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becomes flat, and assumes a character resembling that of the Steppe. All the rivers belong to the system of the Volga, which receives on the right the Ousa and the Sysran, and on the left the Teheremchan,, the Sok after its junction with the Kandoustcha, and the Samara. The Sviaga, running parallel to the Volga from south to north, joins that river in the government of Kasan; and the Soura, which is navigable in spring, coming from Pensa, traverses the western part of the government, and joins the Volga in the governinent of Nischnei Novgorod. The lakes and rivers are 560 in number, but they are all small. The climate is generally healthy; but the winter is very cold, and the summer very hot. The Volga is usually frozen for five months in the year.

The soil is generally fertile, consisting of a good black mould, which requires no manure. It is pretty carefully cultivated, and produces more corn than is wanted for the home consumption: the principal species of grain are rye, wheat, and spelt; but there are likewise oats, barley, millet, and buckwheat. The inhabitants cultivate also the poppy, peas, lentils, flax, much hemp, tobacco, and some potatoes. Horticulture is in a very backward state: none but the most ordinary kinds of culinary vegetables are grown, and the fruit is of bad quality. In the northern parts of the government there are extensive forests; but in the south they scarcely suffice for the supply of the inhabitants. Though there are good pastures, the breeding of cattle is not much attended to, except among the Calmucks, in the steppe of the circle of Slavrepel. The rich Calmucks have one hundred horses, as many oxen, and four hundred sheep. The Tartars apply to agriculture with great success. Game is pretty abundant, but the fur-bearing animals are scarce. The fisheries of various kinds in the Volga are productive. The minerals are alabaster, sulphur, and limestone; but neither salt nor metals, except some iron.

The population amounts to 1,200,000, of whom about 1,080,000, are Russians and Cossacks: the remainder may be estimated as, Tartars 60,000, Tcheremisses 40,000, Mordwins 4000, Tchuswasches 5000, Calmucks 8000, and Kissilbasches 2000. These numbers are of course only approximative. Not only the Russians, but most of the Tcheremisses, the Tchuswasches, and the Mordwins, profess the Greek religion: some few are still adherents to Shamanism, and the Tartars and Kissilbasches are Mohammedans. Though agriculture is the chief occupation of the inhabitants, there are some manufactures, both in the country and in the towns; they are woollen cloths, blankets, carpets, sail-cloth, leather, and some of silk and nankeen. Glasswares, soap, and candles are also manufactured; and there are many brandy-distilleries. A great improvement in the manufactures has been made of late years. The exports consist of horses, oxen, hemp, apples, water-melons, in good years corn, fish, tallow, leather, raw hides, and millstones. The principal trading towns are Simbirsk and Samara. The schools in this government are under the university of Kasan; but they are very few, and only a small proportion of the inhabitants receive any education. The government endeavours to remedy this want by establishing every year some new schools.

rounded with palisades, which is the residence of the chief of the Calmucks. The Russian or Cossack garrison is in the upper town. The merchants reside together in a slobod, and the citizens in the lower town.

SIMEON STYLITES. [MONACHISM.]

