SILVERFISH 



SIMLA 





465 



to increase the world's supplies.) The total pro 

 duetion of silver over the world in 1898 was est 

 mated at 183,000,000 oz., of which the United States 

 -contributes 64,000,000 oz. ; Mexico, 58,000,000 oz. 

 Australasia anil Bolivia, 17,000,000 oz. each ; Peru 

 10,000,000 oz. ; Canada, Spain, and Chili also con 

 tributing. While the coinage value in the United 

 States is $1.29 per troy ounce, increased production 

 has greatly diminished the bullion value. Up tc 

 1873 it varied little from $1.20; but in 1888 th( 

 average price per oz. was about $0.94; in 1890 

 $1.045; m 1892, $0.87; in 1894, $0.63; in 1896 

 $0.67; in 1898, $0.58$ (at the end of the year 

 30.59) ; and on June 30, 1900, $0.61 A- 



Silver is largely used for coinage, plate, jewel 

 lery, and watch-cases, and for electroplating articles 

 of German silver and Britannia metal. Silvei 

 compounds are used in photography, in glass-stain 

 ing, and in several chemical preparations, including 

 marking-ink and hair-dyes. It seems to have been 

 a favourite metal with the great nations of an- 

 tiquity, personal ornament* found in Egypt, as 

 well as ancient Greek and Roman statuettes', vases, 

 dishes, coins, and other objects made of silvei 

 being among the treasures of the chief national 

 museums in Europe. Like gold, silver is too soft 

 to be used alone for vessels, jewellery, or coin, for 

 which reason it is usually alloyed with copper. 

 English ' standard silver ' is composed of 925 silver 

 ffrtt c PP er - pf tm ' 8 alloy the silver coins and 

 ' hall-marked ' silver-plate of Great Britain ia 

 made. The alloy used for all silver coins in the 

 United States, and major silver coins in France 

 and Austria, is 900 silver and 100 copper or other 

 inferior metal. Further references to silver will be 

 found in the articles on Alloy, Assay, Bimetallism 

 Chasing, Filigree, Embossing, Hall-marks, Mining, 

 Mint. Mirror. Numismatics, Electro-metallurgy, 

 Metal-work, Photography, and Repousse. 



ifiS?! **"? Metallurgy (1880); Eglerton, Metallurgy, 



(1887); J. A. Phillip*, Gold and Silver (1867); Eingler 



*.M fl " Uur ff!> f SUver (1889); worku by Lamhorn 



(1879); Aaron (San Francisco, 1876), and Stctefeld (New 



fi; vol. iii. of the Report on the United States 



Survey of the 40th Parallel, for a report on the Chemistry 



the Pan Process ; Monographs of the U.S. Geological 



Survey, vols. iii. and iv., for the Geology and Mining of 



the ConiDtock Lode. 



Silverfish. a name given to the Atherine (q v ) 

 an.l to artificially bred Goldfish (q.v.). 



Silverton, the centre of a mining district in 

 the extreme west of New South Wales, only 18 

 miles from the liorder of South Australia and more 

 than 800 W. by S. from Sydney. It is connected 

 with the railway system of South Australia. Silver 

 (principally ), copper, tin, and gold are mined in the 

 district to the annual value of If million sterling. 

 The town has stores, churches, banks, and a 

 brewery. Broken Hill, one of the largest silver 

 mines in the world (see NEW SOUTH WALES), is 17 

 miles SE. of Silverton. 



Silvester. See SYLVESTER. 



Simaiica.S, a village of Spain, 7 miles SW. of 

 Valladoliil, where the national archives of Spain 

 have been kept since the reign of Philip II. (1563). 

 There are more than 30 million documents in all 

 (*w I:KIH;K\ROTH). Pop. 1258. 



Silliarilbacea, a natural order of trees and 



bran, with alternate, generally compound leaves, 



ithout stipules ; regular, generally hermaphrodite 



flowers. The species are not numerous ; they are 



found in the tropical parts of Asia, Africa, and 



America. The whole order is characterised by 



great bitterness, and several of the species are 



used as tonics in dysentery, &c. Quassia (q.v.), 



Bitterwood (q.v.), and Ailauto (q.v.) belong to it. 



