474 



SINTKli 



SIOUX 



WM made a Roman colony. After belonging 

 successively to the empire of Trebizond (iron 

 1204) ami tin- Sdjuks, n was conquered by tin 

 Turku in 1461. ino|>e was the birthplace ol 

 Diogenes the cynic. Pop. 8000. 



Sinter, the mum* given by German mineralo- 

 gists to those rocks which are precipitated in a 

 crystalline form from mineral waters. Sinter i- of 

 various forms, kidney shaped, knotted, tuberous, 

 botryoidal, tubular, stalactitic, shnib-like, or 

 pronged, and is occasionally distinguished by its 

 chief component, as Calc-sinter, Siliceous sinter, 

 Iron-sinter, &c. Calc-sinter, which is a variety 

 of carbonate of lime, composed of concentric 

 plane parallel layers, appears under various forms ; 

 it is deposited with extraordinary rapidity by 

 many springs, a peculiarity frequently made use 

 of to obtain the Inerateoon of objects with a 

 coating of this substance. Siliceous sinter is mostly 

 found in intermittent hot springs, as in the Geysers 

 of Iceland (see GEYSER). Iron-sinter occurs in old 

 mines and in coal-beds, where it is formed from 

 iron pyrites through the agency of the atmosphere. 

 The tubular conglomeration of grains of sand half- 

 melted by lightning (blitz) is also known as Blitz 

 sinter, or Fulgurite. See FULGURITES. 



Sinus in Anatomy, a term for the air cavities 

 contained in the interior of certain bones as the 

 frontal, ethmoid, sphenoid, temporal, and superior 

 maxillary. The frontal sinuses are two irregular 

 cavities extending upwards and outwards, from 

 their openings on eacn side of the nasal spine, be- 

 tween the inner and outer tables of the skull, and 

 separated from one another by a thin bony septum. 

 They give rise to the prominences above the root of 

 tin- nose called the superciliary ridges. They are 

 not fully developed till after puberty, and vary con- 

 siderably in size, being usually larger in men than 

 in women and young persons. \\ hen very much 

 developed they give a receding appearance to the 

 forehead. They are larger in Europeans than in 

 Negroes, and are very imperfectly developed in the 

 Australians, whose peculiar want of vocal resonance 

 is apparently due to this deficiency. They communi- 

 cate on each side of the upper part of the nostril 

 by a funnel-shaped opening, which transmits a 

 prolongation of mucous membrane to line their 

 interior. _ These sinuses are much more highly de- 

 v. -loped in certain mammals and birds than in man. 

 Sir Richard Owen observes that ' they extend 

 backwards over the top of the skull in the ruminant 

 and some other quadrupeds, and penetrate the cores 

 of the horns in oxen, sheen, and a few antelopes. 

 The most remarkable development of air-sinuses in 

 the mammalian class is presented by the elephant; 

 t he intellectual physiognomy of this huge quadruped 

 being caused, as in the owl, not by the actual 

 MMeity of the brain-case, but by the enormous 

 extent of the pneumatic cellular structure between 

 the outer and inner plates of the skull.' The 

 xphenoidal sinuses are two large irregular cavities, 

 formed, after the period of childhood, in the body 

 nf i he sphenoid Imne. They communicate with the 

 upper part of the nose, from which they receive a 

 layer of mucous membrane. Like the frontal 

 sinuses, they serve to lessen the weight of the skull, 

 and to add to the resonance of the voice. The 

 ethmoid sinuses lie in the lateral masses of the 

 ethmoid Ixme. They communicate with the 

 cavities of the nose. Their main use is to diminish 

 the weight of the forepart of the skull. That part 

 of the tem|M>ral lione which forms the projection 

 beUlld the ear is termed the nuutoid process. The 

 interior of this process is hollowed out with air- 

 hiniiHPH which communicate with the tympanum or 

 middle ear, and through it with the nose. The 

 superior maxillary sinus commonly known as the 



A nt i n a, ,,f II, <jhmore( anatomist, 1613-84, who first 

 accurately dcscrilved it ) is the largest of the sinuses, 

 and the only one present in tin- infantile skull. Its 

 uses are the same as those of the others, and, like 

 them, it communicates with the nasal cavities. 



