diplomatist, orator, philosopher, and poet. Born at Cyrene about 375 A.D., the contemporary of Augustine, he took pride in tracing his descent from the Heraclidæ, the royal family of Sparta, who first colonised the Pentapolis, and inherited wealth and estates in the interior. He studied at Alexandria under Hypatia (q.v.), whose influence over him proved a dominant and lifelong one. He used to turn to her for advice when in difficulty, and for sympathy when in trouble. He also studied in Athens, which disappointed him; and he returned to the Pentapolis, resolved to spend his life in study and in the pursuits of a country gentleman. Of hunting in particular he was passionately fond. About 399 he was appointed by his fellow-citizens a delegate from Cyrene to bring certain grievances before the Emperor Arcadius at Constantinople. He remained in that city for three years. In his speech 'On Kingship' Synesius warns Arcadius sternly of the perilous nature of the times, and points out the duties of a good king. During his stay at Constantinople a revolution took place, Arcadius was driven out by the Scythian general Gainas, and Aurelian, leader of the national party, banished. While waiting for an audience Synesius wrote a curious book entitled Concerning Providence. In the form of an allegory he describes the contest between Aurelian and Gainas, under the veil of a conflict between Osiris and Typhon, who personify Good and Evil; and deals with the question why God permits evil, and delays so long to interfere. In a few weeks Gainas fell, Synesins attained the end of his mission, and sailed for home. The voyage from Alexandria was a perilous one, which Synesius describes in a long and delightful letter. The next eight years were a time of peace and happiness for Synesius; books and the chase,' he writes, make up my life.' About 403 he married a wife belonging to Alexandria. During these years he wrote his treatise Concerning Dreams, a half-burlesque essay, The Praise of Baldness (he was bald himself), his Dion, or on Self-discipline, setting forth his ideal of the philosophier, the second part of his book on Providence, several Hymns, and a great many letters. This peaceful period was interrupted by war. The Libyan nomads made raids upon the fertile Pentapolis; there were no soldiers at Cyrene, but Synesius raised a troop of volunteers. The helpless governor Cerealius fled; Cyrene was besieged, and Synesius had to organise and direct the defence of the city.

Up to this time Synesius appears before us as a man of letters, steeped in Greek literature and philosophy, and standing quite outside of Christianity. Doubtless the horrors of war and barbarian invasion forced upon his mind the weakness of Neoplatonism. In 411 the people of Ptolemais, fearing the appointment of a corrupt governor, fixed on Synesins as their bishop. Synesins was most unwilling; in Ep. 105 he tells his difficulties and scruples; but at last he yielded, and was consecrated at Alexandria in 410. From this time to his death his life was burdened and weighed down by constant private troubles and public calamities. On his return to Ptolemais he found the new governor Andronicus playing the tyrant, boldly excommunicated him, and secured his recall. As a bishop Synesius acted with great prudence and decision, yet his conscience troubled him, and he felt he had been presumptuous in undertaking such an office. The Ausurians invaded the country, and Synesius had again to spend his nights on the ramparts and direct the defence. His only surviving child died. Synesius was broken with troubles, and both his philosophy and his religion appeared to fail him in his need. The city was relieved, but he fell ill; and about

SYNTHESIS

413 he died. His last letter was written to Hypatia, who retained all his old affection and reverence. His last Hymn, with its humble prayer for deliverance from indwelling sin, contrasts strongly with the Neoplatonic doctrines of the earlier hymns. Hypatia's name for him, the good of other people,' indicates the unselfishness of his nature. His 156 letters reveal to us a character fascinating in many ways, a man open-eyed, of high spirit and awake to every call of duty, sound and healthy in body and mind, passionately fond at the same time of intellectual pursuits and of sport, not without vanity, but with no sensual element. In many ways he reminds us of Charles Kingsley. The Hymns show Synesius as the poet of Neoplatonism; their keynote is the longing of the soul to rise to intellectual communion with God.

See editions by Turnebus (1553), Migne (text inaccurate; 1859), German trans. by Krabinger, accompanied by revised text and notes (1825-50), and books on Synesius by Druon, Sur la Vie et les Euvres de Synesius (1859), and Volkınann (1869). In T. R. Halcomb's article (Dr Smith's Dictionary of Christian Biography) his philosophical and religious belief, and in Miss A. Gardner's book (S.P.C.K., 1886) his relation to the history of the time, are excellently described.

