HI 



SYS DIG. 



SYNONYMK. 



9C8 



smells still more frequently cause faintneeu. The nbstmction of a 

 large quantity of blood probably has a more immediate action on tin- 

 : and to the disturbance of the circulation must be attributed 

 those fitinting fits which sometimes occur in the course of disease* of 

 the heart. The sudden transition from a horizontal to a sitting posture 

 when IHTSOIIS are very weak, or have lost a large quantity of blood, 

 prolxibly acts in both ways at once ; and fainting sometimes takes place 

 from other causes, such as heated rooms, &c., of which we cannot well 

 explain the action. 



Fainting may be confounded with apoplexy or asphyxia ; and if it 

 continues for an unusually long time, the person may be supposed to 

 be dead. A little attention however will prevent our mistaking an 

 apoplectic person, who breathes loudly and with a snoring noise, for a 

 person in a swoon, whose respiration is gentle, and almost impercep- 

 tible, and whose pulse either cannot be felt at all, or is at any rate 

 extremely weak. Asphyxia is a state of suspended animation, brought 

 on by some cause interfering directly with respiration ; it is marked 

 by tumor and lividity of the face, while the face of a person in a faint- 

 ing fit is pale and sunken. The continuance of respiration and of the 

 heart's action, though very feeble, the temperature of the body, and 

 the absence of all stiffness of the limbs, would sufficiently distinguish 

 syncope from death ; but it must be very unusual for fainting to con- 

 tinue for a few minutes without there appearing some evident signs of 

 life. [ASPHYXIA.] 



In the treatment of a person who has fainted, the first point is to 

 place him in the recumbent posture ; and in the case of fainting after 

 blood-letting, nothing more is in general required. Exposure to the 

 cool air, sprinkling cold water on the face, and friction of the 

 limbs may be employed if the fit continues ; and a small quantity 

 of ether or sal-volatile may be given as soon as the person can 

 swallow. The horizontal posture should be preserved until recovery 

 is complete. 



S V NDIC comes from the Greek " syndicos " (awtixos). The Greek 

 word Syndicos originally signified one who aided another in a matter 

 before a court of justice, and hence it came to signify generally an 

 advocate, one who maintained another's cause before a court of justice. 

 Syndicos also signified at Athens one who was appointed by the state 

 to attend to its interests in any matter in dispute between Athens and 

 another state : thus ^Eschines was elected their Syudicos by the 

 Athenians in a matter relating to the temple at Delos. (Demosthen. 

 Hipl 2rt<f>dyov, c. 42.) There were also functionaries at Athens called 

 Syndic!, who were appointed, after the establishment of the tyranny 

 of the Thirty, to decide on cases of confiscated property. The word 

 Syndicus passed into the Latin language. It often occurs in the 

 ' Digest ' in the sense of an attorney or agent for a university or corpo- 

 rate body : in this sense it is used as synonymous with Actor by Gains. 

 (' Dig.' 3, tit. 4, s. 1.) In the middle ages also the word Syndicus was 

 in common use, and was frequently given to the agent or factor 

 appointed by corporate bodies to manage their common affairs, and 

 especially to represent them in courts of law. Crevier, in various 

 places, designates the syndic of the university, or of the faculty of 

 y the equivalent names of procureur, agent, greffier (iii. 230; iv. 

 309 ; v. 459). In the same sense most of the other corporate bodies 

 in Paris and other French towns used to have their syndics ; and the 

 i-\nclic was also the usual name for the solicitor to the community, or 

 town-clerk, in the towns of Languedoc and Provence. The clergy, in 

 like manner, had their Syndics Gdneraux, Syndics Dioce'sains, and 

 Syndics Provincianx ; and Syndics, or agents resident at Paris, were 

 also appointed by most of the religious orders. The functions of the 

 different syndics however varied considerably ; some were mere agents 

 or solicitors, others were representatives of their corporations in a 

 higher sense, sometimes acting as their presidents, and deciding causes, 

 instead of merely conducting them. The four chief magistrates of the 

 city of Geneva used to be called Syndics. Among the Burdegalenses 

 I'le of the district of which Bordeaux is the capital), the office 

 of Syndic, supposed to have meant originally the defender of a military 

 port, became in course of time an hereditary title of nobility ; of which 

 several instances occur in Froissart, and other chroniclers of the 14th 

 century. In more recent times, when Louis XIV., in 1701, directed 

 the establishment of chambers of commerce in the principal towns of 

 France, the merchants and other persons composing them were ap- 

 pointed to be called Syndics du Commerce, or Syndics de la Chambre 

 de Commerce. For the significations of the various old words derived 

 from or connected with Syndicus, the reader is referred to Ducange, 

 ' Gloss. M. et I. L.,' vi. 1128-931 ; and ' Supplem.,' iii. !t:J2. We shall 

 merely mention that the French have the verb " syndiquer," for to 

 judge or censure, as wr fm merry said "to syndicate" in the same 

 . DM. 



SYNOCHUS and SYNOCHA, forms of fever recognised by most 

 of the older and many recent writers on the practice of medicine. 

