bintrocrariny.—h. c, bywater, sea power in the pacific: a study of the american-japanese naval problem (1921); w. makepeace, g. e. brooke and r. st. j. braddall, one iiundred years of singapore (1921); the 1921 census of british malay (1922); c. mm. crivelli and plouvet, l’australie et le pacifique (paris, 1923); song ong siang, one iitundred years of the chinese in singapore (1923): l*) (n. m. singing.—in singing and speaking, the voice is produced by the action of breath on the vocal cords, the vibrations of which are transmitted to the air passing upward between them. these vibrations are developed in volume and quantity in the reso- nating cavities above. it is generally conceded the world standard of vocal technique in the 20th century is lower than formerly, and considerably lower than that which prevailed in italy 150 years ago. various reasons are advanced for this, the absence of standardised theories and methods of teaching, excessive emphasis laid upon physical phenomena and physiological details in the education of singers, the demand for artistic rather than vocal excellence in public performances, the amount of vocal music now written that is not skilfully adapted for the voice, and the unwillingness or inability of singers to give sufficient time to their period of study before launching upon a professional career. those in- terested will find the subject discussed in one of the lectures published in hahn’s book, which, however, has, up to the time of writing, not been published in english. 1. the mechanism of singing vocal cords and larynx—that the vocal cords do not in- variably vibrate throughout their breadth in the same manner has been shown by the experiments of oertel, koschlakoff and simanowski. further evidence of this has been obtained by curtis, who has experimented with an improved model of oertel’s stroboscope, and has proved that in the lower or chest register of the voice, the vocal cords vibrate throughout their entire length, and throughout their entire breadth in a manner which increases the extent of the excursion of individual points as their distance increases from the fixed border of the cords. the vibrations of the two cords are synchronous, and the extent of oscillation considerable. when a note of higher pitch is sung, an increase in length and a decrease in breadth in the cords is noticeable. in the upper register the cords are again seen vibrating throughout their entire length and entire breadth, but the characteristics of the movements are different. the cords are flatter and have thinner edges, and are divided into segments which have their own rate of vibration. the division in each cord is characterised by a faint nodal line, marking off a narrow zohe comparatively close to the free border, and this nodal line divides the cord in its breadth into two unequal segments, that singing nearest the free edge taking up three-quarters of the width, and vibrating freely; and the inner, smaller segment vibrating to a much smaller extent. it has been noticed that the vibrating cords have also on their free edges nodal points in their length, the membrane dividing into separate vibrating segments. considerable experiments have been made to determine the functions of the ventricles of the larynx. working on the similarity (observed by savart) of the human larynx to the metal] decoy-bird of the sportsman (sce fig. 1), baratoux maintains that the ventricles fulfil exactly the conditions found in that instrument. the experiments of lootens, who discovered the cyclones (which bear his name) existing in tubes made to sound by means of an air current, con- firmed by van tricht, of namur, are quoted. these cyclones in the decoy-bird followed a circular course on either side of the cavity, and by variation fig. t= in breath pressure alone a variation in pitch of eae of . ae je two octaves was produced by savart. in like bird ¥ manner it is claimed by baratoux that the ventricles of the larynx are inflated and that similar cyclones occur within them, causing regular variations of air pressure, which by their pulsation preduce vocal tone. registers —the practice of dividing the voice into three registers is still followed by the majority of musical writers on singing. william shakespeare, plain words on singing (1924), illustrates this with a plate showing the appearance of the vocal cords in chest, medium and head registers. on the other hand laryngologists tend to reduce the number of registers to two, at least so far as mechanical changes in the larynx itself are con- cerned (curtis, moure and bouyer, baratoux). the medium register is by some of the latter regarded as a species of voce mista, including characteristics of registers above and below it. slttack.—the subject of attack in both song and speech has received much attention. the evil of the “click” type or coup de glotte has been demonstrated by anatomist, physician and singing master (hulbert, aiken, dodds and lickley), and agreement seems to have been reached that physically, function- ally and vocally the most desirable method is that of the simultaneous action of vocal cords and expiratory muscles, whether for singing or speaking. vowel tones —the division of the resonance of the voice into tone resonance and vowel resonance has been further demon- strated by the researches of aiken, and also by sir richard paget. the latter has shown, by expcriment in public, that it is possible to construct an apparatus which, fitted with a bellows and reed to obtain tone, can be attached to resonating cavities of various kinds which will add vowels to the sounds already produced by the reed, and by using the hands to produce simple ee beet bit fic. 2.