Synod. See COUNCIL, PRESBYTERIANISM. Synovial Membrane, which facilitates the gliding of a tendon of a muscle or of the integument over a projection of bone; see JOINTS, p. 350.

Synthesis (Gr. synthesis, 'a putting together'), in Chemistry, is a term applied, in contrast to Analysis (q.v.), to the building up of compound substances from the elements they contain or from other compounds usually of less complexity than themselves. The term was formerly applied more particularly to the artificial' formation by the ordinary processes of the laboratory of substances which were at one time only obtainable as themselves products of the vital processes of plants or animals, or as derivatives from such products. Later the term was especially applied to the building up of complex carbon compounds; the greater part of modern organic chemistry consisting of such synthesis of new compounds of carbon. the latest work on the synthetical methods for the preparation of organic compounds (that by Elbs, see below) the signification of the term has been still further restricted by the author (quite arbitrarily, however) to those operations only which give rise to compounds resulting from a new union of carbon with carbon.

In

Syntheses of new organic compounds are frequently the result of chance discoveries of new reactions, but a very large number of such reactions of more or less general applicability have been studied and classified, so that a new synthesis may be the result of a deliberate attempt to produce a new compound of a definite composition. Similarly the constitution of an important compound occurring in nature, such as, for instance, an alkaloid, is often known with tolerable cer tainty from the products yielded by it in a series of decompositions, and the information which has been gained from these decompositions indicates the lines upon which an attempt at synthesis may be made with a fair prospect of success. The mode of procedure indicated in the foregoing sentence has resulted in the synthetical or artificial production of numerous substances useful in the arts, in medicine, for domestic purposes, &c. As instances of substances naturally occurring in, or obtainable from, plants or animals, which have also been prepared synthetically, the following may be mentioned: indigo; alizarine, the colouring matter from madder; vanilline, the flavouring principle of the vanilla pods; citric acid, the acid of lemons; urea; uric acid, &c. Amongst the most

SYNTONIN

familiar of synthetically prepared compounds not known as occurring naturally are a large number of the so-called coal-tar colours, saccharine, and many other coal-tar products, &c.

For further information, any large text-book of chemistry may be consulted; for instance, Roscoe and Schorlemmer's Treatise on Chemistry. Special works on organic synthesis are Lellmann's Principien der organischen Sumthese (1887) and Elbs's Synthetische Darstellungsmethoden der Kohlenstoff-rerbindungen (1889-91).

Syntonin (also called Muscle Fibrin), a substance akin to fibrin, which is an important constituent of muscular tissue. See MUSCLE, p. 354, FIBRIN, PROTEIDS, and ANIMAL CHEMISTRY.

Syphilis is a markedly contagious, infective, and inoculable disease. It gains entrance at a wounded spot, and from thence gradually infects the body. It may manifest itself during the whole of the patient's life, and is capable of being transmitted to the offspring. It has many analogies with the exanthemata, and may be regarded as one of the most important of that group. Syphilis (other than hereditary) can only be propagated by direct contagion or by the transmission of the virus through some vessel or medium which has recently been contaminated. It is most commonly caused by impure sexual intercourse. As the result of this, after a symptomless incubation period of about three weeks, there forms at the point of infection a single painless ulcer, with a hard cartilaginous base and scanty secretion known as the Primary Sore— Hard Chanere.-Associated with this a change is seen in the nearest glands into which the lym phatics of the ulcerated spot discharge, and this change extends to all the lymphatic glands of the body. They are enlarged, bullet-like, painless, and do not become matted together as in ordinary inflammations. The sore and glandular enlargement constitute the primary stage of syphilis, and last from the date of inoculation for about eight weeks. This is followed by the secondary stage. It may be preceded by malaise, headache, and fever, and is characterised by skin eruptions, variable in kind and duration, which are symmetrical, do not itch, fade, and leave no trace. Amongst the first is a brownish-pink evanescent mottling-Roscola-on the chest, abdomen, and flanks. This is succeeded by a papular rash, which in its turn frequently assumes a more scaly appearance-Psoriasis. Similar changes are seen in the mouth, on the tongue, and about the anus, in the form of mucous patches, cracks, fissures, shallow ulcers, and condylomata. The hair is frequently shed, and crusts form on the scalp. Syphilitic inflammations of the eye (Iritis), ear, testes, and periosteum also occur.