SIMEON SETH (Equeŵr Σý0), or SIMEON SETHUS, or Simeon the Son of Seth, the author of several Greek works still extant, lived at Constantinople towards the end of the eleventh century. He held there the office of proBeorάpxns, or 'Master of the Wardrobe,' in the palace o. Antiochus, from whence originated his title Magister Antiochiae, and this gave occasion to the false opinion that he was born at Antioch. His office appears to have given him the charge of the imperial jewels, which were kept in the palace named after the Eunuch Antiochus, who was consul A.D. 431. (Du Cange, Glossar. Med. et Inf. Græcit., tom. i., p. 194, ed. Lugd., 1688, and Constantino. Christ., lib. ii., cap. 16, § 5, p. 168, ed Lutet. Paris., 1680.) Having taken the part of the unfortunate patrician Dalassenus against the usurper Michael of Paphlagonia, the latter banished him from Constantinople, A.D. 1038. He retired to Thrace, and founded on Mount Olympus a monastery, in which he composed several works, and peaceably ended his days. (Georg. Cedreni Histor. Compend., P. 737, ed. Paris, 1647.) Sometime after the foundation of this monastery, Michael Dukas having ascended the throne, A.D. 1071, Simeon Seth dedicated to him his work entitled Euvrayua repì Tρopuv Avvápev, Syntagma de Cibariorum Facultate.' This contains an alphabetical list of eatable things and their properties, according to the opinions of Greek, Persian, Agarenian (or Arabian), and Indian physicians; and is the more valuable as at that time the trade with the East, and the seeking after foreign and costly articles of food at Constantinople, were very extensive. It is compiled chiefly from the treatise of Michael Psellus on the same subject, and shows us that the Greeks were beginning already to learn Materia Medica from the Arabians, to whom in return they imparted their theories. Simeon Seth also goes through the medicines then in use in alphabetical order, and he explains their mode of action according to the elementary qualities of Galen, and their different degrees. He says that Asparagus had been for some time introduced as an article of food (p. 6, ed. Gyrald.), and that it possesses great medicinal virtues. He is the first who speaks of yellow Amber (aurap) which comes from a town in India, and which is the best; and also of Ambergris, which is an animal production, coming from fish (p. 8). Apricots (ẞEpikoккα), he says, are indigestible and produce poorness of blood (p. 9). His work contains the first description of Camphor, which he says is the resin of a very large Indian tree; that it is cold and dry in the third degree; and that it is used with much advantage in acute diseases, especially in inflammations (p. 35). He is also the first who speaks of Musk, of which the best is of a yellow colour, and comes from a town to the east of Khorasan; the black musk comes from India: the properties attributed to this medicine are the same as those given to it in the present day (p. 41). The best Cinnamon comes from Mosul (p. 32). This work was first published, Basil., 1538, Gr. and Lat., 8vo., ed. Lilius Greg. Gyraldus, ap. Mich. Isingrinium. The Latin translation was improved and published separately, Basil., 1561, 8vo., ed. Domin. Monthesaurus, ap. Pet. Pernam. The last and best edition was published Paris, 1658, Gr. and Lat., 8vo., ed. Mart. Bogdan, ap. Dion. Bechet et Lud. Billanium,

Another of his works, entitled “ Σύνοψις καὶ ̓Απάνθισμα Φυσικῶν τε καὶ Φιλοσόφων Δογμάτων, Compendium et Flores Naturalium et Philosophorum Placitorum,' is still in MS. in several European libraries. A long account of it (extracted from Allatius, De Simeonum Scriptis') is given by Fabricius (Biblioth. Gr., tom. xi., p. 323-326, ed. Harles).

SIMBIRSK, the capital of the government, is situated near the junction of the Sviaga and the Volga, on the right bank of the latter river. It stands on an eminence which commands a fine view of the Volga and over an immense extent of country uninterrupted by forests. The town is not regularly built, but there are some broad and straight streets. Almost all the houses are of wood, but neat and convenient | within. The churches, 16 in number, are all of stone, except one, which is of wood. There are two monasteries, a gymnasium, and manufactories of candles and soap, and some tanneries. The town is in a very fertile plain, and on one side there are gardens and orchards. The population But Simeon Seth is better known in the history of amounts to 13,500, who are in general in easy circum- literature than in that of medicine, as having translated stances; but even the higher classes are without intellectual from the Arabic into Greek the work known under the resources. Of the other towns the most considerable are name of 'Pilpay's Fables,' in which fifteen moral and the following:-1, Sysran, on the river of the same name, political sentences' (says Gibbon, Decline and Fall, not far from its conflux with the Volga, has 7000 inhabit- chap. 42) are illustrated in a series of apologues; but ants (Schnitzler says 9800); 2, Samara, on the Volga, be- the composition is intricate, the narrative prolix, and the yond the bend which it makes here, is a trading town, with precept obvious and barren.' An account of the history, 5000 inhabitants, which was built in 1591 as a defence translations, and editions of this antient and curious work against the Calmucks; 3, Stavropol, the chief town of the is given under BIDPAI. (See also Fabricius, loco cit.; and Calmucks, on the right bank of the Volga, was built ex- Milman's note to Gibbon, vol. vii., p. 310.) He is also pressly for these people, on their conversion to Christianity, said to have translated from the Persian a fabulous hisabout the year 1737. In the centre is a kind of fort, sur-tory of Alexander the Greek, which at present exists, says