 Sauvages defined Synochus to be a fever which lasted more than a 

 fortnight without materially weakening the pulse; whilst Cullen used 

 i in to express a fever which combined the two forms of inflam- 

 matory an. I putrid fever, that is, a fever which at iU commencement 

 was inflammatory and at its close putrid. The inflammatory form of 

 fever which was characterised by running iU course rapidly, and marked 

 by high excitement of the heart and arteries, was called Synocha by 

 Cullen. A putrid and low form of fever was called Typhus. The latter 



term is now, however, applied to all continued contagious fevers, and 

 the former terms are not often used at all. [FF.VEB, CONTINUED.] 



SYNOD, a liroek word, 2wo5os (literally, "a coming together"), 

 adopted by the Saxons, sometimes used for an assembly of any kind. 

 but much more commonly for an assembly gathered for ecclei 

 purposes, and more particularly for an assembly of bishops or presbyters 

 deputed by various churches or branches of the universal church to 

 meet at an appointed place, there to deliberate on point- of doctrine or 

 other matters relating to the regulation and welfare of the church. 

 These synods are also called councils. Of these the highest are called 

 oecumenical, by which is meant representative of all the dinvivnl. 

 branches of the church established throughout the habitable world 

 (oiKOV/l.trri). ((ECUMENICAL COUNCILS.] 



Very few synods or councils have been held in the Protestant 

 churches. By far the most remarkable is that of Dordrecht or Dort, 

 which was assembled in the reign of our king James I. Its professed 

 object was to compose the differences existing between the Calviniau 

 and Anninian parties in the Protestant church. The former prevailed. 



The doctrine of the Church of England respecting councils may be 

 seen in the Twenty-first Article. 



Lists, very full and perhaps complete, of the several councils which 

 have been held, may be found in many treatises on chronology, particu- 

 larly the ' Tablettes Chronologiques,' of St. Dufresnoy ; and in ' L'Art 

 de Verifier les Dates.' 



SYNODIC, SYNODIC REVOLUTION (<rwo$os, conjunction of 

 paths). The synodic revolution of two bodies which move round a 

 common centre is that portion of one or more actual revolutions in 

 which they go through all their possible relative positions. The 

 simplest instance which can be given is that of the two hands of a 

 watch : the absolute revolution of the minute hand is made in one 

 hour, that of the hour hand in twelve hours ; but the synodic revolu- 

 tion of the two hands is the interval which elapses between any time 

 at which they are together, and the next time at which the same tiling 

 takes place. 



Every phenomenon which depends upon the relative position of two 

 revolving bodies cannot complete all its phases in less than a synodic 

 revolution. Thus, in the case of the sun and moon, the total dis- 

 appearance of the latter which takes place when they are nearest in the 

 heavens, cannot take place again until they are again at their nearest, 

 that is, until the moon has not only completed the circuit of the 

 heavens, but has further progressed until she overtakes the sun. The 

 actual revolution of the moon is not an object of interest, except to 

 ho watch her progress among the fixed stars : the phases which 

 are visible to all the world depend solely on her motion relatively to 

 that of the sun. Those who would make a common watch tell time in a 

 manner resembling the indications of luni-solar phenomena must rub 

 out the marks of minutes and hours from the dial-plate, and choose for 

 an interval of measurement that which elapses between successive con- 

 junctions of the minute and hour hands. 



If the two revolutions be made in the same direction, and if T and t 

 be their respective times, T being the greater, the time of the synodic 

 revolution is 



T< 



T t 

 A 



For, if x be the time of a synodic revolution, the portion of an actual 

 revolution which the quicker has gained upon the slower is 



but by hypothesis this is a whole revolution, since the synodic p. i mil 

 is nothing but the time in which the quicker gains a whole revolution 

 upon the slower. Equate the hist formula to unity, and the resulting 

 value of .r is the first formula. But if the two revolutions be made in 

 opposite directions, the synodic revolution is made in the time 



It 



T + T' 



Thus in the case of the hands of a watch, T = 12 h , t= l b ; and -[; of an 

 hour, or l h 5 j\, is the interval of two conjunctions of the two bands. 

 To find roughly the synodic period of the sun and moon, let us take 

 the sun's actual revolution at 305J days, and moon's at 27$ days. Wi; 

 have then 



365J x 27J 



SYNONYME. The word synonyme is applied to different words, 

 which mean, or are supposed to mean, the same thing: as valour, 

 courage ; virtue, goodness ; vice, wickedness. Though words are often 

 considered to be synonymous, it is probable that very few words in 

 the same language really are synonymous. If we compare two lan- 

 guages, we may find synonymes ; thus the words for man, horse, dog, 

 &c., taken in any number of languages, may be considered synonymous. 

 Words belonging to the same language may also be synonymous, where 

 the language has received additions from various other languages, 

 among which additions there may be terms which are synonymous (in 

 the modern sense) with native terms of the language into which they 

 are ii troduced. Thus in English t hnv may be Saxon terms which are, 



