Page:EB1911 - Volume 24.djvu/294

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
  
SCAFELL—SCAFFOLD
279

value upon the gods, while people of intellect had no need of religion at all. He was proscribed by the Marian party, and in 82, when the younger Marius, after his defeat by Sulla at Sacriportus, gave orders for the evacuation of Rome and the massacre of the chief men of the opposite party, Scaevola, while attempting to reconcile the opposing factions, was slain at the altar of Vesta and his body thrown into the Tiber. He had already escaped an attempt made upon his life by Gaius Fimbria at the funeral of the elder Marius in 86.

Scaevola was the founder of the scientific study of Roman law and the author of a systematic treatise on the subject, in eighteen books, frequently quoted and followed by subsequent writers. It was a compilation of legislative enactments, judicial precedents and authorities, from older collections, partly also from oral tradition. A small handbook called Ὅροι (Definitions) is the oldest work from which any excerpts are made in the Digest, and the first example of a special kind of judicial literature (libri definitionum or regularum). It consisted of short rules of law and explanations of legal terms and phrases. A number of speeches by him, praised by Cicero for their elegance of diction, were in existence in ancient times.

4. Quintus Mucius Scaevola (c. 159–88 B.C.), uncle of (3), from whom he is distinguished by the appellation of “ Augur.” He was instructed in law by his father, and in philosophy by the famous Stoic Panaetius of Rhodes. In 121 he was governor of Asia. Accused of extortion on his return, he defended himself and, though no orator, secured his acquittal by his legal knowledge and common sense. In 117 he was consul. He did not take a prominent part in the Senate, but his brief, unpolished remarks sometimes made a great impression. He was a great authority on law, and at an advanced age he gave instruction to Cicero and Atticus. He had a high appreciation of Marius, and when Sulla assembled the senate, to obtain from it a declaration that Marius was the enemy of his country, Scaevola refused his assent. He married Laelia (the daughter of Gaius Laelius, the friend of the younger Scipio), by whom he had a son and two daughters, one of whom became the wife of Licinius Crassus the orator. Scaevola is one of the interlocutors in Cicero's De oratore, De amicitia and De republica.

For the legal importance of the Scaevolas, see A. Schneider, Die drei Scaevola Ciceros (Munich, 1879), with full references to ancient and modern authorities.


SCAFELL (pronounced and sometimes written Scaw Fell), a mountain of Cumberland, England, in the Lake District. The name is specially applied to the southern point (3162 ft. in height) of a certain range or mass, but Scafell Pike, separated from Scafell by the steep narrow ridge of Mickledore, is the highest point in England (3210 ft.). The ridge continues N.E. to Great End (2984 ft.), which falls abruptly to a flat terrace, on which lies Sprinkling Tarn. The terrace is traversed by the path between Sty Head Pass (1600 ft.) and Esk Hause (2490 ft.). The range thus defined may be termed the Scafell mass. Northwest from the Pike the lesser height of Lingmell (2649 ft.) is thrown out like a bastion, and the steep flank of the range, scored with the deep gully of Piers Gill, sweeps down to the head of Wasdale. On the east an even steeper wall, with splendid crags, falls to Eskdale. Above Mickledore ridge Scafell rises nearly sheer, the rock scored with bold clefts; here are some of the ascents most in favour with the mountaineers. Some of these tax climbers to the utmost; and the mountain has been the scene of several accidents.


SCAFFOLD, Scaffolding (from the O. Fr. escafaut, originally escafalt, modern échafaud, a corruption of the Italian or Spanish catafalco, a platform, especially a canopy over a bier, a catafalque; this word is composed of O. Span. catar, O. Ital. catare, to view, Lat. captare, to watch, observe, and balco, balcony), properly a platform or stage, particularly one of a temporary character erected for viewing or displaying some spectacle, and hence applied to the raised structure on which the execution of a criminal or condemned person is carried out. (See Capital Punishment, &c.). The word “scaffold” or “scaffolding” is used in a technical sense of an obstruction formed in a blast furnace by the fitting together of lumps which form a. comparatively solid skeleton rnass inside the furnace, preventing the charge from descending properly. The most general modern application of the word, however, is, in building, to the temporary structure of platforms erected or suspended at convenient heights to afford workmen easy access to their work. Such scaffolds may be divided into four principal classes-bricklayers scaffolds, masons' scaffolds, gantries and derrick towers or stages. The first two are constructed with upright and horizontal pores lashed together. Gantries and derricks are built up of squared timber, and the different members are connected by iron bolts and dogs.