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Warton (Hist. of English Poetry, vol. 1., p. 129), under the adopted name of Callisthenes, and is no uncommon manuscript in good libraries. It is entitled Biog 'Aλekávdpov Tou Makedovog kai Пpážeis, De Vita et Rebus Gestis Alexandri Macedonis;' and a long passage from the beginning of the work is quoted by Abr. Berkel in the notes to Stephanus Byzantinus (in v. Bovкɛpáλeia), and by Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., tom. xiv., p. 148-150 (ed. Vet.). This fabulous narrative is full (as might be expected) of prodigies and extravagancies, some specimens of which are given by Warton. Of all the romances on the subject of Alexander the Great, this by Simeon Seth was for some centuries the best known and the most esteemed; and it was most probably (says he) very soon af terwards translated from the Greek into Latin, and at length from thence into French, Italian, and German. The Latin translation was printed at Colon. Argentorat., 1489; perhaps before, for in the Bodleian Library there is an edition in 4to., without date, supposed to have been printed at Oxford, by Fred. Corsellis, about the year 1468. It is said to have been made by one sopus, or by Julius Valerius; supposititious names, which seem to have been forged by the artifice or introduced through the ignorance of scribes and librarians. This Latin translation however is of high antiquity in the middle age of learning; for it is quoted by Gyraldus Cambrensis, who flourished about the year 1190. It was translated into German by John Hartlieb Moller, a German physician, at the command of Albert, duke of Bavaria, and published at August. Vindel., fol., 1478. Scaliger also mentions (Epist. ad Casaubon., 113, 115) a translation from the Latin into Hebrew by one who adopted the name of Joseph Gorionides, called Pseudo Gorionides.

SIMEON OF DURHAM, an English historical writer who lived about the beginning of the eleventh century. He was a teacher of mathematics at Oxford, and was afterwards precentor in Durham cathedral. He wrote a history of the kings of England from 616 to 1130, for which he was at great pains to collect materials, especially in the North of England, where the Danes had established themselves. The work was continued to 1156 by John, prior of Hexbam. Simeon of Durham is supposed to have died soon after 1130, when his history terminates. This work is included in Twysden's Anglicana Historiæ Scriptores Decem.' Simeon also wrote a history of Durham cathedral, which was published in 1732: Historia Ecclesiæ Dunhelmensis, cui præmittitur T. R. Disquisitio de Auctore hujus Libelli; edidit T. Bedford,' Lond., 1732, 8vo.

(Hassel; Hörschelmann; Kohl, Reise in Süd Russland, 1841.)

SI'MIADÆ, the name of a quadrumanous family of mammals. [APE; ATELES; BABOON; CHEIROPODA; CHIMPANZEE; HYLOBATES; LAGOTHRIX; MYCETES; NASALIS; ORANG-UTAN; QUADRUMANA; SAKIS; SAPAJOUS; SEM NOPITHECUS, &c.]

These animals were known at a very early period. The Kophim of the Scriptures (1 Kings, x. 22; 2 Chron., ix. 21), the Ceph of the Ethiopians, the Keibi and Kubbi of the Persians, the knot of the Greeks, and Cephi of the Romans, were clearly apes. They are to be traced in some of the earliest paintings of the Egyptians. (Rosellini, &c.) In the garden of the Zoological Society of London, among a great variety of the Simiade, three of the forms which ap proach nearest to the human race may now (Sept., 1841) be studied; for three Chimpanzees (two males and a female), an Orang-Utan, and a Gibbon (Hylobates agilis)—the two latter females-are all living at the menagerie in the Regent's Park.

The Cephi exhibited by Pompey (Pliny, Nat. Hist., viii. 19), as well as those shown by Caesar, appear to have been Ethiopian apes; and in the Greek name inscribed near the quadrumanous animals, in the Prænestine pavement, the oriental origin of the word is apparent. It is remarkable that the name Cebus [SAPAJOUS] is applied by modern zoologists to a genus of monkeys which could not have been known to the antients; for the Cebi of our present catalogues are exclusively American.

FOSSIL SIMIADÆ.

Remains of Simiada have been discovered and described from the tertiary formations of India, France, England, and Brazil. These fossils are illustrative of four of the existing types of quadrumanous, or rather Simious form. Thus we have Semnopithecus from India; Hylobates from the south of France; Macacus from Suffolk; and Callithrix, peculiar to America, found in Brazil. Nor is it unworthy of remark, that we here have evidence that so high a quadrumanous form as the Gibbon, a genus in which the skull is even more approximated to that of man than it is in the Chimpanzee, was living upon our globe with the Palæothere, Elephants, and other Pachyderms. We say that the skull of the Gibbon comes nearest to that of man; because, though the cranium of the young Chimpanzee approaches that of the human subject, it is far removed from it when the permanent teeth are developed.

From these evidences we have also proof that Simiade lived in our island during the Eocene period; whilst the presence of fossil vegetables, abundant in the London clay at Sheppy, and the remains of serpents in the same locality, show the degree of heat that must have prevailed here during that period, when Simiada were co-existent with tropical fruits and Boa Constrictors.