—series of tongue vowels and their resonating pitch in each resonator. a ud er a z e ex.8bard bud bird bat bed &ait consonants like “2” to obtain as a composite result words or even short phrases (see vorce sounps). aiken has experimented extensively with whispered vowels, and states that the two principal vocal resonators are the neck cavity, for tone resonance, and the mouth, for vowel resonance. he therefore regards singing and speech as a combination of two instruments. his series of tongue vowels and their resonating pitch in each resonator is given, in its simplest form, in fig. 2. the upper note gives the mouth resonance pitch, and the lower the neck resonance pitch, of the vowel printed below. he also gives a list of 12 english vowels with similar resonance pitches for women and men (see fig. 3). the average pitch of men is a minor third lower than that of women, beginning on the note f, first space treble clef. aiken has worked out on this basis a very extensive list of whispered resonances, showing the pitch of the possible har- singing gro tao} be ps = = | tt 4 5 ses oo (00). of or o ah od ex.hoot (hood) hope horn hot hard hut monics to be obtained on the simple vowels 00, aw, ah, ch and ce when sung on each note within a compass of two octaves of the chromatic scale. he claims, therefore, that the singer is playing upon two instruments, one producing notes in obedience to mental perception, the other producing an entirely independent series of vibrations, resulting in articulate speech. the second can perform all its functions, though feebly, in a whispered voice alone, but when assisted by the vibrating note of the first, its influence is much greater. he states that in singing practice “this separation of the two regions in which the conscious activity of each instrument must be definitely realised is one of the fundamental principles of the use and development of the voice, and is absolutely in accord with the physical and physio- logical distinctions between the two instruments.” on this subject some practical work has also been done by w. s. drew, who, acting upon the arguments given by d. c. miller in the sctence of musical sounds, applies the theory of vowel resonance to tone production, and states that the vowel resonator can be tuned to amplify the note which is being sung. if the resonance region which gives the characteristic sound to a vowel is high up in the scale, there should be no difficulty, for men’s voices at least, in singing that vowel throughout the compass; if the characteristic resonance is low there will be found notes, or regions of notes, where it will be difficult to make the vowel sound quite “ natural.” he also states that so long as the harmonic which gives the characteristic sound to the vowel is present, the other harmonics may be modified in many ways to give varieties of tone quality, but if the characteristic vowel harmonic is lost then the modifica- tion of the pronunciation is apparent, and the vowel itself is heard to have changed. ii. singing in great britain improved standards.—the development of the musical aspect of song in great britain during the first quarter of the 2oth century has been greater than in any similar period since the 17th century. in schools, homes, and at so-called “ popular ” concerts the older type of popular ballad is gradually being superseded by a better type of song in which a lyric of poetic beauty is set to music bearing real art value. many causes have contributed to this. the work of parry, stanford, mackenzie, and to some extent of sullivan, has kept the stream of british music flowing, and latterly, the influence of elgar, though stronger orchestrally and chorally than in song, has been a great factor in national progress. another factor is the rise, largely through the teaching of corder at the royal academy of music, and of stanford at the royal college of music, of a school of british composers, who in song are today producing works which at least equal anything that is being produced abroad. among the best of these are granville bantock, arnold bax, arthur bliss, rutland boughton, frank bridge, george butter- worth, thomas dunhill, ernest farrar, armstrong gibbs, hamilton harty, gustav holst, joseph holbrooke, john ireland, roger quilter, cyril scott, martin shaw, arthur somervell, s. coleridge-taylor, ‘‘ peter warlock”? and ralph vaughan williams. it is to be noted also that the world war hada marked effect by turning the attention of the nation to british musical art, and giving more opportunities for the performance of native works. owing to the increased demand for copies, music publishers had a greater inducement to speculate in the production of the works of british composers. lastly, british composers have undoubtedly added to their popularity by adopting to a much greater extent a musical idiom in composition which is founded upon national models, rf hen fic. 3.—list of 12 english vowels with similar resonance pitches for women and men. er a her hat particularly of the tudor and elizabethan composers, instead of following the trend of foreign musical taste or development. unaccompanicd song.