submit to the federal authority. Altogether, liberal cantonal reforms were introduced in about two thirds of Switzerland. Encouraged by this success, the progressive party conceived also the plan of revising the federal constitution, which seemed to be inadequate to satisfy the want of a closer political union. The diet, on July 17, 1832, pronounced in favor of the revision; yet, when the amendments adopted by the diet were subjected to a direct popular vote, they were voted down by a coalition of the Catholic and the radical parties. The large number of political refugees, who gathered in Switzerland in consequence of the revolutionary movements of 1830, involved the country in serious difficulties with the great powers, which complained of the liberty granted to them by the federal diet. The latter endeavored to conciliate the powers by several resolutions restricting the liberty of the refugees (in 1834 and 1838), and even by the expulsion of some of the leading men among them (1836); yet the diplomatic collisions continued. The demand of the French government, in 1838, for the expulsion of Louis Napoleon, who had been since 1832 a citizen of the canton of Thurgau, was declined by Switzerland, and almost led to a war, which was only avoided by his voluntary departure. An occasion for new religious contests was given by the conference at Baden in 1834, at which delegates of the canton of Bern, Basel Country, Aargau, Thurgau, Lucerne, Soleure, and St. Gall (the first 4 of which are predominantly Protestant), undertook to regulate the relations of the Roman Catholic church in a manner which was rejected by the pope and the bishop of Basel as contrary to the rights and the spirit of the church. The articles of the conference provoked several insurrections, especially in the canton of Aargau, the govern ment of which, in order to punish the revolted Catholic districts, decreed in 1841 the abolition of all the convents. Against this measure most of the Catholic cantons and the ambassador of Austria protested, as a direct violation of that article of the constitution of 1815 which guaranteed the continuance of convents and chapters. Upon the representations of the federal diet Aargau offered to restore 3 female convents, a concession which did not satisfy Austria and the Catholic cantons, but the federal diet by 12 votes dismissed the subject from its docket (Aug. 31, 1843). A cause of still greater trouble was a motion, made by Aargau at the diet of 1844, for the expulsion of the Jesuits from Switzerland. It was laid on the table by the diet; but when the Catholic Vorort Lucerne resolved (Oct. 24, 1844) to call the Jesuits to a cantonal institution, a great excitement spread throughout Switzerland. Two volunteer expeditions (Dec. 1844, and March, 1845) were undertaken for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Lucerne, but both were unsuccessful. On the other hand, the governments of Vaud, Bern, and Zürich, which had voted against the expulsion, had to give way to

others which were in favor of the project. As thus the danger threatening the existence of the schools of the Jesuits increased, the cantons which either had called Jesuits to cantonal institutions, or which patronized them (viz., Lucerne, Uri, Schwytz, Unterwalden, Zug, Freyburg, and Valais), strengthened a separate alliance (the "Sonderbund "), which had already been formed in 1843, and appointed a council of war for the emergency of a civil contest. A motion of Zürich at the diet of 1845 to declare the Sonderbund dissolved received only 10 votes, but a change of government of Geneva and St. Gall secured for the motion a majority of 12 votes on July 20, 1846. One Protestant canton (Neufchâtel), one Protestant half canton (Basel City), and one Catholic half canton (Appenzell Inner Rhodes) voted with the cantons of the Sonderbund. In September another resolution declared the expulsion of the Jesuits from all Switzerland. The diet collected an army of nearly 100,000 men under the command of Gen. Dufour, and on Nov. 4 resolved to execute the decree of July 20 by force of arms. The Sonderbund had raised a force of 36,000, which was to be supported by a Landsturm of 47,000 men. The war, contrary to expectation, was of short duration. The isolated Freyburg was first attacked, and surrendered after an insignificant skirmish. On Nov. 23 the army of the Sonderbund was routed at Gislicon, near the frontier of the canton of Lucerne; the council of war, the government of Lucerne, and the Jesuits fled, and all the 7 cantons submitted. Austria, France, and Prussia had openly declared during the war their sympathy with the Sonderbund, and in 1848 issued a joint note to Switzerland, demanding that the cantons of the Sonderbund be evacuated, and no change be made in the constitution of 1815, except by the consent of all the cantons. But the revolutions of 1848 drew off the attention of the great powers from Switzerland, and gave the latter an opportunity to hasten a thorough reformation of the federal constitution. The committee of revision commenced its labors on Feb. 17, 1848, and on June 27 the draft of the constitution which is at present in force was submitted to a direct vote of the people. A majority of the cantons and a large majority of the total population voting in favor of it, it was promulgated Sept. 12. In the same year the canton of Neufchâtel declared itself independent of Prussia, which entered against this act an inefficient protest. The success of the counter revolution in 1849 again brought thousands of political refugees to Switzerland, and again, owing to the demands of the great powers, they were made the subject of restrictive and unfavorable legislation, which soon reduced their number to a few hundreds. The expulsion of some Capuchin monks, who were natives of Lombardy, from the canton of Ticino, and the participation of some Italian refugees who had been living in Switzerland in a revolutionary attempt at Mi