But Dr. Lund's observations relating to the extinct quadru manous form detailed in his View of the Fauna of Brazil,' previous to the last geological revolution, require special notice. He states that it is certain that the family of Simiadae was in existence in those antient times to which the fossils described by him belong; and he found an animal of that family of gigantic size, a character belonging to the organization of the period which he illustrates. He describes it as considerably exceeding the largest Oran-Utan or Chimpanzee yet seen; from these, as well as from the longarmed apes (Hylobates), he holds it to have been generically distinct. As it equally differs from the Simiuda now living in the locality where it was discovered, he proposes a generic distinction for it under the name of Protopithecus, and the specific appellation of Protopithecus Brasiliensis.

SIMFEROPOL, the seat of the Russian government of Taurida, is situated in 45° 12′ N. lat. and 24° 8' E. long., on an elevated plateau on the river Salgir. Simferopol is a modern town. There was indeed on this spot, in the time of the Khans, a place called Akmetschet (the white church), and sometimes called Sultan Serai, but it was of little importance, and now forms a small part of Simferopol, under the name of the Tartar quarter. The antient capital of the Khans was Baktschiserai, but it is confined to a small space in a rocky valley. The Russians, who love everything spacious and open, left that town to the Tartars, and built at Simferopol a capital according to their own taste, with immensely long and broad streets, in which horse-races might be held without interrupting the usual traffic. Being near the centre of the peninsula, it is well calculated for the seat of government. There are many pretty houses, with iron roofs painted green and adorned with many columns, like all the new Russian towns. Besides the government offices there are a Russian church, a pretty German church, one Greek and one Armenian church, four Tartar chapels, a gymnasium, and a seminary for Tartar schoolmasters. The popu- As connected with this discovery, Dr. Lund records a tra lation, about 6900 inhabitants, is a medley of Russians, Tar-dition existing very generally over a considerable extent of tars, Armenians, Greeks, and 40 or 50 German families. the interior highlands, especially in the northern and There is here a very good botanic garden, or more properly western portions of the province of S. Paul and the Sertão speaking, a nursery where all kinds of useful plants, shrubs, of S. Francisco. According to this tradition, that district and trees are cultivated, and sent to various parts of the is still inhabited by a very large ape, to which the Indians, empire. The town has no manufactures, and has only an from whom the report comes, have given the name of Cayinconsiderable trade by land, and scarcely any by sea. The pore, or Dweller in the Wood. This Caypore is said to be immediate vicinity of the town does not produce much of man's stature, but with the whole body and part of fruit or culinary vegetables. During the hot season fevers its face covered with long curly hair; its colour brown, are very prevalent, and the water is very indifferent. Use- with the exception of a white mark on the belly immewoloiski (as quoted by Hassel in 1821) makes the number diately above the navel. It is represented as climbing of inhabitants 20,000; we imagine this is a misprint for trees with great facility, but most frequently going on 2000, for Stein in the same year gives 1800, and no sub- the ground, where it walks upright like a man. In youth sequent account that we have seen states it above 6000. it is held to be a quiet inoffensive animal, living upon fruits,

on which it feeds with teeth formed like those of the human race; but as it advances in age, its character is denounced as rapacious and blood-thirsty. Then it chooses birds and small quadrupeds; large canine teeth project from its mouth, and it becomes formidable to man. Its skin is supposed to be impenetrable to ball, with the exception of the white mark on the belly. It is an object of dread to the natives, who shun its haunts, which are betrayed by the Caypore's extraordinary footmark ending in a heel both before and behind, so that it is impossible to know in what direction the animal is gone.

Upon this tradition Dr. Lund remarks, that it is easy to trace in it the childish embellishments of a savage race; and he finds in the alleged double heel the meaning that the forepart of the foot is not broader than the hind and that the impressions of the toes are not distinguishable. As to the white spot in the belly, he remarks, that all the longhaired apes now found in Brazil have the central part of the belly very thinly covered with hair, so that when the hair is of a dark colour and the skin light, an effect is produced during the act of respiration as if there were a white spot on the stomach. The impenetrability of its bide, he observes, may seem fabulous, but he states that he is acquainted with a species of this family, the Guigo (Mycetes | crinicaudus, Lund), which has this property This undescribed animal, he adds (which constitutes a remarkable link between Mycetes and Cebus, inasmuch as it combines the vocal organs of the former with the perfectly hairy tail of the latter), is provided with a skin clothed with such long and felted hair as to be shot-proof on the back and sides. It would seem, says Dr. Lund, to be well aware of its shield; for instead of seeking safety in flight, like other Simiada, when danger approaches it rolls itself up in a ball, so as to cover the least protected part, and thus defies the shot of the hunter.

