Asia Minor, where she bore a son to him, named Syrus, and gave her name to the town.

SINOPE, in ancient geography, a sea-port town of Asia Minor, in Pontus, founded by a colony of Milesians. It was long independent, and became famous as the birth place of Diogenes, the Cynic philosopher. It was afterwards seized by Pharnaces, king of Pontus, and Mithridates the Great made it his capital. Strabo 2; Mela 1. c. 19; Diod. 4. It is now called Sinob.

SINOPE, the ancient name of Sinuessa. SINOPICA TERRA, in ancient inineralogy, a red earth of the ochre kind, called also rubrica sinopica, and by some authors sinopis. It is very close, compact, and weighty, of a fine glowing purple color. It is of a pure texture, but not very hard, and of an even but dusty surface. It adheres firmly to the tongue; is perfectly fine and smooth to the touch; does not crumble easily between the fingers; stains the hands; melts slowly in the mouth; is perfectly pure and fine, of an austere astringent taste, and ferments violently with aquafortis. It was dug in Cappadocia, and carried for sale to Sinope, whence its name. It is now found in plenty in New Jersey, in America, and is called by the people there bloodstone. Its fine texture and body, with its high florid color, must make it very valuable to painters; and, from its astringency, it will probably be a powerful medicine.

SINOPLE, in heraldry, denotes vert, or green color, in armories. Sinople is used to signify love, youth, beauty, rejoicing, and liberty; whence it is that letters of grace, ambition, legitimation, &c., are always sealed with green wax.

SINOVIA, or SYNOVIA, a mucilaginous fluid in the joints of animals, intended to facilitate motion by lubricating the parts. See ANATOMY, Index. The only analysis of sinovia,' says Dr. Thomson, in his System of Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 423-425, which has hitherto appeared, is that by Mr. Margueron, which was published in the 14th vol. of the Annales de Chimie. He made use of sinovia obtained from the joints of the lower extremities of oxen. The sinovia of the ox, when it has just flowed from the joint, is a viscid semi-transparent fluid, of a greenish-white color, and a smell not unlike frog spawn. It very soon acquires the consistence of jelly, whether it be kept in a cold or a hot temperature, whether exposed to the air or excluded from it. This consistence does not continue long; the sinovia soon recovers its fluidity, and deposits a threadylike matter. Sinovia mixes readily with water, and imparts to it a great deal of viscidity. The mixture froths when agitated; becomes milky when boiled, and deposits some pellicles on the sides of the dish; but its viscidity is not diminished. When alcohol is poured into sinovia, a white substance precipitates, which has all the properties of albumen; 100 parts of sinovia contain 4:52 of albumen. The liquid still continues as viscid as ever; but, if acetous acid be poured into it, the viscidity disappears altogether, the liquid becomes transparent, and deposits a quantity of matter in white threads, which possesses the following properties: 1. It has the color, smell, taste, and elasticity, of vegetable gluten. 2. It is soluble in concentrated acids and pure

alkalies. 3. It is soluble in cold water; the solution froths; acids and alcohol precipitate the fibrous matter in flakes; 100 parts of sinovia contain 11.86 of this matter. When the liquid, after these substances have been separated from it, is concentrated by evaporation, it deposits crystals of acetite of soda. Sinovia, therefore, contains soda. Margueron found that 100 parts of sinovia contained about 0.71 of soda. When strong sulphuric, muriatic, nitric, acetic, or sulphurous acid, is poured into sinovia, a number of white flakes precipitate at first, but they are soon redissolved, and the viscidity of the liquid continued. When these acids are diluted with five times their weight of water, they diminish the transparency of sinovia, but not its viscidity; but, when they are so much diluted that their acid taste is just perceptible, they precipitate the peculiar thready matter, and the viscidity disappears. When sinovia is exposed to a dry atmosphere, it gradually evaporates, and a scaly residuum remains, in which cubic crystals, and a white saline efflorescence, are apparent. The cubic crystals are muriate of soda; 100 parts of sinovia contain about 1.75 of this salt. The saline efflorescence is carbonate of soda. Sinovia soon putrefies in a moist atmosphere, and, during the putrefaction, ammonia is exhaled. When distilled in a retort, there come over, first, water, which soon putrefies; then water containing ammonia; then empyreumatic oil and carbonate of ammonia. From the residuum, muriate and carbonate of soda may be extracted by lixiviation. The coal contains some phosphate of lime.' From the analysis of M. Margueron, sinovia is com-' posed of 11.86 fibrous matter, 4:52 albumen, 1.75 muriate of soda, 71 soda, 70 phosphate of lime, and 80-57 water.