lan in 1853, led to a suspension of diplomatic intercourse with Austria; but the matter was peaceably settled on March 18, 1855. On Sept. 2 the royalists of the canton of Neufchâtel made an attempt to overthrow the government of the canton and to reestablish the sovereignty of the king of Prussia. The movement was at once suppressed (Sept. 3), but led to serious complications with Prussia, which demanded the unconditional pardon of the captured royalists. The demand was supported more or less by all the great powers of Europe; and when the federal council refused to accede to it, Prussia broke off diplomatic relations, and made some warlike demonstrations. When, however, France and England promised their intercession with Prussia in behalf of a recognition of the independence of Neufchâtel, in case Switzerland would release the royalist prisoners, their advice was followed by the federal council. Prussia was now found willing to enter into negotiations, and on April 14, 1857, at a conference of the great powers at Paris, resigned for ever its claims to Neufchâtel. In 1860 Switzerland protested against the annexation of Savoy to France, as a violation of the treaties of 1564 and 1816, by which the neutrality of the districts of Chablais and Faucigny had been guaranteed. It demanded from France the cession of these two districts, but as it was little aided by the great powers, its representations were of no effect.-The principal works on the geography and history of Switzerland are: Sulz, Topographisches Lexikon der Schweiz (3 vols., Aarau, 1827); Franscini, Neue Statistik der Schweiz (2 vols., Bern, 1849; appendix, 1851); Johannes von Müller, Geschichte der Eidgenossenschaft, with continuations by GlutzBlotzheim, Hottinger, Vulliemin, and Monnard (13 vols., Leipsic, 1806-'51); Zschokke, Geschichte des Schweizerlandes (Zürich, 1822); and Meyer von Knonau, Handbuch der Geschichte der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (2 vols., Zürich, 1826-'9).

SWORD, a weapon used in hand encounters, commonly made like a large knife, and sometimes pointed like a dagger. The ancient Egyptians possessed the art of imparting to bronze extraordinary hardness and elasticity, and employed this material for swords and daggers. Wilkinson describes the former as straight and short, from 2 to 3 feet in length, having generally a double edge and tapering to a sharp point. Four ancient bronze swords are preserved in the British museum, one of which, supposed to be Etruscan, is about 13 inches long, and is bound round the handle with gold wire. The blades of the others are from 10 to 25 inches long, 1 to 2 inches wide, and are adapted for cutting and thrusting. The allusions to swords are very frequent in the poems of Homer. The Greeks had several names for the several varieties, and they are spoken of as having silver handles and being studded with silver. They too were of bronze, but at a later period of iron; and as seen upon coins, vases,

