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809 
The trumpets sound, 
And warlike symphony is heard around ; 
The marching troops through Athens take their way; 
The great earl-marshal orders their array. Dry den. 
SYMPHORIEN, St., a small town in the south-west of 
France, department of the Gironde, with 1400 inhabitants; 
30 miles south of Bourdeaux. 
SYMPHORIEN DE LAY, St., a small town in the south 
of France, department of the Loire. Population 3300. It 
has some manufactures of woollens, cotton, and linen; also 
coal mines in the neighbourhood; 8 miles south-east of 
Roanne, and 24 north-west of Lyons. 
SYMPHORIEN D’OZON, St., a small town in the south¬ 
east of France, department of the Isere. Population 1300; 
8 miles north of Vienna, and 9 south of Lyons. 
SYMPHORIEN SUR COISE, St., a small town in the 
south-east of France, department of the Rhone. Popula¬ 
tion 1800. It has some manufactures of leather and nails; 
18 miles south-west of Lyons. 
SY'MPHYSIS, s. [yw and <pva, Gr.] In Anatomy, an 
immoveable union of bones.— Symphysis , in its ori¬ 
ginal signification, denotes a connascency, or growing to¬ 
gether ; and perhaps is meant of those bones which in young 
children are distinct, but after some years unite and consoli¬ 
date into one bone. Wiseman. 
SYMPHYTUM [of Pliny. '2vycpvTov of Dioscorides: 
ano rov trvy.tpvdv, from its conglutinating quality], in Botany, 
a genus of the class pentandria, order monogynia, natural 
order of asperifolise, boragineae (Juss.) —Generic Character. 
Calyx: perianth five-parted, erect, five-cornered, acute, 
permanent. Corolla: one petalled, bell-shaped ; tube very 
short; border tubular-bellying, a little thicker than the tube; 
mouth five-toothed, obtuse, reflexed; throat fenced by five 
lanceolate rays, spinulose at the edge, shorter than the border, 
converging into a cone. Stamina: filaments five, awl- 
shaped, alternate with the rays of the throat. Anthers 
acute, erect, covered. Pistil: germs four. Style filiform, 
length of the corolla. Stigma simple. Pericarp none. 
Calyx larger, widened. Seeds four, gibbous, acuminate, 
converging at the tips.— Essential Character. Corolla: 
border tubular-ventricose ; throat closed by lanceolate rays. 
1. Symphytum officinale, or common comfrey.—Root 
perennial, fleshy, externally black. Stem two or three feet 
high, upright, leafy, winged, branched at the top, clothed 
with short bristly hairs that point rather downward. Leaves 
waved, pointed, rough; the radical ones on footstalks, and 
broader than the rest. Clusters of flowers in pairs on a com¬ 
mon stalk, with an odd flower between them. Corolla yel¬ 
lowish-white, sometimes purple, the rays downy at each 
edge.—Native of Europe and Siberia: frequent in watery 
places, on the banks of rivers and ditches: flowering from 
the end of May to September. There are two varieties; one 
with purple flowers. 
2. Symphytum tuberosum, or tuberous-rooted comfrey.— 
Leaves ovate, semicurrent; the uppermost opposite. Roots 
composed of many thick fleshy knobs or tubers, which are 
joined by fleshy fibres ; the stalks rise a foot and half high, 
and incline on one side. The two upper leaves on every 
branch stand opposite, and just above them, are loose 
bunches of pale yellow flowers, the corolla of which, is 
stretched out farther beyond the calyx than in the common 
sort.—Native of Germany, Austria, France, Spain and 
Italy. 
3. Symphytum Orientale.—Leaves ovate, subpetioled. 
Root perennial. Stalks two feet high. Flowers in bunches 
like the first sort, but'.blue. They appear in March, but seldom 
produce seeds in England.—By the side of rivulets near 
Constantinople. 
Propagation and Culture. —These plants may be culti¬ 
vated, either by sowing their seeds in the spring, or by 
parting their roots; the latter, being the more expeditious, is 
chiefly practised. The best season for parting the roots is 
the autumn, at which time almost every piece of the root 
will grow. They should be planted about two feet and a 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1609. 