—the most primitive type of song was of course unaccompanicd, and some composers have written songs of this type, but with all the freedom of the modern idiom in musical line, rhythm and chromaticism. it is claimed that in modern songs with orchestral accompaniment the human voice is associated with a volume of instnimental tone which over- whelms it, and that, though simplicity for its own sake is not desirable, in songs for voice alone a vehicle for expression is found that is, vocally, more complete; and that, as an artist can express himself in a line drawing and omit nothing that is essential, so a composer may, by-the vehicle of the voice, express in song all that is contained in the poet’s lyric, and the com- poser’s reflection of his own mental and temperamental counter- part of it in music. unaccompanied songs have been composed by herbert bedford, cyril scott, gerrard williams, frederick austin, felix white, jane joseph, george oldroyd, harry farjeon, francesca hall, eugene bonner, liza lehmann and john tobin, and a list of 39 is given in herbert bedford’s book. it is claimed that not only is the poet better served but that the composer and singer alike are freer in their possibilities of ex- pression, and that the audience can be stimulated to an alertness ~ of imagination similar to that required when witnessing a stage play produced without scenery. lutenist songs.—for many years the wealth of song to lute accompaniment contained in the forgotten resources of the british museum and elsewhere was known to few musicians, and but for some enthusiasts would probably have remained un- known. thanks to the efforts of frederick keel, philip wilson, “ peter warlock ” and, most of all, canon edmund h. fellowes, we are becoming familiar with a national heritage of song which is having a strong influence on our musical taste and upon our composers. the english school of lutenist song-writers began in 15397 with the publication of john dowland’s first volume of airs and ended with his pilgrim’s solace (1612), save for one volume of songs by john attey, published in 1622. besides dowland, who published four books of songs, the principal composers were thomas campion (five books), robert jones (five books),thomas morley, phillip rosseter, thomas ford, william corkine and francis pilkington, and their combined work produced about 30 books of songs. each book contained 20 or 21 numbers, and comprised a voice part with accompaniment in lute tablature or notation. a large number of songs were also alternatively arranged for un- accompanied part-singing by four performers. fellowes states in his preface to the first volume of the reprint of dowland’s airs, ‘‘ we have in this collection of volumes a rich store of national song, the music of which is wedded to superb verse belonging to the finest period in national literature.”” the songs are in free rhythm, without time signatures, and, although barred, are quite irregular in time, the accents varying in ac- cordance with the rhythm of the words. the manner is one which is once more being adopted by modern composers, and may be found in some of the songs of holst, vaughan williams, “‘ war- lock” and others, save that in most cases these adhere to time signatures, and change them as often as they desire. in their harmonised forms the lutenist songs resembled more the modern part-song than the contrapuntally written madrigal with which it was contemporary. it is probable that the increasing popular- ity of the spinet and virginal was responsible for the brevity of the life of the english lutenist school. the lute was much more difficult to play than any keyboard instrument, and though 954 songs were published with accompaniments for the lute until the end of the 17th century its use was almost confined to the work of professional experts. the rise of the popularity of the violin also detracted from that of the lute. folk-songs.—the active interest in english folk-song dates only from the last quarter of the 19th century. previous to this, collections of irish, welsh and scottish songs had been gathered and published, also w. chappell’s national english airs which appeared in 1840, but until the work of child, baring gould, frank kidson and one or two other pioneers drew attention to the beauty of their discoveries, little was known of the folk-music of the english people. there are at present folk-song societies in england, scotland, wales and ireland, though in scotland a central body has not yet been established, and the work of col- lection and publication is in the hands of various local societies. work of great value has been done in england by cecil sharp, who devoted his life to folk-song and folk-dancing, r. vaughan williams, frederick keel, george butterworth, lucy broad- wood, h. fleetwood sheppard, j. a. fuller-maitland, charles l. marston and w. g. whittaker. the recent publication of songs of the hebrides by m. kennedy-fraser and kenneth macleod has added yet another and distinctive type, and the arrangements of irish airs by herbert hughes have popularised afresh the national airs of ireland, though the popularity of these was already assured by the editions of stanford and research work of w. h. grattan flood. a collection of welsh songs, edited by j. lloyd williams and arthur somervell, is also a valuable contribution to these publications, as is the work of sir richard terry, whose collection of sea chazties is already well known. british composers have of recent years gone increasingly to the folk-song for their pattern and inspiration, either basing their melodies