Dr. Lund further remarks that he has introduced this tradition, less on account of its zoological interest, than for the striking coincidence it displays in many points with the stories related of the Pongo of Borneo. He asks, if no such animal exists in the district where the tradition is current, whence did it take its origin? Did the Indians receive it from their forefathers? May this tradition be considered one more testimony in favour of the Asiatic origin of the first inhabitants of America? In the Sertão of S. Francisco the tradition is coupled with additions which though, he remarks, they weaken its zoological interest, impart to it another, as betraying the only trace he had met with in that district of a belief in fairy existence. According to the native of Sertão, the Caypore is lord of the wild hogs, and when one of them has been shot, his enraged voice may be heard in the distance, when the hunter quits his game to save himself by flight. The Caypore is said to have been beheld in the centre of a herd of swine riding on the largest, and indeed has been described as an ape above and a hog below.

SIMILAR, SIMILAR FIGURES (Geometry). Similarity, resemblance, or likeness, means sameness in some, if not in all, particulars. In geometry, the word refers to a sameness of one particular kind. The two most important notions which the view of a figure will give, are those of size and shape, ideas which have no connection whatsoever with each other. Figures of different sizes may have the same shape, and figures of different shapes may have the same size. In the latter case they are called by Euclid equal, in the former similar (similar figures, öpоia σxnμara). The first term [EQUAL; RELATION], in Euclid's first use of it, includes united sameness, both of size and shape; but he soon drops the former notion, and, reserving equal to signify sameness of size only, introduces the word similar to denote sameness of form: so that the equality of the fundamental definition is the subsequent combined equality and similarity of the sixth book.

Similarity of form, or, as we shall now technically say, similarity, is a conception which is better defined by things than by words; being in fact one of our fundamental ideas of figure. A drawing, a map, a model, severally appeal to a known idea of similarity, derived from, it may be, or at least nourished by, the constant occurrence in nature and art of objects which have a general, though not a perfectly mathematical, similarity. The rudest nations understand a picture or a map almost instantly. It is not necessary to do more in the way of definition, and we must proceed to point out the mathematical tests of similarity. We may observe

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indeed that errors or monstrosities of size are always more bearable than those of form, so much more do our conceptions of objects depend upon the latter than the former. A painter is even obliged to diminish the size of the minor parts of his picture a little, to give room for the more important objects: but no one ever thought of making a change of form, however slight, in one object, for the sake of its effect on any other. The giant of Rabelais, with whole nations carrying on the business of life inside his mouth, is not so monstrous as it would have been to take the ground on which a nation might dwell, England, France, or Spain, invest it with the intellect and habits of a human being, and make it move, talk, and reason: the more tasteful fiction of Swift is not only bearable and conceivable, but has actually made many a simple person think it was meant to be taken as a true history.

Granting then a perfect notion of similarity, we now ask in what way it is to be ascertained whether two figures are similar or not. To simplify the question, let them be plane figures, say two maps of England of different sizes, but made on the same projection. It is obvious, in the first place, that the lines of one figure must not only be related to one another in length in the same manner as in the other, but also in position. Let us drop for the present all the curved lines of the coast, &c., and consider only the dots which represent the towns. Join every such pair of dots by straight lines: then it is plain that similarity of form requires that any two lines in the first should not only be in the same proportion, as to length, with the two corresponding lines in the second, but that the first pair should incline at the same angle to each other as the second. Thus, if LY be the line which joins London and York, and FC that which joins Falmouth and Chester, it is requisite that LY should be to FC in the same proportion in the one map that it is in the other; and if FC produced meet LY produced in O, the angle COY in one map must be the same as in the other. Hence, if there should be 100 towns, which are therefore joined two and two by 4950 straight lines, giving about 12 millions and a quarter of pairs of lines, it is clear that we must have the means of verifying 121 millions of proportions, and as many angular agreements. But if it be only assumed that similarity is a possible thing, it is easily shown that this large number is reducible to twice 98. For let it be granted that ly on the smaller map is to represent LY on the larger. Lay down fand c in their proper places on the smaller map, each with reference to land y, by comparison with the larger map: then ƒ and c are in their proper places with reference to each other. For if not, one of them at least must be altered, which would disturb the correctness of it with respect to and y. Either then there is no such thing as perfect similarity, or else it may be entirely obtained by comparison with 7 and y only.

