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town covers a considerable extent of ground. Thereare several banks, a savings institution, schools forthe poor, and several higher seminaries. Severalnewspapers, and other periodicals, are also publishedat Sydney. The whale and sea fisheries are carriedon from here with success. The inhabitants amountto about 13,000 persons. Lon. 151° 15' E., lat. 33°lf'S.
Sydney. A free port in the eastern part of the islandof Cape Breton, situated on a bay, which is sometimescalled Spanish River, and sometimes Dartmouth Har-bour. The entrance of the harbour -is about twomiles wide. The harbour itself is very large and wellprotected. The town stands at the head of the har-bour, in a very pleasant situation, and seems to enjoygreat local advantages as a commercial place. Thereare mines of good coal on the western side of theharbour, and the place is admirably situated for tradein timber and fish. Still it is neglected ; and thepopulation is only 430 or 300. It is the seat of jus-tice for the whole island. The public buildings arethe barracks, government store, commandant’s house,court house, three houses of worship, and a markethouse. The town is well built, and has a pleasantsurrounding country. Sydney is important, at pre-sent, in a commercial view, principally on account ofits extensive coal mines. A great portion of the coalexported from this island has been derived fromthese mines.
Syene. A town of Upper Egypt, situated on theeastern side of the Nile, six miles below the first cata-ract. It is the most southerly town of Egypt, form-ing its frontier towards Nubia. It is celebrated inthe annals of ancient astronomy for the attempt made,about 276 B. C., by Eratosthenes, to measure theheight of the sun, according to which Svene was saidto lie directly under the tropic. A well was formed,which was supposed to mark the precise moment ofthe summer solstice, by the image of the sun reflectedin it. In the Nile, opposite to the town, is the islandof E’ephantina, remarkable for its ancient ruins andquarries of stone.
Sygambrians, or Sicambrians. A German tribe,which occupied the country on the Rhine, fromEmmerich southwards, to the Sieg, and on the Lippe,eastwardly, to the frontiers of the Bructeri. Afterthe victories of Germanicus, we hear nothing of themfor some time ; but when the Romans, by the com-mand of Claudius, withdrew to the west bank of theRhine, the Sygambri re-occupied their former seats,and, at a later period, formed one of the great con-federacy of tribes who took the common name ofFranks.
Syllogism, An argument or form of reason-ing, consisting of three propositions, having thisproperty, that the conclusion necessarily followsfrom the two premises, so that if the first and secondpropositions be granted, the conclusion must be alsogranted. If the premises be only probable, or contin-gent, the syllogism is said to be dialectical; if they becertain, apodictical ; if false, under an appearance oftruth, sophistical, or paralogistical. As often as themind observes any two notions to agree with a third,which is done in two propositions, it immediatelyconcludes that they agree with each other ; or, if itfinds that one of them agrees, and the other disagrees,which is likewise done in two propositions, it imme-diately pronounces that they disagree with eachother; and such is a syllogism. Of the three propo-
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sitions of which a syllogism consists, the first is, byway of eminence, called the proposition, as being thebasis of the argument; the second the assumption, asbeing assumed to assist in inferring the third; andboth, the premises, as being antecedent to it. Thefirst is called the major, the second the minor, thethird the conclusion. As the conclusion is the prin-cipal part, it hence arises that though the propositionand assumption have each its subject and attribute,yet the subject and attribute of a syllogism are pro-perly understood of the conclusion. In the constitu-tion of a syllogism we may consider the matter andthe form of it. The matter is three propositionsmade up of three ideas, or terms, variously joined,and called the major, minor, and middle. The fol-lowing proposition, for instance, forms a syllogism :—Every animal lives ; man is an animal ; thereforeman lives. The predicate of the conclusion is calledthe major term, because it is generally of larger extentthan the minor term, or subject. The major andminor terms are called the extremes. The middleterm, or medium, is the third idea, so disposed in twopropositions as to show the connection between themajor and the minor term in the conclusion ; whencethe middle term is sometimes called the argument.The proposition which contains the predicate of theconclusion, connected with the middle term, is usuallycalled the major proposition: that which connectsthe middle term with the subject of the conclusion iscalled the minor proposition.
In a regular syllogism, the major proposition isplaced first, the minor second, and the conclusionlast. Syllogisms are distributed, with regard to thequestion to be proved, into universal affirmative, uni-versal negative, particular affirmative and particularnegative, and with respect to their nature and compo-sition, into single and compound. Single syllogismsmay be divided into simple, complex, and conjunc-tive. Simple, or categorical syllogisms, are made upof three plain, single, or categorical propositions, inwhich the middle term is evidently and regularlyjoined with one part of the question in the major, andwith the other in the minor, whence follows a plain,single conclusion. A complex syllogism is that inwhich the whole middle term is not connected withthe whole subject, or the whole predicate, in two dis-tinct propositions, but is intermingled, and comparedwith them by parts, thus :—The sun is a senselessbeing ; the Persians worshipped the sun; thereforethe Persians worshipped a senseless being. Con-junctive syllogisms are those in which one of the pre-mises—viz. the major—has distinct parts joined by aconjunction or some such particle of speech. Com-pound syllogisms are made up of two or more singleones, and may be resolved into them. The chiefkinds are the epichirema, dilemma, prosyllogisntus, andsorites. A syllogism in which one of the premises issuppressed, but so as to be understood, is called anenthymeme.
Symbol. A word of various meaning even withthe ancients, who used it to denote a sign, a mark,watchword, signal, token, seal-ring, &c. Its mean-ing is still more various in modern times. Symbol isgenerally used as synonymous with emblem. It isnot confined, however, to visible figures, but embracesevery representation of an idea by an image, whe-ther the latter is presented immediately to the senses,or merely brought before the mind by words. Men,in the infancy of society, were incapable of abstract