on the style of the folk-song, or using the folk- melodies in their works, as in rutland boughton’s lyrical drama bethlehem and gustav holst’s opera the boar’s head. in the collection of the words of english and scottish balluds the work of francis j. child must be noted. from 1882-98 he published five volumes, containing 305 distinct ballads, some with as many as from ro to 28 variants, with the history and bibliogra- phy of cach, an index of ballad airs and a collection of tunes. ill. singing in the united states in many directions vocal music in the united states has made great progress since ro1o. the scientific side of singing has been assiduously studied by both laryngologists and singing masters, and many volumes on the subject have been published, notably by curtis, herman, miller, shaw, etc. the result has been a steady improvement tn the general standard of voice production and cultivation. the attention paid to vocal tuition in schools and colleges throughout the country testifies to an increased recognition of the importance of music as a factor in education. as in great britain, there has been an active interest in folk-song. indian, negro, american-english, american-hungarian and other varieties of folk-melodics have been collected, and have been used by american composers, as, for example, in the orchestral compositions of henry f. gilbert, wherein are employed both indian and negro melodies, daniel g. mason’s string quartet and john powell's “ rapsodie negre,”’ which are both based on negro themes, and griffes’ “ two sketches ” for string quartet, based on indian themes. interest in opera is undoubtedly growing. ‘the american opera society of chicago publishes a list of 60 american com- posers of opera, though less than a dozen of their 90 works survived a first performance. a recent statement has been made (march 1926) that there are 24 grand opera companies touring the united states, besides those more or less permanently established in new york and chicago. public support of opera is lavish, and new works have opportunities for presentation probably equal to any in europe, and, though a national school of opera is still in the future, the way is being paved for further talent and enterprise in this direction. german, italian and russian opera still hold popular taste to a great extcnt. sinha vocal composers —fedward macdowell, arthur foote, george w. chadwick and horatio parker have been termed the ‘‘ big four ” of american composers. their work enjoys international appreciation, and though it cannot be said, even yet, that their musical successors have succeeded in establishing a definite american school of composition, it is undoubtedly true'that to-day (1926) there exists a coterie of song composers who are producing works which are of definite value in musical progress, not only in the united states, but internationally. it is unfortunately also true that more bad music, vocal and instrumental, is produced and sold in the united states than in any other country, the taste for jazz and other “ best-sellers ”’ being even greater than in great britain; but the amount of good music being produced, circulated and taught is growing rapidly, and the songs and vocal works of such composers as the following can be cited as evidence of what is best in american song at the present time: charles w. cadman (operas, cantatas, songs), john a. carpenter (songs), frederick s. converse (operas, songs), john densmore (songs), henry f. gilbert (songs), rubin goldmark (songs), charles t. griffes (songs), henry hadley (operas, cantatas, 150 songs), richard hageman (songs), henry h. huss (cantatas, songs), edgar s. kelley (operas, miracle play, songs), charles m. loeffler (cantatas, songs), daniel g. mason (songs), john powell (songs), ernest schelling (songs), david s. smith (cantata, anthems, part-songs), ixmerson whithorne (songs). (sce also choral singing; voice sounds.) bibliograpity.—mechanical action, registers, attack, vowel tones: i. j. moure and a. bouyer, fils, the abuse of the voice, trans- lated by macleod yearsley (1910); w. a. aiken, zhe voice (1910); h. holbrook curtis, votce building and tone placing (1909); rey- naldo hahn, du chant (1920); h. h. uulbert, eurhythm (1921); w. s. drew, voice training (1923); william shakespeare, plain words on singing (1924); j. baratoux, the voice (1925); george dodds and j. dunlop lickley, the control of the breath (1925); how ituman speech 1s produced, lecture by sir richard a. s. paget (tyneside sunday lecture society, nov. 22 1925). songs: a. fagle- ficld hull, dictionary of modern musicians (1924); ralph dunstan, cyclopaedic dictionary of afusic (1925). herbert bedford, .wedern unaccompanied song (1923), lutenist songs: edmund h. fellowes, finglish madrigal composers (1921); edmund h. fellowes, first book of airs (john dowland) (1920); jeffrey pulver, dictionary of old english music and musical instruments (1923). folk-songs: w. chappell, national english airs (1840); f. j. child, english and scottish ballads (1904); cecil j. sharp, fuglish folk-song, some conclusions (1907). books on the artistic aspect of singing: david ffrangcon-davies, the singing of the future (1905); hl. plunkett greene, interpretation in song (1912); herman klein, the bef canto, with particular reference to the singing of mozart (1923); dawson freer, the teaching of interpretation in song (1924); h. gregory hast, the singer's art (1925). united states: a. eagle- fiekl hull, dictionary