More than one of these 7 encyclopedias carries each of the following subjects — but every one of them treats it in a sentence or two and then moves on. They are gathered here so the different accounts can sit side by side.
Sundew
Collier's New Encyclopedia: the genus Drosera, of which about 100 species are known; often applied specifically to D. rotundifolia, the common sundew, a very remarkable insectivorous plant. The edges of the leaves curve inward, and insects captured are absorbed by the species. The glands, surrounded by drops of a viscid secretion, shine in the sun: hence the name-sundew. SUNDIAL. See DIAL.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a group of insectivorous plants with perennial roots or root-stocks. The sundews are plants of similar aspect to that of the plant known as the Venus' flytrap, except that the leaf does not close up on the insect. The round-leafed sundew is found in bogs from Labrador to Florida and California. See Venus' Fly-Trap ; Pitcher Plant
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Suspension Bridge
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a bridge sustained by flexible supports secured at each extremity. The points of support are the tops of strong pillars or small towers, erected for the purpose at each extremity of the bridge. Over these pillars the chains pass, and are attached behind them to rocks or massive frames of iron firmly secured underground. These masses of masonry are named anchorages. The flooring is connected with the chains by means of strong, upright iron rods. See BRIDGE.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Bridge ; Brooklyn
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Suttee
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a term applied in India to a practice formerly prevalent of burning widows on the funeral piles of their husbands. The term is Hindu, meaning a faithful wife. It was the practice among the Hindus to burn dead bodies on a funeral pile constructed of wood and other inflammable material. When all was ready, the devoted wife threw herself upon the pile and wound her arms about the body of her husband. The torch was then applied and she suffered herself to be burned alive. In case the husband died too far away to be brought home, she caused herself to be burned with his clothing. The suttee was forbidden by Lord Bentinck, the governor-general of India, in 1829. The practice is now almost, if not entirely, extinct. See Ganges ; Juggernaut ; India
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a form of widow sacrifice (itself a form of funeral sacrifice), formerly common in Brahmanic India, in which the widow was burnt with her dead husband on the funeral pyre. Many went willingly and gaily to their doom, but others were driven by fear of disgrace, by family influence, by priestly threats, and, in not a few cases, by sheer violence. Suttee was abolished by law in British India Dec. 4, 1829, but it was carried out in some principalities for many years afterward.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Sweat
Collier's New Encyclopedia: the name given to the perspiration or skin secretions separated from the blood by the sudoriparous glands or sweat glands. The ordinary perspiration is named insensible on account of its being continually given off from the skin by evaporation; the increased secretion of sweat, dependent on exertion and which appears in the form of drops of fluid collected on the surface of the skin, being named sensible sweat. This secretion consists of water, carbonic acid, urea, mineral matters, and sebaceous matter-the latter obtained from the glands of that name existing in the skin. The principal salts in sweat are the chlorides of sodium and potassium, with alkaline phosphates, and sulphates. Traces of oxide of iron also occur in the secretion. The quantity of watery vapor daily excreted by the skin under ordinary circumstances amounts to between 1½ and 2 pounds. Occasionally in some diseases (e. g., jaundice) the sweat may be colored by other secretions, while sanguineous or bloody sweat is not unknown; the cause of its production being, however, obscure. See SKIN.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Perspiration
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Sweet William
Collier's New Encyclopedia: in botany and horticulture, Dianthus barbatus. The leaves are lanceolate and nerved; the flowers are aggregated in bundles; petals bearded, whence the book name of bearded pink. It may be single or double; the petals dark purple, red, speckled, or white. Also the Silene armeria, common, or Lobel's campion, a very common garden plant, with viscid stems; panicles of pink flowers. It flowers in July and August.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a vigorous, hardy, garden flower, allied to the pink.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Sybaris
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a Greek colony in southern Italy. It was founded by Achaean colonists 720 B. C., and was destroyed by a rival city 510 B. C. It was the largest Greek city in what was known as Magna Grecia. Its walls were several miles in circumference. It exacted tribute from twenty-five cities and ruled four neighboring tribes. The historian Strabo states that in the great war with Crotona in which Sybaris was destroyed, the city put not less than 300,000 men in the field. The enemy destroyed Sybaris finally by damming up a river and turning its current upon the walls of the doomed city. The wealth and luxury of Sybaris are proverbial, giving rise to the epithet, "sybarite."
Collier's New Encyclopedia: an ancient Greek city of Lower Italy, on the Gulf of Tarentum, supposed to have been built by a colony of Achæans and Træzenians about 720 b. c. It rapidly rose to an extraordinary degree of prosperity, and the inhabitants were proverbial for their luxury and voluptuousness. It was totally destroyed by the Crotonians, who turned the waters of the river Crathis against it (510 b. c.).
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Synod
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a meeting or assembly of ecclesiastical persons for mutual deliberation on matters of difficulty or of general interest affecting the churches over which they rule and designed for their guidance. In the early Church there were four kinds of synod. First, an Ecumenical, that is , a General or Universal Synod, commonly called a General Council; second, a National Synod, attended by the clergy of one nation only; third, a Provincial Synod, attended by the clergy of a province; and fourth a Diocesan Synod, attended by the clergy of a single diocese. Among the Presbyterians a synod is a court of review consisting of ministers and elders of contiguous congregations. The supreme council of the church is the General Assembly.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: sin'ud. See Presbyterian
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia