Silicon
in chemistry, one of the non-metallic elements, the base of silica, discovered by Berzelius in 1823. It is in the form of its only oxide, silica, the most abundant solid element in nature. It is obtained in a state of purity by igniting the double fluoride of silicon and potassium with sufficient potassium to combine with the whole of the fluorine. The mass is washed first with cold, and then with hot water. Silicon thus obtained is a dull-brown powder, sinking in water, in which it is insoluble. It is a non-conductor of electricity, and is insoluble in all acids but the hydrofluoric. Heated in oxygen or air, it burns with a brilliant flame, being converted into silica, its only oxide. If heated in a closed platinum crucible its properties become changed. It is now insoluble in hydrofluoric acid, it is decreased in bulk, and may be heated strongly in air and oxygen without taking fire. Silicon unites with hydrogen, forming a gas spontaneously inflammable in air or oxygen. Equiv., 28; symbol, Si.
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Silicon Steel
This steel is made by adding some siliconeisen or specially prepared siliceous pig along with the ordinary spiegeleisen or ferro-manganese which it is customary to mix with the molten metal, reducing the latter sufficient to admit the siliconeisen. The result is a steel containing from 0.2 to 0.3 per cent silicon, which is largely employed for steel castings.
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Silistria
a town of Rumania (formerly belonging to Bulgaria), on the right bank of the Danube, 66 miles N. E. of Shumbla. For five centuries it was the main defensive point of the Turkish empire on the N. E. It was an ill-built and dirty town till the Crimean War, but Vol 8 after that time it was considerably improved. Silistria was strongly fortified up to 1878, when the fortifications were decreed, like those of other Bulgarian cities, to be dismantled in accordance with the terms of the Berlin treaty. In May treaty. and June, 1854, with a garrison of 15,000, it successfully resisted a siege of 39 days by 60,000 to 80,000 Russians. After the Balkan War Silistria was awarded to Rumania by the Treaty of Bukarest in 1913. Pop. about 15,000.
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Sill
EDWARD ROWLAND, an American poet; born in Windsor, Conn., April 29, 1841. In 1874 he became Professor of English versity of California, where he remained till 1882, subsequently hoga Falls, Ohio. His poetical works are " The Hermitage, and ( 1867); " The Venus Poems " ( 1882); and mously issued ( 1888). land, O., Feb. 27, 1887.
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Sill
LOUISE MORGAN, can author, born in Ho was educated at Mt. Vernon Institute, Washington, D. C. From 1899 to 1905 she was a member of the literary staff of was an assistant editor of "Harper's Mag- Sill azine." In 1889 she married G. I. , whom she divorced in 1908. In 1910 she removed to Paris, France. She wrote "In Sun or Shade (1909); "Kitty Tipsy-Toe" (1909). She also translated various books from the French, among which are to be mentioned Bordeaux' "Biography of Guynemer" (1918), and Charles des Granges" "History of French Literature" (1919).
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Silliman
BENJAMIN, an American scientist; born in North Stratford, Conn., Aug. 8, 1779; was graduated at Yale College in 1796 and admitted to the bar in 1802. At the solicitation of President Dwight, of Yale, he abandoned law to devote himself to science, and in 1802 was chosen Professor of Chemistry and Natural History at Yale. In 1807 he wrote the earliest authentic account of a fall of a meteor in America. In 1811 he began a series of experiments with the compound blowpipe machinery in the United ma e and obtained for the first time in the United States the metals sodium and potassium. He discovered the fusion of the carbons in the voltaic arc in 1822; opened the Lowell Institute in Boston with a course of lectures on geology in 1838; was chosen president of the American Association of Geologists and and Naturalists in 1840; and was one of the corporate members named by Congress for the formation of the National Academy of Sciences in 1863. In 1818 he founded the "American Journal of Science," which he conducted as sole editor till 1838 and as senior editor till 1846. Among his numerous publications are: "Elements of Chemistry," "Consistency of Discoveries of Modern Geology with the Sacred History of the Creation and the Deluge," etc. He died in New Haven, Conn., Nov. 24, 1864.
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Silliman, Benjamin
Benjamin (1779-1864), an American scientist. He was born at North Stratford, Connecticut. He was graduated at Yale in 1796. He prepared for the bar and was admitted, but in 1802 he accepted the chair of chemistry and natural history in Yale. He went abroad in 1805 and studied at Edinburgh, taking a special interest in geology. On his return he undertook a geological survey of Connecticut. He was for fifty years one of the foremost scientists of the United States . He founded the American Journal of Science in 1818, and was named by Congress as one of the charter members of the National Geological Society. He was a man of force, an instructor of ability. He presented the best courses in chemistry and geology offered at that time in America. A son of the same name followed in his father's footsteps and succeeded him in the chair of chemistry at Yale. See Hitchcock
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Sills
KENNETH CHARLES MOR- TON, an American educator, born at Halifax, N. S., in 1879. He was educated at Bowdoin, Harvard, and Columbia, and, besides receiving degrees from these institutions, also received honorary degrees from the University of Maine, Bates Collish Literature in the Unilege, and Dartmouth College. From 1901 to 1903 he was an assistant in Engremoving to Cuyaren lish at Harvard University; from 1903 Other Poems " to 1904, instructor in English and classics of Milo, and Other at Bowdoin College; and from 1904 to " Poems, " posthu- 1905, tutor in English at Columbia Uni- He died in Cleve - versity. In 1906 he returned to Bowdoin College as adjunct professor of Latin, becoming, in 1907, Winkley professor of ORGAN, an Amerilanguage and and literature; in 1910, Honolulu, H. I. She dean; in 1917, acting president; and in 1918, president of Bowdoin College. From 1917 to 1919 he was a member of rom board of visitors, of the United States Naval Academyth He wrote "The First American, and Other Poems" (1911).
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