Sirocco
a hot wind storm. Most of the hot winds of the Old World are modified forms of the simoom. The sirocco originates in the Sahara and travels N. to the Mediterranean and southern Europe, but it is not so deadly as the prototype. It brings with it great quantities of the desert sand, and the air becomes so dense at times that the sun is obscured as if by fog. While it remains on the African mainland it is characterized by a very marked dryness, as there are no extensive water surfaces to supply it with moisture. As soon, however, as it is launched over the Mediterranean it begins to take up copious draughts, so that when it reaches Malta, Sicily, and the S. shores of Europe as a wind from between S. E. and S. W., it has undergone a change from a hot, dry wind to a hot, damp wind.
The result of this alteration is that it becomes most enervating to the human constitution. During its prevalence iron rusts, clothes spoil with mildew, grapes and green leaves wither, wine will not fine, and paint will not dry. Sicily experiences the sirocco about a dozen times a year, but it is not so frequently met with in other parts of Europe.
SISMONDI (SIMONDE), JEAN CHARLES LEONARD DE, a historian; born in Geneva, Switzerland, May 9, 1773.
His principal works are: "History of the Italian Republics in the Middle Ages" (16 vols. 1807-1818); "History of the New Birth of Liberty in Italy" (1832); "History of the French" (31 vols. 1821-1834); "History of the Fall of the Roman Empire" (1835); "Julia Severa; or, The Year 492" (1882); "Literature of the South of Europe" (1813). He died in Geneva, June 25, 1842.