55 



SIGN-MANUAL. 



SILHOUETTE. 



66 



propositions which would otherwise require a large examination of 

 particular cases. This examination is not usually made in elementary 

 works ; but instead of it, the true result, derived from the superior 

 knowledge of the writer, is made to the reader the consequence of a 

 particular cage. In the consideration of curves, for instance, there are 

 to be considered, perhaps at the same time, the co-ordinates, the radius 

 vector, the tangent, the perpendicular on it, and the radius of curva- 

 ture. The varieties of figure which arise out of these lines are very 

 numerous, and nothing but generalised suppositions, competent to 

 assign definite angles in all cases, can legitimately bring out general 

 propositions. For instances, see TAKOEirr, SPIHAL ; and for further 

 development, see ' Library of Useful Knowledge,' Differential Calcu- 

 lus, pp. 341-345. 



SIGN-MANUAL means, in its wideet sense, the signature or mark 

 made by a person upon any legal instrument to show his concurrence 

 in it. Before the art of writing was so universally practised as it now 

 is, the sign-manual or signature was usually a cross, attested either by 

 the seal of the party containing his armorial bearings, or by the 

 signature of another person declaring to whom the mark belonged. 

 The latter indeed is still the practice with persons who cannot write. 



Sign-manual now however is used to denote the signature of a 

 reigning prince. It is usually in this country the prince's name, or its 

 initial letter, with the initial of his style or title in Latin. Thus the 

 sign-manual of George IV., when prince regent, was George P. R., or 

 O. P. R. ; that of the present queen is Victoria K., or V. R. 



The royal sign-manual is usually placed at the top left-hand comer 

 of the instrument, together with the privy seal ; and it is requisite in 

 all cases where the privy seal and afterwards the great seal are used. 

 The sign-manual must be countersigned by a principal secretary of 

 state, or by the lords of the treasury, when attached to a grant or 

 warrant, it being then the principal act, and it must also be accompanied 

 by the signet or privy seal. But where the sign-manual only directs 

 that another act shall be done, as for letters-patent to be made, it must 

 be countersigned by gome person, though not necessarily by these great 

 officers of state. The authenticity of the sign-manual is admitted in 

 courts of law upon production of the instrument to which it is attached. 

 iyn's ' Digest.') 



BIOKATURE, in Musi,-, is the term by which the clefs and sharps 

 or fiats placed at the beginning of each staff are, collectively, known, 

 and by which the key is partly shown. See KEY, where the Signature 

 key is given. 



SIGNATURE, in Printing, is the name given to the letters or 

 figures which are placed at the bottom of certain pages in each sheet of 

 a book, to facilitate the gathering, folding, collating, and binding of it. 

 The French printers generally use figures, but English printers for the 

 most part use small capital letters. The bookbinders' alphabet, as it is 

 called, contains only 23 letters (j, , and tr being omitted) ; and as the 

 title-sheet, which contains the dedication, preface, Ac., is generally 

 printed last, the signatures of the work itself commence with B, 

 leaving A for the title-sheet. If there be other introductory matter 

 besides the title-sheet, small letters, as a, b, Ac., are used till the work 

 itnelt U reached. If the work contain more than 23 sheet*, the second 

 set of signatures are AA, BB, or more commonly 2 A, 2 B, Ac. ; and tin- 

 third set 3 A, 3 B, and so on. If the work is in folio it requires only 

 one signature ; if in 4to or 8vo, it requires two, an, for instance, B on 

 the first page and B 2 on the third ; if in 12mo, it requires three, as B 

 on the first page, B 2 on the third pflge, and B 3 on the ninth page ; and 

 go on for printed works of other forma. 



SIGN ET, SEAL. The law recognises three royal seals : 1 , The great 

 seal, which is in the custody of the lord chancellor : this is appended 

 to all letters-patent, and contains two impressions, the one being usually 

 the sovereign on horseback, the other the sovereign seated, supported 

 b/ emblematical figures, and with the coat of arms somewhere in the 

 field. The great seal is enential to all royal grants of inheritances or 

 chattel* real, to grant* of an office in fee, and to all writs at common 

 law. Where the king's seal is mentioned, it is understood to be the 

 grot seal. 2, The privy seal, which is in the custody of the lord 

 keeper of the privy seal. This seal is valid for the issuing of the royal 

 treasure, or for disposing of chattel*, or the contracting or discharging 



of a debt. It is used as a warrant for letters-patent before they pass 

 the great seal. The privy seal consists of the arms of the sovereign. 

 3, The signet, or privy signet, which is in the custody of the principal 

 secretaries of state. Except that it authenticates the sign manual, this 

 seal seems to have no validity, although it is alleged to be sufficient to 

 give validity to the writ ne exeat regno, whereby a subject is prohibited 

 from going out of the realm. For the use of all the seals the counter- 

 signature of a principal secretary of state is required by statute. 

 [SEAL.] 