&c., they appear to be short cut-and-thrust blades, tapering from hilt to point and provided with a scabbard, which was attached on the left side to a belt suspended from the shoulder or round the waist. The Romans in the time of Polybius had sword blades of finely tempered steel prepared by the Celtiberians. They were short and straight, made for cutting and thrusting, and were worn on the right side. Those of the gladiators were curved. The most famous swords were the Damascus blades of the middle ages, described in the histories of the crusades, and by Scott in the "Talisman.” The steel was probably the East Indian wootz, and the manufactured articles were fabricated on the shores of the Mediterranean. (See DAMASCUS BLADES.) Next to these the swords of Toledo in Spain attained great celebrity in the time of the Moors. Though attempts were made to remove the manufacture to Seville, the same processes that were employed at Toledo here failed to produce the same sort of steel; and for want of a better explanation of the cause of the failure, it was attributed to some peculiar excellence in the waters of the Tagus in which those of the Gaudalquivir were lacking. Milan also was famous for its excellent swords during the middle ages. The introduction of gunpowder rendered swords of secondary importance. In the 17th century those made by the Germans were in good repute, and about the year 1689 unsuccessful efforts were made to establish the manufacture with the aid of German workmen in Cumberland, England, and the adjacent counties. It was not, however, until 1786 that good blades were made in that country. At that time Mr. Gill, of Birmingham, competing with German and English makers for supplying the East India company, produced a large number which bore the required test of bending till the length of the blade was reduced from 36 to 29 inches; and it is stated that they were so keen, tough, and elastic, that Mr. Gill would cut a gun barrel asunder with them, and then wind the blade round it like a ribbon, after which the blade would spring back, and recover its original straightness except at the point. Swords are still made at Toledo of as good quality as ever, but the manufacture employs only 70 or 80 hands.-The best of cast steel is required for good swords. The bars are hammered down by two men striking alternately; and if the blade is to have concave sides or other peculiarities of shape, these are obtained from the dies in which it is swaged. When shaped, it is hardened by heating in the fire to dull red and dipping point downward in a tub of cold water. It is tempered by drawing it through the fire until it acquires a blue color, and is then set or straightened by springing it with the tongs in any required direction as it is held in a sort of fork standing in the anvil. After this it is ground upon a stone with a face adapted to that of the sword, flat or otherwise; is slightly heated to restore the temper impair

ed by grinding; and is finally polished with emery and crocus.-The small sword used in fencing is a slender weapon for the thrust only, and is the court dress sword. The broad sword, called sometimes the back sword, has but one edge. The heavy two-handed sword, of great length and breadth, made by the Spaniards, is called an espadon. A sword cane is a hollow walking stick, containing a concealed dagger attached to its handle. A sword bayonet is a sword blade fitted like a bayonet to the musket.

SWORD FISH, the very appropriate name of the riphiida, a family of marine spiny-rayed fishes, allied to the mackerels, so called from the prolongation of the snout into a long, horizontally flattened, sword-like weapon. The sword consists of the vomer and intermaxillary bones, supported at the base by the frontals, nasal, and upper jaw. In form this fish resembles the mackerel; the scales are very small; the jaws proper, and sometimes the sword, are crowded with small, acute teeth, often hardly perceptible; the laminæ of each branchial arch are united into a band-like organ, with only superficial marks of separation, as in no other bony fishes; branchiostegal rays in the typical genus riphias (Linn.) 7. The spinous dorsal begins near the head, high and sickle-shaped, extending nearly to the tail, and followed by a small soft fin; the anal is similar but much shorter; ventrals wanting, or represented only by a pair of spinous rays on the throat; caudal deeply forked, on the sides having 1 or 2 large cutaneous folds; the pyloric appendages are collected into bundles and connected by areolar tissue, the branches forming 2 trunks inserted into the intestine close to the pylorus; the stomach cæcal and conical, and the air bladder large; the lower jaw in the young is proportionally longer than in the adult; the sclerotic forms a bony box, with a circular opening in front for the cornea, rendering the eyes very movable in their orbits. They are very swift swimmers, and feed on mackerel and other fishes collecting in shoals. The common sword fish (X. gladius, Linn.) attains a length of 12 to 20 feet, and is found in the Mediterranean and on both sides of the Atlantic; it is strong and active, using its sword to destroy its enemies, and sometimes striking at vessels, burying its weapon deep in their timbers; in these cases Cuvier thinks it is irritated by parasitic crustaceans which bury themselves in its flesh; or perhaps it mistakes the passing object for a whale, to which it seems to have a special enmity. There are no ventral fins, and the sword is about as long as the body. It occurs on the North American coast from Nova Scotia to New York, being common in the summer in Vineyard sound and between No Man's Land and Block island; it is silvery white below, and tinged above with blackish blue, the sword dark brown above and lighter below. It is fond of pursuing the shoals of mackerel, and may be detected by the dorsal fin projecting above the