We have hitherto supposed that both circumstances must be looked to; proper lengths and proper angles; truth of linear proportion and truth of relative direction. But it is one of the first things which the student of geometry learns (in reference to this subject), that the attainment of correctness in either secures that of the other. If the smaller map be made true in all its relative lengths, it must be true in all its directions; if it be made true in all its directions, it must be true in all its relative lengths. The foundation of this simplifying theorem rests on three propositions of the sixth book of Euclid, as follows:

1. The angles of a triangle (any two, of course) alone are enough to determine its form: or, as Euclid would express it, two triangles which have two angles of the one equal to two angles of the other, each to each, have the third angles equal, and all the sides of one in the same proportion to the corresponding sides of the other.

2. The proportions of the sides of a triangle (those of two of them to the third) are alone enough to determine its form. or if two triangles have the ratios of two sides to the third in one, the same as the corresponding ratios in the other, the angles of the one are severally the same as those of the other.

3. One angle and the proportion of the containing sides are sufficient to determine the form of a triangle: or, if two triangles have one angle of the first equal to one of the second, and the sides about those angles proportional, the remaining angles are equal, each to each, and the sides about equal angles are proportional.

From these propositions it is easy to show the truth of all that has been asserted about the conditions of similarity,

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In the triangles BAE and bae, let the angles AEB and EBA be severally equal to aeb and eba. In the triangles ADB and adb let DA: AB :: da: ab, and DB: BA :: db : ba. In the triangles ACB and acb let the angles ABC and abc be equal, and AB BC:: ab: bc. These conditions being fulfilled, it can be shown that the figures are similar in form. There is no angle in one but is equal to its corresponding angle in the other; no proportion of any two lines in one but is the same as that of the corresponding line in the other. Every conception necessary to the complete notion of similarity is formed, and the one figure, in common language, is the same as the other in figure, but perhaps on a different scale.

The number of ways in which the conditions of similarity can be expressed might be varied almost without limit; if there ben points, they are twice (n-2) in number. It would be most natural to take either a sufficient number of ratios, or else of angles: perhaps the latter would be best. Euclid confines himself to neither, in which he is guided by the following consideration:-He uses only salient or convex figures, and his lengths, or sides, are only those lines which form the external contour. The internal lines or diagonals he rarely considers, except in the four-sided figure. He lays it down as the definition of similarity, that all the angles of the one figure (meaning only angles made by the sides of the contour) are equal to those of the other, each to each, and that the sides about those angles are proportional. This gives 2n conditions in an n-sided figure, and consequently four redundancies, two of which are easily detected. In the above pentagons, for instance, if the angles at A, E, D, C, be severally equal to these at a, e, d, c, there is no occasion to say that that at B must be equal to that at b, for it is a necessary consequence: also, if BA: AE :: ba: ae, and so on up to DC: CB: de: cb, there is no occasion to lay it down as a condition that CB: BA:: cb: ba, for it is again a consequence. These points being noted, the definition of Euclid is admirably adapted for his object, which is, in this as in every other case, to proceed straight to the establishment of his propositions, without casting one thought upon the connection of his preliminaries with natural geometry.

Let us now suppose two similar curvilinear figures, and to simplify the question, take two arcs AB and ab. Having already detected the test of similarity of position with refer

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ence to any number of points, it will be easy to settle the conditions under which the arc AB is altogether similar to ab. By hypothesis, A and B are the points corresponding to a and b. Join A, B, and a, b; and in the arc AB take any point P. Make the angle bap equal to BAP, and abp equal to ABP; and let up and bp meet in p. Then, if the curves be similar, p must be on the arc ab; for every point on AB is to have a corresponding point on ab. Hence the definition of similarity is as follows:-Two curves are similar when for every polygon which can be inscribed in the first, a similar polygon can be inscribed in the second.

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It is easily shown that if on two lines, A and a, be described a first pair of polygons, P and p, and a second pair, Q and q, the proportion of the first and second pairs is the same, or P:p :: Qq. The simplest similar polygons are squares; consequently, any similar polygons described on A and a are to one another in the proportion of the squares on A and a. This is also true if for the polygons we substitute similar curves; and it must be proved by the method of