SILK'NUS (SciAqnfe), a Greek deity. The traditions of his birth 

 ; are various : he is said to be the son of Pan and of a nymph ; of Gsea ; 

 and to have sprung from the blood of Uranus. He was the instructor 

 and constant associate of Dionysos ; was a lawgiver and prophet, some- 

 times confounded with Diouysos himself; of the family of Satyrs, 

 whom he resembled very much in appearance and habits. He is repre- 

 sented as an old unwieldy man, bald, with a beard, and depressed nose, 

 sometimes with a tail; at times holding the infant Bacchus in his arms; 

 sitting astride a wine-skin, or carrying one on his shoulders. He has a 

 conspicuous place iu the Dionysian processions, and occurs in various 

 combination with fauns and nymphs ; sometimes he rides on an ass 

 reeling and supported by a satyr; and sometimes he is carried by youth- 

 ful satyrs. Though endowed with supernatural wisdom, he is of a 

 jovial disposition ; his whole character is a mixture of jest and earnest ; 

 he is harmless, sportive, fond of children ; addicted to wine; is said to 

 have conducted Dionysos from Thrace to Phrygia ; and to have been 

 ensnared by Midas in a garden, and compelled to exert his marvellous 

 power of speech. His discourse, always ironical, was of the second 

 world, of the land of Meropis, and of its strange men, beasts, and 

 plants, of the origin of things and birth of the gods, and he showed 

 the miserable condition of this present life. The ass by which lie is 

 accompanied has given rise to many conjectures ; the Dionysian myths 

 and those of Apollo speak of this animal as sacred to both deities. It 

 may therefore be considered as the link uniting the two worships ; and 

 we find accordingly Apollo called the son of Silenus. (Porphyry, ' Vit. 

 Pythag.,' p. 10, ed. Rome, 1630.) Attempts have been made by Bochart 

 and others to connect Silenus with the name Shiloh in Scripture, and 

 his ass with that of Balaam. Other imaginary resemblances are noticed 

 by Creuzer (' Symbolik '), founded on the theory that the ass is the 

 symbol of prophecy in the East. 



The distinction between Sileni and Satyrs appears to be that the 

 Sileni are the older of the two. The terms were certainly not co- 

 extensive ; that of Satyr may be considered as the genus ; but they are 

 represented much in the same manner. See, for representations of 

 Silenus, Creuzer's ' Symbolik,' Griiber's ' Wb'rterbuch der My'thologie,' 

 and Miiller's ' Denkmiiler der Alten Kunst ' (Nos. 494-522) ; Millin's 

 ' Gak'rie Mythologique,' and the various works on gems, sculpture, 

 vases, and other monuments of classical antiquity. 



SILEX. [SiLicos.] 



SILHOUETTE, a name applied to the black profile portraits, com- 

 monly known simply as projilet or shades. The latter name indicates 

 the origin of this simple class of pictorial representations, they having 

 been probably suggested by the shadow thrown upon a wall. The 

 name tilhoiutte has been said to be derived from Etienne de Silhouette, 

 French minister of finance in 1759. It appears that several parsi- 

 monious fashions introduced during his administration, in order, by 

 severe economy, to remedy the evils of a war that had just terminated, 

 were called, after this minister, a la Silhouette, and that the name has 

 continued to be applied to one of them the use of profiles in shade. 



Silhouettes are executed in various ways. One of the simplest is 

 that of tracing the outlines of a shadow thrown on a sheet of paper, and 

 then reducing them to the required size, either by the eye or by means 

 of a pantograph. [PANTOGRAPH.] The camera-obscura and carnera- 

 lucida are also occasionally used for the purpose. A more certain 

 mode of obtaining an accurate outline is by the use of the machine 

 invented for the purpose by Mr. Schmalcalder, and patented by him 

 in 1806. The principle of this machine is very simple, and may be 

 readily understood by the aid of the annexed diagram, re A is 

 an inflexible rod, usually about nine or ten feet long, supported by a 

 ball-and-socket joint at c, iu such a manner as to leave the ends five' to 



move in any direction. At the end a, a /rarer, which is tapered off to 

 a fine point, is attached to the rod, so as to form a continuation of it ; 

 while at the opposite end, b, a steel point is similarly fixed. The per- 

 son whom profile is required is seated, in the position indicated in the 

 cut, in a chair having a rest for the back of the head, in order that he 

 may sit perfectly still, while the operator gently passes the hide of the 

 tracer, a, over his features. By the intervention of the universal joint 

 (or of a double-swivel joint) at c, a perfectly similar motion ia commu- 



nicated to the steel point at b, although, owing to the pivot being 

 placed nearer to it than to the other end of the rod, it moves in a path 

 smaller than that of the tracer a. The pivot c being stationary, the 

 steel point at 4 moves in the arc of a circle of which it (the pivot) is 

 the centre, as indicated by the dotted line in the diagram ; and there- 

 fore, in order to keep the paper always in contact with it, it is fixed on 

 a swinging board, pivoted at rf, and constantly pressed against the steel 

 point by means of a weight or spring, with a sufficient degree of force 