water. On the American coast, and also in the Mediterranean, the chase of the sword fish resembles whaling in miniature, and is very exciting; a man aloft gives notice of a fish being near, when the fishermen row toward it, and strike it with a harpoon made for the purpose; by attaching a floating cask to each harpoon, several fish may be struck in a few hours, and each individual separately taken in by following the cask; there is sometimes danger of a small boat being upset or pulled under water by a large fish, which may struggle to escape for hours, and now and then boats are pierced and their occupants severely wounded by the sword of the infuriated animal; some fishermen prefer to take them singly, harpooning them from the bows of a large vessel, and hauling them in at once. The flesh is esteemed as food, both fresh and salted, and in some summers forms a considerable article of commerce with the Vineyard fishermen.-Several species of other genera are found in tropical seas.

SYBARIS, an ancient Greek city of Lucania, in S. Italy, situated on the W. shore of the Tarentine gulf, between the rivers Crathis (now Crati) and Sybaris (Coscile), a short distance from the sea. It was founded by an Achæan colony about 720 B. C. Settlers of other nations were freely admitted to all the rights of citizenship, and a vast population was thus acquired; and through the fertility of the country in which it was situated, the city rose rapidly to great wealth and power. At the time of its greatest prosperity, about 200 years after its foundation, it is stated by Strabo that the city itself occupied a space of 50 stadia in circumference, ruled over 25 subject cities, and could send into the field an army of 300,000 men. It founded Posidonia, Laüs, and Scidrus, and carried on an extensive trade, especially with Miletus in Asia Minor. Sybaris was famous throughout the ancient world for the effeminate habits and love of luxury of its citizens. The arts which contributed to the luxurious enjoyment of life were there most highly prized, and it is stated by Athenæus that no craft was permitted in the city which made a noise that might disturb the citizens. The government was entirely in the hands of the aristocracy until about 500 B. C., when Telys, an aristocrat, headed a democratic party, drove out the wealthier citizens and rulers, and raised himself to the position of tyrant. Five hundred of the exiled nobles took refuge at Crotona, and Telys sent thither to demand their surrender. This was refused, and a war ensued in which a large army of Sybarites was beaten by one third the number of the Crotoniata, who followed up their victory by the sack of Sybaris, and turned the course of the river Crathis so that the city was inundated and buried in the deposits that the river brought down. Sybaris was never restored; its site is now a malarious marsh, and its exact position cannot be determined. Its surviving inhabitants, after remaining for many years at Laüs and Scidrus

founded near it, with Athenian colonists, the city of Thurii.

SYCAMORE, a name usually applied in the United States to the platanus occidentalis (Mx.) or buttonwood tree (see PLANE TREE), and in Europe to a species of maple (acer pseudoplatanus, Linn.), of which there are several distinct and beautiful varieties known. (See MAPLE.) The sycamore of the Sacred Scriptures is a species of fig (ficus sycamorus, Linn.), a native of Egypt, where it becomes a considerable timber tree. Its branches spread out widely, affording a grateful shade, and the trees are therefore planted by the sea shore and by the road sides. As it becomes old much of its picturesque beauty vanishes, and its branches are crooked, broken, and leafless. The figs, which are sweet and delicate, are produced in clustered racemes on the trunks and limbs instead of the new shoots. Its timber has been reputed almost indestructible, but Forskähl says it is only fit for fuel.

SYDENHAM, FLOYER, an English scholar and translator, born in 1710, died April 1, 1787, in prison, where he had been confined for a debt due the eating house where he dined. He was educated at Wadham college, Oxford. He translated the greater part of Plato's works, which were published between 1759 and 1780 in 3 vols. 4to. The translation in general is excellent, though in a few of the more abstruse passages he failed to express fully the tenets of his author. It was completed in 1804 by Thomas Taylor. He published also "A Dissertation on the Doctrine of Heraclitus" (1775), and Onomasticon Theologicum (1784). His sufferings from poverty in his old age, and his miserable death in prison, led to the foundation of the literary fund, which bestows small gratuities on poor and deserving authors.

