Sylphs
in the fantastic the Paracelsists, the elemental spirits of system of the air, just as the salamanders are of fire and the gnomes of earth. They hold an intermediate place between immaterial and material beings. They eat, drink, speak, move about, beget children, and are subject to infirmities like men; but, on the other hand, they resemble spirits in being more nimble and swift in their motions , while their bodies are more diaphanous than those of the human race. They also surpass in their knowledge, both of the present the latter and the future, but have no soul, and when they die nothing is left. They marry with our race, like the Undines and the Gnomes, and the children of such a union have souls and belong to the human race. In common usage the term sylph is applied to a graceful maiden.
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Sylva
CARMEN, Elizabeth, Queen of Rumania, a poet and pseudonym of author; born in Castle Monrepos near Neuwied, Germany, Dec. 29, 1843. In 1869 she was married to Charles, then Prince, now King of Rumania. Among her works (all in German) are: "Rumanic Poems " (1881); "Tempests"; "Songs from the Dimbovitza Valley" (1889). Her tragedy "Master Manole" (1892) had a brilliant success in the Burgh Theater , Vienna. In collaboration with Mite Kremnitz, she wrote some novels: "Astra"; " From Two Worlds"; etc. She died in 1920.
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Sylvanite
an ore of crystallization, monoclinic, rarely occurtellurium; Cyc-Vol. IX ring in distinct crystals, but in an aggregation resembling writing characters; hardness, 1.5-2; sp. gr. 7.9-8.33; luster, metallic; color and streak, steelgray, sometimes brass-yellow. Composition: Tellurium, 55.8; gold 28.5; silver, 15.7 = 100, which corres corresponds to the formula (AgAu) 3Te. 3Te. Occurs usually associated with gold.
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Sylvanus
or Silvanus, sil-va'nus, in Roman mythology, a god of the woods and fields, frequently mentioned with Faunus and, like him, sometimes confounded with pan.
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Sylvester
JAMES JOSEPH, an English mathematician; born in London Sept. 3, 1814, studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, and was successively professor in University College, London, in the University of Virginia, in the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and at Oxford (Savilian professor, 1883). He published many memoirs in the scientific journals, and received many medals and honors. He died March 15, 1897.
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Sylvester (JOSHUA an English author born)
JOSHUA, an English author; born in England in 1563. His life was divided between merchandise and poetry, but in neither did he achieve success. Of his original works we have no trace, except the title of the poem published about 1620, entitled "Tobacco Battered and the Pipes Shattered by a Volley of Holy Shot Thundered from Mount Helicon"; but in virtue of the great though short-lived popularity obtained by his English version of the "Divine Weeks and Works" of Du Bartas he lives in literary history a kind of shadowy life. It was especially popular with the Puritans and was one of the sources of inspiration for Milton's "Paradise Lost." He led a somewhat wandering existence and died in Middleburg, Holland, Sept. 28, 1618.
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Symbolics
a theological term for the study of creeds and confessions of faith, etc., from the ancient meaning of the word symbolon, a brief compendium, on opposite sides of the line and equally a creed.
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Syme
JAMES, a Scotch surgeon; born in Fifeshire, Scotland, Nov. 7, 1799; was educated at the High School and University of Edinburgh, and studied anatomy under Barclay and Liston, visiting also Paris and Germany. In 1829 he opened Minto House Hospital, which he carried on for four years with great success as a surgical charity and school of clinical instruction; and in 1833 he was appointed Professor of Clinical Surgery in Edinburgh University. In 1847, on Liston's death, he accepted the same professorship in University College, London; he soon, however, returned to his former chair in Edinburgh and continued to hold it till his death. Among his numerous writings are a "Treatise on the Excision of Diseased Joints," and "Principles of Surgery." He died in Edinburgh June 26, 1870.
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Symington's Steamboat
1801 all, it was not till after the opening of the 19th century that steam navigation started into actual life. In 1801 Symington designed a boat for towing, which attained a speed of 3½ miles an hour. In 1807 Robert Fulton, an American, in conjunction with one Robert R. Living- THE GREAT EASTERN ston, built the "Clermont" and established a regular packet service between New York and Albany. and SHIPPING. See STEAM TURBINE and STEAM.
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Symmachus
QUINTUS AURELI- US, a Roman statesman of the 4th century, A. D., and one of the last great advocates of paganism; was educated in Gaul; and after serving as quæstor and prætor became Corrector of Lucania and the Brutii (365) and Proconsul of Africa (373), and member of the pontifical college. His petition to Gratian, urged on the senate's behalf, for the restoration of the altar of Victory, proved unavailing (382), as did the extant letter addressed by him when præfect of the city (384) to Valentinian. The failure led him to side with the pretender Maximus (387), and for so doing he was impeached of treason, but pardoned and raised to the consulship (391). His death must have taken place after 404, and we have by him 10 books of letters (1653), and fragments of 9 orations, the latter discovered and edited by Mai (1815). "Even saints," says Gibbons, "and polemic saints, treat Symmachus with respect," though Prudentius likened the use to which he applied his talents "to one digging in mud with an instrument of gold and ivory."
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Symonds
JOHN ADDINGTON, an English author; born in Bristol, England, Oct. 5, 1840; was educated at Harrow and at Balliol College, Oxford. His great work is the "Renaissance in Italy" (1875-1886). Among his other works are: "Study of Dante"; "Studies of the Greek Poets"; "Sketches in Italy and Greece"; "Sketches and Studies in Italy"; translation of the "Sonnets of Michael Angelo and Campanella"; "Animi Figura," a collection of sonnets; "Vagabunduli Libellus"; "In Nights and Days"; "Essays Speculative and Suggestive." He died in Rome, Italy, April 19, 1893.
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Symons
ARTHUR, a British writer of verse and prose, born in Wales, 1865. He was educated at various private schools and began to write early. His works include: "An Introduction to the Study of Browning"; "Days and Nights"; "Amoris Victima"; "Studies in Two Literatures"; "The Symbolist Movement in Literature"; "Images of Good and Evil"; "Collected Poems"; "Plays, Acting and Music"; "Cities"; "Studies in Prose and Verse"; "Spiritual Adventures"; "A Book of Twenty Songs"; "The Fool of the World and Other Poems"; "Studies in the Seven Arts"; "William Blake"; "Cities of Italy"; "The Romantic Movement in English Poetry"; "Knave of Hearts"; "Figures of Several Centuries"; "Tragedies"; "Tristan and Iseult"; "Cities and Sea Coasts and Islands"; "Colour Studies in Paris"; "The Toy Cart."
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