446 



Simaruba is itself a genus with several species, 

 all belonging to tropical America. 



Simbirsk, a town of Russia, stands on the 

 right bank of the Volga, 350 miles SE. of Nijni- 

 Novgorod. It has two Greek cathedrals, a large 

 trade in wheat, wool, fruits, and potash, and a 

 famous annual fair. The town is new, having 

 been rebuilt since its destruction by fire in 1864. 

 Pop. 39,047. The government has an area of 19, lO.'i 

 sq. in. and a pop. (1895) of 1,525,500. 



Simcoe, LAKE, in Ontario, l>etween Georgian 

 Bay and Lake Ontario, 30 miles long and 18 broiul. 

 Simeon, CHARLES, an eminent evangelical 

 preacher, was born at Reading in Berkshire, Sep- 

 tember 24, 1759. He was educated at Eton and 

 King's College, Cambridge, was elected to his life- 

 long fellowship at his college in January 1782, that 

 same year toolc orders, and immediately after was 

 appointed Perpetual Curate of Trinity Church, 

 Cambridge, an office which he held till the close of 

 his life, November 13, 1836. As early as twenty 

 he had been converted through reading Bishop 

 Thomas Wilson's book on the Lord's Supper, and 

 as a preacher he was distinguished for an impas- 

 sioned evangelicalism that at first aroused a bitter 

 and protracted opposition. But he made many 

 converts, and came to exercise an enormous in- 

 fluence not only in Cambridge, but all over Eng- 

 land. He took a foremost part in the work of 

 founding the Church Missionary Society, and it 

 was mainly his influence that sent the sainted 

 Henry Martyn to India. Simeon paid several visits 

 to Scotland, first in 1796, when he preached freely 

 in the pulpits of the Church of Scotland the 

 Moderate majority in the General Assembly pre- 

 vented this on his second visit in 1798 rode over a 

 great nart of the country and climbed Ben Lomond 

 with James Haldane, the pair consecrating them- 

 selves anew to God at the top. Simeon's conver- 

 sation-circles at Cambridge were famous in his 

 day, and his old age was untroubled and full of 

 honour. His influence long survived his death by 

 means of the society he established for purchasing 

 advowsons. Simeon's Horce Homileticce (17 vols. 

 1819-28 ; new ed. 21 vols. 1832-33) contain as many 

 as 2336 sermon outlines. See the Memoirs by the 

 Rev. W. Cams (1857), Recollections of Simeon's 

 Conversation Parties by Abner W. Brown (1862) 

 and the Study by H. C. G. Moule (1892). 



Simeon Stylites. See STYLITES. 



Simferopol, a town of Russia, stands in the 

 Crimea, 50 miles hy rail NE. of Sebastopol, and 

 ias extensive gardens and vineyards. Pop. (1866) 

 16,550; (1895)43,755. 



Simla, the Latin name for an ape or monkey, 

 and used by Liniiieus in an almost equally wide 

 sense, of which such current expressions as ' Simian 

 tricks,' ' Simian language,' are a reflection. Tech- 

 nically, however, Simla is now reserved for the 

 fenus to which the Orang-outang (S. satyrus) 

 jelongs. Simiidie includes the Anthropoid Apes : 

 Simiina-, the higher of the two sub-families of 

 limiidoe, comprising the gorilla, chimpanzee, and 

 irang. 



Simile. See METAPHOR. 



Simla, a British sanatorium, the headquarters 

 jf the British government in India during the hot 

 months of summer, stands on the southern slopes 

 )f the Himalayas, in a beautiful situation, 170 

 niles N. of Delhi. Its first house was built in 

 819, and it was first visited officially by the 

 ndian government in 1827, having since 1864 

 >een regularly made its headquarters every sum- 

 mer. There are here two viceregal residences 

 the newer one built in 1886), handsome govern- 

 lent buildings (1884), a fine town-hall (1886), 



