SID 
middle of which is an eye, or cavity, where- 
in is inclosed .the spool with the wool. See 
Weaving. 
SIBBALDIA, in botany, so nanied in 
memory of Sir Robert Sibbald, professor ot 
physic at Edinburgh, a genus of the ^en- 
tandria Pentagynia class and order. Natu- 
ral order of Senticosae. Rosacese, Jussieu. 
Essential character : calyx ten cleft ; petals 
tive, inserted into the calyx ; styles from 
the side of the germ ; seeds five. There 
are three species. 
SIBTHORPIA, in botany, so named in 
honour of Humphrey Sibthorp, M. D. pro- 
fessor of botany at Oxford, a genus of the 
Didynamia Anginspermia class and -order. 
Natural order of Pediculares, Jussieu. Es- 
sential character : calyx five-parted ; co- 
rolla five parted, .equal,; stamina in remote 
pairs ; capsule compressed, orbicular ; two 
celled, with the partition transverse.. There 
is only one species, viz. S. Europcea, Cor- 
nish money-wort, a native of Portugal and 
England, in shady places ; it flowers in 
July and August. 
SICE ace, a game with dice and tables, 
whereat five may play; each having six 
men, and the last out losing. At this game, 
they load ope another with aces ; sixes 
.bear away ; and doublets drinks, and 
throws again. 
SICYOS, in botany, a genus of the 
Monoecia Syngenesia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Cuciirbitace®. Essential 
character : calyx five-toothed ; corolla five- 
parted ; male, filaments three ; female, 
style trifid ; drupe one-seeded. There are 
.three species. 
' SIDA, in botany, a genus of the Mona- 
delphia Polyandria class and order. Na- 
tural order of Columniferae. Malvaceae, 
Jussieu. .Generic character : calyx pe- 
rianth one-leafe.d, angular ; corolla, petals 
five, wider above, emarginate, fastened be- 
low to the tube of the stamens ; stamina, 
filaments very-piany, united below into a 
tube, in the apex of the tooth, divided; pe- 
ricarpiiim, capsule roundish, apgnlar, com- 
posed of five or more cells ; seeds solitary. 
There ate ninety-nine species^ natives of 
warm climates ; and most of them are 
found in the East or West Indies. The 
Chinese make cords of the S. abutilon. 
This plant loves water, and may be advan- 
tageously planted in marshes and ditches, 
where nothing else will grow. The mace- 
ration of the smaller stalks is finisl»ed in 
.about fifteen days ; of the larger in a 
jijBGnth. The strength and goodness of the 
SID 
thread appears to be in proportion to the 
perfection of the vegetation, and to tlie 
distance that the plant is kept at from other 
plants. The fibres lie in strata, of which 
there are sometimes six ; they are not quite 
straight, but preserve an undulating direc- 
tion, so as to form a net- work in their natu- 
ral positions. Their smell resembles that 
of hemp ; the fibres are whiter, but more 
dry and harsh, tlian those of hemp. The 
harshnesis is owing to a greenish gluten 
which connects the fibres ; and the white 
colour must always be obtained at the ex- 
pense of having this kind of thread less 
supple ; when of its natural hue, it is .very 
soft and flexible. 
SIDE, the half of any thing, as an ani- 
mal, a ship, &e. The sides of an animal are 
distinguished into the right and left side ; 
but those of a ship, into the starboard and 
larboard side. In geometry, the sides of a 
rectilinear figure are the lines which form 
its periphery. 
Sides me/i, or Synod’s 7nen, persons 
who, in large parishes, are appointed to as- 
sist the chtirchwardens, in tlieir inquiry and 
presentments of such offenders to the or- 
dinary, as are punishable in the spiritual 
court. 
SIDEREAL day, is the time in which anv. 
star appears to revolve fi om the meridian 
to the meridian again ; which is 23 hours 
56' 4'' 6 " of mean solar time ; there being 
360 sidereal days in a year, or in the time 
of 365 diurnal revolutions of the Sun; that 
is, exactly, if the equinoctial points were at 
rest in the heavens. But the equinoctial 
points go backward, with respect to the 
stars, at the rate of 50" of a degree in a Ju- 
lian year; which causes the stars to have 
an apparent progressive motion eastward 
50 " in that time. And as the ^Sun’s mean 
motion in the ecliptic is only 11 signs 29“ 
,45' 40' 15" in 365 days, it follows, that at 
the end of that time he will be 14' 19 " 45'" 
short of that point of the ecliptic from 
which he set out at the beginning; and the 
stars will be advanced 50" of a degree with 
respect to that point. Consequently, if the 
Sun’s centre be on the meridian with any 
star on any given day of the year, that star 
•will be 14' 19 " 45"' -1- 50" or 15' 9" 45 "' east 
' of the Sun’s centre, on the 365th day after- 
ward, when the Sun’s centre is on the meri- 
dian ; and therefore that star will not come 
to the meridian on that day till the Sun’s 
centre has passed it by l' 0 " 38" 5?"" of 
mean solar time ; for the Sun takes so. much 
time to go through an arc of 15' 9" 45"' j 