of modern music and musicians (1924); laurence gilman, nature in afusic (1915); r. l. herman, an open door of singers (1912); frank e. miller, the voice (1910); w. warren shaw, the lost vocal art (1914); mathews, 4 hundred years of music in america; ritter, music in america; o. g. sonneck, survey of music in america; b. m. steigman, 7he great american opera (music and letters oct. 1925). from the afusical quarterly: henry f. gil- bert, the american composer (april 1915); herbert f. small, ox opera (jan. 1918); daniel g. mason, folk-song and american mustc (april 1918); john t. howard, jr., our folk-music and tts probable impress on american music of the future (april 1921); o. g. sonneck, the american composer and the american publisher (jan. 1923). see also jan. 1920, april 1920, april 1922, july 1922, jan. 1923 and july 1924. (g. do.) sinha, satyendra prassano, rst baron of raipur (1864- ), indian statesman, was born of an ancient kayastha family in the village of raipur, birbhum district, bengal, in june 1864. from the presidency college, calcutta, he went to lon- ° don in 1881 to join lincoln’s inn, where he won many prizes and scholarships, and was called to the bar in 1886. he was the first indian to be appointed advocate-general of bengal (1908), and the first to become a member of the government of india. he held the law portfolio from april 1909 to nov. 1910. he then resumed his lucrative practice at the bar, and presided at the indian national congress session at bombay in rors. he and the maharaja of bikaner were the first indians to par- ticipate in empire deliberations in london, for in 1917 they jointly assisted the secretary of state at the meetings of the sinking fund—skin diseases iniperial war cabinet, and were members of the imperial war conference. sinha joined the bengal executive council in the same year, but returned to england in 1918 as a member of the imperial war cabinet and imperial war conference, sub- sequently becoming a representative of india at the peace conference. knighted in 1914, in 1918 he was made k.c., a distinction not previously conferred upon a barrister of indian birth or practice. at the beginning of toro he established further records for an indian by being appointed to the ministry as under-secretary for india, and being raised to the peerage as baron sinha of raipur. he was the second indian to be sworn of the privy council. he skilfully conducted the government of india act, 1919, through the house of lords, and at the close of 1920 was appointed governor of bihar and orissa, being the first indian to preside over a british province. ill-health prevented him from serving his full term in that office, and in 1921 he resigned. sinking fund: see great britain: finance. sisal: see fibres. skeat, walter william (1835-1912), british author (sce 25.168), died at cambridge oct. 7 1912. skin diseases (sce 25.190).—since ro1o our knowledge of skin diseases has been advanced by the discovery of the cause of certain affections, by the addition of new methods of treat- ment and by the recognition of new entities. classification.—the classification of skin diseases, at first based on naked-cye appearances, and, later, on the underlying pathological changes, is becoming simplified by the adoption of an etiological basis, and, as our knowledge of their causation becomes more com- plete, such an ideal becomes possible, and is being attempted in the more recent text-books. at the present time, however, the cause of certain skin diseases remains obscure, but, as the gaps in our knowl- edge become gradually filled in, the group of the unclassified affec- tions becomes correspondingly diminished. with the improvement in classification, the nomenclature also has become more rational and etiological. in the early descriptive period it was complicated by an attempt to divide cutaneous diseases into hard and fast varieties, usually designated by ‘‘ dog-latin ” adjectives, such as eczema erythematosum, e. papulosum, e, vestculosum, etc.; by an effort to indicate the disease by some compound name, suggesting its essen- tial characteristics, such as ervthema multiforme exudativum; or, still worse, by the disease being named after him who claimed to have first described it. it has now been simplified by the realisation that certain skin affections, believed in the past to be discases per se, are only variants of a common pathological process, modified by individ- ual peculiarities or situation, and, by making it etiological, as in such names as blastomycetic dermatitis—a disease due to a yeast—or yuberculosis cutis—skin lesions caused by the presence of the tubercle bacillus in situ. of the new forms of skin disease which have been recognised in recent years, the most numerous have been those occurring in tropical countries, and of them a considerable number are due to fungi, and constitute the group of the tropical dermato-mycoses. in great britain the cutancous lesions associated with diseases of the blood have been the subject of careful stucly, especially those which occur in connection with the leukaemias and lymphadenoma. ringworm.