n 



SOPRANO, 





(UO 



;>! to be lubserviont to the eiuls of fallacy and deception, inn- 1 

 hxvo afforded a stronger motive to the philosophical spirit to bring 

 under investigation the true forms of thought and expression winch 

 had been neglected by earlier philosophers ; and accordingly we find 



they occupied much of tha attention of Socrates." 

 801' ilian), the highest of the various voices; the treble. 



' si-ur. 



;tlX. [SUGAn.J 



s. iiMilNlO ACID. [SI-OAK.] 



SOUlTi'.S. A i! MM ivcn to .my chain of premises, more than two 

 in number, from which a conclusion follows. As, Every A U B, Every 



['.MTV n is E, therefore, Every A is K. 



ilt.vi' rr.KIol). The ancient Egyptian year consisted only of 

 865 days, without any intercalation ; and was divided into 12 months of 

 30 days each, w itli : days added at the end. (Herodotus, ii. 4.) The 

 Scholiast on Aratus informs us that the priests were sworn never to 

 alter this year. This oath, we may conjecture, only came into use 

 after the discovery of the fact that a fraction of a day more would 

 have been desirable to make the civil year conform to the sun. As 

 longas 305 days was imagined to be the real year, it is not likely tlr.t 

 they would have sworn each other to its observance ; but if, after the 

 discovery, a party were formed in favour of an alteration, the attempt 

 to preserve the ancient institution by an oath would be almost a matter 

 of course. Again, Diodorus Siculus (i. 50) says, that the Egyptians 

 add five days and a quarter to the 360 days of their 12 months, which 

 statement is generally supposed to refer to a more correct year which 

 had been introduced among the people, while their religious festivals 

 continued to be regulated by the old year. The propriety of this 

 mode of reconciling the two authorities U made probable by the known 

 existence of the Sothiac period (also called the Canicular year, Annus 

 Magnus, &c., derived from Sothis, a name for the star Sirius) mentioned 

 by Ucminus, and also by Ccnsorinus and Clement of Alexandria, from 

 older writers. It is obvious that 1461 years of 365 days each make 

 1460 years of 365 j days. This period of 1460 Julian years was the 

 Sothiac period. It is impossible to fix any time at which this period 

 wai introduced, or to say whether, during its existence as a recognised 

 cycle, it had time to run its whole career. Had it been a real cycle of 

 experiment, it must be imagined that it would have been found to be 

 wrong, to the extent of requiring an addition to the oath ; for 1508 

 real years is nearer to the time in which a year of 365 days would have 

 its beginning in all the seasons successively, and recommence the same 

 process. It is obvious that such a cycle of recurrence was the intention 

 of the Egyptians in constructing the period : their vague year (UHHV.I 

 vagus) of 365 days, combined with their nearly fixed festivals, depend- 

 ing upon the heliacal rising of SIRIUS, made the latter take all conse- 

 cutive positions among the months of the former, gradually falling 

 later and later. Again, if the Egyptians had really gone through a 

 whole recorded period, it is difficult to see how they would avoid dis- 

 covering that another cycle would be necessary. In the time of their 

 ancient kings the heliacal rising of Sirius would have advanced, by the 

 precession of the equinoxes, about 12 days in one Sothiac period. The 

 )>eginuing of the vague year (365 days) was continually falling back ; 

 so that if at the beginning of a neriod they had noted the day of 

 their vague year on which the equmox fell, and also the day on which 

 Sirius rose heliacally, they would have found that the latter came again 

 to the same day of the vague year fifty years, or thereabouts, before 

 the equinox was similarly restored. This, so far as the star was con- 

 cerned, would tit their erroneous period very well (1460 instead of 

 1508); but it is difficult to suppose that astronomers who had dis- 

 covered the odd quarter of a day which the year requires, should not 

 know within 12 days the time of the equinox. 



The epoch of commencement of a Sothiac period is not well deter- 

 mined and only from comparatively modern writers. Censorinus asserts 

 that the consulship of Ulpius and Poutianus (usually placed in A.D. 

 ;is in the hundredth year of such a period : accordingly B.C. 

 ] :'.'J'J was the beginning of the preceding period. Clement of Alex- 

 andria says that the period began 345 years after the migration of the 

 Israelites from Egypt, a date which differs considerably from that of 

 Ccnsorinus, according to modern chronologers. The point is however 

 of no importance, as no dates were ever recorded in written history by 

 means of Sothiac periods. 



SOTIES. ,.,- *, .TTISES. [DiiAM.v; French AMMO.] 

 I'l.S, end-: OF. [BKNKKICK.] 



SOUND. For the various divisions of this great subject we must 

 refer to ACOUSTICS; ECHO; VIBHATIONS; Pirn; SCALE; &c. ; also 

 to the various articles on MUSK and iN theory. 



