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SYNAGOGUE-SYNCRETISM. 



&c. Symptoms may be perceptible 1>> the patient 

 alone (e. g. pain, mid all change of sensations), 

 or by the physician also (e. g. all diseased move- 

 ments). The more a function or an organic system 

 is extended through the body, the more frequently 

 will it be the seat of morbid phenomena: the ner- 

 vous, the vascular and the cutaneous systems, for 

 instance, are affected in most diseases; hence also 

 irritability, the power of nutrition, &c., which ex- 

 tend through the whole organization, are so easily 

 affected by diseases, and thus afford symptoms. If 

 the latter are in the organs originally affected, they 

 ;i!o called itliopathic; but if they are caused by 

 -\ mpathy in other and distant parts, they are called 

 consensual or sympathetic. The temperament, age, 

 sox, mode of living, &c., of the patient, produce a 

 considerable variety in the symptoms of every dis- 

 ease. They are sometimes further divided into 

 symptoms of disease, symptoms of causes, and symp- 

 toms of symptoms. The first are the essential in- 

 dications of the disease: they may be idiopathic or 

 consensual. The symptoms of the cause are such 

 as are accidentally produced by the cause of the 

 disease; e.g. when a cold, which produces an in- 

 flammation of the lungs, produces at the same time 

 rheumatic pains, coughs, &c., the latter, being of 

 secondary importance, are considered mere symp- 

 toms of the cause, which has produced the chief 

 disease the inflammation. Symptoms of symp- 

 toms may be illustrated by the case of vomiting, 

 which, being occasioned by a disordered state of 

 the stomach, may itself produce great pain, spitting 

 of blood, &c., which would then be symptoms of 

 a symptom. That symptom which contributes 

 chiefly to indicate a disease, is called the pathognomic 

 symptom. 



SYNAGOGUE (from the Greek tinayuy*, an 

 assembly") ; the place in which the Jews assemble 

 on the Sabbath (Saturday) to offer prayers, and 

 listen to the reading of the Old Testament and to 

 religious instruction. They were first introduced 

 after the Babylonish captivity, and were originally 

 applied to purposes of instruction; but after the 

 destruction of the temple by the Romans, religious 

 services were performed in them. Each synagogue 

 has a rabbi or president, several elders, a reader, 

 door-keeper, and a receiver of alms. The liturgy 

 of the modern Jews, of which there are copies in 

 Hebrew and the modern languages, is not very dif- 

 ferent from the Christian liturgies, which were 

 formed in imitation of it. It comprises prayers for 

 the Sabbath, and for the fast and festival days. 

 The date of its composition is uncertain. The 

 nineteen daily prayers are recited every day, either 

 in public at the synagogue, or wherever the person 

 may happen to be. In the time of our Saviour, 

 any person could conduct the services; but this 

 duty is now usually discharged by a rabbi. The 

 prayers are repeated aloud by the whole assembly. 



SYNCHRONISM (from ttn, with, together, and 

 ,-, time) is the placing together the accounts of 

 contemporaneous persons or events. To this 

 method is opposed the ethnographic, which connects 

 all belonging to the same nation. Synchronistic 

 tables are very useful. 



SYNCOPE, in physiology and medicine; faint- 

 ing ; a considerable diminution or complete inter- 

 ruption of the motion of the heart and of the func- 

 tion of respiration, accompanied by a suspension of 

 action in the brain, and consequent temporary loss of 

 sensation, volition, and the other faculties, of which 

 the brain is the organ. It takes place from a 



variety of causes, some <!' an exciting, others of a 

 depressing nature. It is familiar to hypochondriac 

 and hysteric persons, and may be brought on in all 

 those who have much mobility of nerves by any 

 sudden or violent emotion, or even strong sensa- 

 tion. It is a very usual consequence of violent 

 pain, such as that which accompanies a surgical 

 operation. Women arc more prone to fainting than 

 men, in consequence of greater susceptibility to 

 impressions made on the nervous system. But 

 we find, even among men, frequent peculiarities 

 of constitution, which, notwithstanding general 

 strength of frame, dispose them to faint, from 

 causes which appear slight, such as certain odours, 

 the sight of blood, a wound or sore, the presence 

 of a cat, mouse or spider, or other objects for which 

 a person has conceived an unaccountable aversion. 

 Sometimes the cause is to be found in disturbed 

 digestion, worms, and other irritations acting upon 

 the nerves of the stomach or intestines. Other 

 causes act more directly on the circulation, as the 

 sudden depletion of the blood-vessels by haemor- 

 rhage, or by large evacuations of any kind, such as 

 purging, vomiting, or even sweating. The removal 

 of fluids which have collected in any part of the 

 body, such as the hydropic water in ascites, or the 

 matter of a large abscess, is often followed by faint- 

 ing. Causes which suddenly diminish the supply of 

 blood to the head, tend peculiarly to produce it in 

 those who are disposed to it. This sometimes hap- 

 pens from rising suddenly from the horizontal posi- 

 tion, and stretching out the arms towards an ob- 

 ject placed above the head, as in reaching a book 

 from a high shelf in a library. Fainting sometimes 

 marks the invasion of acute diseases, and is some 

 times a symptom of some mechanical obstruction to 

 the circulation from organic affections of the heart 

 or of the large vessels in its vicinity. The recovery 

 of the patient from tl;e actual fit, is, in general, 

 easily effected, by merely placing him in a horizon- 

 tal position, dashing cold water on the face and 

 hands, or chafing the temples with stimulant am- 

 moniacal liquids; which may also be held to the 

 nostrils when the breathing is not entirely sus- 

 pended. If the fit is of long continuance, it is 

 proper to employ the same means as are used for 

 the recovery of drowned persons. Frequent faint- 

 ing, especially if it be found to observe certain 

 periods, or to occur more particularly upon waking 

 in the morning, is a mode in which epilepsy very 

 often commences ; and when this is suspected, no 

 time should be lost in applying the proper remedies. 

 SYNCRETISM; the attempt to reconcile dis- 

 cordant views, particularly religious views. There 

 are various derivations of the word. Plutarch (JDe 

 Fraterno Amore) derives it from the name of the 

 island of Crete ; the tribes of which, he says, en- 

 deavoured to protect themselves by compacts 

 among themselves against internal feuds and at- 

 tacks from without. The Protestant parties 

 were early called upon to unite, like the Cretans, 

 against the Roman see ; for instance, by pro- 

 fessor Dav. Pareus, of Heidelberg, towards the 

 end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century. At a later period, the word 

 received another meaning and was derived proba- 

 bly more correctly from the Greek <r and *if. 

 ivfti (to mix). In the sixteenth century, when the 

 study of ancient literature was revived in Italy, 

 and Plato came in repute, in addition to the gen- 

 eral favourite Aristotle, some scholars, as Job. 

 Francis Pico Csee Mirtmdola), Bessarion and others, 