SYDENHAM, THOMAS, an English physician, born at Windford Eagle, Dorsetshire, in 1624, died in London, Dec. 29, 1689. He was educated at Magdalen hall, Oxford, and in 1648 obtained a fellowship in All Souls' college, and remained there some years pursuing his studies, visiting France in the mean while and attending the lectures of Barbeyrac. About 1660 he went to Westminster, and soon obtained a large practice and great reputation. Abandoning the routine system then in vogue, he based his practice on principles which have exerted a great influence on the profession from that time to this; these principles are, that nature cures diseases; that there is in the human system a recuperative power, which he named the vis medicatrix naturæ, and that this should be aided, not thwarted; and that the symptoms of disease are the language of a suffering and endangered organism, for which the physician should prescribe. He was the first physician who treated small pox with cooling remedies, or intermittent fever with cinchona. His letters and tracts on particular diseases are valuable for the accuracy of their observation. The preparation known as Sydenham's lauda

num was one of many valuable additions which he made to the materia medica. His largest work, Observationes Medica circa Morborum Acutorum Historiam et Curationem (London, 1675), was translated 3 times into English and passed through 25 editions in 100 years. It is still regarded as a valuable work. In 1843 a society, composed mainly of members of the medical profession, was founded in London under the name of the Sydenham society, having for its object the republication of the works of Sydenham and of other eminent physicians of former times, otherwise inaccessible to professional readers in general.

SYDNEY, a town upon the S. E. coast of Australia, capital of the colony of New South Wales, and residence of the governor-general of Australia. It is situated on the S. side of the estuary or extensive harbor of Port Jackson, about 7 m. W. S. W. from the sea, in lat. 33° 52′ S., long. 151° 14′ E.; pop., including the suburbs, about 120,000. Part of the town stands upon a promontory, with Darling harbor on the W.; part of it occupies a narrow valley to the E. of this; and the remainder is built upon undulating ground extending S. and still further E., with extensive water frontage to the N. and N. E. Since the discovery of gold in Australia Sydney has advanced very rapidly, and the suburbs of Wooloomooloo, Paddington and Surrey Hills, Redfern and Chippendale, Camperdown, Newtown, and the Glebe are now almost connected with Sydney proper by continuous lines of well built houses; while Balmain and the North Shore have numerous steam ferries, and Pyrmont has lately been joined to the city by a bridge across Darling harbor. The town, whether viewed from the harbor or the adjoining heights, has a very imposing appearance; and the surrounding shores and innumerable bays and rocky promontories of Port Jackson present scenery not to be surpassed in any part of the world. Sydney stands upon a sandstone formation, and this material has been extensively used both in public and private buildings. The streets are generally well laid out, intersecting each other at right angles, and 34 of them have carriage ways not less than 36 feet, and foot ways not less than 12 feet wide. The city is well supplied with water, and the streets lighted with gas. Sydney contains numerous churches, and is the residence of a bishop of the church of England and a Roman Catholic archbishop. It has a university, established in 1850, the degrees of which confer the same rank as those of similar institutions in England. The merchants' exchange, custom house, court house, museum, legislative and executive council chambers, public library, public markets, benevolent asylum, and hospitals are all worthy of notice. The government house is a very handsome structure, beautifully situated among well wooded grounds overlooking the harbor. There are societies for the promotion of the fine arts, floral, horticultural, and agricultural

