SAN GIMIGNANO 



SANHEDRIM 



blocks of stone. Here, too, was Terentius Varro's 

 villa, in which Antony lived for some time. Pop. 



147 



San Gimignano, a town of Italy, 25 miles S. 

 by \\. of Florence, with several churches, some 

 containing fine frescoes by Ghirlandajo and Gozzoli. 

 Pop. 3591. 



San Giovanni a Tednccio, a suburb of 

 Niipl-s, 3 miles to the SE. by rail. Pop. 14,397. 



San Giovanni in Fiore, a town of South 

 Italy, 25 miles E. of Cosenza. Pop. 10,500. 



San Giovanni Rotondo, a town of South 

 Italy, 27 miles NE. of Foggia, near Monte Gar- 

 gano. Pop. 8312. 



Sangir Islands, a group of fifty islands Ivine 

 between the Philippines and Celebes, measure in 

 all 323 so^. m. and contain 50,000 inhabitants the 

 ar-.-M, Great Sangir, being 28 miles long by 9 

 broad, and having nearly one-fourth of the mrnula- 

 tion All the islands are mountainous, volcanic 

 and fertile. The volcano Abu on Great Sangir was 

 the scene of an eruption in 1856 that cost 3000 

 , and of another terrible one in 1892 The 

 people are Malays, and are ruled by their own 

 chief* under the Dutch government. 



Sang-koi. See TONGKING. 



SangreaL See GRAIL. 



Sanguinaria, a genus of plants of the natural 



order Papaveracese, 



rC ,~>] having eight to 



TO4&77 twelve petals, two 



xCS?' stigmas, an oblong, 



L swollen, and many- 



J^nHL] seeded capsule with 



m^uKal two deciduous 



valves. S. cana- 

 *PvH densis, the Blood - 



- ft root or Puccoon of 



North America, has 

 If . W . a fleshy root-stalk 

 abounding in a red 

 jnice, which abounds 

 also in the leaf- 

 stalks; and solitary 

 radical leaves, which 

 are roundish, deeply 

 heart-shaped, and 

 with about, seven 

 toothed angles. The 

 flowers are solitary 

 and spring from the 

 root, on short stalks. 

 The whole plant is 

 acrid and narcotic, 

 emetic and purgative 

 in large doses; and 



small doses stimulant, diaphoretic, and expector- 



From its use by the Indians for staining, it is 



Jso called 'red Indian paint.' It is supposed to 



owe its propertied to an alkaloid called Sangninarin. 



Ihe large white flowers appear early in spring, and 



are a frequent ->rnament of flower-borders. 



Sanguine, a term used in art for a drawing in 

 red chalks. 



. Sanguisorbaceae, or SANGUISORBE^, aceord- 



g to some lK>tanists a natural order of plants, but 



more generally regarded as a sub-order of Kosacete 



(q.v.). About 150 species are known, all of which 



are herbaceous or half shrubby, some of them spiny. 



Jhe leaves of Acieiin sanguisorba, a native of Van 



Yemen's Land, are said to be an excellent sub- 



titiite for tea. Of British species Burnet (q.v.) ia 



the best known. 



San hedrim, or SANHEDRIN (Sanhedrin being 

 the Hebrew spelling of the Gr. tunedrion, 'assem- 



Blood-root 



( Sarujuinaria. canadennt ) : 



a, section of ovary ; 6, fruit. 



(Bentley and Trilnen.) 



by council ) the supreme national tribunal of 



nmli lT' f 1S T he , d a t the time of the Maccabees, 

 probably under John Hyrcanus. It consisted of 

 seventy-one members, and was presided over bv 

 theNas, ('prince') at whose sicfe stood the Ab- 

 Betli-Dm ( father of the tribunal '). Its members 

 belonged to the different classes of society there 

 were priests (Gr. archiereis) : elders, that is,' heads 

 >f families nien of age and experience (Gr. presby- 

 tom); scribes, or doctors of the law (Gr. gram- 

 mateis); and others, exalted by eminent learnin" 

 -the sole condition for admission into this assem- 

 bly. The presidentship was conferred on the hii'h- 

 pnest in preference, if lie happened to possess the 

 requisite qualities of eminence; otherwise 'he 

 who excels all others in wisdom ' was appointed 

 irrespective of his station. The limits of its juris- 

 diction are not known with certainty ; but there is 

 no doubt that the supreme decision over life and 

 atn, the ordeal of a suspected wife, and the like 

 criminal _ matters were exclusively in its hands, 

 sides this, however, the regulation of the sacred 

 times and seasons, and many matters connected 

 with the cultus in general, except the sacerdotal 

 part, which was regulated by a special court of 

 priests, were vested in it. It fixed the beginnings 

 the new moons ; intercalated the yeans when 

 necessary ; watched over the purity of the priestly 

 families, by carefully examining the pedigrees of 

 those pnests born out of Palestine, so that none 

 born from a suspicious or ill-famed mother should 

 >e admitted to the sacred service ; and the like. 

 By degrees the whole internal administration of 

 the commonwealth was vested in this body and 

 - became necessary to establish minor courts 

 similarly composed, all over the country, and 

 Jerusalem itself. Thus we hear of two inferior 

 ribunals at Jerusalem, each consisting of twenty- 

 three men, and others consisting of three men only 

 These courts of twenty-three men (Lesser Syne- 

 (Inon ), however, as well as those of the three men 

 about both of which Josephus is silent, probably 

 represent only smaller or larger committees chosen 

 from the general body. Excluded from the office 

 of judge were those born in adultery ; men born of 

 non-israelitish parents; gamblers; usurers; those 

 who sold fruit grown in the Sabbatical year and 

 in individual cases, near relatives. All these were 

 also not admitted as witnesses. Two scribes were 

 always present, one registering the condemnatory 

 the other the exculpatory votes. The mode of pro- 

 cedure was exceedingly complicated ; and such was 

 the caution of the court, especially in matters of 

 life and death, that capital punishment was pro- 

 nounced in the rarest instances only. The Nasi 

 had the supreme direction of the court, and con- 

 voked it when necessary. He sat at the head, and 

 to his right hand was the seat of the Ab-Beth-Din ; 

 in front of them the rest of the members took their 

 places according to their dignity, in a semicircle. 

 The court met on extraordinary occasions in the 

 house of the high-priest; its general place of 

 assembly, however, was a certain hall (Lishcat 

 Hagaziz), probably situated at the south-west 

 corner of one of the courts of the temple. With 

 exception of Sabbath and feast days it met daily. 

 The political troubles forced the Sanhedrim (70 

 B.C.) to change its meeting-place, which was first 

 transferred to certain bazaars (Hannyoth) at the 

 foot of the temple mount. After the destruction 

 of the temple and Jerusalem it finally established 

 itself, after many further emigrations, in Babylon. 

 The question as to the origin and development 

 of the Sanhedrim is a difficult one. It is said it 

 was intended to be a faithful reproduction of the 

 Mosaic assembly of the seventy (Moses himself 

 making seventy-one), supposed to have been re- 

 established by Ezra after the Exile. There are 



