SIGN LANGUAGE 



5379 



SIGURD 



and dashes, or short and long flashes, is gener- 

 ally used, and to prevent the enemy from prof- 

 iting by the messages sent, which he may read 

 if the flashes are visible to him, a special code 

 is used in which the words as signaled have 

 quite a different meaning from their usual sig- 

 nificance. This is particularly true when mes- 

 sages are sent from airships, as was common in 

 the War of the Nations. 



At night, lamps may be used in the same 

 way as the heliograph by day. A shutter cov- 

 ering the light is removed for a short or long 

 flash, according to the Morse code. In cases 

 where barbed wire fences and entanglements 

 are used, messages may be sent the extreme 

 length of the wire merely by tapping the wire 

 with a stick or piece of metal. Wigwagging 

 signals may also be sent by mechanical appli- 

 ances in which wooden or metal arms are 

 moved up and down. See HELIOGRAPH ; SIGNAL 

 CORPS. 



Consult United States Army Signal Book; 

 Myers' A Manual of Signals. 



SIGN LANGUAGE, sine lang'gwayj. The 

 language of signs was used long before the 

 written history of mankind began. It was the 

 earliest means of communication, employed in 

 the childhood of the race, when the use of 

 symbols and significant gestures was necessary 

 to convey an idea or interpret a message. This 

 primitive method of communication is still 

 used by American Indians of different tribes, 

 who have no common language. For example, 

 the breaking of a strong stick signifies strength, 

 and the drawing of the finger across the fore- 

 head, to indicate the presence of a cap, repre- 

 sents white man. Among other peoples ges- 

 tures often take the place of words, although 

 they have a spoken language. Charles Dickens, 

 in his account of Italy and its peoples, describes 

 the pantomime language of the streets of Na- 

 ples, where the conventional sign of hunger is 

 the rapping of the chin: 



"Two people are in passing carriages ; one 

 touches his lips, twice or thrice, holding up the 

 five fingers of his right hand, and gives a hori- 

 zontal cut in the air with the palm. The other 

 nods briskly and goes his way. He has been in- 

 vited to a friendly dinner at half past five o'clock 

 and will certainly come." 



The language of signs has been used since 

 the sixteenth century in the education of the 

 deaf. The early teachers conveyed ideas by 

 the use of gestures, position, facial expression 

 and mimic acting, which the pupil was taught 

 to imitate. Many of the signs employed were 

 the same natural expressions used by the In- 



dians the movement of the hand to the mouth 

 to indicate food, the bowing of the head to 

 represent sorrow or suffering, etc. The manual 

 alphabet, by which letters are interpreted by 

 the position of the fingers, was later introduced, 

 but this spelling with the hands is not properly 

 a sign language (see DEAF AND DUMB). 



There are many systems of signs or signals 

 employed in sending messages, such as the 

 wigwagging of flags used in the army, with 

 which every boy scout is familiar; signaling 

 by means of kites ; and the flag system used by 

 the government bureaus to indicate the weather 

 (see SIGNALING). 



SIGSBEE, sigs'bi, CHARLES DWIGHT (1845- 

 ), an American naval officer, in command 

 of the Maine when it was destroyed in 1898 

 in Havana harbor. He was graduated at the 

 United States Naval Academy in 1863, in time 

 to have a share in the Battle of Mobile Bay, in 

 the War of Secession, and during the last year 

 of the war served with the North Atlantic 

 squadron. Later he did brilliant work in con- 

 nection with deep-sea soundings in the Gulf of 

 Mexico. The year before the outbreak of the 

 Spanish-American War Sigsbee was promoted 

 to the rank of captain. His cool and coura- 

 geous conduct at the time of the disaster to the 

 Maine was highly praised, and he was assigned 

 to the command of the auxiliary cruiser Saint 

 Paul for the period of the war with Spain. In 

 1903 he was promoted to be rear admiral, and 

 four years later he retired. Sigsbee is the au- 

 thor of Deep Sea Sounding and Dredging and 

 The Maine: An Account of Her Destruction 

 in Havana Harbor. 



SIGURD, ze'goort, in northern mythology, 

 the brave warrior and hero of the Volsunga 

 Saga, who vowed in true knightly fashion to 

 right all evil and defend the oppressed. He 

 was the son of Sigmund and Hiordis, but was 

 raised in the brilliant court of his stepfather, 

 Elf. Incited by the stories of Regin, his tutor, 

 the young gallant, after receiving his father's 

 sword, started out to destroy the dragon Faf- 

 nir. After killing the monster he ate its heart 

 and was surprised to find that he could under- 

 stand the language of birds. They told him 

 about Brunhilde, the beautiful maiden who slept 

 in a palace surrounded by flames, awaiting the 

 hero who would come to rescue her. Sigurd 

 immediately mounted the hill to the palace, 

 awakened the imprisoned Brunhilde, whom he 

 loved at first sight, and after promising to re- 

 turn for her, he started off again on his adven- 

 tures. She was left sorrowful, 



