S I P 



S I P 



Gen. Ch. Male, Cal. Perianth of one leaf, in four deep 

 roundifli fegments. Cor. none. Slam. Filaments four, 

 fix, eight, or ten, inferted into a hairy receptacle ; anthers 

 of two cells. Pift. none. 



Female, Cal. and Cor. as in the male. Stam. none. Pifl. 

 G<;rmen fuperior, roundifh ; Ityle oblong, ftriated ; ftigmas 

 five, capillary. Fruit unknown. 



I. S. gaianen/is. — Found on the borders of rivulets, in 

 the quarter of Oyac, flowering in Augult. The^^'m is 

 eight or ten feet high, flender, with long, {lender, fmooth, 

 oppefite branches ; its wood white and brittle. Leaves ellip- 

 tic-oblong, fmooth, pointed, entire, about five inches in 

 length, oppoiite, on fhort ftalks. The ^ower^ are axillary, 

 green, very fmall, on fliort, fomewhat racemofe, ftalks. 



SIPAVEND, in Geography, a town of Perfia, in the 

 province of Mekran ; 212 miles N.N.W. of Kidge. 



SIPELER, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 

 Condapilly ; 24 miles S. of Mafulipatam. 



SIPGICON-COUTEN, a town of Chinefe Tartary, 

 in the country of Hami. N. lat. 40^ 10'. E. long. 

 95° 42'. 



SIPHAC, a name ufed by fome authors for the peri- 

 toneum. 



SIPHANTO, in Geography, an idand of the Archipe- 

 lago, N. of Argentiera, and very clofe to it. In former 

 times this ifland was flourifhing under the name of " Siph- 

 nos," and it was even reckoned the richeit of the Archipe- 

 lago, on account of the gold and filver-mines which had 

 there been difcovered, and of which the tenth alone fur- 

 niflied the temple of Apollo at Delphos with the richett 

 trcafure that had been feen. Thefe mines refleft difhonour 

 on the memory of the Siphnians, whilll they enriched them ; 

 for their opulence produced fuch a corruption of morals and 

 duplicity of charafter, which became fo common and fo cha- 

 rafterillic of them, that they ferved, throughout all Greece, 

 as a term of comparifon, when it was required to paint dif- 

 credited morals or perfidy of conduft. At this day, the 

 treafures concealed within the bofom of the earth are un- 

 !known ; and the difcovery of them remains to become a 

 fource of riches to an ifland, which, though lefs impoverifli- 

 ed than fome others, exhibits in a degree the pifture of mi- 

 fery common to all tliefe countries. Befides the mines of 

 gold and filver which Siphanto afforded, it has fome that 

 are very abundant m lead, iron, and load-ftone. Its moun- 

 tains alfo contain quarries of very beautiful marble, and tlie 

 refidents fpeak of a Ipecies of very foft ftone, with wliich 

 they made vafes that were conveyed throughout all Greece, 

 but are not known in our days ; fo that the ifland of Si- 

 phanto would flill be the richefl of the Archipelago, if it 

 ccafed to be fubjeft to a government which crufhes it with 

 an iron hand. It is alfo one of the mofl agreeable and moll 

 chearful ; the air is pure and wholefome ; the plains are 

 adorned with a variety of drcfs, which it owes to eafy 

 labour ; and the excellent quality of their produftions is 

 another precious favour of nature. Salt, cotton, figs, oil, 

 wax, and a few other commodities of lefs importance, com- 

 pofe the crops and the trade of the ifland : but both might 

 be much augmented by indullry, if it were encouraged. 

 Fine cotton-clotiis, ilravv-liats, &c. are manufaftured here. 

 The inhabitants are mild and liofpitable ; the women are 

 beautiful ; but their drefs difi^uifes their charms. This 

 ifland has no harbour, except for fmall vcflcls. The mofl 

 confiderable place, which is called Serai, is built on flcep 

 rocks, which leave below tlie town only a fmall c:ivc, where 

 boats can anchor, becaufc if they were fnrpriicd here 

 by a northerly wind, they wnuld foon be d-ilhed to pieces 

 on the coall ; thofe of the country arc hallily drawn on 



fhore as foon as they are unloaded. Siphanto contains five 

 villages, and about 5000 inhabitants. N. lat. 36° 59'. E. 

 long. 24° 56'. 



