S I G 



rained in the outfet fuch advantages, that he was enabled to 

 place his fon Uladiflaus on the throne. He was, kowever, 

 foon after dethroned, and all the conquefts made by Sigif- 

 mund were recovered by the Ruffians. During the remain- 

 der of his reign, the Poles were involved in wars with the 

 Turks, and afterwards with the Swedes under Gullavus 

 Adolphus. To the latter they were obliged to cede Livo- 

 nia, Finland, and Pruffia ; and the concluding years of Si- 

 gifmund were clouded with difafters. He fell into a ftate 

 of melancholy and difeafe, by which he was carried off, in the 

 year 1669. His charader has been thus drawn in very few 

 words : " With fome talents for government, his religious 

 bigotry, and obftinacy of temper, precipitated him into errors 

 which coll him one crown, and rendered the other a fource 

 ef perpetual difqiiiet." 



SIGIUS, in ^nciait Geography, a town of Italy, on the 

 coafl of Aufonia, according to Appian. 



SiGius Mons, or Sethis, according to Ptolemy, a moun- 

 tain of GaUia Narbonnenfis, on the coaft of the Mediter- 

 ranean fea. Strabo. 



SIGMA, among the Romans, the fame with ihejlibadium. 



SIGMA RINGEN, in Geography, a town and county 

 of Germany, invelled in the houfe of HohenzoUern, on the 

 Danube ; 44 miles E. of Stuttgart. N. lat. 48° 2'. E. 

 long. 9° 16'. 



jIGMOlD, in Anatomy, an epithet applied to various 



S 1 G 



Signs, the autumnat, are, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagit. 

 tariua. 



Signs, the brumal, or -winter, are, Capricornus, Aquarius, 

 and Pifces. 



The vernal and fummer figns are alfo called northern ^ 

 figns. 



And the autumnal and brumal i\gx\s, fouthern figns. 



Signs, Afcendlng. See Ascending. 



Signs, Fixed. See Fixed. 



Signs, MafcuUne. See Masculine. 



Sign Manual, the letting one's hand and feal to a writing. 

 See Signature. 



The expreflion is ufed when any bill or writing is figned 

 under the hand of the king, &c. Counterfeiting the fign 

 manual, privy fignet, or privy feal, is treafon. 1 Mar. 

 ftat. 2. cap. 6. See Patents. 



Among the Saxons, before the invention of feals, a -(- 

 was a common fign, or^^um, prefixed to the names of moll 

 fubfcribing witneiles in charters, and other deeds : as -f 

 fignum Roberti Epifcop. Lond. iic. See Seal. 



Sign of Reference, in MuJic,Jigna repetitionis. See SeGNO. • 



Signs of Difeafe in Horfes, the appearances which (hew 

 them to be out of order. The firfl fign ot a horfe's indif- 

 pofition is, his loathing his food, efpccially when he has a 

 wild and haggard look ; as the eye of a horfe is, as it were, 

 a glafs, through which may be difcerned the inward difpofi- 



parts of the body, from their figure bcins; iimilar to that of tion of his body : it Ihould alfo be obfcrved whether his ears 



the Greek letter tr. Thus, we have the figmoid cavities of '---'J >--■ -^ i-- ' .1- u,:. _r u:. fl._i.. 



the ulna (fee Extremities) ; figmoid flexure of the colon 

 (fee Intestine) ; and figmoid valves of the aorta and pul- 

 monary artery. See Heart. 



SIGN, SiGNUM, a fenfible mark, or charafter, denoting 

 fomething abfent or invifible. 



Anciently the monks, in all religious houfes, were not al- 

 lowed to fpeak, nor to exprefs their minds, otherwife than 

 by figns, which they learned in their noviciate. C. Rhodi- 

 ginus and Porta have written of the ancient figns and cyphers 

 ufed in fpeaking and writing. 



Sign, in Algebra, denotes a fymbol, or charafter. 

 Signs, like, negative, and radical. See the adjeftives. 

 Sign, in Medicine, any appearance in a difeafe which is 

 cognizable by the fenfes, and from which fome judgment 

 may be formed refpefting the nature of the difeafe, and its 

 probable termination. It is now more commonly called a 

 fymptom ; which fee. 



Sign, Antecedent. See Antecedent. 

 Sign, in AJlronomy, a twelfth part of the ecliptic, or 

 zodiac ; or a portion, containing thirty degrees of it. 



The zodiac was divided, by the ancients, into twelve feg- 

 ments, called figns ; commencing from the point of interfec- 

 tion of the ecliptic and equinoftial ; which figns they deno- 

 minated from the twelve conftellations, which, in Hippar 



be cold, his mouth hot or clammy, the hair of his flanks 

 rough and flaring, and paler than ufual about the ends ;■ 

 his dung hard, black, or grecnifh, and his urine clear like 

 water. In this cafe his eyes are alfo fubjeft to weep ; 

 his head is heavy and hanging down ; he is apt to Humble as 

 he walks ; he is flow and dull, though he was vigorous be- 

 fore ; he never minds other horfes ; contrary to his former 

 cuftom, he rifes and lies down often in the ilable, looking 

 towards his flanks, which are doubled and folded in ; his 

 heart beats quick ; and he is alfo indifferent and unconcerned 

 at what is done to him. Thefe and manv other figns are 

 met with in horfes which are not in a ilate of perfeft health, 

 and (houlJ be immediately attended to ; and fuitable remedies 

 be applied. This is of much confequence to be taken care of 

 in team and other work horfes belonging to farms, &c. 



SIGNA, Standards, among the Romans, were of dif- 

 ferent forts ; on fome of them the image of the emperor was 

 reprefented, and they that carried them were called imagi- 

 niferi ; others had a hand ftretched out, as a fymbol of con- 

 cord; and ihefe enfign-bearers were called ^^^nj/iri ; fome 

 had a filver eagle, the bearers of which were called aquiliferi ; 

 others had a dragon with a filver head, and the rcfl of his 

 body of taffety, which was blown by the wind as if it 

 had been a real dragon, and the bearers of this enfign were 

 called draconarii ; laftly, the emperor's enfign was called 



chus's time, poffcfied thofe fegments. But the conftella- labarum, and thofe that carried it labariferi, which they car- 

 tions have fince fo changed their places, by the preceffion of ricd out when he went in perfon to the field ; it was of a 



the equinox, that Aries is now got out of the fign called 

 Aries, into Taurus, Taurus into Gemini, &c. 



The names of tlie twelve figns, and their order, are as 

 follow : Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, 

 Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pifces ; each of 

 which, with the liars thereof, fee under its proper article, 

 Aries, Taurus, &c. 



The figns are dillinguifhed, with regard to the feafon of 

 the year when the fun is in them, into vernal, ajlival, autum- 

 nal, and brumal. 



Signs, the vernal, or fpring, are, Aries, Taurus, Gemini. 



purple colour, befet with gold fringe, and adorned with pre- 

 cious Hones. 



All thefe enfigns were fuftained with a half-pike, fharp 

 at the end, that it might be the more eafily fixed in the 

 ground. 



SIGNAL, a certain fign agreed upon for tlie conveying 

 of intelligence to places to which the voice cannot reach. 



Signals are given for the beginning of a battle, or an 

 attack ; ufually with drums and trumpets : at fea, they are 

 given by cannon ©r mufketfhot, by lights, fails, flags, &c. 



All fignals may be reduced into three different kinds ; vi%. 



Signs, the aflival, or fummer, are, Cancer, Leo, and thofe which are made by the found of particular inflruments, 

 Virgo. as the trumpet, horn, or fife ; to which may be added, 



ftriking 