—lit is now established that the disease, popularly known as ringworm, is due to a number of mould-fungi, which vary in different climates and countries, like other members of the vegetable kingdom, and which have a wide distribution in the animal kingdom, occasionally even in birds, from which they are capable of being transmitted readily to man. certain resist- ant forms of dermatitis, affecting various parts of the body, but more especially the groins and the extremities, which may closely resemble eczema, are not variants of that protean disease, but the result of the presence in the skin of certain ringworm fungi. this type of ringworm has increased since the world war, as it was common among the troops, especially those who went through the gallipoli campaign, or served in the east, and was brought home and spread by them. eczema.—eczema, the commonest of skin afiections, is no longer regarded as a disease due to a single cause, but as a form of cutaneous reaction, due to a variety of irritants, acting either locally, from without, or circulating in the blood, possibly in an doo individual predisposed by some lowered resistance. in the group of the eczemas it is customary now to include the various forms of occupational dermatitis. these are attracting attention, as they are responsible for considerable disablement. the list of irritants, chemical and physical, which may cause them, is con- tinually being extended, and the problem of their prevention is receiving the close attention of the public health authorities (see industrial welfare). actinic action.—the actinic rays of light have been shown to be an important factor in causing inflammation of the skin. for years it has been known that they are responsible for the peculiar eruption of the face and hands which recurs in summer in individuals sensitive to light ( //ydroa acstivale), and for the more serious freckled affection which goes on to cutaneous cancer (xeroderma pigmentosum). it is only recently, however, that the peculiar, dry, atrophic, freckled condition of the skin, dotted over with dilated capillaries, and horny thickenings which may become malignant, has been shown to be due to the sun’s rays. this is met with on the unprotected parts, namely the arms, hands and face, of people long exposed to the sun, in countries where its rays are intense, such as india, south africa, australia, etc.; it is now designated as chronic solar dermatitis, and corre- sponds closely to a chronic burn from the x-rays. microbial action —the role of micro-organisms and parasites in causing skin disease is being more appreciated. bacteria (see bacteriology) have been shown to be the cause, not only of the common forms of septic impetigo, but of a variety of scaly affections, previously regarded as forms of eczema, which are now included under the heading of dermo-epidermites microbiennes. ultra-microscopic organisms, capable of passing through a berkefeld filter, which have become prominent lately in connec- tion with cancer (see cancer; filter-passing microbes), would scem to be responsible for the small epidermal growths, known as molluscum contagiosum, and it is more than probable that similar organisms will be found to be the cause of other types of benign and malignant epithelial growths. in the tropics, the so-called calabar swellings have been found to be of filarial origin, and the oriental sore to be due to a parasite of the trypanosome family. focal infeciion—focal infection, in the sense of protein poisoning from bacteria in some crypt or tissue, or in the ali- mentary tract, has of late years been advanced as a possible cause of lupus erythematosus, circumscribed patches of eczema, and other erythematous conditions, and the improvement in them which sometimes follows the injection of an autogenous vaccine has been taken as evidence of an etiological connection. nervous system.—al|lthough certain affections of the skin, such as ilerpes zoster, or shingles, have becn proved to be of nervous origin, the trend of recent research has gone to show that the influence of the nervous system as a cause of cutaneous disease has been overrated, and that a number of affections, which were vaguely attributed to reflex nervous disturbances, are either of toxic origin, or due to imperfect action of a ductless gland, or to some disordered state of the blood. anaphylaxis —the doctrine of anaphylaxis (which means the state of hyper-sensitiveness occurring when the organism has reacted to some toxin or irritant and reacts more acutely to a second dose of the same toxin), has contributed to our knowledge of certain cutaneous phenomena, and has explained the hability to recur of a dermatitis due to local irritation, or to the presence in the blood of some foreign protein. therapeutics—the advances in treatment have been re- markable. internal treatment has become based more on general medical principles and on the discovery and correction of some underlying disturbance in an organ or system than on so-called specific medication. ‘that sheet-anchor of the earlier physicians—arsenic—has lost its position as a panacea for chronic skin affections, and any value it may have in the treat- ment of psoriasis, pemphigus, etc. is being regarded more as the result of its value as a nerve tonic than as a specific drug. it has attained, however, a new importance in its organic preparations, in the treatment of syphilis (see venereal disease). 556 organo-thera py.—the increase in our knowledge of the duct- less glands (see endocrinology) has added organo-therapy to our methods of treatment, and thyroid medication has proved to be of benefit in various skin affections in childhood, associated with retarded development, and especially in mild ichthyosis, in which eczematous changes are so liable to be superimposed. vaccine therapy.