exhaustions [GEOMETRY, p. 154], or by the theory of limits applied to the proposition, that any curve may be approached in magnitude by a polygon within any degree of nearness. The theory of similar solids resembles that of similar polygons, but it is necessary to commence with three points instead of two. Let A, B, C, and a, b, c, be two sets of three points each, and let the triangles ABC and abc be similar: let them also be placed so that the sides of one are parallel to those of the other. If then any number of similar pyramids be described on ABC and abc, the vertices of these pyramids will be the corners of similar solids. If P and p be the vertices of one pair, then the pyramids PABC and pabc are similar if the vertices P and p be on the same side of ABC and abc [SYMMETRY], and one of the triangles, say PAB, be similar to its corresponding triangle pab, and so placed that the angle of the planes PAB and CAB is the same as that of the planes pab and cab. The simplest similar solids are cubes; and any similar solids described on two straight lines are in the same proportion as the cubes on those lines. Similar curve surfaces are those which are such that every solid which can be inscribed in one has another similar to it, capable of being inscribed in the other. It is worthy of notice that the great contested point of geometry [PARALLELS] would lose that character if it were agreed that the notion of form being independent of size, is as necessary as that of two straight lines being incapable of enclosing a space; so that whatever form can exist of any one size, a similar form must exist of every other. There can be no question that this universal idea of similarity involves as much as this, and no more; that in the passage from one size to another, all lines alter their lengths in the same proportion, and all angles remain the same. It is the subsequent mathematical treatment of these conditions which first points out that either of them follows from the other. If the whole of this notion be admissible, so in any thing less; that is, the admission implies it to be granted that whatever figure may be described upon any one line, another figure having the same angles may be described upon any other line. If then we take a triangle ABC, and any other line ab, there can be drawn upon ab a triangle having angles equal to those of abc. This can only be done by drawing two lines from a and b, making angles with ab equal to BAC and ABC. These two lines must then meet in some point c, and the angle ach will be equal to ACB. If then two triangles have two angles of one equal to two angles of the other, each to each, the third angle of the one must be equal to the third angle of the other; and this much being established, it is well known that the ordinary theory of parallels follows. The preceding assumption is not without resemblance to that required in the methods of Legendre. [PARALLELS.]

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SI'MILE is admirably defined by Johnson to be a comparison by which anything is illustrated or aggrandised,' a definition which has been often neglected by poets. A Metaphor differs from a Simile in expression, inasmuch as a metaphor is a comparison without the words indicating the resemblance, and a simile is a comparison where the objects compared are kept as distinct in expression as in thought. Dr. Thomas Brown has well said, "The metaphor expresses with rapidity the analogy as it rises in immediate suggestion, and identifies it, as it were, with the object or emotion which it describes; the simile presents not the analogy merely, but the two analogous objects, and traces their resemblances to each other with the formality of regular comparison. The metaphor, therefore, is the figure of sion; the simile the figure of calm description.' (Lectures, xxxv.) The metaphor is only a bolder and more elliptical simile. When we speak of the rudeness of a man, and say Mr. Jones is as rude as a bear,' we use a simile, for the rudeness of the two are kept distinct but likened; when we say that bear Mr. Jones,' we use a metaphor, the points of resemblance being confounded in the identification of rudeness with a bear. So, brave as a lion' is a simile-the lion Achilles' a metaphor. Where the resemblance is obvious, it may be more forcibly and as intelligibly expressed by a simple metaphor; but when the resemblance is not so obvious, it requires fuller elucidation, and then it must be expressed by a simile. Similes therefore, from their tendency to detail, are usually misplaced in passionate poetry, but metaphors constitute the very language of passion; for the mind, when moved, catches at every slight association to express itself, but never dwells on them with the delibe rateness of a comparison.

Poets should never forget that similes are not used for and renewed the treaties of alliance which Jonathan had their own sake, but for the sake of illustrating or aggran-made with the Romans and Spartans. (1 Macc., xiv., xv.) dising' the object or emotion they would express: hence an In the year 141 B.C., the people met at Jerusalem, and important but overlooked canon of criticism. Metaphors registered a public act recounting the services of the house may be indefinite, for they are themselves the expressions of Mattathias, and recognising Simon and his heirs as perof strong but indefinite emotions; but similes must be uni-petual prince and high-priest of the Jews: and this act was formly definite, clear, and correct, otherwise they are use-afterwards confirmed by Demetrius. (1 Macc., xiv. 35.) less; for the simile is used to illustrate, by a known object, After the capture of Demetrius by the Parthians, his sucone unknown or indescribable: hence the necessity for its cessor Antiochus Sidetes renewed the treaty with Simon, being intelligible. Moreover, images addressed to the eye allowed him to coin money, and declared Jerusalem a free must be such as are visually clear. These rules are conti- and holy city. Soon afterwards however Antiochus not nually violated by minor poets, but there are few cases of only refused to ratify this treaty, but demanded of Simon such violation in the greater poets, and even there the ex- the surrender of several fortified places, including the citadel ceptions prove the rule. on Mount Zion, or the payment of 1000 talents. Simon refused these demands, and Antiochus sent a large army into Palestine, which was soon however driven back by John Hyrcanus and Judas, the sons of Simon (B.c. 139-8). For the next three years the Jews again enjoyed a season of tranquillity, during which Simon occupied himself in inspecting and improving the state of the country. In the course of his tour he visited his son-in-law Ptolemy, at his castle of Doc, where he and his two sons Mattathias and Judas were treacherously put to death by Ptolemy, who aimed at the principality of Judæa (B.C. 135). He was succeeded by his surviving son John Hyrcanus. [HYRCANUS, JOHN; ASMONAEANS; MACCABEES.]

