symmetry 
gr in a piano mirror: so. usually, in . 
hilly, In nrrli., the exact .it geometrical repetition 
of inn- half uf any structure or cotn|H.Mtion ny the other 
half, only wild the parti) arnuiKcd in reverse order, its 
notably in mm h Renaissance nnil modern architecture- 
fur Instance, ill tile placing of twil spires, i \:irt dill 
uf each other, on till- flout (if ;i rhllich. Still] pnirlir. js 
very seldom followed in the l>esi arc -liitivturc, which In 
general seeks 111 its designs to exhibit Inirnioiiy (we har- 
mxnn, ;!), hut avoids symmetry in thia sense. 
Vt , huve an Idea of S//tninrlri/; ami un axiom involved 
in thin Idea is that in H symmetrical natural body, if tin i . 
be a tendency tn modify any member in an\ manner, there 
Is a tendency to modify nil the corresponding members In 
the RHJIIC manner. 
Wlu'Hfll, I'hilos. of Inillli-tive Sciences, 1. |p. xx\. 
.lolin and .leivmjah sat in Kyiiinffrtum opposite Sides of 
tin 1 III eplaee ; the very smiles nn their honest faces seem- 
i-d diawn to a line of exactitude 
Mrt. liutkrll. Sylvia s Lovers, xiv. 
3. Tlio composition of liki' mid ripiiildy distrib- 
uted parts to form a unitary whole ; a balance 
between different parts, otherwise than in ref- 
erence to a medial plane: but the mere repe- 
tition of parts, as in a pattern, is not properly 
called ftiiniini-iri/. 4. Consistency; congruify; 
keeping; proper subordination of apart to the 
whole. 
It Is In exact itymnutrj/ with Western usage that this 
great compilation was not received as a code until the 
year 1309. Stubbt, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 167. 
6. In biol.: (it) In botany, specifically, agree- 
ment in number of parts among the cycles of or- 
HIIMS which compose a (tower. See symmetrical, 
3. (6) In zoology and anatomy, the symmetri- 
cal disposition or reversed repetition of parts 
around an axis or on opposite sides of any plane 
of the body. Sifinnietri/iii this sense is something more 
and other than that due proportion of parts noted In del. 1, 
since It implies a geometrical representation approximate- 
ly as In def. 2 (see promorphuloyy); It Is also to he distin- 
guished from mere metamerism, or the serial repetition 
of like parts conceived to face one way and not In opposite 
directions; but it coincides in some cases with actmome- 
rum, and In others with anfimrrunn or platetrnpy (tee anti- 
mere, platetropt). Several sorts of symmetry are recog- 
nized. One Is radial or actitunneric. In which like parts 
are arranged about an axis, from which they radiate like 
the parts of a flower, as in many zoophytes and echlno- 
derms ; but such symmetry is unusual In the animal king- 
dom, being mainly confined to some of the lower classes 
of Invertebrates, and even In these the departures from 
ft are frequently obvious. (See bieiuin, trivium, and cuts 
under echinopadium and Spatangoidea.) The tendency of 
animal form on the whole being to grow along one main 
axis (the longitudinal), with symmetrical duplication of 
parts on each side of the vertical plane (the meson) paw- 
ing through that axis, it follows that the usual symmetry 
Is trilateral (see below). This Is exhibited only obscurely, 
however, by some cylindrical organisms, as worms, whose 
right and left "sides," though existent, are not well 
marked ; and to such symmetry of ringed or annulose 
forms the term zonal is sometimes applied. When the or- 
dinary metameric divisions of any animal, as a vertebrate 
or an arthropod, are conceived as not simply serial but 
also as antitropfe, such disposition of parts is regarded as 
constituting anteroponterior symmetry, In which parts are 
supposed to be reversed repetitions of each other on oppo- 
site sides of an imaginary plane dividing the body trans- 
vcrscly to its axis, In the same sense that right and left 
parts are reversed repetitions of each other In bilateral 
symmetry. The existence of the last U denied or ignored 
by those who consider the segments of an articulate or ver- 
tebrate body as uimply serially homologous ; but in the 
view of those who recognize It the back of the arm corre- 
sponds to the front of the thigh, the convexity of the elbow 
(backward) to the convexity of the knee (forward), the ex- 
tensor hrachli to the extensor cruris, etc. Anteroposterior 
symmetry Is also recognized by some naturalists In cer- 
