ST. STEPHEN 203 ST. VINCENT tronomy, general physics, and chemistry — and all the general science attainable with respect to organized beings. He next proceeded to make his "experimental edu- cation"; he married and continued to pur- sue his prescribed career, in which good and evil were confounded. This, how- ever, in 1807, came to an end ; his fortune was gone, and he was compelled to become a clerk in a government office at a small yearly salary. In 1812, he being then in his 52d year, he considered it time to "es- tablish his theory," and published a num- ber of remarkable works which attracted round him a large number of disciples. His last efforts were directed toward the foundation of a new religion, which he called the New Christianity, in which so- ciety was to be reorganized on this for- mula : "To each man a vocation according to his capacity, and to each capacity a recompense according to its worth." Be- fore breathing his last he gave final in- structions to his chief disciples, among whom were Augustin Thierry and Comte, the future author of the "Positive Philosophy." His most important works were, "Introduction to the Scientific La- bors of the Nineteenth Century," "The Reorganization of European Society," and "New Christianity." He died in 1825. ST. STEPHEN, The Deacon, called also the "protomartyr," or earliest of the Christian martyrs; one of the seven dea- cons whose appointment is related in the 6th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The circumstances of his martyrdom are related in the same chapter. ST. STJLPICE, a famous diocesan semi- nary for priests in Paris, close by the large and wealthy church of St. Sulpice, on the S. side of the Seine, near the Lux- embourg. ST. THOMAS, a volcanic island of Africa belonging to Portugal ; in the Gulf of Guinea; 166 miles W. of the mouth of the Gabun river. Its S. extremity almost touches the equator. Measuring 32 miles by 21, it has an area of 360 square miles; pop. about 59,000. Though it rises to the altitude of 7,000 feet, it has the rep- utation of being very unhealthy. Coffee and cocoa, with some pepper, cinnamon, maize, indigo, etc., are the principal prod- ucts. Chief town, St. Thomas, on the N. E. coast, the seat of a bishop. The island was discovered in 1470, and col- onized in 1493 by the Portuguese, to whom it reverted after a Dutch occupation from 1641 to 1844. ST. THOMAS, one of the Virgin Islands, W. I., formerly belonging to Den- mark, but now territory of the United States; 36 miles E. of Porto Rico; area, 33 square miles. English is the language of the educated classes. The surface is hilly and the soil poor. The cultivation of vegetables, guinea grass, and a small quantity of cotton employs the scanty ru- ral population. The port, St. Thomas, was formerly a busy emporium for the European trade of the West Indies, the harbor in which the merchant fleets as- sembled to wait for their convoys, and later the principal port of call in the West Indies. All these advantages have now passed from it. Before the abolition of slavery it was covered with prosperous sugar plantations. The island is often visited by earthquakes, but they are not, as a rule, so destructive as the cyclones. It was first colonized by the Dutch in 1657. The British held it in 1667-1671, 1801, 1807-1815; and the United States purchased it from Denmark in 1916. Pop. (1917) 10,191. ST. THOMAS, a city and capital of Elgin co., Ontario, Canada; on Kettle creek, on the Michigan Central, the Can- adian Pacific, the Wabash, the Pere Mar- quette, and the Grand Trunk railroads; 75 miles S. W. of Hamilton. Here are numerous churches and hotels, water^ works, gas and electric lights, several branch banks, and a number of daily and weekly newspapers. The city has flax, planing, and flour mills, the Michigan Central railroad shops, and manufac- tories of ear-wheels, carriages, mattress- es, brooms, spokes, churns, etc. Pop. about 20,000. ST. VINCENT, one of the British islands in the West Indies, Windward Group, 105 miles W. of Barbadoes; area, 140 square miles; pop. (1919) 53,210, of whom about 3,000 are whites and Hindu coolies, the rest being negroes and people of mixed blood. The island is traversed from N. to S. by a chain of volcanic mountains, which rise in the volcano called the Souffriere to 3,500 feet. This volcano erupted May 7, 1902, with great violence, causing about 1,600 deaths. The climate is healthy. Sugar, rum, cocoa, spices, and arrowroot are the principal products. The chief town is Kingstown (pop. about 5,000), at the head of a bay on the S. W. coast. The island is ruled by a governor and a nominated legisla- tive council of seven members; previous to 1877 it had a representative govern- ment. St. Vincent was discovered by Col- umbus in 1498, and was then inhabited by Caribs. These people were left in pos- session down to 1783, although Charles I. gave the island to the Earl of Carlisle in 1627. In 1797 the Caribs, rebelling with French aid, were transferred to the island of Ruatan in the Bay of Honduras.