SIPHILIS, from mexx, Jillhy, in Surgery, the venereal 

 difeafe. See Lues Venerea. 



SIPHITA, a word ufed by Paracelfus, and his fol- 

 lowers, with the addition of parva and magna, for two dif. 

 orders. 'Y^\\e fiphita parva fignifies the chorea fanSi Vili, 

 or St. Vitus' s dance ; and the fiphita magna, walking in time 

 of fleep. 



SIPHNIUS LAPis.in theA^a/ura/i/;/?ory of the ancients, 

 a fubflance found in great plenty in the ifland Siphnos, 

 (Siphanto,) in the ./Egean fea. It was dug up in large maffes 

 in the neighbourhood of the fea ; and when frefh, might be 

 cut or worked into any forts of veflels, by reafon of its foft- 

 nefs ; but when afterwards burnt and oiled over, became 

 black and foiid, and fit for any fervice : and the veffels made 

 of it bore the fire very well. The fame fubflance is ftill 

 found in many parts of Europe, and called lapis lehitum, and 

 applied to the fame ufe. It is no other than the fleatites, 

 or our foap-rock. 



SIPHON, or Syphon, in Hydraulics, a crooked tube, 

 one leg or branch of which is longer than the other ; ufed 

 in the raifing of fluids, emptying of veffels, and in various 

 hydroilatical experiments. 



The word in the original Greek, a-i^inv, fignifies fimply 

 tube, whence fome apply it to common tubes or pipes. 

 Wolfius particularly defcribes two veffels under the name of 

 fiphons : the one cylindrical in the middle, and conical at 

 the two extremes ; the other globular in the middle, with 

 two narrow tubes fitted to it axis-wife : both ferving to 

 take up a quantity of water, &c. and to retain it when up. 



But the moll ufeful and celebrated fiphon is that which 

 follows: a crooked tube A B C (P/ate XV. Hydraulics, 

 jig. I.) is provided of fuch a length, and with fuch an angle, 

 or fo bent at the vertex, as that when the orifice A is placed 

 on an horizontal plane, the height of A B may not exceed 

 thirty-two or thirty-three feet. For common ufes, a foot 

 or half a foot high fufBces. If, now, the lef; arm, A B, 

 be immerged in water, or any other liquid, and the air be 

 lucked out of it by the aperture C, till the liquor follow ; 

 the liquor will continue to flow out of the vefiel, through 

 the tube B C, as long as the aperture A is under the furface 

 of the liquor. 



Note, inflead of fucking out the air, the event will be 

 the fame, if the fiphon be at firil filled with the fluid, and 

 the aperture C flopped with the finger, till the aperture A 

 be immerged. 



The truth of the phenomenon is known by abundance of 

 experiments ; nor is the reafon of part of it far to feek. In 

 fucking, the air in the tube is rarefied, and the equilibrium 

 deflroyed ; confequently the water mufl be raifed into the 

 lefler leg A B, by the preponderating preflure of the atmo- 

 fphere. 



The fiphon being thus filled, the atmofphcre prefles 

 equally on each extremity, fo as to fullain an equal quantity 

 of water in each Kg ; but the air not being able to fuflaiii all 

 the water in the longer leg, and being more than able to 

 fuflain that in the flujrter leg ; with the exccfs of force, 

 therefore, it will raife new water into the thortcr leg ; and 

 this new water cannot make its way, but by protruding the 

 firfl before it : by this means is the water continually driven 

 out at the longer leg, as it is continually raifed by the 

 fhort er. 



The caufe of the fiphon's running may be otherwife cx- 

 plaiiiid in the following manner : the air which pafles into 

 the vcll'el A BCD (jig. 3.), rcprtfentcd by the cohimu 



K Lt 