The secondary symptoms go on for about a couple of years, become more irregular in duration and character, and gradually cease as the period of the tertiary stage develops. This may show itself long after the cessation of secondary symptoms. The disease is no longer contagious, but the lesions which arise are much more serious to the patient. Masses of cells of low vitality, known as gummata, non-vascular, with a pronounced tendency to break down and ulcerate, may arise in any of the tissues. They are asymmetrical and are specially prone to affect the connective tissue, skin, bone, muscle, and viscera. They frequently simulate malignant tumours, and are a fertile source of many of the diseases of the brain and spinal cord, giving rise to epilepsy and various forms of paralysis. In some instances tertiary syphilis is lifelong, and resists treatment most obstinately.

The precise nature of the syphilitic virus is at present unknown. There is reason to believe that a micro-organism similar to that of tubercle is the This would seem to proliferate in the

cause.

primary sore, to be carried along the lymphatics, and so to infect the whole of the tissues. Attempts to excise the sore have not met with success in preventing the disease. Syphilis is one of the most frequent causes of abortion, and the infants of syphilitic parents show the manifestations of secondary syphilis in the form of skin eruptions. In more advanced life hereditary syphilis is recognised amongst other things by the irregular and pegshaped teeth, the depressed broken-like nose, and traces of inflammation of the cornea. It is noteworthy that the mother sometimes displays no evidence of the trouble, her children cannot infect her, while they may readily infect their nurse and other healthy people with whom they are brought in

contact.

The treatment of syphilis requires that one should aid the elimination of the disease, combat the anæmia caused by it, antagonise the tendency to the formation of gummata, and prevent the spread of the infection. It is necessary to warn the patient that during the whole of the primary and secondary stages he is a cause of danger to others, and that, while his normal evacuations are innocent, the discharges from any sore or abraded surface and his blood are most virulent. Hence the utmost care must be taken to avoid contagion through the medium of the utensils he uses at meal-time, &c. He should lead a regular life, taking due exercise and avoiding strains and excess of all kinds. The anæmia and the syphilitic virus itself are met by the administration of mercury. This should be given in small doses over a prolonged period, say of twelve to eighteen months, with frequent short breaks. By this means the secondary symptoms are alleviated, and the tertiary stage may be prevented.

In later secondary eruptions iodide of potassium may be combined with the mercury, and in tertiary conditions the iodide alone is indicated. Large doses of iodide-10 or 15 grains thrice a day-are frequently required in cerebral and spinal syphilis. The patient who suffers from syphilis should not be allowed to marry until he has passed six months without showing any evidence of secondary mischief, and that too without taking mercury. least two years should have elapsed since he contracted the disease.

At

In the event of a mother producing syphilitic children she alone should be allowed to nurse them. As a rule syphilis is very amenable to treatment, provided the patient be otherwise strong and leads a regular life. Syphilis is a disease of remote antiquity, and is found all over the globe. It is now probably becoming much milder in its effects, although occasionally local outbreaks do occur which display all the malignancy which characterised it during the middle ages.

The extraordinary prevalence of this disease during the latter part of the 15th century led to the unfound d belief that it had come from the New World with the

Spanish navigators, though the name Morbus Gallicus, or the Neapolitan Disease, was that now commonly given. It seems probable that at an earlier date, when its cause had not been recognised, it was often confounded with other diseases, such as leprosy. The word was borrowed from the name of a hero in Fracastoro's poem Syphilidis Libri III. For its history and treatment (including Syphilisation, a suggested method of securing a mild form of the illness and subsequent prevention by inoculation), see Häser, Geschichte des Medicins; Rosenbaum, Die Lustscuche im Altertum (1888); and the Manuals by Lancereaux (1869), Lee (1875), Cooper (1884), Hutchinson (1887), and Von Zeissl (New York, 1887).

Syra (Gr. Syros), the most important, though not the largest of that group of islands in the Egean Sea known as the Cyclades (see GREECE). It is about 10 miles long by broad, has an area of 42 sq. m., and is bare, rocky, and not very

fertile. Its prosperity is of quite modern growth. During the War of Independence Syra remained neutral, hence many fugitives of commercial enterprise flocked thither from Chios and other parts of Greece. Pop. of island (1889) 31,573. The capital, Syra, or Hermoupolis, is situated on a bay on the east side of the island. It rises terrace-wise from the shore, is well built, and is the seat of government for the Cyclades, and the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop. This port is the chief commercial entrepôt of the Ægean. Every year it imports, principally manufactured wares (one-third of total), hides, grain and flour, yarns, timber, iron, salt-fish, rice, and coal to the average value of £1,210,500 (£685,650 supplied by Great Britain), and exports tobacco, emery-stone, valonia, sponges, and fresh vegetables to the average value of £103,280.

its own.

