S 1 N 
ffnot distinct species; the one with cut, the 
«ther with entire, leaves. 
Mustard, by its pungency, stimulates the 
solids ; and hence is recommended for ex- 
ulting appetite, assisting digestion, promoting 
the iiuict secretions, and tor the other pur- 
poses of the acrid plants called antiscorbutic. 
[ Jt imparts its taste and smell in perfection to 
[ aqueous liquors, and by distillation with wa- 
ter yield.: an essential oil of great acrimony. 
To rectified spirit its seeds give out very 
i little either of their smell or taste. Subjected 
to the press, they yield a considerable quan- 
[ lily of mild insipid oil, which is as free Irom 
acrimony as that of almonds. They are ap- 
plied as an external stimulant to benumbed 
or paralytic limbs ; to parts affected with 
j fixed rheumatic pains, and to the soles of the 
| feet, in the low stage of acute diseases, for 
! raising the pulse : in this intention, a mixture 
j of equal parts of the powdered seeds and 
I crumb of bread, with the addition sometimes 
of a little bruised garlic, is made into a ca- 
taplasm with a sufficient quantity of vinegar. 
SINAPISM’. See Pharmacy. 
SINCIPUT, in anatomy, the fore part of 
the head, reaching from the forehead to the 
coronal suture. 
SIN If, or right sine of an arch. See Tri- 
flONOMETRY. 
! Sine-cure, is where a rector of a parish 
has a vicar under him endowed and charged 
j with the cure, so that the rector is not obliged 
either to do duty or residence. 
Sine-pie, without day, in law, a term fre- 
quently used in our proceedings at common 
law; as when judgment is given against the 
j plaintiff, he is said to be in misericordia pro 
falso clamore suo; so when judgment passes 
for the defendant, it is entered eat inde sine 
j die, being as much as to say, he is dischar- 
ged, or dismissed the court. 
SINISTER. See Heraldry. 
SINKING FUND, in political economy, 
I a portion of the public revenue appropriated 
j to the reduction or discharge of the public 
• debts. As the funding system had been 
| adopted in other countries long before it was 
! resorted to 'in Great Britain, a provision of 
j this kind had appeared necessary at a much 
t earlier period, and had been established in 
Holland in 1655, and in the ecclesiastical 
state in 1685. These funds were both formed 
by reducing the interest payable on the pub- 
lic debts, and appropriating the annual sum 
i thus saved to tiie gradual discharge of the 
1 principal.' 
In. the reign of king William, when the 
mode of providing for extraordinary expences 
< bv incurring public debts, which lias become 
so general, was first adopted in this country, 
' the particular tax on which money was bor- 
rowed, generally produced much more than 
I sufficient to pay tiie annual interest, and the 
| surplus was applied in sinking or discharging 
i the principal, which was generally effected 
I in a few years. Had this plan been pursued, 
i there never could have been any very great 
accumulation of public debts; but, as the 
I expenditure increased, and the necessity of 
loans of still greater amount became more 
1 frequent, it was found sufficiently difficult to 
| provide effectually for the yearly interest of 
the sums thus, borrowed; and the repayment 
| of the principal was either put off to a distant 
j period, or leff without any provision to the 
j chance of more flourishing times. 
S I N 
Some of the effects of an accinmiTaflng 
public debt scon became evident in the dis- 
count at which all government securities sold, 
and in the difficulties experienced in provid- 
ing for the annual expenditure ; the propriety 
of reducing, and even of w holly discharging, 
the debt, was generally acknowledged ; and 
the plan of a sinking fund very similar to that 
which was afterwards adopted, was recom- 
mended in a pamphlet published in 1701. In 
1713 Mr. Archibald Hutcheson presented to 
George I. a plan for payment of the public 
debts. In 1715 different projects for this 
purpose were published by Edward Leigh, 
Mr. Asgiil, and others. And in 1717 a plan 
for the gradual discharge of the debt w : as ac- 
tually adopted, which was afterwards gene- 
rally known by the appellation of the sinking 
fund. 
The country had been engaged in an ex- 
pensive w ar during nearly the whole of the 
reign of queen Anne ; and it had been found 
impracticable to obtain the large sums re- 
quired, without paying, in most instances, a 
very high interest : but upon the return of 
peace the .current rate of interest lowered 
considerably, w hich proceeded in part from a 
real increase of the national capital, as well as 
from loans to government of any great amount 
being no longer necessary. It was there- 
fore deemed a proper opportunity ftir effect- 
ing a reduction of the high interest payable 
to the public creditors, and of establishing 
an effectual plan for reducing by degrees the 
debts of the nation. Accordingly, on the 
20th of May, 1717, general Stanhope, wdio 
was then first lord of the treasury, and chan- 
cellor of the exchequer, submitted to parlia- 
ment the terms of a proposed agreement with 
the bank of England and the South Sea com- 
pany, by which the interest was to be reduced 
from 6 to 5 per cent, on the capitals of these 
corporations, w ho were the principal public 
creditors, and who were likewise to furnish 
money, if it should be necessary, for paying 
off such individuals as should not agree to a 
similar reduction of the interest payable to 
them. The total annual interest saved to 
government by this transaction was no less 
than 328,560/. 13$. 7 $d. 
