The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 422

SYDENHAM, THOMAS, the "English Hippocrates," born in Dorsetshire, educated at Oxford, and a Fellow of All Souls'; practised medicine in London, where, though regarded with disfavour by the faculty, he stood in high regard, and had an extensive practice, from his study of the symptoms of disease, and the respect he paid to the const.i.tution of the patient; he used his own sense and judgment in each case, and his treatment was uniformly successful; he commanded the regard of his contemporaries Locke and Boyle, and his memory was revered by such experts as Boerhaave, Stahl, Pinel, and Haller; he ranks as a great reformer in the healing art (1624-1689).

SYDNEY (488), the capital of New South Wales, the oldest city in Australia, and one of the first in the world, on the S. sh.o.r.e of the basin of Port Jackson; and the entrance of a magnificent, almost land-locked, harbour for shipping of the largest tonnage; the situation of the city is superb, and it is surrounded by the richest scenery; the sh.o.r.es of the basin are covered with luxuriant vegetation, studded with islands and indented with pretty bays; it is well paved, has broad streets, and some fine buildings, the princ.i.p.al being the university, the two cathedrals, the post-office, and the town hall. It is a commercial rather than a manufacturing city, though its resources for manufacture are considerable, for it is in the centre of a large coal-field, in connection with which manufacturing industries may yet develop.

SYDNEY, ALGERNON. See SIDNEY, ALGERNON.

SYLLOGISM, an argument consisting of three propositions, of which two are called premises, major and minor, and the one that necessarily follows from them the conclusion.

SYLPHS, elemental spirits of the air, as salamanders, are of fire, of light figure with gliding movements and procreative power.

SYLVESTER, ST., the name of three popes: S. I., Pope from 314 to 335; S. II., Pope from 999 to 1003, alleged, from his recondite knowledge as an alchemist, to have been in league with the devil; and S.

III., Anti-Pope from 1041 to 1046.

SYLVESTER, ST., the first Pope of the name, said to have converted Constantine and his mother by restoring a dead ox to life which a magician for a trial of skill killed, but could not restore to life; is usually represented by an ox lying beside him, and sometimes in baptizing Constantine.

SYMBOLISM has been divided into two kinds, symbolism of colour and symbolism of form. Of colours, BLACK typifies grief and death; BLUE, hope, love of divine works, divine contemplation, piety, sincerity; PALE BLUE, power, Christian prudence, love of good works, serene conscience; GOLD, glory and power; GREEN, faith, immortality, resurrection, gladness; PALE GREEN, baptism; GREY, tribulation; PURPLE, justice, royalty; RED, martyrdom for faith, charity, divine love; ROSE-COLOUR, martyrdom; SAFFRON, confessors; SCARLET, fervour and glory; SILVER, chast.i.ty and purity; VIOLET, penitence; WHITE, purity, temperance, innocence, chast.i.ty, and faith in G.o.d. Instances of form: ANCHOR typifies hope; PALM, victory; SWORD, death or martyrdom; the LAMB, christ; UNICORN, purity. Of stones, moreover, the AMETHYST typifies humility; DIAMOND, invulnerable faith; SARDONYX, sincerity; SAPPHIRE, hope, &c.

SYME, JAMES, a great surgeon, born in Edinburgh; was demonstrator under Liston; was elected to the chair of Clinical Surgery in 1833; gave up the chair to succeed Liston in London in 1848, but returned a few months after; was re-elected to the chair he had vacated; he was much honoured by his pupils, and by none more than Dr. John Brown, who characterised him as "the best, ablest, and most beneficent of men"; he wrote treatises and papers on surgery (1799-1870).

SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON, English man of letters, born at Bristol; educated at Harrow and Oxford; author of "The Renaissance in Italy," a work which shows an extensive knowledge of the subject, and is written in a finished but rather flowery style, and a number of other works of a kindred nature showing equal ability and literary skill; his translation of Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography is particularly noteworthy; was consumptive, and spent his later years at Davos, in the Engadine (1840-1893).