Syracuse, anciently a famous city of Sicily, situated on the south-eastern coast of the island, 80 miles SSW. of Messina, was founded by Corinthian settlers about 733 B.C. The colonists seem to have occupied the little isle of Ortygia, which stretches south-east from the shore. The settlement rapidly rose to prosperity, and towards the end of the 6th century B.C. sent out colonies of Little is known of the early political state of Syracuse; but about 485 the ruling families, probably descendants of the original colonists, were expelled by the lower classes of citizens. Gelon (q.v.), despot of Gela, restored the exiles, and at the same time made himself master of Syracuse. He increased both the population and the power of his new state, and won the highest prestige by a great victory over the Carthaginians at Himera. In his time Achradina, a triangular tableland north of Ortygia and on the adjoining mainland, was built upon. This ultimately became the most extensive and populous quarter: it contained the Agora, a temple of Zeus Olympins, the Prytaneum, with a splendid statue of Sappho and fine monuments to Timoleon and the elder Dionysius (q.v.), &c. At a later date, and possibly thus early, there were two other quarters in the city-Tyche, occupying a plateau to the west of Achradina; and Neapolis (New City), stretching along, the southern slopes of the plateau, and overlooking the marshes of the Anapus and the Great Harbour, a spacious and well-sheltered bay to the south-west of Ortygia. This islet, however, contained the

citadel, which overlooked the docks in the Lesser Harbour on the north.

Hiero (q.v.), the successor of Gelon, was celebrated throughout the Greek world as a patron of the fine arts and of men of genius, as Eschylus, Pindar, &c. In 467 B.C. the democracy again got the upper hand-Thrasybulus, Hiero's brother and successor, a tyrant of the baser sort, being expelled; and for sixty years a free and democratic government was enjoyed, under which Syracuse flourished more than it had ever done. During this period occurred the great struggle with Athens (415-414 B.C.), and the celebrated siege by the Athenian armament, a contest in which the Sicilian city came off victorious. Nine years later Dionysius (q.v.) restored the tyranny of Gelon, and during a reign of nearly forty years greatly increased the strength and importance of the city (see SICILY). It was he who constructed the docks in the Greater and Lesser Harbours, and surrounded the city with fortifications. His fierce war with Carthage (397 B.C.) raised the renown of Syracuse still higher. The reigns of the younger Dionysius (q.v.) and of Dion, the friend of Plato, were unsettled; but after the restoration of public liberty by Timoleon (343 B.C.) a brief season of tranquillity ensued. In 317 B.C., twenty years after the death of the noble Timoleon, Agathocles,

SYRIA

a rude soldier of fortune, once more restored the despotic form of government, which continued, with scarcely an interruption, through the reign (fifty years) of the enlightened Hiero II., the friend and ally of Rome, down to the conquest of the city by the Romans after a siege of two years, in which Archimedes perished (212 B.C.). This event was occasioned during the Hannibalic war by Hieronymus, a rash and vain young man, abandoning the prudent policy of his grandfather, Hiero (q.v.), breaking the alliance with Rome, and joining his and their foes, the Carthaginians. Under the Romans Syracuse slowly declined, though with its handsome public buildings and its artistic and intellectual culture, it always continued to be the first city of Sicily. It was captured, pillaged, and burned by the Saracens in 878 A.D., and after that sunk into complete decay. For ancient Syracuse, see Freeman's H.story of Sicily.

The modern city (Siracusa) is confined to the original limits, Ortygia, which, however, is no longer an island, but a peninsula. The streets, which are defended by walls and a citadel, are, with few exceptions, narrow and dirty. Syracuse has a cathedral (the ancient temple of Minerva), a museum of classical antiquities, a public library, with some curious MSS., numerous churches, monasteries, and nunneries, the ancient fountain of Arethusa (its waters mingled with sea water since the earthquake of 1170), and remains of ancient Greek and Roman temples, aqueducts, the citadel Euryalus, a theatre, an amphitheatre, and quarries, besides ancient Christian catacombs. The people manufacture chemicals and pottery, and trade in fruits, olive-oil, wine (exports), wheat, timber, and petroleum (imports) to the annual value of a quarter of a million sterling. Pop. 19,389.

