KS 



SYNAGOGUE. 



SYNCOPE. 



908 



occur in health, and perceptible to the senses either of the patient or 

 his physician. Symptoms must not be confounded with signs of 

 disease. The observation of facts by means of our senses renders us 

 acquainted with symptoms, but it is by medical reasoning thereupon 

 that we deduce signs. A patient often knows his own symptoms, but 

 is nevertheless ignorant of the disease under which he labours. 



The signs of disease are inferences drawn by the mind from the 

 observation of symptoms. The most striking symptoms often furnish 

 only accessory signs, while the most obscure are the signs characteristic 

 of the disease. Violent pain in the head not unfrequently attends 

 inflammation of the lungs, but is a symptom of very small importance, 

 while slight pain in the side, or a streak of blood hi the expectoration, 

 furnishes a very valuable sign, and helps to disclose the nature of the 

 affection. 



Symptoms are beet divided into the essential, which are peculiar to 

 certain diseases, the accidental, produced by some circumstance of 

 unusual occurrence, and the common, which are met with alike in 

 various complaints. 



That part of medicine which treats of symptoms is called Symptom- 

 atology : Semeiology is the name applied to the investigation of the 

 signs of disease, and of their comparative value. 



N'AGOGL'E (IvrayaYli), a word which primarily signifies any 

 assembly or congregation, but came to be applied, among the Jews, to 

 places where any assemblies, especially those for the worship of God, 

 met, or were convened. In the later Hebrew, such places were called 

 "-3 iVJ, " house of assembly." There is no trace of synagogues 

 """IB the Israelites prior to the Babylonish captivity, nor, in express 

 terms, until a long time after. It is collected, however, that the 

 origin of such establishments may be referred to that period. Being 

 then debarred from their customary religious observances, they were 

 accustomed to assemble on the Sabbath-day, to hear portions of the 

 law read and expounded ; and those who ultimately returned from 

 exile kept up this custom in Palestine. (Nehem. viii. 18.) These 

 assemblies or meetings became in due time fixed to certain places, and 

 a regular order was observed in them. They existed considerably 

 earlier among the Jews settled in foreign parts than in their own 

 country, where we do not find them until the time of the Asmonacan 

 princes ; but after their introduction they increased rapidly. The 

 synagogues appear to have been originally erected outside the towns, 

 in the fields, usually near waters, for the benefit of ablution ; but they 

 were soon introduced into the towns, and were usually on the most 

 elevated spots. In large towns there were several, and the Jewish 

 writers affirm that there were 480 in Jerusalem. The assemblages 

 wen at first confined to the Sabbath-days and festivals, but were 

 latterly extended to the second and fifth days of, the week (Mondays 

 and Thursdays). The services consisted chiefly in prayer, and in the 

 reading and exposition of the (acred book*. At first the readings were 

 confined to the law, but were at length made to comprehend portion* 

 of the prophets, psalms, and other books. The whole concluded 

 with a prayer and benediction, to which the congregation responded 

 " A men." 



It seems to have been the custom for a synagogue not to be opened 

 in any place where ten men could not be found of sufficient leisure to 

 attend to it* affairs. Where no separate building existed, a room in 

 ome private house was the place of meeting. There are no ancient 

 indication* that the synagogues had any peculiar form ; but each of 

 them had a kind of altar or table, at which the volume of the law was 

 read ; and at the ea*t end was an ark or chest in which that volume 

 was kept The seat* were so disposed that the face of the people was 

 turned towards this sacred repository and towards the elders, who alone 

 sat with their back* to the ark, and then- faces to the people. The 

 synagogues were used not only for worship, but for holding local courts 

 of justice, which had cognisance of petty offences requiring no higher 

 punishment than stripes, which were inflicted on the spot. (Matt. x. 

 17 ; Luke, xii. 11 ; Acts, xxii. 19.) The affairs of the synagogue were 

 under the direction of several officers : the chief of them was the archi- 

 synagogus (apxurvm-fwt<lt), or " ruler of the synagogue," who regulated 

 iu affair*, and without whose leave no one couM read or preach. 

 (Mark, v. H'J; Luke, xiii. 11.) Next to him was the officer called 



-ir '_ rrbt!? " Sheliach tzibbor," or " angel (messenger) of the church," 

 who prayed in behalf of the congregation. The 1TPI " Chazan," who is 

 the reader in modern synagogues, appears to have been the " minister " 

 (Luke, iv. 20) who had charge of the sacred books. As it appears 

 fr.Jin Act, xiii. 15, that there were several archisynagogi, it is probable 

 that they answered to the committee of elders, by whom the syna- 

 gogue* are at the present time managed. 



With tame necowarj- modifications, the ancient usages are still 



im-1 in tin: iii>*liTn Hj-iui^ogues. The highest ground that can 



' ] y appropriated ii still chosen for the site of a synagogue. 