The term sinus is also applied to certain channels 

 for the transmission of venous blood. These are 

 merely dilated veins formed by the separation of 

 the layers of the dura-mater mid lodged in grooves 

 on the inner surfaces of the cranial bones. In 

 Surgery the term sinus is nearly equivalent to 

 Fistula (i|.v.). 



Si on. or BITTEN, capital of the Swiss canton of 

 Valaia, stands in a picturesque situation in the 

 valley of the Rhone, 16 miles NE. of Martign.v by 

 the bimplon Railway. It has a media-val appear- 

 ance, owing to three ruined castles perched on the 

 crags above the town, and its cathedral, which has 

 been the church of a bishop since the oih century. 

 1'op. .>M7. 



Sion <'ollcKe, n the Victoria Embankment, 

 London, was founded in 1623 as a college and alms- 

 house on the site of a priory in London Wall, by 

 the benefaction of Dr White. A library was added 

 soon after, and the college was incorporated by 

 charters of 1630 and 1664. The college consists 

 of the incumbents of the City of London and its 

 suburbs, who appoint a governing body. Changes 

 were made in the constitution in 1884, the alms- 

 house for ten old men and ten old women being 

 abolished, and a sum being devoted to the main- 

 tenance of pensioners (now forty in number); and 

 the new building having been erected on the 

 embankment at a cost of 26,000, the college and 

 library (now a large and valuable one, easily 

 accessible to the public) were transferred hither in 

 1886. For Sion House, see ISLEWORTH. 



Sionl. or ASIOOT, the chief city of Upper Egypt, 

 stands near the western bank of the Nile, about 

 200 miles by rail south of Cairo. It has some 

 fine mosques, nn imposing government palace, an 

 American mission school, and well-built dwelling- 

 houses. The people, about 32,000 in number, 

 make black and red earthenware, and fans of 

 ostrich-feathers, and carve ivory. There is some 

 trade (annual value 380,000 ('with Darfur and 

 Senaar. Siout is built on the site of the ancient 

 Lycopolis ; but few remains of the Gnrco- Egyptian 

 city are extant. From the neighbouring heights 

 of the Libyan mountains, which contain numerous 

 rock-sepulchres, the view over the valley of the 

 Nile is perhaps the finest in Egypt. See F. L. 

 Griffith's Inscriptions ofSiotit ( 1889). 



SIOUX (pron. Soo), the principal tribe of the 

 Dakota (i.e. 'confederate') family of American 

 Indians (q.v.), now settled mostly in South Dakota 

 and Nebraska. Forced by the' Chippewns south 

 and west, they made their first cession of lands to 

 the United States government in 1830, ami in 1837 

 ceiled all their lands east of the Mississippi, and in 

 1849-51 those in Minnesota. For all these lands 

 annuities were promised, which were, however, 

 illowed to fall into arrears ; and meanwhile the 

 Indians were demoralised by the introduction of 

 whisky. In 1862 a number of famishing men broke 

 into a government warehouse, and so liegan a 

 desperate war which desolated thousands of square 

 niles of territory, cost a thousand whites their 

 'ives and the government $40,000,000, and ended 

 n the execution of the leaders. After some years 

 if further disgraceful mismanagement and wran- 

 ;ling liotween the various government departments, 

 lie Saiilec Sioux were placed on a small reserva- 

 ion near Yankton, where they have developed into 

 nd ust rious and peaceful farmers, and are permitted 

 o hul. I their lands in severally (see AMEKICAN 

 "SDIANS, Vol. I. p. 227). Meanwhile the hostile 



