S I R 
SIS 
251 
the most important parts of all his works, has been pub¬ 
lished in several volumes by M. Requier. Siri is said also 
to have written, under a feigned name, some pieces respect¬ 
ing the war of Montserrat. 
SIRIA, a village of Syria, in the pachalic of Aleppo. 
SIRIAN. See Syriam. 
SIRIASIS, so named by the older writers, an inflamma¬ 
tion of the brain. 
SIR1NAGUR, a town of Hindostan, province of Alla¬ 
habad, district of Bundelcund. Lat. 25. 6. N. long. 79. 55. 
E. There are several other places of this name in Hin¬ 
dostan. 
SIRIUS, [o-etftos, Gr.] in Astronomy, the Dog-star, a very 
bright star of the first magnitude, in the mouth of the con¬ 
stellation Canis Major, or the Great Dog. 
SIRIUS, an island in the South Pacific Ocean, discovered 
and so called by Lieutenant Ball, in 1790; it is about 18 
miles in circumference. Lat. 10. 52. S. long. 162. 30. E. 
SIRLOI'N, s. The loin of beef. 
SI'RNAME. See Surname. 
SIRNING,a small town of Upper Austria; 4 miles west 
of Steyer, and 15 south of Lintz. Hardware and much 
cotton are made here and in the surrounding district. 
SIROCC, or Sirocco, a south-east wind of Sicily, par¬ 
ticularly at Palermo, attended with an uncommon degree of 
heat, and singularly relaxing and oppressive in its effects. 
The blast of it is represented as resembling burning steam 
from the mouth of an oven: the whole atmosphere, during 
its continuance, seems to be in a flame. Its effect is de¬ 
scribed by Brydone like that of one of the subterranean 
sweating stoves at Naples; but it was much hotter. In a 
few minutes, those who are exposed to it find every fibre 
relaxed in a most inconceivable manner, and the pores 
opened to such a degree, that they expect immediately to 
be thrown into a most profuse sweat. At this time the 
thermometer, which stood in a room only at 73, rose im¬ 
mediately in the open air to 110 , and soon after to 112 . 
The air was thick and heavy, but the barometer was little 
affected, having fallen only about a line. The sun did not 
appear during the whole day ; otherwise the heal, says Mr. 
Brydone, must have been insupportable; and on that side 
that was exposed to the wind, it could not be borne with¬ 
out difficulty for a few minutes. Upon exposing pomatum 
to it, the heat of the wind melted it as if it had been laid 
before the fire. This wind is more or less violent, and of 
longer or shorter duration at different times: however, it 
seldom lasts more than 36 or 40 hours, so that the walls of 
the houses are not warmed' throughout, or else it is appre¬ 
hended that it would be insupportable. Whilst it lasts, the 
people of the country confine themselves within; their 
windows and doors are shut close, to prevent the external 
air from entering; and where window-shutters are wanting, 
they hang up wet blankets on the inside of the window. 
The servants are constantly employed in sprinkling water 
through all the apartments, in order to preserve the air in as 
temperate a state as possible; and for this purpose, each 
house in the city of Palermo is provided with a fountain. 
By these means the people of fashion suffer very little from 
this wind, except the strict confinement to which it obliges 
them. Notwithstanding the scorching heat of the sirocc, 
it has never been known to produce any epidemical disorders, 
or to do any injury to the health of the people. They feel, 
indeed, very weak and relaxed after it; but a few hours of 
the Tramontane, or north wind, which generally succeeds 
it, soon braces them up again, and restores them to their 
former state. 
S1ROLO, a small town of the east of Italy, in the Eccle¬ 
siastical state, delegation of Anconia. 
STRRAH, s. [sir, ha! Minsheu .] A compellation of 
reproach and insult,] Sirrah, there’s no room for faith, 
troth, or honesty in this bosom of thine. Shakspeare. 
S3IRSEY, a town or Hindostan, province of Bahar. Lat. 
25. 26. N. long. 85. 35. E. 
SIRT, s, [syrtis, Lat.] A bog ; a quicksand. Unused. 