Syracuse, an important city of central New York, seat of Onondaga county, lies in the beautiful Onondaga valley, stretching along Onondaga Creek to the head of the lake of the sanie nanie. It is on the Erie Canal, and is a terminus of the Oswego Canal; by rail it is 148 miles E. of Buffalo and 1471 W. of Albany. Syracuse is the seat of a Methodist Episcopal university (1870), open to both sexes. It carries on extensive manufactures, the most notable being salt, of which some 6,000,000 bushels annually is produced. The city possesses rolling mills, Bessemer steel-works, foundries, blast-furnaces, boiler-factories, and manufactories of engines, farming implements, furniture, doors and blinds, picture-frames, silver-ware, musical instruments, saddlery, boots and shoes, flour, beer, &c. The salt-springs were visited by French missionaries as early as 1654, and began to be worked by white men in 1789; the city was incorporated in 1847. Pop. (1880) 51,792; (1890) 88,143.

Syr-Daria. See JAXARTES.

Syria, a country of western Asia, embracing the regions that lie between the Levant and the Euphrates from Mount Taurus in the north to the southern border of Palestine, or even to the peninsula of Sinai. The eastern boundaries south of the Euphrates are not clearly defined or marked off from the wide expanse of the Arabian desert. The physical conformation of Syria is throughout simple and uniform. A range of mountains, split in the north into two parallel chains-Libanus and AntiLibanus-fronts the Mediterranean, ranging in height from 6000 feet in the north up to 10,000 feet in the central parts, but falling again in the south to 3500 feet. Behind these mountains lies a tableland, that gradually falls away eastwards to the desert. The separate districts of Syria have

SYRIA

been already described in geographical detail in the articles LEBANON, PALESTINE, PHOENICIA, BASHAN, HAURAN, DEAD SEA, JORDAN. The prevailing winds being westerly, the slopes of the mountains next the Mediterranean and the valleys ensconced among them, together with the immediate seaboard, get a tolerably plentiful supply of moisture during the rainy half of the year (October to May); snow even falls on the highest summits of the mountain-ranges. The climate on the plateau is generally dry, and in certain localities hot. The valley of the Jordan is remarkably hot. The soil is in many parts possessed of good fertility, and in ancient times, when irrigation was more extensively practised, yielded a much greater return than it does at the present time. Damascus is noted for its gardens and orchards. Hauran produces excellent wheat. Northern Syria is the home of the olive. The vine grows in nearly all parts of the country. Fruit (oranges, figs, &c.) is cultivated on the coast plains. Sheep and goats are the most important of the domestic animals. The principal exports are silk (£405,000 to £665,000 annually), cereals (£150,000 to £300,000), wool, olive-oil, lemons and oranges, soap, sponges, sesame, liquorice, cottons, and tobacco. The total value is about 1 to 1 million pounds sterling. The imports reach pretty nearly the same figure; but all the statistics affecting Syria are very imperfect. Manchester goods (£768,000 to £944,000) constitute the chief item in the imports. Besides these there are woollens, rice, copper and iron, sacking, timber, and hides. The chief port is Beyrout, and to it must be added Acre, Caiffa (Haifa), Tyre, and Tripoli. Railways, to connect Damascus with Acre and with Beyrout, and Tripoli with the interior, are projected. The population is estimated at 2,677,000 and at 1,450,000, and again at about 2,000,000. The bulk of the inhabitants are Mohammedans, but do not all profess the orthodox Sunnite creed: for instance, there are the Druses (q.v.), certain sects of Shiites, and others. The Christians make up about one-fifth of the total (see below). The principal ethnic elements in the population are descendants of the ancient Syrians (Aramæans) and Arabs, these last both settled and nomad; besides there are Jews, Turks, and Europeans.

The earliest historical records that treat of Syria are those that relate the histories of the Hittites (q.v.), the Phoenicians (q.v.), and the Hebrews (see JEWS). The first nanied were for several centuries supreme in northern Syria, and at times stretched their authority southwards as far as the hills of southern Palestine. Yet they had most formidable rivals on both sides of them in Assyria and Egypt, from both of which countries their subjects derived no small share of their skill in manufacturing industry, and in the arts and manners of life. The other two peoples mentioned occupied the most prominent place in southern Syria. Nevertheless at different periods we read of flourishing Aramæan (Semitic) principalities, such as Damascus, Hamath, Zobah, and similar petty states. These, as well as most of northern Syria, were conquered during the 8th century B.C. by the kings of Assyria; the Jewish kingdoms experienced the same fate at the hands of the Babylonian kings in the 7th and 6th centuries. As previous to the 9th century B.C. Syria had been the battle-ground of the Egyptian and Hittite armies, so after that period it was, as a province of Assyria (Babylonia), involved in the struggle between that great empire and Egypt. (The Greeks first knew this region as a province of Assyria; hence the contracted name Syria.) Towards the end of the 6th century B.C. Syria fell under the dominion of the Persian empire; and two centuries later it was conquered by Alex