SYMPHLAGADES, two fabulous floating rocks at the entrance of the Euxine, which, when driven by the winds, crushed every vessel that attempted to pa.s.s between them; the ship ARGO (q. v.) managed to pa.s.s between them, but with the loss of part of her stern, after which they became fixed.

SYMPHONY, an elaborate orchestral composition consisting usually of four contrasted and related movements; began to take distinctive shape in the 17th century, and was for long merely a form of overture to operas, &c., but as its possibilities were perceived was elevated into an independent concert-piece, and as such exercised the genius of Mozart and Haydn, reaching its perfection of form in the symphonies of Beethoven.

SYNAGOGUE, a Jewish inst.i.tution for worship and religious instruction which dates from the period of the Babylonian Captivity, specially to keep alive in the minds of the people a knowledge of the law. The decree ordaining it required the families of a district to meet twice every Sabbath for this purpose, and so religiously did the Jewish people observe it that it continues a characteristic ordinance of Judaism to this day. The study of the law became henceforth their one vocation, and the synagogue was inst.i.tuted both to instruct them in it and to remind them of the purpose of their separate existence among the nations of the earth. High as the Temple and its service still stood in the esteem of every Jew, from the period of the Captivity it began to be felt of secondary importance to the synagogue and its service. With the erection and extension of the latter the people were being slowly trained into a truer sense of the nature of religious worship, and gradually made to feel that to know the will of G.o.d and do it was a more genuine act of homage to Him than the offering of sacrifices upon an altar or the observance of any religious rite. Under such training the issue between the Jew and the Samaritan became of less and less consequence, and he and not the Samaritan was on the pathway which led direct to the final worship of G.o.d in spirit and in truth (John iv. 22).

SYNAGOGUE, THE GREAT, the name given to a council at Jerusalem, consisting of 120 members, there a.s.sembled about the year 410 B.C. to give final form to the service and worship of the Jewish Church. A Jewish tradition says Moses received the law from Sinai; he transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, the elders to the prophets, to the men of the Great a.s.sembly, who added thereto these words: "Be circ.u.mspect in judgment, make many disciples, and set a hedge about the law." To them belong the final settlement and arrangement of the Jewish Scriptures, the introduction of a new alphabet, the regulation of the synagogue worship, and the adoption of sundry liturgical forms, as well as the establishment of the FEAST OF PURIM (q. v.), and probably the "schools" of the Scribes.

SYNCRETISM, name given to an attempted blending of different, more or less antagonist, speculative or religious systems into one, such as Catholic and Protestant or Lutheran and Reformed.

SYNDICATE, in commercial parlance is a name given to a number of capitalists a.s.sociated together for the purpose of carrying through some important business scheme, usually having in view the controlling and raising of prices by means of a monopoly or "corner."

SYNERGISM, the theological doctrine that divine grace requires a correspondent action of the human will to render it effective, a doctrine defended by Melanchthon when he ascribes to the will the "power of seeking grace," the term "synergy" meaning co-operation.

SYNESIUS, BISHOP PTOLEMAIS, born at Cyrene; became a pupil of HYPATIA (q. v.) and was to the last a disciple, "a father of the Church without having been her son," and is styled by Kingsley "the squire bishop," from his love of the chase; "books and the chase," on one occasion he writes, "make up my life"; wrote one or two curious books, and several hymns expressive of a longing after divine things (375-414).

SYNOD, name given to any a.s.sembly of bishops in council, and in the Presbyterian Church to an a.s.sembly of a district or a general a.s.sembly.

SYNOPTIC GOSPELS, the first three Gospels, so called because they are summaries of the chief events in the story, and all go over the same ground, while the author of the fourth follows lines of his own.

SYRA (31), an island of the Cyclades group, in the aegean Sea, 10 m, by 5 m., with a capital called also Hermoupolis; on the E. coast is the seat of the government of the islands, and the chief port.

