stratocracy

[Gr. stratos =an army, and krateō to rule.] Military government; government by military chiefs and an army. "Morbidly anxious for the support of a composite str a . tocracy and a decaying despotism."- London Daily News. str a-tog-ra-phỹ, s. [ Gr.stratos =an army, and grapho to write, to describe.] A description of armies or of what belongs to an army. str a-tom-ě-tër, s . [Eng. strata , and meter .] An instrument for determining in what manner geological strata pre upon each other. ( Mayne .) *str a-ton-ic, a. [Gr. stratos =an army.] Pertaining or relating to an army. strā-to-pe-ite, s. [Etym. doubtful.] Min.: An amorphous mineral resulting from the alteration of rhodonite, the manganese pa ing from protoxide to sesquioxide. Dana makes it a variety of neo to cite, but it is a doubtful compound. Found with rhodonite at Filipstad, Sweden. *str a-tot-ic, a . [ Gr.stratos =an army.] Warlike, military. strātum (pl. str a-ta), s. [Lat. that which is laid flat or spread out, neut. sing. of stratus , pa. par. of sterno to strew (q. v.).] I. Ord. Lang.: A bed or layer artificially made of any material. II. Technically: 1. Bot.: A layer of ti ue. 2. Geol .: A bed or ma of matter spread out over a certain surface, in most cases by the action of water, but sometimes also by that of wind. The method in which stratification by the agency of water has been effected in bygone times may be understood by a study of the manner in which suc ce ive layers of gravel, sand, mud, ., are deposited in a river or running brook. The same proce has been at work through untold periods of time. The greater part of the earth's crust, in nearly every land, is found to be thus stratified. Strata may be conformable (q. v.), or unconformable (q. v.). In the former case there generally is a considerable approach to parall-lism among them. It is. however, inferior in exactne to that of cleavage planes. Strata laid down by water, as a rule, retain fo il remains of the α animals and plants imbedded in them when they were soft and plastic. b Metamorphism generally destroys those organic remains, but leaves the с stratification undisturbed; thus there are two kinds of strata-sedimentary and metamorphic-nearly synonymous with fo iliferous and non-fo iliferous stratified rocks. Most strata have a dip (q. v.) and a strike (q. v.). The fo ils will in most cases show whether strata are lac us trine, fluviatile, or Sedimentary Strata. a. Mud; b. Sand; c. Pebbles. They all rest unconformably on older beds dipping at a high angle. 3881 great convulsion may have tilted over strata in limited areas, so that the oldest have been thrown uppermost. Á study of the same beds over a wide expanse of country prevents error in est i mating the relative age of strata thus reversed. The thickne of the stratified rocks is believed to be about twenty miles, or 100,000 feet. They are not all present at one place, or even in one country. Though a surprisingly large number are to be found in America, yet some foreign beds require to be inserted in the series, and even then great gaps remain, each representing a lapse of time. For the order of superposition, see Fo iliferous. [GEOLOGY.]