ander of Macedon. When his empire broke to pieces the Seleucida (q. v.) made Antioch the capital of their empire of Syria. From the Seleucidæ it passed, through the hands of Tigranes of Armenia, to the Romans, for whom it was won by Pompey in 64 B.C. Under these new masters the country flourished and became celebrated for its thriving industries, its commercial prosperity, and its architectural magnificence (see BAALBEK, PALMYRA; also NABATEANS). On the division of the Roman world Syria became part of the Byzantine empire, and of it remained a province until its conquest by the Mohammedan Arabs in 636. It still continued to be prosperous under the Arabs and their successors the Egyptian sovereigns, in spite of the unsettled period of the Crusades (q.v.). The first severe blow it suffered came from the Mongols in 1260, and its ruin was completed when in 1516 it passed from the Egyptians to the Ottoman Turks, its present rulers.

See Burton and Drake, Unexplored Syria (2 vols. Lond. 1872); Lady Burton, Inner Life of Syria (1875); Von Südenhorst, Syrien und seine Bedeutung für den Welthandel (Vienna. 1873); Lortet, La Syrie d'Aujourd'hui (Paris, 1884); Baedeker's Palestine and Syria (by Professor A. Socin); C. R. Conder. Heth and Moab (1883); De Vogué, Syrie Centrale; Architecture Civile et Religieuse du 1er au 7me Siècle (Paris, 1865-77); and books quoted under the various articles cited above."

The Church of the Syrian Rite was that portion of the oriental church which had its seat in Syria, and which was anciently comprehended in the patriarchate of Antioch and (after that of Jerusalem obtained a distinct jurisdiction) partly in the patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Syrian Church of the early centuries was exceedingly flourishing; before the end of the 4th century it numbered 119 distinct sees, with a Christian population of several millions. The first blow to its prosperity was the fatal division which arose from the controversies on the incarnation (see EUTYCHES; GREEK CHURCH, Vol. V. pp. 397–399). The Eutychian heresy, in one or other of its forms, obtained wide extension in Syria; the Moslem conquest accelerated the ruin thus begun; and from the 7th century downwards this once flourishing church declined into a weak and spiritless community, whose chief seat was in the mountains, and whose best security from oppression lay in the belief on the part of the conquerors of its utterly fallen and contemptible condition. In Syria there are now, beside the dominant Moslems and the Druses (q.v.), orthodox Greeks, United Greeks, United Syrians, and Maronites (q.v.)-the three latter in communion with the Roman Catholic Church (q.v.), besides Protestant missions. See also NESTORIANS. For the Syrian Liturgy, see LITURGY, Vol. VI. p. 661; for Syriac, SEMITIC LANGUAGES; and for Syriac versions of the Bible, see BIBLE, Vol. II. p. 126.

Syringe (Gr. syrinx, 'a pipe '), a hydraulic instrument, consisting of a cylinder of metal or glass, having a conical nozzle at one end, and the other fitted with an air-tight piston. The nozzle being inserted in a liquid, the retraction of the piston draws the liquid into the cylinder, on the principle of the Pump (q.v.), and by its forward pressure the liquid is expelled from the nozzle in the form of a jet. See CLYSTER.

Syrtis, the ancient name of two gulfs of the Mediterranean Sea, on the north coast of Africa. The Syrtis Major, now called the Gulf of Sidra, lies between Tripoli and the tableland of Barca, and forms the most southern part of the Mediterranean. The Syrtis Minor, now called the Gulf of Cabes, lies between Tunis and Tripoli. The shores of both are inhospitable, and abound in quicksands.

