649 
SANHEDRIM. 
lio reason for adding that epithet to the word sanguineus, 
which riot being used for any Other tree, could need no dis¬ 
tinction. The Romans, and many other nations, used this 
tree as we do, for the punishment of children’s faults ; and 
it is possible that the name sanguineus might be given it on 
this occasion. Pliny, lib. xvi. cap. 26. 
SANGU1PURG1UM, a name given by some authors to a 
slight species of fever, which was judged salutary, as only 
serving to purge and cleanse the blood. 
SANGUIS, in our Ancient Customs, denotes a right or 
power, which the chief lord of the see anciently had to 
judge and determine cases where blood was shed. “ De 
murderia et raptu, de igne, de sanguine, &c.” Monast. 
SANGUIS Draconis Herba, in Botany, a name by which 
some authors call the lapathum sangwineum, or bloody dock. 
SANGUINEM, Emere, was an obligation which the 
inhabitants of some manors, as that of Grendon, were under, 
to buy and redeem their villain-blood, or tenure, and make 
themselves free men. 
SANGUIS Caprinus, or Hircinus, the blood of the he- 
goat, either wild or tame. This used to be prepared, with 
great precaution, to be used in medicine, and was supposed 
by many to have very extraordinary qualities. 
SANGUISORBA [from its supposed medical qualities, 
in stopping haemorrhages: quod sanguineos fluxus sistat et 
sorbeat], in Botany, a genus of the class tetrandria, order 
monogynia, natural order of miscellaneae (Lin.) rosaceae 
(Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx: perianth two-leaved; 
leaflets opposite, very short, caducous. Corolla: one- 
petalled, wheel-shaped; tube subglobular; border four- 
cleft, flat; segments subovate. Stamina: filaments four, 
almost the length of the corolla. Anthers simple. Pistil: 
germ roundish within the tube of the corolla. Style filiform; 
length of the corolla, permanent. Stigma simple. Pericarp: 
capsule globular, one-celled, cut transversely. Seeds very 
many, roundish, very small.— Essential Character. 
Calyx two-leaved, inferior. Corolla superior. Germ be¬ 
tween the calyx and corolla. 
1. Sanguisorba officinalis, or great burnet.—This is a 
•hardy plant, from eighteen inches to two feet and a half 
in height. Stem upright, almost naked, branching towards 
the top. Leaves unequally pinnate, consisting of four, 
five or six pairs of leaflets, which are ovate-oblong, near two 
inches long, and an inch broad at the base. Spikes thick, 
blunt, of a dark blood red, the upper flowers expanding 
first, and being commonly without stamens, or only an 
imperfect one. 
It differs from the next species, in having ovate, not 
cylindrical spikes; and smooth calyxes, not ciliate at the 
edge.—Native of many parts of Europe. 
2. Sanguisorba media, or short-spiked burnet.—The 
spikes of the flowers are cylindrical and longer; the stamens 
also are longer than in Sanguisorba officinalis.—Native of 
Canada. 
3. Sanguisorba Canadensis, or Canadian burnet.—Spikes 
very long.—This has leaves like those of the common sort, 
but a httle stiifer, composed of four or five pairs of leaflets; 
those on the lower part of the midrib stand alternate, but 
the two upper pairs are opposite; they are of a light green 
colour, and deeply serrate.—Native of North America and 
Siberia. 
Propagation and Culture. —The burnets are very hardy 
perennial plants, and will thrive in almost any soil or situa¬ 
tion. They may be propagated either by seeds or parting 
of the roots. 
SANGUR, a town and fortress of Hindostan, province of 
Allahabad, and district of Bundelcund. It is governed by a 
Dative chief, but tributary to the Mahrattas. Lat. 23. 50. N. 
long. 78. 5. E. 
SANHEDRIM, Sanhedrin, or Synedrium, among 
the ancient Jews, the supreme council, or court of judicature, 
of that republic; in which were dispatched all the great 
affairs, both of religion and policy. 