SINTOO, the ancient religion of the Japanese, so called from Sin, one of their chief deities. How far it differed from their present system we know not. See JAPAN.

And the strong table groans Beneath the smoking sir-loin, stretched immense From side to side. Thomson's Autumn.

SIRANI (John Andrew), an eminent historical painter, born at Bologna in 1610. He was a disciple of Guido. His Last Supper at Rome is much admired. He died in 1670.

SIRANI (Elizabeth), daughter and disciple of the preceding, was born at Bologna in 1638. Before she reached her fifteenth year, she was reckoned a prodigy in painting. She painted in the manner of her father and equalled him. She died in 1664.

SIRBO, in ancient geography, a lake between Egypt and Palestine, now called Sebaket Bardoil. Plin. iv. c. 13.

SIRCAR, any office under the government in Hindostan. It is sometimes used for the state of government itself, also for a province or any number of pergunnahs placed under one head in the government books, for conveniency in keeping accounts. In Bengal the under banyans of European gentlemen are called Sircars. See CIRCAR.

SIRE, n. s. & v. a, Fr. sire; Lat. senior. A father. Used in poetry. Shakspeare uses the verb for to beget; produce.

He, but a duke, would have his son a king, And raise his issue like a loving sire.

Shakspeare. Henry VI. Cowards father cowards, and base things sire the Shakspeare.

base.

A virgin is his mother, but his sire The power of the Most High. Milton's Paradise Lost. And now I leave the true and just supports, Of legal princes and of honest courts, Whose sires, great partners in my father's cares, Saluted their young king at Hebron crowned. Prior. Whether his hoary sire he spies, While thousand grateful thoughts arise, Or meets his spouse's fonder eye.

Pope's Chorus to Brutus.

SIRE was a title of honor formerly given to the king of France as a mark of sovereignty. SIRE was likewise anciently used in the same sense with sieur and seigneur, and applied to barons, gentlemen, and citizens.

SIREN, n. s. Lat. siren. A goddess who enticed men by her singing, and devoured them; any mischievous enticer.

Oh train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note, To drown me in thy sister's flood of tears: Sing, siren, to thyself, and I will dote; Spread o'er the silver waves thy golden hair, And as a bed I'll take thee, and there lie.

Shakspeare.

The SIRENS, or SIRENES, in fabulous history, were celebrated songstresses, who were ranked among the demigods of antiquity. Hyginus places their birth among the consequences of the rape of Proserpine. Ovid makes them daughters of the river god Achelous by the Muse Calliope, or Melpomene. Their number was three, and their names were Parthenope (who gave its ancient name to Naples), Lygeia, and Leucosia; or, as others say, Molpe, Aglaophonos, and Thelxiope. Some make them half women and half fish; others half women and half birds. There are antique representations of them still subsisting under both these forms. Pausanias