Syrup (Fr. syrop, Span. xarope, Arab. shuráb, 'a beverage,' 'wine, syrup.' Shrub is a doublet; and sherbet, Arab. sharbút, is from the same root), in its simplest meaning, a saturated solution of sugar boiled to prevent fermentation; but it also means the juice of fruits saturated with sugar and many flavoured liquids, treated in the same way. Generally speaking, the finest refined sugar is used; and every effort is made to get the syrup very clear and free from all feculent matter. Syrups of fruits are much used on the Continent to mingle with water for drink, and are very wholesome. The golden syrup' of the grocer is the uncrystallisable finally separated in the manufacture from crystallised sugar (see SUGAR). Medicinal syrups contain with the sugary element some therapeutic agent. Parrish's Syrup contains the phosphate of iron with the phosphates of lime, potash, and soda, dissolved in dilute phosphoric acid, sugar being added. Easton's Syrup has in it phosphate of iron, with the phosphates of quinine and strychnine. There are syrups of the hypophosphites, and many others.

Syrus, EPHRAEM. See EPHRAEM SYRUS. Syrus, PUBLIUS or PUBLILIUS, a Roman writer of mimes who flourished about 43 B.C., and was most probably a Syrian slave brought to Rome in early youth, educated, and freed by some indulgent master. After Laberius he reigned supreme on the stage, and his mimes, being as full of shrewd epigrammatic wit as broad humour, did altogether perish with him. About two hundred apophthegms are still extant, under the title Publilii Syri Mimi Sententia. One of these supplied the motto for the Edinburgh Review, although Sydney Smith admits that none of the young collaborators knew anything further of its author: 'Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur.'

not

Szabadka, or MARIA-THERESIOPEL, a royal free town of Hungary, stands on the plain that lies between the Danube and the Theiss, 106 miles S. by E. of Budapest by rail, and is the centre of a rich agricultural district, with a trade in cattle, skins, wool, corn, fruit, tobacco, &c. Pop. (1881) 61,367; (1890) 73,526.

Szarvas, a town of Hungary, on the river Körös, 80 miles SE. of Budapest. A good breed

SZOLNOK

of horses is cultivated here. Pop. (1890) 24,391, mostly Slovaks, who, however, speak Hungarian. Szathmar-Nemethy, a town of Hungary, on the Szamos, 68 miles by rail NE. of Debreczin, with a Roman Catholic cathedral, and a trade in wine. Pop. (1890) 20,613.

Sze-chwan, the largest province of China, 185,000 sq. m. in area, is situated in the west, having Tibet on the north-west and Yunnan on the south-west; the remaining boundaries are conterminous with various provinces of China. It is traversed and watered by the Yang-tsze-Kiang and its affluents, is hilly throughout, mountainous in the west, and rich in natural products, including coal, iron, and other minerals. Opium, silk, salt, sugar, medicines, tobacco, hides, musk, rhubarb, and white wax (produced by an insect) are exported to the annual value of £5,000,000; and European cottons and woollens are imported to the value of £3,000,000 annually. The capital is Ching-tu, the chief commercial town Chungking, on the Great River, which was opened to British trade in the end of 1889. Ichang (q.v.) was thrown open to foreign trade in 1877. Pop. (1885) 71,000,000, a prosperous, peaceful, and contented people. See A. Hosie, Three Years in Western China (1890).

a

Szegedin, a royal free town of Hungary, stands at the confluence of the Maros with the Theiss, 118 miles by rail SE. of Budapest. This town was almost completely destroyed by terrible flood in March 1879, out of 6566 houses 6235 being overwhelmed. Since then it has been rebuilt, and now possesses very handsome public buildings, including a town-house, post-office, lawcourts, theatre, barracks, &c., and is protected against inundations by a double ring of embankments. The Theiss is spanned by a couple of railway bridges and a fine suspension bridge (1940 feet long), designed by Eiffel. Szegedin manufactures soap, spirits, matches, soda, tobacco, coarse cloth, &c., and carries on an extensive river-trade in wood, corn, and wool. A speciality of the place is paprika, a kind of capsicum. From 1526 to 1686 it was occupied by the Turks. Close by Haynau defeated the Hungarians on 3d August 1849. Pop. (1880) 73,675; (1890) 87,410.

Szenta. See ZENTA.

Szentes, a town of Hungary, 30 miles N. of Szegedin, near the left bank of the Theiss. Pop. (1880) 28,712; (1890) 30,758, chiefly engaged in the wine-culture.

Szolnok, a town of Hungary, on the Theiss, 66 miles by rail E. by S. of Budapest, with a lively trade in tobacco, timber, and salt. Pop. (1880) 18,247; (1890) 20,640.