SUPERSTITION SURGERY. 



453 



me other hand, they allow that the hyperration- 

 alists misunderstand the character of human reason, 

 and oppose it to Christianity, so as to reduce this 

 to an ordinary subject of human judgment. Chris- 

 tianity they consider as intermediate between these 

 two views, as presenting in Christ the sublimest 

 union of man with God, whilst it leaves to theo- 

 logical science the task of unfolding the full extent 

 of revealed truth. 



SUPERSTITION; the error of those who, in 

 their opinions of the causes on which the fate of 

 men depends, believe or disbelieve, without judg- 

 ment and knowledge. The external causes by 

 which the fate of men is decided, are God and 

 nature; and accordingly there is a religious, and a 

 philosophical superstition. Superstition shows itself 

 either in deriving natural effects from supernatural 

 causes, attributing, for instance, an uncommon 

 disease, connected with striking symptoms, to the 

 influence of some evil spirit, or in believing such 

 events as accidentally follow each other to be 

 united by invisible connexions; as, for example, in 

 considering a comet a messenger of distress, because 

 it has happened sometimes, that, after the appear- 

 ance of a comet, a misfortune has taken place. -It 

 is impossible to point out all the kinds of supersti- 

 tion, as they have existed among different nations, 

 and to estimate the melancholy effects which they 

 have had on human virtue and happiness. Yet it is 

 always easy to fix the limits of superstition ; and 

 many an assertion or opinion, which has been 

 rejected, at one time, as mere superstition, has 

 been proved, in later times, to be founded in truth. 

 Medical science, in particular, affords many such 

 instances. 



SUPPLEMENT OF AN ARC, in geometry, is 

 the number of degrees that it wants of being an 

 entire semicircle ; as complement signifies what an 

 arc wants of being a quadrant. In literature, sup- 

 plement is an appendage to a book, which supplies 

 what was deficient in it. 



SUPPORTERS, in heraldry; figures standing 

 on the scroll, and placed by the side of the 

 escutcheon, and seeming to support or hold up the 

 same. They are sometimes human figures, and at 

 other times animals, and creatures of the imagina- 

 tion. See Heraldry. 



SUPREMACY. According to the Roman 

 Catholics, St Peter was not only the head of the 

 apostolical college, but the pastor of the universal 

 church. The Roman pontiff is the successor of 

 this prince of the apostles, and, like him, has 

 authority and jurisdiction over the whole church, 

 all believers, without exception, owing him respect 

 and obedience. The council of Trent declared that 

 the sovereign pontiff is the vicar of God upon 

 earth, and has supreme power over all the church. 

 The extent of the authority thus assumed by the 

 pope, is different in different countries, and the 

 whole doctrine of the papal supremacy is of course 

 rejected by the Protestant, Greek, and other 

 churches. In 1534, Henry VIII. assumed the title 

 of the only supreme head, on earth, of the church 

 of England. The oath of supremacy (that is, of 

 renunciation of the papal supremacy), with the 

 oath of abjuration, was formerly required to be 

 taken by all persons in office, and might be ten- 

 dered, by two justices of the peace, to all persons 

 suspected of disaffection in England. Some modi- 

 fications of the law requiring this oath were made 

 in 1793 (see Catholic Emancipation) ; but it was 

 still, with the declaration against transubstantiation, 



the invocation of saints, and the sacrifice of the 

 mass, requisite as a qualification for sitting and 

 voting in parliament, and for holding certain offices, 

 until the passage of the Catholic relief bill. This 

 bill repeals all former acts on the subject, and re- 

 quires of a Roman Catholic peer, or member of the 

 house of commons, &c., besides the oath of alle- 

 giance and abjuration, the following oath of supre- 

 macy : I do declare that it is not an article of my 

 faith, and that I do reject, renounce, and abjure 

 the opinion, that princes excommunicated or de- 

 prived by the pope, or any other authority of the 

 see of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their 

 subjects, or by any person whatsoever; and I do 

 declare that I do not believe that the pope of Rome, 

 or any other foreign prince, prelate, person, state 

 or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any temporal 

 or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre- 

 eminence, directly, or indirectly, within this realm. 



SURAT: a city of Hindoostan, in Guzerat, on 

 the Taptee, twenty miles from its mouth ; Ion. 73 

 3'E.; lat. 21 13' N. The population was esti- 

 mated, in 1796, at 800,000; the returns of 1816 

 gave a population of about 325,000. It is one of 

 the most ancient and populous cities of India, and 

 was formerly called the imperial port, and was the 

 place whence Mohammedan pilgrims were conveyed 

 to Mecca, often at the expense of government. 

 The articles of its commerce were of the richest 

 kind, viz. diamonds, pearls, gold, musk, ambergris, 

 spices, indigo, saltpetre, silk, and fine cottons. 

 But since the rise of Bombay, its commerce has 

 much declined, and now consists chiefly of raw 

 cotton, a few of its own manufactures, and articles 

 imported from Guzerat. The greater number of 

 vessels that now enter the port are Arabs. All 

 large vessels are obliged to remain at the mouth of 

 the river called Swallow roads, where they are 

 somewhat exposed to storms; but the anchorage is 

 good. The value of the exports, in 181 1, amounted 

 to 3,964,523 rupees. Surat is situated in a fertile 

 plain, protected on one side by the river, and on 

 the three others by a brick rampart and ditch. 

 It also possesses a strong citadel, surrounded by an 

 esplanade. It is inhabited by a great variety of 

 people ; but the Parsees, or fire worshippers, are 

 most affluent. In 1807, there were reckoned 1200 

 Parsees of the sacerdotal class, and 12,000 of the 

 laity. The hospital for the preservation of maimed 

 or diseased animals was formerly occupied by rats, 

 mice, bugs, &c. The squares of the city are large, 

 the streets spacious, but not paved, and the dust 

 troublesome. The larger houses are flat roofed ; 

 the houses of the common people high roofed. The 

 civil administration of this city has been vested in 

 the hands of the English East India company since 

 1800. 



SURD, in arithmetic and algebra, denotes any 

 number or quantity that is incommensurable to 

 unity; otherwise called an irrational number or 

 quantity. See Irrational Quantity 



SURGERY (from the Greek X t) e , the hand, aiid 

 ijycv, work) ; that branch of the healing art which 

 cures or prevents diseases by the application of the 

 hand, either unaided or with the aid of instruments. 

 War early made the healing of wounds more impor- 

 tant than the curing of diseases, which were then less 

 frequent, on account of the simple manner of living. 

 Fifty years before the Trojan war, Melampus, 

 Chiron, and his disciple JEsculapius, accompanied the 

 Argonautic expedition in the quality of surgeons , 

 and in the Trojan war, two sons of .flSsculapius 



