[Swatow] (30), a seaport of China, at the mouth of the Han, 225 m. E. of Canton; has large sugar-refineries, factories for bean-cake and grass-cloth; since the policy of "the open door" was adopted in 1867 has had a growing export trade.
[Swaziland] (64), a small South African native State to the E. of the Transvaal, of which in 1893 it became a dependency, retaining, however, its own laws and native chief; is mountainous, fertile, and rich in minerals; the Swazis are of Zulu stock, jealous of the Boers, and friendly to Britain.
[Sweating Sickness], an epidemic of extraordinary malignity which swept over Europe, and especially England, in the 15th and 16th centuries, attacking with equal virulence all classes and all ages, and carrying off enormous numbers of people; was characterised by a sharp sudden seizure, high fever, followed by a foetid perspiration; first appeared in England in 1485, and for the last time in 1551.
[Sweating System], a term which began to be used about 1848 to describe an iniquitous system of sub-contracting in the tailoring trade. Orders from master-tailors were undertaken by sub-contractors, who themselves farmed the work out to needy workers, who made the articles in their own crowded and foetid homes, receiving "starvation wages." The term is now used in reference to all trades in cases where the conditions imposed by masters tend to grind the rate of payment down to a bare living wage and to subject the workers to insanitary surroundings by overcrowding, &c., and to unduly long hours. Kingsley's pamphlet, "Cheap Clothes and Nasty," and novel, "Alton Locke," did much to draw public attention to the evil. In 1890 an elaborate report by a committee of the House of Lords was published, and led in the following year to the passing of the Factory and Workshops Act and the Public Health Act, which have greatly mitigated the evil.
[Sweden] (4,785), a kingdom of Northern Europe, occupying the eastern portion of the great Scandinavian Peninsula, bounded W. by Norway, E. by Russian Finland, Gulf of Bothnia, and the Baltic, and on the N. stretches across the Arctic circle between Norway (NW.) and Russia (NE.), while its southern serrated shores are washed by the Skager-Rack, Cattegat, and Baltic. From the mountain-barrier of Norway the country slopes down in broad terrace-like plains to the sea, intersected by many useful rivers and diversified by numerous lakes, of which Lakes Wenner, Wetter, and Mälar (properly an arm of the sea) are the largest, and lying under forest to the extent of nearly one-half its area; is divided into three great divisions: 1, Norrland in the N., a wide and wild tract of mountainous country, thickly forested, infested by the wolf, bear, and lynx, in summer the home of the wood-cutter, and sparsely inhabited by Lapps. 2, Svealand or Sweden proper occupies the centre, and is the region of the great lakes and of the principal mineral wealth (iron, copper, &c.) of the country. 3, Gothland, the southern portion, embraces the fertile plains sloping to the Cattegat, and is the chief agricultural district, besides possessing iron and coal. Climate is fairly dry, with a warm summer and long cold winter. Agriculture (potatoes, grain, rye, beet), although scarcely 8 per cent. of the land is under cultivation, is the principal industry, and with dairy-farming, stock-raising, &c., gives employment to more than one-half of the people; mining and timber-felling are only less important; chief industries are iron-works, sugar-refineries, cotton-mills, &c.; principal exports timber (much the largest), iron, steel, butter, &c., while textiles and dry-goods are the chiefly needed imports. Transit is greatly facilitated by the numerous canals and by the rivers and lakes. Railways and telegraphs are well developed in proportion to the population. As in Norway, the national religion is Lutheranism; education is free and compulsory. Government is vested in the king, who with the advice of a council controls the executive, and two legislative chambers which have equal powers, but the members of the one are elected for nine years by provincial councils, while those of the other are elected by the suffrages of the people, receive salaries, and sit only for three years. The national debt amounts to 14½ million pounds. In the 14th century the country became an appanage of the Danish crown, and continued as such until freedom was again won in the 16th century by the patriot king, Gustavus Vasa. By the 17th century had extended her rule across the seas into certain portions of the empire, but selling these in the beginning of the 18th century, fell from her rank as a first-rate power. In 1814 Norway was annexed, and the two countries, each enjoying complete autonomy, are now united under one crown.
[Swedenborg, Emmanuel], a mystic of the mystics, founder of the "New Church," born at Stockholm, son of a bishop, a boy of extraordinary gifts and natural seriousness of mind; carefully educated under his father, attended the university of Upsala and took his degree in philosophy in 1709; in eager quest of knowledge visited England, Holland, France, and Germany; on his return, after four years, was at 28 appointed by Charles XII. assessor of the Royal College of Mines; in 1721 went to examine the mines and smelting-works of Europe; from 1716 spent 30 years in the composition and publication of scientific works, when of a sudden he threw himself into theology; in 1743 his period of illumination began, and the publication of voluminous theological treatises; the Swedish clergy interfered a little with the publication of his works, but he kept the friendship of people in power. He was never married, his habits were simple, lived on bread, milk, and vegetables, occupied a house situated in a large garden; visited England several times, but attracted no special attention; died in London of apoplexy in his eighty-fifth year. "He is described, in London, as a man of quiet, clerical habit, not averse to tea and coffee, and kind to children. He wore a sword when in full velvet dress, and whenever he walked out carried a gold-headed cane." This is Emerson's account in brief of his outer man, but for a glimpse or two of his ways of thinking and his views the reader is referred to Emerson's "Representative Men." The man was a seer; what he saw only himself could tell, and only those could see, he would say, who had the power of transporting themselves into the same spiritual centre; to him the only real world was the spirit-world and the world of sense only in so far as it reflected to the soul the great invisible (1688-1772).
[Swedenborgians], the members of the "New Jerusalem Church," founded on the teaching of [Emmanuel Swedenborg] (q. v.) on a belief in direct communion with the world of spirits, and in God as properly incarnate in the divine humanity of Christ.
[Swedish Nightingale], name popularly given to [Jenny Lind] (q. v.).
[Swerga] or Svarga, the summit of Mount Meru, the Hindu Olympus, the heaven or abode of [Indra] (q. v.) and of the gods in general.
[Swetchine, Madame], a Russian lady, Sophie Soymanof, born at Moscow, who married General Swetchine, and, after turning Catholic, became celebrated in Paris during 1817-51 as the gracious hostess of a salon where much religious and ethical discussion went on; plain and unimposing in appearance, she yet exercised a remarkable fascination over her "coterie" by the elevation of her character and eager spiritual nature (1782-1857).