—the value of vaccines (see vaccine therapy) in the treatment of skin diseases has been overrated, and their use in the past was too promiscuous. they are of most value in acute suppurating lesions of staphylococcic origin, such as recent boils. the development in local treatment has been even more striking than that from internal medication. refrigeration; diathermy.—reirigeration, with carbon dioxide as the freezing agent, has become established as a useful means of destroying vascular naevi, moles, warts, superficial rodent ulcers, and of ameliorating lupus erythematosus of the fixed type. diathermy has proved of great value in inoperative cases of rodent ulcer, and for cauterisation of malignant growths in the mouth of naso-pharynx (see electro-therapy.) radiotherapy.—the greatest advances, however, have taken place in connection with radiotherapeutics (see rontgenology). the newer methods of x-ray dosage, made possible by the use of the cuolidge tube, has increased the usefulness of the x-rays as a means of healing chronic ulcers, relieving local irritations, reducing epidermal thickening and causing the defluvium of the hair for the cure of ringworm of the scalp. radium has proved to be of special service in the treatment of rodent ulcers and hypertrophic scars (sce raptum). the value of the actinic rays of light, when applied locally, in the treatment of tuberculosis of the skin, and in healing chronic ulcers, has been greatly en- hanced by its use over the whole cutaneous surface, in the form of actinic ray baths, which have been found to improve the general health by stimulating metabolism and increasing the bactericidal power of the blood. see helio-therapy. bibliography.—j. m. h. macleod, diseases of the skin (1920); j. h. sequeira, diseases of the skin, ard ed. (1919); norman walker, introduction to dermatology, 8th ed. (1925). j. m. h. mcl.) skrzynski, alexander, count (1882- ), polish statesman, was born at zagorzany, galicia. educated at cracow and munich, he entered the diplomatic service in 1906 and was appointed secretary to the ambassador to the holy see in tgro. when the world war broke out he was secretary to the austro-hiungarian ambassador in paris. after a short military service at the beginning of the war, he completed his studies for the bar, receiving the degree of doctor of the law at the university of vienna. when the new polish state was established, he was appointed polish minister plenipotentiary at bucharest, and later succeeded in concluding a polish- rumanian political treaty in 1921. in dec. 1922, after the murder of narutowicz, the first international president of the republic, skrzynski became minister of foreign affairs. he threw himself energetically into the task of settling all open questions, inaugurated a pacific policy based on the final stabili- sation of frontiers and gained the necessary confidence of the powers. when a cabinet of the right was formed in may 1623, skrzynski thereby lost office, and he was appomted in the following month polish delegate to the league of nations. in aug. 1924 he again accepted the portfolio of minister of foreign affairs in the grabski cabinet. by a number of conventions, the regulation of the british and american debts, the concordat with the vatican, the rapprochement with czechoslovakia, skrzynski strengthened poland’s international position, taking an active part in the league of nations in elaborating the scheme for the geneva protocol and in securing settlement of the danzig disputes in a manner favourable to poland. he tried to disarm the suspicions of moscow as to the new configuration of europe by receiving chicherin at warsaw (sept. 1924). in the negotiations in con- nection with the german proposals with regard to the locarno pact (1925), skrzynski sought to reconcile polish interests with the general scheme of the conference, and signed an arbitration agreement with germany and also a convention with france in skrzynski—slavery and forced labour accordance therewith. after the fall of grabski’s government nov. 13 1925 skrzynski was entrusted with the formation of a government by wojciechowski, the president of the republic, and with the participation of the socialists formed a coalition cabinet in which he himself was prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. in may 1926, however, the socialists seceded from the cabinet. skrzynski considered that the coalition rested on too narrow a basis, and therefore resigned the premiership. see also poland. skyscraper: see arciuitecture. slavery and forced labour (sce 25.216).—before the first decade of the 2oth century was past, a more or less settled administration had been established throughout africa under european control, except in abyssinia and liberia. forcible seizures and even small raids on frontiers not yet under effective control, especially on the borders of the sahara, still occurred from time to time, and slave-dealing still surreptitiously existed, but these were dealt with as ordinary crime. effective adminis- tration of the territories controlled by the great powers was maintained throughout the world war, and in the world settle- ment which followed a fresh convention was concluded at st. germain in 1919, in which the signatories pledged themselves to suppress “ slavery in all its forms ’’—a new and very significant formula. | the new convention.