societies, a botanical garden, several parks, and a domain. A branch of the royal mint was established here in 1855, the coin of which is a legal tender in all the Australian colonies, Mauritius, Ceylon, and Hong Kong.-The harbor is completely landlocked, and vessels of the largest size can come close to the wharfs, which extend along its shores. In 1858 the shipping inward amounted to 348,984 tons, and outward to 366,825 tons. The value of the imports for the same year was £6,058,366, and of the exports £4,186,277. This apparent excess of imports over exports is caused by the exportation of gold coin, of which no account can be taken at the custom house, and also by the large numbers of cattle, horses, and sheep driven across the frontier to Victoria. The chief exports consist of wool, gold, tallow, hides, gums, &c. The corporation revenues for 1858 amounted to £55,451, and the expenditures to £66,862. Considerable efforts have been made of late years to fortify Port Jackson; several batteries occupy commanding positions, and when the projected defences are completed it will be a place of great strength. SYDNEY, or SIDNEY, a seaport town of Nova Scotia, capital of the county and island of Cape Breton, in lat. 46° 7′ N., long. 60° 9′ W., about 200 m. N. E. from Halifax; pop. about 1,000. It is well situated at the head of a safe and commodious harbor, with a good lighthouse at the S. side of its entrance. The importance of the place is principally derived from the extensive coal fields that exist in the neighborhood. The thickness of the bed worked at the Sydney mines is 6 feet, and another at a few miles distance has a seam of 9 feet. The coal from the Sydney mine is conveyed to the wharf by railroad, and during the year ending Sept. 1857, 92,270 tons were exported. SYENE. See AssWAN. SYENITE. See GRANITE.

SYLLA, or SULLA, LUCIUS CORNELIUS (FELIX), a Roman statesman and soldier, born in 138 B. C., died in 78. His family, the original name of which was Rufinus, belonged to the great Cornelia gens, one of the noblest of the patrician gentes, of the Sabine branch of the earÎy Romans, called Titienses; but his inheritance was small, and in his youth he lived in a house which was in part occupied by a freedman. He however was a diligent student of the literature of his own country, and of that of Greece; and he early indulged that taste for profligate pleasures which characterized his whole life. One of his mistresses bequeathed to him all her property, and to this was added the property of his stepmother, who made him her heir; and thus he became, though not rich according to the Roman estimate of wealth in those days, possessed of means to enter on the career of ambition. He was elected quæstor for the year 107, and was appointed to take over to Africa the cavalry sent to Marius. As the new officer's reputation was for profligacy only, the consul was displeased with the ap

pointment; but Sylla's conduct soon won the confidence of his chief and the regards of the soldiers, with whom he lived on the most familiar terms. Sylla, says Sallust, "when he came into Africa and to the camp of Marius with his cavalry, though he had been before unskilled and ignorant in the art of war, became in a short time the ablest of all. Beside, he used to accost the men with much urbanity, and granted favors to many at their own request, to others of his own accord, but was very unwilling himself to receive any, but those he did he repaid with much more haste than a debt, while he himself never demanded any return from others, but rather was desirous that as many as possible should be his debtors. He would joke or be serious with the humblest, and was very often seen in the encampments, in the march, and amid the watches; nor did he in the mean time, as is the custom of bad ambition, lessen the character of the consul or any worthy man. He only would not suffer any one to be before him in counsel or action, and excelled most. By which behavior and practice he became very dear to Marius and the soldiers." His part in the battle of Cirta, in which Jugurtha and Bocchus were defeated, was a prominent one; and when Bocchus betrayed Jugurtha to the Romans, Sylla was the principal actor on the side of the latter in the negotiations. In the wars that were waged against the Cimbri and Teutones, Marius being consul, Sylla had command as one of his legates, and then as military tribune, distinguishing himself in both stations. The good understanding which had so long existed between them came to an end, however, and Sylla served under Q. Catulus, the other consul, to the increase of his reputation and of the enmity of Marius. For some years Sylla remained a private citizen, but sought the prætorship in 94, without success. The next year he was chosen to that post; and in 92 he was sent as proprætor to Cilicia, with directions to restore Ariobarzanes to the throne of Cappadocia, from which he had been driven by the king of Pontus. This duty he discharged, and with success so brilliant that the king of the Parthians sent ambassadors to him, asking an alliance with the Romans. This was the first official intercourse between Rome and the Parthians. On his return to Rome, Sylla became the head of the aristocratical party, as his enemy Marius was the chief man among the leaders of the other faction; and both aspired to the command against Mithridates. The breaking out of the social war postponed that appeal to arms which both were anxious to make. In that contest Sylla was much more successful than Marius, winning several victories, capturing towns, and reducing the Samnites, as well as others of the enemies of the Roman supremacy. He allowed great license to the soldiers, and attached them to his person. He was chosen consul for the year 88, and the senate assigned to him command of the army in the East; but Marius placed him