The bricklayers’ scaffold is constructed of standards, ledgers and putlogs, and the Connexions are made with lashings of rope, though wire ropes or chains are sometimes used. The standards are a series of upright fir poles 30 to 50 ft. in length, either (I) sunk about 2 ft. into the ground, (2) fixed in barrels filled with earth lightly rammed, Bricklayers’ scaffold. or (3) placed upon a “sole plate” of timber with a. square formed of small fillets of Wood round the base to prevent movement. The standards are placed 6 to 9 ft. apart, and about 5 ft. away from the building. At every 5 ft. ledgers are tied to the standards to support' the putlogs, which in turn support the platform of planks. The ledgers are poles lashed horizontally to the standards; upon these, putlogs, usually of birch wood 3 in. square in section, are laid about 3 or 4 ft. apart, with one end resting on the ledger and the other in a recess in the wall. The outer end should be lashed to the ledger. Boards are then laid upon these putlogs parallel with the face of the Wall. Two thicknesses of boards are laid when the work is heavy. If the scaffold is erected in an exposed position or is more than 30 ft. high, it should be stiffened by cross braces of poles running diagonally across the face of the structure and firmly lashed to all the main timbers touched. Ties should also be taken back from the face of the scaffold through apertures in the walls of the building and firmly secured. These ties should be connected with every fourth standard and start at a height between 20 and 30 ft. from the ground. Instead of, or in addition to, these ties light shores may be taken from the face of the scaffold outwards from the building. As the work is carried up the boarding and many of the putlogs are removed to the stage above, some putlogs, however, being left tied to the lower ledgers to stiffen the scaffold. In the case of thick walls a scaffold is required inside as well as outside the building, and when this is the case the two structures are tied together and stiffened by short connecting poles through the window and door openings.

The mason requires an independent scaffold. He cannot rest the inner ends of his putlogs in the wall as the bricklayer does, for this would disfigure the stonework, so he erects, another and parallel framework of standards and ledgers within a few inches of the wall-face upon which to support them. The two portions are tied together with cross Mason’s scaffold. braces, and the whole of the limbering is made capable of taking heavier weights than are required in the case of the bricklayer.

Scaffolding poles are of Northern pine obtained chiefly from the Baltic ports. They consist of small trees up to 30 to 49 ft. long and of not more than 9 in. in diameter. They are sold with the bark on, but this should be removed before use. Such material forms the standards and ledgers. The putlogs are usually pieces of birch from 3 to 4 in. square in section, and 5 to 6 ft. Materials. long. In order to have the fibres uncut they should be split, not sawn. Scaffold boards are made in 8-to 12-ft. lengths, 7 or 9 in. wide, and 11/2 in. or 2 in. thick. They should be of yellow deal, but they are more often cut from spruce. The corners are cut off and the ends bound with stout hoop-iron to prevent splitting. The cords used for lashing are made of Jute and hemp fibre. The best and strongest cords are those of white Manilla hemp. The fibres for scaffold cords are often dipped in hot tar before being made up into rope. The ropes generally used b the scaffold er are either “shroud laid,” having three strands of fibres wound tightly around a core, or “three strand” which are similar but without a core.

The erection of scaffolding demands nerve and physical strength, as well as skill and discretion. The timbers near the ground are fixed by hand labour alone; the higher poles are raised, by pulley and rope. The wedges used for tightening cordage are driven in between the pole and the rope. They should be of oak or other hard wood, about 12 in. long and semicircular in Erection.cross section, and should taper off from one end to the other. Practically the only tool used by the scaffolder is his hatchet, made with a