—this convention superseded the berlin and brussels acts so far as its signatories (the allies in the war) were concerned, and it seemed doubtful to what extent those acts remained operative. the new convention, like its predeces- sors, dealt with many subjects: navigation of rivers, freedom of trade, etc. the liquor traffic and the arms traffic were, however, dealt with in separate conventions, while slavery and the slave trade occupied but a single clause in the convention. enquiry by the league of nations.—the admission of abyssinia to membership of the league in sept. 1923—a country in which slavery still remained a legal institution, and in which slave-raiding and the slave trade had until recently been carried on, and were alleged to be still existing—was the proximate cause of the revival of the question as a subject of international con- cern. the league of nations appointed a committee to in- vestigate the subject. it met in session in july 1924, and again in the following year. it recommended inter alia a new conven- tion, to which the adherence of all states, whether members of the league or not, should be invited. this proposal was accepted, and the british government submitted a draft convention. all states members of the league, and also afghanistan, ecuador, egypt, germany, mexico, the sudan, turkey and the united states were invited to send to the secretary-general not later than june 1926 any observa- tions they might desire to make regarding its provisions . . . and to assist one another forthwith in the abolition of the slave trade, slavery and conditions analogous thereto by all practicable means. bd these “ analogous conditions,” says the official report, “are intended to include all forms of debt slavery—the enslaving of persons disguised as the adoption of children and the acquisition of girls by purchase disguised as payment of dowry, etc.”’ the convention purports to represent the highest minimum standard to which it was anticipated that general acceptance could be secured, but “it is hoped that no states will be satisfied with compliance with the minimum standard which is now proposed.” domestic slavery.—in regard to domestic slavery and serfdom a larger experience has jed to recognition that among primitive tribes, and also among communities which have adopted the moslem faith, or a christianity (as in abyssinia) based on the law of the pentateuch, the institution has become so intimately interwoven with the social fabric that sudden and enforced eman- cipation would bring ruin and misery to the slaves no less than to their owners. in such cases, therefore, absolute prohibition of the acquisition of new slaves, and of all dealing in slaves, combined with the abolition of the legal status—so that no court of law can recognise any rights based on the claim of property in the person of another—is the preferable method. this gives to every slave the right to assert his freedom without any slavonia—sleeping sickness ransom or formality, but does not make it a crime for a master to retain a slave if both desire to remain in that relationship. it is permissive as contrasted with compulsory freedom. forced labour.—the convention “ deals for the first time in international agreements with the question of forced labour,” which may be viewed from two standpoints. there is probably a consensus of opinion that in certain cases a state may find itself under the necessity of compelling labour for essential public works or services. there is also probably a predominant opinion that such labour should be fairly remunerated, though some hold the view that if compulsory labour is imposed under the guise of a tax—as a fiscal measure—it need not be restricted to urgent public services, and of course would not be remunerated,—as the central african mandates require. the second principle to be determined is whether it is permissible in any circumstances to use compulsion for the supply of labour, even though paid, in enterprises conducted for private profit. abuses of the system known in south america as ‘‘ peonage ”’ fall under this category, by which labourers become involved in debt which they can never repay, and so become slaves for life. the slavery com- mission pointed out that this system merits particular con- demnation when an alien employer deliberately adopts measures to secure by such means the life-long servitude of an ignorant and unsuspicious peasantry. from this brief outline it is evident that the standards and aspirations of to-day show a fuller appreciation of the true interests of the backward races than was possible a couple of decades ago, and a conscientious desire to deal with them by liberal and practical methods. brslrograrhy.—h.m. stationery office, the berlin act, c. 4361 of 1885 and protocols; the brussels act, c. 6048 of 1890; the convention of st. germain-en-laye, c. 477 (1919); sir f. lugard, the dual mandate in tropical africa, chap. 17-21 (1922); sir f. lugard, “ slavery, forced labour and the league,’ the nineteenth century and after (jan. 1926). see also the following publ. of the league of nations: report of slavery commission, ist session, minutes, a. 17 and 18, 1924 vi.; amfinuics oth comnrittee supp. 29, also a. 42 and 42 (a) 1924 vi.; 2nd session, a. 19, 1925 vi. and c. 426, m. 157 vi. of (1925); also a, 130, 1925 vi. a. 39; afinutes 6th session mandates commtission, c. 386 m. 132, 1925 vi., p. 47 and 142; verbatim report of fifth as- sembly 17th meeting; verbatim report 6th assembly roth es ° be slavonia: see croatia-slavonia.",
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