tain arthropods from the arrangements of the legs (In am- 
phfpods, for example), the correspondences observed be- 
tween anal and oral parts, etc. since any body Is a solid, 
and therefore may be Intersected by three mutually per- 
pendicular planes, two of which are concerned in bilateral 
and antcroposterior symmetry respectively, a kind of sym- 
metry called dornabfiominal gytnmetry Is recognized by 
some, being that of parts lying upon opposite sides of a 
longitudinal horizontal plane passing through the axis of 
the body, as that between the neural and hemal arches of 
a vertebra : hut It Is generally obscure, and probably never 
perfect. RilaU'ral fjimmetry (see eitdiplettral) Is the nearly 
universal rule In vertebrates and articulates. The chief de- 
partures from it in vertebrates are in the family of flatfishes 
or flounders (as the plaice, turbot, halibut), in parts of the 
cranium of various cetaceans and the single great tusk of 
the n:ir\vh:il. iii tlu- skulls (especially the ear-parts) of sun- 
dry owls, In the beak of a plover (Anarkynehiu) which is 
bent sldewise, in the atrophy of one of the ovaries and ovi- 
ducts In most birds, and In the position finally assumed by 
the heart and great vessels and most of the digestive organs 
of vertebrates at large. (See cuts under un/ininrtril. nar- 
whal, plaice, andpfoew.) In articulates notable except!' m* 
to it are seen In the difference between the great claws or 
chela 1 of a lobster, etc. In Mnllusca asymmetry is the rule 
rather than the exception. (See Anuoplrura, Isopletira.) 
A certain symmetry, apart from that exhibited by an ani- 
mal body as a whole, may be also predicated of the several 
componenta of any part In their respective selves : as, the 
xymmetrii of a carpus or of a tarsus whose several bones 
are regularly disposed on each side of its axial plain 01 
around a central bone. (See cuts under carpus and tartiis. ) 
Axis of symmetry. See nrwi. - Center of symme- 
try, see center^ . Kinetlcal symmetry, tin- equality 
of the principal axes of a body through its center of mass'. 
Plane of symmetry, a syimm-tral or median plane. 
Quartlc symmetry. See tpiartu:. Qulntlc symmetry, 
6137 
icioilrltyof fonndepcndinu'on a pentagon being regular. 
ne yumrir. Radial symmetry. E Rec- 
tangular 01 right symmetry, \vnmictiy depending on 
that of the ri^'ht aiik'lc, or consisting in HOIUC angle being a 
right angle. Skew symmetry. S,C~I..H. Uniform 
symmetry, in arch., such disposition of parts that the 
same onlonnance rciyn.s throughout the. whole. = 8yn. 
.V'/,/*,, I . til'- more 
word, In nii: ;ipp]iral>]e to numbers, etc. ; it is also the more 
abstract Syiituirtry Is limited to the relation of the parts 
of bodies, e-perially 1 1 ving bodies : u, tymiiul ri/ in n 
ofahorsc; it is thus sometime* moie external. Symmetry 
sometimes Is more expressive of the pleasure of the behold- 
er "Symmetry Is the opposition of equal quantities to 
each other. Proportion the connectl if unequal quanti- 
ties with each other. The property of a tree In sending 
out equal boughs on opposite tides Is lymmetrical. Its 
sending out shorter and smaller toward the top, propor- 
tional. In the human face It* balance of opposite tide* Is 
lymmetry. Its division upwards, proportion.' (liuilrin.) 
sympalmograph (sim-pal'mo-graf), H. [< Or. 
aim, together, + >ro>.//of, vibration (< mi/'/m; vi- 
iirnto), + -fp&keiv, write.] A kind of apparatus 
used to exhibit Lissajous curves (see under 
curve) formed by the combination of two sim- 
ple harmonic motions. A convenient form employs 
a double pendulum, the rate of oscillation of whose parts 
can be varied at will, while a suitable style traces out upon 
a lampblack surface the curves resulting from the com- 
bined motions. 
sympathetic (sim-pa-thet'ik), a. and n. [Cf. 
xiiiii/iiillittii-iis (iii technical use); < LGr. avfura- 
ili^it./jf, having sympathy, < Gr. oyuxdffeia, sym- 
pathy: see sympathy.] I. ti. 1. Pertaining to. 
expressive of, proceeding from, or exhibiting 
sympathy, in any sense ; attended with sym- 
pathy. 
Cold reserve had lost its power 
In sorrow's tj/mpnthetic hour. 
Scott, Rokeby, T. 11. 
The tympathetic or social feelings are not so strong be. 
tween different communities its between individuals of the 
same community. Calhoun, Works, 1. 9. 