tells us, that the Sirens, by the persuasion of Juno challenged the Muses to a trial of skill in singing; and these having vanquished them, plucked the golden feathers from the wings of the Sirens, and formed them into crowns, with which they adorned their own heads. The Argonauts were diverted from the enchantment of their songs by the superior strains of Orpheus. Ulysses, however, had great difficulty in securing himself from their seduction. See Odys. lib. xii. Some say that the Sirens were queens of the islands named Sirenuse, and chiefly inhabited the promontory of Minerva, upon the top of which that goddess had a temple, built by Ulysses. Here there was a renowned academy, famous for eloquence and the liberal sciences; but at last they abused their knowledge to the corruption of manners, and enticed passengers, who there consumed their patrimonies in riot and effeminacy. The place is now called Massa. Some writers tell us of a certain bay, contracted within winding straits and broken cliffs, which, by the singing of the winds and beating of the waters, returns a delightful harmony that allures the passenger to approach, who is immediately thrown against the rocks, and swallowed up by the violent eddies. Horace calls idleness a siren. But the fable may be applied to pleasures in general, which, if too eagerly pursued, betray the incautious into ruin. Mr. Bryant says that the Sirens were Cuthite and Canaanitish priests, who had founded temples in Sicily, which were rendered infamous on account of the women who officiated. They were much addicted to cruel rites, so that the shores upon which they resided were covered with the bones of men destroyed by their artifices. Virg. Æn. lib. v. 864. All ancient authors agree that the Sirens inhabited the coast of Sicily. The name, says Bochart, in the Phoenician language, implies a songstress. Hence it is probable, says Dr. Burney, that they were excellent singers, but of corrupt morals.

SIREN, in zoology, a genus of animals, arranged by Linnæus in the class of amphibia and the order of meantes. But Gmelin has since corrected the arrangement of that eminent zoologist, and ranked it under the genus Muræna. See MURENA.

SIRENUSÆ, in ancient geography, five small islands near Capræa, on the coast of Italy, said to have been anciently inhabited by the Sirens. They are now called Galli. See GALLI.

SIREX, in zoology, a genus of animals belonging to the class of insects, and to the order of hymenopteræ. The mouth has two strong jaws; there are two truncated palpi or feelers, filiform antennæ, an exserted, stiff, serrated sting, a sessile mucronated abdomen, and anceolated wings. There are seven species.

SIRHIND, or SERHIND, a large district in the north-western quarter of Delhi, situated between 30° and 31° N. lat.

The portion of this district which borders on Hansy Hissar and Carnaul is extremely barren, being covered with low wood, and in many places almost destitute of water. The city of Sirhind was formerly the capital of this territory, but it is now a scene of desolation, and has probably never recovered the dreadful ravages

of the seik Bairaggee Banda about 1707, who is stated to have levelled its palaces and public buildings to the ground. Patiala is now the largest and most flourishing town in this province, and next to it is Tahnesir (Thanesur), which is still held in high religious veneration by the Hindoos, as is also the river Sereswati, which flows through the country.

The greatest part of the district is possessed by the Malawa Singh class of seiks. In March, 1809, rajah Ranjeet Singh, the seik chief of Lahore, gave up the forts he had occupied on the left bank of the Sutuleje to the British, who restored them to their former owners.

SIRHIND, a town in the province of Delhi, the capital of the district of this name, 155 miles N.N.W. from Delhi. Lat. 30° 40′ N., long. 75° 55' E. This place was flourishing in the time of Abul Fazel, who describes it as a famous city, containing the delightful gardens of Hafez Rehneh, but it now exhibits only a shapeless. mass of ruins. In the neighbourhood are numerous mango groves, and some excellent tanks.

SIRICIUS, pope of Rome, who succeeded pope Damasus I., A. D. 384, to the exclusion of Ursicinus. His Epistles are preserved in Constant's collection. He died A. D. 398.

SIRIES (Violante Beatrice), a celebrated Italian paintress, born at Florence in 1710. She became the disciple of Fratellini, then in high esteem, and made great progress under him, in crayons and water colors. She afterwards went to France, where she acquired the art of painting in oil, and executed several portraits of the nobility. On her return to Florence she was highly patronised by the grand duke. One of her chief performances is a picture of the whole imperial family.