The different funds on which most of the 
public debts had been charged were consoli- 
dated; and the produce of all the permanent 
taxes was distinguished into only three funds, 
called the aggregate fund, the South Sea fund, 
and the general fund. From these three 
funds the interest of all the public debts was 
payable ; and the excess or overplus beyond 
the payments with which each fund was 
charged, was to be “ appropriated, reserved, 
and appl iecl, to and for discharging the prin- 
cipal and interest of such national debts and 
incumbrances, as were incurred before the 
25th day of December )7l6, and are declared 
to be national debts, and were provided for 
by act or acts of parliament, to be discharged 
therewith, or out of the same, and to or for 
none other use, intent, or purpose, whatso- 
ever.” This constituted the sinking fund; 
and as the plan originated while sir Robert 
Walpole was in office, he claimed much ho- 
nour as the father cf it; but it is evident that 
it required no invention, and but little judg- 
ment, to adopt a measure which had been 
found efficacious in other countries, which 
had been publicly recommended some years 
befbrej and the utility of which was so obvious, 
that not to liave adupted it, when the reduc* 
lion of interest rendered it so practicable, 
and when an example had been set in the 
establishment of the aggregate iund, would 
have been inexcusable. It was, in tact, no- 
thing more than appropriating generally the 
surpluses of funds which were before esta- 
blished, to the uses to which the greater part 
had before been specifically appropriated. 
For a few years the tuncl was strictly ap- 
plied to the purposes for which it was esta- 
blished ; and so well were its nature and impor- 
tance then understood, that rather than en- 
croach upon it, money was at the same time 
borrowed for extraordinary expences. 'J ins 
perseverance was however of no long duration ; 
in 1722 it was made a collateral security for 
the interest of a million raised by exchequer 
bills, which prepared the way for more direct 
encroachments. In 1724 the sum of 13, 144/. 
19s. was taken from the fund, to make good 
the loss to the treasury from the reduction of 
the value of gold coin; and within twelve 
years from its establishment it was charged 
with the interest of new loans. In 1733 the 
gross sum of half a million was taken from it 
towards the supplies, at which time the me- 
dium annual produce of the fund for five 
years had been 1,212,000 /. This amount, with 
its proper increase, would have been amply 
sufficient for the discharge of the debt which 
then existed, but fhe alienation of it was con- 
tinued ; and Dr. Price has shewn that no 
greater part of the public debt than about 
eight millions and a half was discharged by 
the fund from this period to the year 1786; 
when, in consequence of a new arrangement 
of the public accounts, the distinction ol t he d if- 
ferent funds above-mentioned was abolished, 
and the produce of all the permanent taxes 
included under one general head, called the 
consolidated fund. 
One of the objects of this arrangement was 
to lay the foundation of a new sinking fund, 
formed from the general surplus of the re- 
venue, and consisting, like the old fund, iff 
the application of the principle of compound 
interest. Among those whom Mr. Pill con- 
sulted on this occasion, he particularly sought 
the advic^, and assistance of the late Dr. 
Price, who communicated three plans, which 
he conceived to be best adapted lor carrying 
into execution a measure that he had so olieu 
urged in his different publications, particu- 
larly before the American war had swelled 
the public debts to what then appeared to be 
a hopeless magnitude : it was one of the plans 
thus communicated, which was afterwards 
adopted, but with some alterations which 
considerably affected its efficacy, and which 
it has since been found necessary to correct. 
By the act which was passed lor carry ing this 
scheme into execution, 26 Geo. 3. c. 31, the 
annual sum of 1,000,000/. was placed in the 
hands of commissioners, who are, the speaker 
of the house of commons, the chancellor of 
the exchequer, the master of the rolls, the 
accomptant-general of the court of chancery, 
and the governor and deputy-governor of the 
bank, for the time being respectively. This 
million was to be issued in four equal quar- 
terly payments, and to be applied either in 
paying off such redeemable annuities as were 
at or above par, or in the purchase of annui- 
ties below par, at the market-price. The 
dividends ©n the sums redeemed or purchas- 