It is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest 
philosophy that man is one, and that you cannot Injure 
any member without a tympathdic injury to all the mem- 
bers. Emenon, West Indian Emancipation. 
The sentiment of justice Is nothing but a it/mpatltrtie 
affection of the instinct of personal rights a sort of re- 
flex function of It. //. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 116. 
2. Having sympathy or common feeling with 
another; susceptible of being affected by feel- 
ings like those of another, or of altruistic feel- 
ings which arise as a consequence of what an- 
other feels. 
Your tympatheNe Hearts she hopes to move. 
Prior, Epilogue to Mrs. Mauby's Lucius. 
Wiser he, whose tympathetic mind 
Exults In all the good of all mankind. 
Goldmmth, Traveller, 1. 43. 
3. Harmonious; concordant; congenial. 
Now o'er the soothed accordant heart we feel 
A tympalhetie twilight slowly steal. 
Wordtwortk, An Evening Walk. 
My Imagination, which I suppose at bottom had very 
good reasons of Its own and knew perfectly what it was 
about, refused to project Into the dark old town and upon 
the yellow hills that tympathetic glow which forms half 
the substance of our genial impressions. 
H. Jama, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 291. 
4. In aunt, and foot., effecting a sympathy or 
consentaneous affection of the viscera and 
blood-vessels; uniting viscera and blood-ves- 
sels in a nervous action common to them all ; 
inhibitory of or controlling the vital activities 
of viscera and blood-vessels, which are thereby 
subjected to a common nervous influence; spe- 
cifically, of or pertaining to a special set of 
nerves or nervous system called the sympa- 
tlntic. See below. 5. In acoustics, noting 
sounds induced not by a direct vibration-produ- 
cing force, but by vibrations conveyed through 
the air or other medium from a body already 
in vibration. The phenomena of resonance 
are properly examples of sympathetic sound. 
Sympathetic headache, pains'in the head as the result 
of comparatively distant Irritations. Sympathetic ink 
See in*i. Sympathetic nerve, a nerve of the sympa- 
thetic system ; in particular, one of the two main gangll- 
ated cords extending the whole length of the vertebral 
column. These ganglia, in man, correspond in number to 
the vertebne against which they lie, except In the neck, 
where there are three pairs, and on the coccyx, where 
there is but a single one. the ganglion impar. Communi- 
cating branches, mini communicanta, rami visceraleit, to 
and from the spinal and some of the cranial nerves, 
unite the sympathetic system with the cerebrospinal axis. 
The branches of distribution of the sympathetic system 
supply chiefly the trunk-viscera and the walls of the blood- 
vessels and lymphatics. The sympathetic nerves differ 
from the cerebrosplnal nerves In having generally a gray- 
ish or reddish c-olor, and In the greater number and more 
widely distributed ganglia connected with them. The 
sympathetic nerve is also called rrrrat tympathetic, tri- 
MitMtaftj yanylionic. Sympathetic nervous sys- 
tem, (n) In vertebrate*, a set of nerves consisting essen- 
tially of a longitudinal series of ganglia on each side of 
the spinal axis, connected by commissures or commisaural 
nerve-flbers, forming a double chain from head to tall, and 
giving off numerous branches which form special plexuses 
sympathize 
in the. principal cavities of the liody, and other plexusef 
surrounding and aei oiiipanv ing the viscera and blood- 
vessels, dihiinet from hut int]iu:iti l\ r,,nn< r1< d liy anas- 
- u ith tlie nerves of the ccrebrosplnal s > >'em. in 
man the .->ln|iUthetie .syMeln eollith (1) of the two main 
gangliatcii chain* above described ; (:!i of four pairs of 
ii ganglia: <:'> of tht< i _!<, it v.m^liate.i plexuses 
or sympathetic plexuses, in tin U ominal, and 
pelvic cavities icgpcct ively ; (4) of smaller ganglia in con- 
ncrtiott with the abdominal and otlni \i-.-ii: 
communicating nerves or eoinniishni- - u)i<i-)iy these 
ganglia or plexuses are connected with one another anil 
with nerves of tin- cerel'i in; {'.) of distiibu- 
tory nerves supplying II.. .d vessels, win rcb\ 
the sympathetic reaches all parts of tin bod 
ylion and ptejnu. (b) In invertebrates, as rennet, a pos- 
terior part of the visceral nervous system, pattslng on to 
the enteric tube, and corresponding to a true enteric mi 
vous system: so called In M< of it- phj-dolivical rela- 
tions. without reference to the actual liomology Implied 
with the sympathetic system of a vertebrate. Sympa- 
thetic numbers, numbers absurdly supposed to have a 
tendency to come together l>> i -hanec. Sympathetic 
ophthalmia, inflammation of one eye due to lesion in 
the opposite eye. Sympathetic powder. See powder. 
