

SIROCCO 



SISTERHOODS 



477 



whose appearance above the horizon coincided with 

 ( or even caused ) the unhealthy and oppressive heats 

 of summer. Hence the origin of the various super- 

 stitions regarding the Dog-days (q.v.), many of 

 which are still current. The term ' dog-star ' was 

 also applied to Procyon, a bright star in Cants 

 Minor, whose heliacal rising differs only by a few 

 days from that of Sirius. 



Sirocco, a name given in Italy to a dust-laden 

 dry wind coming over sea from Africa ; but also 

 applied to any south wind, often moist and warm, 

 as opposed to the Tramoutana or north wind, from 

 the hills. 



Sisal Hemp. See FIBROUS SUBSTANCES. 



Siskin (Chrysomitris), a genus of perching 

 T>irds belonging to the family Fringillidae, the true 

 finches. The best-known species is the Common 

 Siskin (C. spinits), which occurs from Britain east- 

 ward to Japan. This species breeds in the centre 

 and north-east of Scotland, and is a familiar 

 winter visitor to England and Wales. It is also 

 common in some parts of Ireland. The siskin 

 usually builds its nest, which is made of twigs 



Siskin ( Chryxmitrit spinut). 



and roota lined with moss, high in the branches of 

 fir and birch trees. Two broods are reared in a 

 season. The prevailing colour is yellowish green, 

 with yellow ami black markings on the upper and 

 white on the under surface. The female is alto- 

 gether dingier in hue than the male. The siskin 

 18 a common cage-bird, and will even breed in 

 confinement, but the young are not easily reared. 



Sisinondi, JEAN CHAHLES LEONARD SIMONDK 

 DE, a historian of Italian descent, was bom at 

 Geneva on 9th May 1773. The outbreak of the 

 French Revolution ruined his father and drove the 

 family into exile, first to England, then to a small 

 farm near Lucca; but in 1800 Sismondi himself 

 went back to Geneva, and, having obtained certain 

 municipal office*, applied himself to his favourite 

 literary pursuits. He was introduced to Madame de 

 Stii'-l, mid Ix-came one of the intimates of her circle, 

 like Benjamin Constant and Schlegel. Whilst 

 in the company of this lady he formed the l>eginiiing 

 of a fast friendship with the celebrated Comities of 

 Allany, widow of the Pretender and inistte. of 

 Alfieri. His Histoire des Rfptibliques Italiennes du 

 Mm/en- Age ( 16 vols. 1807-18) placed him in the first 

 rank among contemporary historians. The events 

 of the Hundred Days brought about one of the 

 most memorable passages in his life an interview 

 with Na]M>leon. In 1813 appeared his Literature 

 :lu Mali de ['Europe ( Eng. by Roscoe) ; and in 1819 

 lie began his second great work, Histoire ties 

 /'i-'niriiin, with which he was occupied until his 

 death. As a historian Sismondi was distinguished 

 more for industry than for natural gifts or graces 

 of style. He took a lifelong interest in political 

 economy : his first book on this subject, De la 

 Richeiue C'ommercittle (1803), is written from the 

 tandpoint of the Wealth of Nation* ; but in a later 



book, Nouveatix Principes d'&onomie Politiqite 

 (1819), he modified his views so far as to adopt 

 a more decidedly moral or socialistic attitude. 

 Amongst other products of his unwearying industry 

 and perseverance may be named Histoire de la 

 Renaissance de la Liberte en Italie (2 vols. 1832), 

 Histoire de la Chute de I' Empire Romain (2 vols. 

 1835), and an abridgment ( 1839) of the twenty-nine 

 volumes of his Histoire des Fran$ais. Sismondi 

 died at Chene near Geneva on 25th June 1842. 



See Quarterly Review, September 1843; Vie et Tra- 

 vaux de Sitmondi (Paris, 1845); Sainte-Beuve's Nou- 

 vtaux L a ml i * ( vol. vi. ) ; and collections of his own 

 Letter* Inedita ( 1863 and 1878). 



Sissoo Wood. See ROSEWOOD. 



Sisterhoods. All societies or communities of 

 women living together under a religious rule, bind- 

 ing upon all, and with a common object for their 

 united life, may be called Sisterhoods in the largest 

 sense of the term. But in common use the word 

 denotes those communities which are not enclosed, 

 and whose life is one of active labour. An account 

 of the great religious communities of women in the 

 early and middle ages of Christianity falls under 

 the bead of Monachism. Indeed the state of 

 Christendom for many centuries prevented the 

 possibility of life and work for women such as that 

 of Sisters of Charity. Women were affiliated to 

 the great monastic orders, the Benedictine, Augus- 

 tinian, Carmelite, &c., but, with one partial excep- 

 tion, that of the Hospitallers, ' R61igieuses Hospi- 

 talieres,' were invariably cloistered. There were 

 several communities of hospital nuns, the great 

 hospitals of the Hotel Dieu at Paris, Sail Spirito 

 at Rome, Dijon Hospital, and several others in 

 France being served by them. But they lived in 

 convents adjoining the hospitals, and only left 

 their cloisters to nurse the sick. Even when the 

 Franciscan and Dominican orders of preaching 

 friars arose, the nuns belonging to them, the Poor 

 Clares and Dominican nuns, were strictly enclosed. 

 Their memliers might and did exercise the most 

 powerful influence on society and education nay, 

 as in the case of a St Teresa or St Catharine of 

 Sienna, on theology and politics but this was 

 through the force of moral and religious excellence, 

 and sometimes of genius. 



It was the glory of St Vincent de Paul to found, 

 in 1633, assisted by Madame Le Gras, the first 

 superior, the Society of ' Filles de la CharitA,' and 

 to lav the foundation of all modern religious com- 

 munities who lead an active life devoted to various 

 works of charity. The great need of such a society 

 hail become so obvious that the holy see, which 

 had hitherto discouraged every attempt of a kindred 

 character, solemnly approved of ' The Daughters of 

 Charity' in 1655. In their constitution it was 

 enacted that the community was 'to consist of 

 girls, and widows unencumbered with children, 

 destined to seek out the poor in the alleys and 

 streets of cities.' In their founder's words, they 

 were ' to have for monastery the houses of the sick ; 

 for cell, a hired room ; for their chapel, the parish 

 church ; for their cloister, the streets of the town or 

 wards of the hospital ; for enclosure, obedience ; for 

 grating, the fear of God ; for veil, holy modesty. ' 



The order spread with wonderful rapidity, and 

 now numbers between 30,000 and 40,000 sisters, 

 with two thousand houses over the world, devoted 

 to every conceivable work of charity. Outside 

 of France they have houses in Algeria, Bel- 

 gium, Austria, the British Isles, Italy, Russia, 

 Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the Levant, 

 Palestine, China, the United States, Guatemala, 

 Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, La Plata, Chili. 

 In 1891 they undertook the care of a hospital at 

 Jerusalem, at the request of the pasha, by whom at 

 ita opening they we/e received with great ceremony. 