SIRIUM, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class of tetrandria and order of monogynia. The calyx is quadrifid; there is no corolla; the nectarium is quadriphyllous and crowning the throat of the calyx; the germen is below the corolla; the stigma is trifid, and the berry trilocular. There is only one species. S. myrtifolium, the myrtle-leaved sirium.

SIRIUS [Lat.], the dogstar, a bright star in the constellation of Canis. See CANICULA.

SIRLET (Flavius), an eminent Roman engraver on precious stones. His Laocoon and representations in miniature of antique statues at Rome are very valuable and scarce. died in 1737.

He

SIRMIUM, or SIRMICH, an ancient and celebrated town of Sclavonia, capital of a county so named. The emperor Probus was born and killed in it. See PROBUS and ROME. In 270 the emperor Claudius II. died in it of the plague. In 1668 the Imperialists drove the Turks out of it. It is now ruinous, though a bishop's see, founded so early as the reign of Trajan. It is seated on the Bosweth, near the Save, forty-two miles south-east of Esseck, and twenty-seven north-west of Belgrade. Long. 20° 19′ E., lat. 45° 13′ N.

SIRMOND (James), a learned French Jesuit, the son of a magistrate, born at Riom in 1559. After studying at the college of Billom, he joined the society in 1576. In 1588 he began to trans

late the works of the Greek fathers, and to write notes upon Apollinaris Sidonius. In 1590 his general Aquaviva sent for him to Rome to be his secretary; which office he executed successfully for sixteen years; visiting libraries, studying antiquities, and consulting MSS. He also assisted cardinal Baronius in his Ecclesiastical Annals. He returned to Paris in 1606, where he published many works. Louis XIII. appointed him his confessor in 1637. In 1645 he returned to assist at the election of a new general. He spent much of his time in collecting the works of the writers of the middle age, which he published with notes. His whole works amounted to fifteen volumes folio, of which five are entirely his own. He died at Rome 7th of October, 1651, aged ninety-two. SIROCCO, n. s. Ital. sirocco; Lat. syrus ventus. The south-east or Syrian wind. Forth rush the levant and the ponent winds, Eurus and Zephyr, with their laternal noise,

Sirocco and Libecchio.

Milton.

The SIROCCO, or SCIROCHO, is a periodical wind which generally blows in Italy and Dalmatia every year about Easter. It blows from the south-east by east; it is attended with heat but not rain; its ordinary period is twenty days, and it usually ceases at sun-set. When the sirocco does not blow in this manner, the summer is almost free from westerly winds, whirlwinds, and storms. This wind is prejudicial to plants, drying and burning up the buds; though it hurts not men any otherwise than by causing an extraordinary weakness and lassitude; inconveniences that are fully compensated by a ptentiful fishing, and a good crop of corn on the mountains. In summer, when the westerly wind ceases for a day, it is a sign that the sirocco will blow the day following, which usually begins with a sort of whirlwind.

SIROPUM, an ancient town of Egypt, mentioned by Pliny, supposed to be modern Siwa. SIR'RAH, n.s. Sir, ha!-Minshew. A compellation of reproach and insult.

Sirrah, there's no room for faith, troth, or honesty, in this bosom of thine. Shakspeare. Henry IV. It runs in the blood of your whole race, sirrah, to hate our family. L'Estrange.

Prior.

Guess how the goddess greets her son, Come hither, sirrah; no, begone. SIR'OP, n. s. Arab. sirop or shrob; Teut. SIR'UP, syrup; barb. Lat. syrupus. The SIRUPED, adj.juice of vegetables boiled with sugar: sweet like syrup.

Shall I, whose ears her mournful words did seize, Her words in sirup laid of sweetest breath, Relent?

Sidney.