—They discovered the immense and vast ocean of the courts 
to be all over full of flats, shelves, shallows, quicksands, 
crags, rocks, gulfs,whirlpools, sirts, &c. Transl. of Boc- 
calini, (1626). 
STROP, Syrup or Sirup, s. [Arabic.] The juice of 
vegetables boiled with sugar. 
Not poppy, nor mandragora. 
Nor all the drowsy sirups of the world 
Shall ever med’cine thee to that sweet sleep, 
Which thou owned’st yesterday. Shakspeare. 
SIRUNT, a village of Seistan, in Persia; 40 miles east of 
Zareng. 
SI'RUPED, adj. Sweet, like sirup; bedewed with sweets. 
Yet, when there haps a honey fall. 
We’ll lick the syrupt leaves: 
And tell the bees that their’s is gall. Drayton. 
SI'RUPY, adj. Resembling sirup.—Apples are of a 
sirupy tenacious nature. Mortimer. 
SIRUS. See Seres. 
SIS, a village of Asia Minor, in the government of Sivas; 
24 miles south of Tocat. 
SIS, a village of Caramania, in Asiatic Turkey; 150 
miles east-south-east of Konieh. 
SISAL, a port of Merida de Yucatan, in the province of Yu¬ 
catan. It has a castle and a small harbour, with an immense 
sand-bank opposite its entrance. Lat. 21. 10. N. long. 89. 
59. 30. W. 
SISAPONGO, a very lofty snow-clad mountain of South 
America, in the Cordillera of the kingdom of Quito. 
SISAR, Cape, a cape on the north-west coast of the 
island of Borneo. Lat. 13. 40. N. long. 112. 20. E. 
SISARGA, or Zizarga, a small island in the north-west 
coast of Spain, on the coast of Galicia, near the mouth of 
the bay oi Corunna. 
SISE, s. [Corrupted from assize!] 
You said, if I returned next size in lent, 
I should be in remitter'of your grace. Donne. 
8 ISIBOU, or Sissibou, a town of Nova Scotia, on the west 
coast; 25 miles south-south east of Annapolis. 
SISIDIN, a small river of Guiana, which enters the 
Orinoco. 
SISINILLA, a settlement of the island of Cuba; 12 miles 
east-north-east of Trinidad. 
SI'SKIN, [suytken, Teut.] A bird ; the green-finch. 
—The canary, the linnet, tile siskin, and the bullfinch, seem 
natural musicians. Buffon. 
SISON [Surav, of Dioscorides], in Botany, a genus of the 
class pentandria, order digynia, natural order of umbellatse or 
umbelliferas.—Generic Character. Calyx : umbel universal 
with fewer than six rays, unequal: partial with fewer than 
ten rays, unequal. Involucre universal, mostly four-leaved, 
unequal: partial consimilar. Perianth scarcely, manifest. 
Corolla, universal uniform. Florets all fertile. Proper, 
equal: petals five, lanceolate, inflected, flatfish. Stamina : 
filaments five, capillary, length of the corolla. Anthers 
simple. Pistil: germ subovate, inferior. Styles two, 
reflected. Stigmas obtuse. Pericarp none. Fruit ovate, 
striated, bipartile. Seeds two, ovate, convex and striated oh 
one side, flat on the other.— Essential Character. In¬ 
volucres mostly four-leaved. Fruit ovate, striated. 
1. Sison amomum, hedge honewort, or bastard stone 
parsley.—Root annual or biennial, spindle-shaped, with 
lateral branches. Stem erect, two or three feet high, 
branched and spreading, round, furrowed, leafy. Leaves 
pinnate with a terminating lobed leaflet, unequally serrate : 
the lower ones have seven or nine leaflets, ovate, serrate ; the 
upper ones have the leaflets narrower, deeper cut, and often 
pinnatifid. Umbels numerous, terminating, solitary, 
erect when in flower, composed of four, unequal rays; 
with a small four-leaved general involucre.—Native" of 
England, Germany, the South of France, Carniola and 
Piedmont. With us not unfrequent in moistish spots under 
hedges, where the soil is marly or chalky: flowering in the 
latter part of summer. 
2. Sison 