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half asunder, that they may have room to spread, and will 
require no farther care than to keep them clear from weeds; 
for they are extremely hardy, and will grow upon almost any 
soil, or in any situation. 
SYMPLOCOS [Awo t ov cvpicXeKev^sa.i, on account of 
the rare connection of the petals. Jacquin.], in Botany, a 
genus of the class polyadelphia, order polyandria, rtatural 
order of guaiacanse (Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx: 
perianth one-leafed, bell-shaped, five-cleft, small; segments 
roundish, erect. Corolla: petals five or eight, oblong, ob¬ 
tuse, erect, spreading very much above. Stamina: filaments 
very many, awl-shaped, flat, shorter than the petals, grow¬ 
ing in four rows to the tube of the corolla; the lower ones 
shorter. Anthers roundish. Pistil: germ superior, round¬ 
ish. Style filiform, length of the stamens. Stigma 
headed, subtrifid. Pericarp: five-celled. Seeds many.— Es¬ 
sential Character. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla five-petalled 
(five to eight), erect at the base. Stamina in four rows, 
growing to the tube of the corolla. Fruit five-celled. 
1. Symplocos Martinicensis.—This is a branching tree, 
twenty-five feet high. Leaves ovate, acute, shining, subco- 
riaceous, petioled, placed indeterminately. Flowers white, 
smelling like those of hawthorn. Filaments inserted into a 
pentapetalous corolla, so as to render it internally monope- 
talous, by connecting the edges of the petals with their flat 
bases.—Native of Martinico, in woods; flowering there in 
November. 
2. Symplocos ciponima.—Peduncles many-flowered; 
leaves entire, villose beneath. The shoots of this species are 
very villose.—Native of Guiana. 
3. Symplocos arechea.—Peduncles about five-flowered; 
leaves serrate, almost naked.—Native of the woods of Peru. 
4. Symplocos octopetala.—Flowers eight-petalled.—Na¬ 
tive of Jamaica. 
SYMPO'SIAC, adj. [ symposiaque , Fr.; wyea toticikoi;, 
Gr.] Relating to merry makings; happening where com¬ 
pany is drinking together.—In some of those symposiac 
disputations amongst my acquaintance, I affirmed that the 
dietetic part of medicine depended upon scientific prin¬ 
ciples. Arbuthnot. 
SYMPO'SIUM, s. [Lat.] A feast; a merry making; a 
drinking together.—It appears that the company dined so 
very late (in 1609), as at half an hour after eleven in the 
morning; and that it was the fashion to ride to this polite 
symposium on a Spanish jennet, a servant running before 
with his master’s cloak. Warton. 
SYMPSON, a parish of England, in Buckinghamshire; 
2 miles from Fenny Stratford. 
SY'MPTOM, s. [ symptome, Fr.; a-vy.iclay.ix, Gr.] Some¬ 
thing that happens concurrently with something else, not as 
the original cause, nor as the necessary or constant effect.— 
The symptoms, as Dr. Sydenham remarks, which are com¬ 
monly scorbutic, are often nothing but the principles or 
seeds of a growing, but unripe gout. Blachmore. —A sign; 
a token.—Ten glorious campaigns are passed, and now, 
like the sick man, we are expiring with all sorts of good 
symptoms. Swift. 
SYMPTOMATICAL, or Symptomatic, adj. [symp- 
tomatique, Fr.] Happening concurrently, or occasionally. 
— Symptomatical is often used to denote the difference be¬ 
tween the primary and secondary causes-in diseases; as a 
fever from pain is said to be symptomatical, because it arises 
from pain only; and therefore the ordinary means in fevers 
are not in such cases to be had recourse to, but to what will 
remove the pain ; for when that ceases, the fever will cease, 
without any direct means taken for that. Sidney. —By fo¬ 
mentation and a cataplasm the swelling was discussed ;' and 
the fever, then appearing but symptomatical, lessened as 
the heat and pain mitigated. Wiseman. 
SYMPTOMATICALLY, adv. In the nature of a symp¬ 
tom.—The causes of a bubo are vicious humours abounding 
in the blood, or in the nerves, excreted sometimes critically, 
sometimes symptomatically. Wiseman. 
SYNAGO'GICAL, adj. Pertaining to a synagogue. 
9 U SY'NAGOGUE, 