SISERA, a general of the Canaanites, under king Jabin II., who was defeated by the Israelites under Deborah and Barak, with great slaughter of his troops, and obliged to fly for refuge to Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite, who was at peace with Jabin, but who treacherously murdered him, while sleeping in the confidence of her protection. It is impossible to vindicate this action of Jael's, unless upon the general principle that it is lawful to rid the world of oppressors by any means. Deborah, indeed, praises and pronounces a blessing upon her for it, in the popular song she composed after the victory (Jud. v. 24); but, though she was undoubtedly an inspired prophetess, we are not certain if in this composition she was inspired by any thing but her patriotic zeal for her countrymen, now restored to their liberty, after a tedious oppression of twenty years. That this act of Jael's, whereby the victory of the Israelites over their oppressors was completed, was ordained by the Almighty is evident from the context (ch. iv. 9), where it was foretold by Deborah; but this does not justify the action any more than the treachery of Judas, which was also foretold many centuries before it happened, but is no where vindicated on that account.

SISINNIUS, pope of Rome, was a native of Syria, who rose through various gradations in the clerical line, till at last, on the death of John VII. in 708, he was elected pope, but did not enjoy the triple crown three weeks, dying on the twentieth day after his election.

SISON, bastard stone parsley, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class of pentandria, and to the order of digynia; and in the natural system arranged under the forty-fifth order, umbellatæ. The fruit is egg-shaped and streaked; the involucra are subtetraphyllous. There are seven species. 1. S. ammi. 2. S. amomum, common bastard parsley, or field stone-wort, is a biennial plant about three feet high, growing wild in many places of Britain. Its seeds are small, striated, of an oval figure and brown color. Their taste is warm and aromatic. Their whole flavor is extracted by spirit of wine, which elevates very little of it in distillation; and hence the spirituous extract has the flavor in great perfection, while the watery extract has very little. A tincture drawn with pure spirit is of a green color. The seeds have been esteemed aperient, diuretic, and carminative; but are now little regarded. 3. S. Canadense, the Canada bastard parsley, is common in Canada. 4. S. falsum, the false bastard parsley. 5. S. inundatum, least water parsley. The stem is about eight or ten inches high, branched and creeping; the leaves below the

water are capillary; above it are pinnated; the umbels are bifid. It grows wild in our ditches and ponds. 6. S. segetum, corn parsley or honeywort. The stems are numerous, slender, striated, branched, and leaning; the leaves are pinnated; the pinnæ are oval, pointed, and serrated, six or eight pair, and one at the end; the umbels small and drooping; the flowers minute and white. It grows in our corn-fields and. hedges. 7. S. verticillatum, verticillate sison, has small leaves in whirls, and capillary; the stem is two feet with few leaves; the common umbel is composed of eight or ten rays, the partial of eighteen or twenty; both involucra are composed of five or six oval acute foliola; the flowers are all hermaphrodite, and the petals white. It grows wild in Britain.

SISSOPOLI, or SIZEBOLI, a town of European Turkey, the ancient Apollonia, situated on a point of land which projects into the Black Sea. It has the best roadstead in the gulf, where men of war may anchor in perfect safety. The inhabitants are Greeks, and the chief articles of trade. are wine and wood. 115 miles N. N.W. of Constantinople.

SISTER, n. s. Sax. rpeorter; Belg. zusSISTERHOOD, ter. A female child of the SIS'TERLY, adv. same parents; the correllative of brother; a female of the same kind or nature; hence a woman of the same Christian faith: sisterhood is, the state or duty of a sister; a number of women of the same order: sisterly, like a sister. Thy sister in law is gone back unto her people : return thou after thy sister in law. Ruth i. 15.

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of food, and you say unto them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are needful to the body James ii. 15. what doth it profit?

He chid the sisters,

And bade them speak to him. Shakspeare. Macbeth.
Wishing a more strict restraint
I speak,
Upon the sisterhood, the votarists of Saint Clare.

Shakspeare.