The word is derived from the Greek, awetipiov, a council, 
Vol. XXII. No. 1529. 
assembly, or company of people sitting together; from aw, 
con, together, and eSpa, seat. 
Many of the learned agree, that it was instituted by 
Moses, Numbers, chap, xi., and consisted at first of seventy 
elders, who judged finally of all causes and affairs; and 
that they subsisted, without intermission, from Moses to 
Ezra. (See Deut. xxvii. 1. xxxi. 9. Josh. xxiv. 1. 31. 
Judges, ii. 7. 2 Chron. xix. 8. Ezek. viii. II.) Others 
will have it, that the council of seventy elders, established 
by Moses, Numb, chap.xi. was temporary, and did not hold 
aftgr his death; adding, that we find no sign of any such 
perpetual and infallible tribunal throughout the whole Old 
Testament; and that the sanhedrim wasfirst'set up in the 
time when the Maccabees, or Asmoneans, took upon them¬ 
selves the administration of the government under the title 
of high-priests, and afterwards of kings, that is( ever since 
the persecution of Antiochus. 
The Jews, however, contend strenuously for the antiquity 
of their great sanhedrim ; M. Simon strengthens and defends 
their proofs, and M. le Clerc attacks them. 
Whatever may be the origin and establishment of the san¬ 
hedrim, it is certain it was subsisting in the time of our Sa¬ 
viour, since it is spoken of in, the gospels, Matth. v. 21. 
Mark, xiii. 9. xiv. 55. xv. 1. and Acts of the Apostles; 
and since Jesus Christ himself was arraigned and condemned 
by it: that it was held at Jerusalem; and that the decision 
of all the most important affairs among the Jews belonged 
to it. The president of this assembly was called Nasi, or 
prince; his deputy was called Ab-beth-din, father of the 
house of judgment; and the sub-deputy was called C/iacan, 
the wife: the rest were denominated tzekanim, elders or 
senators. The room in which they sat was a rotunda, half 
of which was built without the temple, and half within; 
i. e. one semicircle of the room was within the compass of 
the temple ; and as it was never allowed to sit down in the 
temple, they tell us this part was for those who stood up; 
the other half, or semicircle, extended without the holy 
place, and here the judges sat. The nasi, or prince, sat oil 
a throne at the end of the hall, having his deputy at his 
right hand, and his sub-deputy at his left; the other senators 
were ranged in order on each side. 
The sanhedrim subsisted until the destruction of Jerusalem, 
but its authority was almost reduced to nothing, from the 
time in which the Jewish nation became subject to the Roman 
empire. 
The rabbins pretend, that the sanhedrim has always sub¬ 
sisted in their nation, from the rime of Moses to the destruc¬ 
tion of the temple by the Romans; and they maintain that 
it consisted of seventy counsellors, six out of each tribe, and 
Moses as president; and thus the number was seventy-one; 
but six senators out of each tribe make the number seventy- 
two, which, with the president, constitute a council of 
seventy-three persons, and therefore it has been the opinion 
of some authors that this was the number of the members of 
the sanhedrim. 
As to the personal qualifications of the judges of this court, 
it was required that they should be of untainted birth, and 
they were often of the race of the priests or Levites, or of 
the number of inferior judges, or of the lesser sanhedrim, 
which consisted of twenty three judges. They were to be 
skilful in the written and traditional law; and they were 
obliged to study magic, divination, fortune-telling, physic, 
astrology, arithmetic, and languages. It was also required, 
that none of them should be eunuchs, usurers, decrepid 
or deformed, or gamesters: and that they should be of 
mature age, rich, and of good countenance and body. Thus 
say the rabbins. 
The authority of the sanhedrim was very extensive. This 
council decided causes brought before it by appeal from 
inferior courts. The king, high-priest, and prophets were 
subject to its jurisdiction. The general officers of the nation 
were brought before the sanhedrim. How far their right of 
judging in capital cases extended, and how long it continued, 
have been subjects of controversy. Among the rabbins it 
8 C has 