In this |rt "i tin- iTM it '*(. ii'lrf cant and west, with the entrance, 



ticipal entrance, in the west, that as the people enter, and as they 



nit, their faces may be turned towards the land of Canaan. The altar 



or desk is on a raised platform surrounded by a wooden rail, and Urge 



enough to contain several persons : the women do not mingle with the 



men, but have a separate part or gallery (if there be one), where a 



wooden lattice screens them from observation. The men keep their 



head* covered hi the synagogues. 



The first synagogue in England of which we have historical know- 

 ledge is that which, in the reign of William Rufus, existed at Oxford, 

 where the Jews were then numerous ; but it is likely that they had 

 one then or before hi London also, as the fact that then- only burial- 

 place in England was on the spot now called Jewiu Street, indicates 

 that this was then- principal seat. In the reign of Henry III. they 

 lost a synagogue, which they had erected in the Old Jewry, on the 

 complaint of the Friars Penitent in the neighbourhood, that they could 

 not consecrate the elements in quiet on account of their " howliugs. 

 So late as the reign of George II. the only synagogues allowed in 

 England were the two in London, one for the Portuguese Jews in 

 Bevis Marks, and the other for the German Jews, in Duke's Place 

 There is now no restriction ; they have several synagogues in London 

 and at least one in most of the principal towns, and the total numbet 

 hi England was fifty-three hi 1860. 



SYNAPTASE. [FERMENT.] 



SYNCELLUS (<r6yKf\\os), a Greek word, equivalent to concettaimii 

 in Latin, and meaning a person who inhabits the same chamber (cetta) 

 with another, was used by the Christians of the early and middle ages 

 as the name of an ecclesiastical dignity. The Syucellus was constantly 

 with the patriarch, metropolitan, or bishop, as an inspector of his life 

 and manners. The successors to the patriarchs aud metropolitans were 

 very often chosen from the Syncelli. Their rank was very high, and 

 at one time they even claimed precedence over the metropolitans. 

 Their number was considerable, till by a constitution of Heraclius the 

 greatest number allowed in one church was two. 



The chief of the Syncelli was called Protosyncellus (wptaTo<TvyK\\os), 

 and the president of their assemblies was called vpuTovpieSpos TUV 

 vpdfrotrvyKf \\tov. 



The suffragan bishops [BISHOP] were also called Syncelli. 



(Du Cange, Olossar. Med. et Inf. Latin., s. v. ' Syncellus.') 



SYNCOPATION, in Music, is when the first half of a note begins 

 on the unaccented or weak part of a bar, and the other half is con- 

 tinued and terminates on the accented or strong part. [ACCENT, in 

 ] Example : 





TT 



In this example the upper part, or melody, consists in fact of a 

 succession of syncopating minims ; but the bar dividing the alternate 

 ones, they can only be written as two crotchets bound together : 

 though formerly the bar was, in most cases, made to cut the note in 

 two. Example : 



Syncopated notes are, by some writers, termed driving notes. 



SYNCOPE (ffvyicoTrri, literally a cutting in pieces, a sudden failure 

 of power or strength), fainting. A sudden impairment or complete 

 loss of sensation and voluntary motion, with great diminution or 

 almost total abolition of the heart's action and of the function of 

 respiration. 



Fainting sometimes occurs quite suddenly, but is usually ushered in 

 by certain premonitory symptoms. These are a sense of languor and 

 uneasiness, confusion of the mind, oppression at the chest, dimness of 

 sight, ringing in the ears, partial cold sweats, paleness of the face, and 

 coldness of the extremities. These continue for some time, ami then 

 either pass away, or are followed by swooning, a state of complete 

 faintness, during which the pulse is altogether imperceptible at the 

 wrist, and respiration nearly ceases. When a fainting fit comes on 

 suddenly and without any warning, it is usually more profound than 

 when it has been preceded by the symptoms just enumerated. 

 Recovery from fainting is frequently attended with palpitation of the 

 heart, and sensations more distressing than those which ushered in the 

 attack. The duration of a fainting fit seldom exceeds a few minutes 

 or even seconds, but instances are on record of persons continuing in a 

 swoon for many hours. 



The immediate cause of fainting is, in all instances, some interruption' 

 to the due transmission of blood to the brain. Various circumstances 

 however, both moral and physical, interfere with the circulation, either 

 through the medium of the nervous system, or by acting directly on 

 the heart itself. Persons swoon from any violent and sudden moral 

 emotion, as terror, grief, disappointment, or even excessive joy. The 

 sight of blood or of any object which excites disgust occasions some 

 persons to fault, as do various impressions on the senses, whether 

 painful or otherwise. Very susceptible individuals have been known 

 to faint on perceiving the odour of certain flowers, and unpleasant 