SYRACUSE, 1, one of the great cities of antiquity (19), occupied a wide triangular tableland on the SE. coast of Sicily, 80 m. SW. of Messina, and also the small island Ortygia, lying close to the sh.o.r.e; founded by Corinthian settlers about 733 B.C.; amongst its rulers were the tyrants DIONYSIUS THE ELDER and DIONYSIUS THE YOUNGER (q. v.) and Hiero, the patron of aeschylus, Pindar, &c.; successfully resisted the long siege of the Athenians in 414 B.C., and rose to a great pitch of renown after its struggle with the Carthaginians in 397 B.C., but siding with Hannibal in the Punic Wars, was taken after a two years' siege by the Romans (212 B.C.), in whose hands it slowly declined, and finally was sacked and destroyed by the Saracens in 878 A.D.

Only the portion on Ortygia was rebuilt, and this const.i.tutes the modern city, which has interesting relics of its former greatness, but is otherwise a crowded and dirty place, surrounded by walls, and fortified; exports fruit, olive-oil, and wine. 2, A city (108) of New York State, United States, 148 m. W. of Albany, in the beautiful valley of Onondaga; is a s.p.a.cious and handsomely laid-out city, with university, &c.; has flourishing steel-works, foundries, rolling-mills, &c., and enormous salt manufactures.

SYRIA (2,000), one of three divisions of Asiatic Turkey, slightly larger than Italy, forms a long strip of mountains and tableland intersected by fertile valleys, lying along the eastern end of the Mediterranean from the Taurus range in the N. to the Egyptian border on the 8., and extending to the Euphrates and Arabian desert The coastal strip and waters fall within the LEVANT (q. v.). In the S. lies Palestine, embracing Jordan, Dead Sea, Lake of Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), Jerusalem, Gaza, &c.; in the N., between the parallel ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, lies the valley of Coele-Syria, through which flows the Orontes. Important towns are Aleppo, Damascus, Beyrout (chief port), &c.; princ.i.p.al exports are silk, wool, olive-oil, and fruits. Four-fifths of the people are Mohammedans of Aramaean (ancient Syrian) and Arabic stock.

Once a portion of the a.s.sYRIAN EMPIRE (q. v.), it became a possession successively of the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Egyptians, and finally fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1516, under whose rule it now languishes. For further particulars see various names and places mentioned.

SYRIa.n.u.s, a Greek Neoplatonic philosopher of the 5th century; had PROCLUS (q. v.) for a disciple; left a valuable commentary on the metaphysics of Aristotle.

SYRINX, an Arcadian nymph, who, being pursued by Pan, fled into a river, was metamorphosed into a reed, of which Pan made his flute.

SYRTIS, MAJOR AND MINOR, the ancient names of the Gulfs of Sidra and Cabes on the N. coast of Africa, the former between Tripoli and Barca, the latter between Tunis and Tripoli.

SYRUS, PUBLIUS, a slave brought to Rome, and on account of his wit manumitted by his master; made his mark by composing memoirs and a collection of pithy sayings that appear to have been used as a school-book; flourished in 45 B.C.

SYSTeME DE LA NATURE, a book, the authorship of which is ascribed to BARON HOLBACH (q. v.), which appeared in 1770, advocating a philosophical materialism and maintaining that nothing exists but matter, and that mind is either naught or only a finer kind of matter; there is nowhere anything, it insists, except matter and motion; it is the farthest step yet taken in the direction of speculative as opposed to political nihilism.

SYZYGY, the point on the orbit of a planet, or the moon when it is in conjunction with, or in opposition to, the sun.

SZECHUAN (71,000), the largest province of China, lies in the W.

between Thibet (NW.) and Yunnan (SW.); more than twice the size of Great Britain; a hilly country, rich in coal, iron, &c., and traversed by the Yangtse-kiang and large tributaries; Chingtu is the capital; two towns have been opened to foreign trade, opium, silk, tobacco, musk, white wax, &c., being chief exports.

SZEGEDIN (89), a royal free city of Hungary, situated at the confluence of the Maros and Theiss, 118 m. SE. of Budapest, to which it ranks next in importance as a commercial and manufacturing centre; has been largely rebuilt since the terribly destructive flood of 1879, and presents a handsome modern appearance.