Sympathetic resonance, the communication of vibra- 
tion from one founding b..d\ to another In its proximity. 
Thus, If two musical strings are stretched over the same 
sounding-board and one of them Is struck, the other will 
vibrate also U tuned to the same note, or, further. If tuned 
to give the octave or the fifth. Sympathetic Bounds. 
sounds produced by means of vibrations caused by the 
vibrations of some sounding body, these vibrations being 
communicated by means of the air or some intervening 
liquid or solid body.- Sympathetic string, In various 
classes of stringed musical Instruments, astring that is 
Intended to be sounded by sympathetic vibration, and not 
by direct excitation. 
II. . 1. The sympathetic nervous system, 
or the sympathetic nerve. 2. One who is pecn- 
liarly susceptible, as to hypnotic or mesmeric 
influences ; a sensitive. 
Favorable conditions may make any one hypnotic to 
some extent, in a degree sufficient, perhaps, to dull the 
physical vision and excite the mental vision. Naturally 
enough a company of tympatfietift may be similarly Influ- 
enced! X. A. Rev., OXLVI. 706. 
sympathetical (sim-pa-thet'i-kal), a. [< ym- 
patlictic + -al.] Same as sympathetic. 
Sympathetical and vital passions produced within our- 
selves. Beatles/. 
sympathetically (sim-pa-thet'i-kal-i), adv. In 
a sympathetic manner ; "with sympathy, in any 
sense; in consequence of sympathy, or sympa- 
thetic interaction or interdependence. 
sympatheticism (sim-pa-thet'i-sizm), n. [< 
Kumpathetic + -ism.'] A tendency to be sympa- 
thetic, especially an undue tendency ; fondness 
for exhibiting sympathy t used in a disparaging 
sense. 
Penelope . . . received her visitors with a piteous 
distraction which could not fall of touching Bromfteld 
Corey's Italianized nympaUietifum. 
Hotcellt, Silas I/apham, xxvli. 
sympatheticus (sim-pa-thet'i-kus), /'. ; pi. xi/iii- 
patnetici (-si). [NL.V see sympathetic.] The 
sympathetic nerve. 
sympathise, sympathiser. Bee nymiMitliizc, 
sympathizer. 
sympathist (sim'pa-thist), H. [< gymputli-y + 
-ist. J One who feels sympathy ; a sympathizer. 
Coleridtje. 
sympathize (sira'pa-thiz), r. ; pret. and pp. 
xilipathi:ed,\>VT. sympatlii;iinj. [Formerly also 
simpathi:e; < P. sympathiser = 8p. simpafcar 
= Pg. sympathizar = It. simpatizzare ; as sym- 
patlt-y + -tre.] I. intrans. 1. To have or ex- 
hibit sympathy ; be affected as a result of the 
affection of some one or something else. Specifi- 
cally (a) To share a feeling, as of bodily pleasure or pain. 
with another; feel with another. 
The mind will lympathizc so much with the anguish and 
debility of the body that It will be too distracted to fix 
itself in meditation. /tuchninttrr. 
('<) To feel In consequence of what another feels ; be af- 
fected by feelings similar to those of another, commonly 
In consequence of knowing the other to be thus affected. 
There was but one sole man In all the world 
With whom I e'er could tytnpathue. 
B. Jotumn, Volpone, ill. 2. 
A good man can usually sympathise much more with a 
very Imperfect character of his own type than with a far 
more perfect one of a different type. 
Lech/, Enrop. Morals, I. 164. 
(e) To be affected sympathetically : respond sympatheti- 
cally to external Influences of any kind. 
In the great poets there is an exquisite sensibility both 
of soul and sense that K)nnpattiiic*Mkc gossamer sea-moss 
with every movement of the element. 
Loteell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 250. 
(if) To agree ; fit : harmonize. 
A worke t' admire. 
That aire should meet with earth, water with flre, 
And in one bodle friendlie tympathite, 
Being soc manlfestlle contraries. 
Tinut' Whittle (E. B. T. S.\ p. 116. 
2. To express sympathy; condole. [Colloq.] 
St. To be of like nature or disposition ; re- 
semble. 