X 1 1 in lAKDS. The boards which are used in floors for the 

 pui|x,so of intercepting the passage of soun various 



storey.-, of a building, are known amongst builders by the name of 

 vtuiid board*. They are introduced in double floors (that is to say, in 

 floors formed by separate systems of joists for the ceiling and for the 

 ards), immediately upon the ceiling-joists; and in single floors 

 they are executed in short lengths, laid upon iilleta, nailed on the 

 hides of the deep joists. Upon these boards light plaster, or lime 

 rubbish, or other material able to arrest the passage of the sound 

 waves in laid, and the ordinary floor-boards are then nailed ovii- tin- 

 whole. Sometimes a mixture of lime and hair is laid upon sound 

 as the " pugging material," to use the workman's phrase ; and 



in others, plaster of Paris U used ; but it must be observed, in cither 

 of these cases, that if the ceiling and tin- floor-boards should be closed 

 before the moisture of the lime and hair, or of the plaster, has been 

 allowed to evaporate, there is great danger of it< pro.liu'int; ilry-rot in 

 the timbers. Indeed, whenever sound boarding is used, grea' 

 cautions must be taken t > en>ui-c that no sappy wood be employed; 

 and that the work should be allowed sufficient time to dry. In framed 

 floors it is more easy to secure these conditions th.m it is in 



iv rate it is more easy to establish a \. ut-.l iti.m above and 

 ound boarding laid upon the top of the lower range of joists, as 

 in the former case, than it is in the case of the boards laid between the 

 single joists. 



SOI'XmXCS. DKEPSEA. Under the won! LKAD-I.INK a general 

 description has been given of the process of sounding in anchorages 

 and moderate depths upon the coast. Deep-sea sounding requires 

 totally different apparatus. Prior to about 1850, the question of deep- 

 sea sounding was purely geographical and physical. To know the 

 extreme depths of the ocean was but the natural march of that j n . >- 

 gress which had measured arcs of the meridian, and obtained the 

 altitudes of the highest mountains on the face of the globe; ami to 

 descend to the mysteries of the earth's submerged surface, was but the 

 obvious consequence of that insatiable desire for investigation which 

 seems, to characterise the minds of men of this particular epoch. But 

 it is no longer a purely scientific question, since it has become a 

 matter of urgent necessity to find, at the bottom of the ocean, a rest 

 for the telegraph-win:. 



With the exception of a few spirited researches, chiefly of a private 

 character, little in the way of systematic soundings had been accom- 

 plished ; though we must not overlook the advantages which deep-sea 

 sounding received from the investigations ordered by Congress in 1849. 

 The conduct of further and more elaborate experiments was confided 

 to Lieutenant Maury, U.S.N., who was empowered by the Congress 

 of the United States of America to equip a small schooner of 100 tons 

 called the Faney, for various scientific purposes ; among them it was 

 specially required that her commander, Lieutenant J. C. Walsh, U.S.N., 

 should attempt to reach the bottom of the sea once in every 200 miles 

 in crossing the Atlantic. Up to this time no particular apparatus t. >r 

 taking deep soundings had been in use: the ordinary round shot slnni; 

 with strips of canvas was the usual means employed. It was found 

 extremely difficult to determine in some cases the period at which the 

 shot reached the bottom ; the weight of some thousands of fathoms of 

 line, and the influences of current and drifting of the vessel, rendered the 

 exact depth attained only appreciable by long experience. The Faney 

 was, moreover, found too small a vessel for the purpose ; the result, 

 however, of the cruise reflects great credit on the commander, since he 

 established the fact, that in some places the depth of ocean was more 

 than 5700 fathoms, or was above six English miles ! thus exceeding 

 the height of the most lofty known mountain. This was the greatest 

 depth that had been measured, without finding the bottom, ami was 

 attained on the 15th November, 1849, latitude 31 f>!t' X., and longi- 

 tude 58 43' W. The time used in the descent of the line to this 

 enormous depth was only 1 4 hour, but the line at last broke at the 

 reel, losing the whole 5700 fathoms. We are assured by Lieutenant 

 Maury, that the descent of the soundiug line was accomplished without 

 any jerks or checks, beyond those of the friction bands to give 

 uniformity to the descent, so that the weight could not have touched 

 the bottom, and was a fair straight up and down experiment. In 

 this memorable sounding, the lead had a Stellwagen cone fitted to it, 

 and a small apparatus weighing 6 Ibs., for ascertaining the depth 

 reached. The line was of steel wire of the best English manufacture. 

 In Hay, 1850, the United States again determined on exploring the 

 deep sea. Considerable attention was paid to every requisite, and the 

 Albany, Captain Platt, was next equipped for this service; the prin- 

 cipal locality of her observations was to be the Caribbean Sea. Instead 

 of steel wire, this ship was fitted with about 40,000 fathoms of twine, 

 weighing about 150 fathoms to the pound. This was usually ati 

 to a 32 Ib. shot, which was allowed in its descent to take the turn 

 from the reel without control. After various failures, and the loss of 

 much lino and several shot, a useful list of soundings was obtained ; 

 and which are described in Lieutenant Maury 's work. The prin<-ip.-d 

 result of these experiments was the proving that in no part of the 

 Gulf of Mexico is the depth greater than 1000 fathoms. It became 

 evident, however, that with a.Jixed weight, it is extremely difficult to 

 determine the exact depth when the bight of the line is swept oil' by 

 an under-current, which, even when the shot rests upon the ground, 

 continues to take the line from the reel with scarcely diminished 

 velocity. This would have a general tendency to give exaggerated 

 depths. 



In May, 1851, another United States ship, the John Adams, renewed 

 the soundings of the Atlantic, and accomplished the greatest deep-sea 

 sounding which had as yet been obtained. The bottom was found in 

 latitude 32 6' N., and longitude 44 47' \V boms (Lieutenant, 



in the Faney, had reached :>7(in fathoms, but found no bottom). 

 In this great sounding two 3211.. .-h .1 wen' used, which, together with 

 the 5500 fathoms of line, wen- lost on attempting to recover them : 

 correcting for drift, the actual depth is estimated by Captain liarron, 

 her commander, at 4825 fathoms, or about 6J English miles. 



It is unnecessary to follow up these observations in detail. The 