(Brown's Lectures on the Philosophy of the Mind; Kames's Elements of Criticism; Bishop Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew Poetry; Hegel's Vorlesungen über die Esthetik; Solger's Esthetik.)

SIMMENTHAL. [BERN.]

SI'MMIAS was a native of Thebes, and is said to have been a disciple of Philolaus. He was a friend of Socrates (Plat., Crito, p. 45, B), and is introduced by Plato as one of the speakers in his 'Phædon.' (Diogenes Laertius (ii. 16, 124) mentions the titles of twenty-three dialogues which were in his time attributed to Simmias (Suidas, v. Eppias), but none of his works have come down to us.

A second SIMMIAS, a grammarian, was a native of Rhodes, and probably lived about the year 300 B.C. He is said to have written a work on languages, consisting of three books, and a collection of miscellaneous poems, consisting of four books. (Suidas, v. Eppias; Strabo, xiv., p. 655.) Some of his poems, which however are of little value, are contained in the Anthologia Græca.' (Compare Athen., vii., p. 327; xi., p. 472 and 491.)

A third SIMMIAS, who lived about the commencement of the Olympiads, wrote a work called 'Apxaioλoyia Twv Zapiwv, of which nothing has come down to us. Suidas confounds this historian with Simmias the grammarian.

SIMNEL, LAMBERT. [HENRY VII.]
SI'MOIS, River. [TROAD.]

SIMON MACCABAEUS, or MATTHES, surnamed Thasi, was the second son of Mattathias, and brother of Judas Maccabaeus and Jonathan Apphus. Mattathias, when dying, recommended him to his brethren as their counsellor (Macc., ii. 3). He distinguished himself on several occasions during the lives of Judas and Jonathan. (1 Macc., v. 17; x. 74; 2 Macc., viii. 22; xiv. 17). Under the latter he was made, by Antiochus Theos, governor over the coast of the Mediterranean from Tyre to the frontier of Egypt (1 Macc., xi. 59); and here he took the fortified towns of Bethsur and Joppa, and founded Adida, in the plain of Sephela. (1 Macc., xi. 65; xii. 33, 38.)

After the treacherous seizure of Jonathan by Trypho [JONATHAN APPHUS], Simon was chosen by the people as their chief (1 Macc., xiii); and, according to Josephus (Antiq., xiii. 6, 6), as high-priest also. After putting Jerusalem in a state of defence, he marched out to meet Trypho, who did not venture to give him battle, and who was soon after compelled to retreat into winter-quarters in Gilead, where he murdered Jonathan and his two sons. Simon recovered his brother's corpse, and interred it in his father's sepulchre at Modin, and built over it a magnificent mausoleum, which was standing in the time of Eusebius. About this time (B.C. 143) Trypho had murdered Antiochus, and proclaimed himself king. Simon immediately declared for his competitor, Demetrius Nicator, with whom he made a very favourable treaty, whereby Simon was recognised prince and high-priest of the Jews, all claims upon whom for tribute Demetrius relinquished, and consented to bury in oblivion their offences against him. Thus the Jews became once more free and independent, and they began to reckon from this period (170 Aer. Seleuc.; 143-142, B.C.) a new civil æra, which is used on the coins of Simon as well as by Josephus and the author of the First Book of Maccabees (1 Macc., xiii. 41.). The last remains of their bondage to the Syrians were removed in the next year by the surrender of the Syrian garrison in the citadel of Jerusalem.

The succeeding period of peace was employed by Simon in extending and consolidating his power, and improving the condition of his people. He made a harbour at Joppa, established magazines and armouries, improved the laws and administered them with vigour, restored the religious rites,

The coinage of Simon is the first of which we have any historical account among the Jews. [SHEKEL.] (Josephus, Antiq.; Prideaux's Connection; Jahn's Hebrew Commonwealth; Winer's Biblisches Realwörterbuch.) SIMON MAGUS, that is, the magician, is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as having imposed upon the people of Samaria by magical practices. When Philip the Deacon preached the gospel at Samaria, Simon was among those who received baptism at his hands. But when Peter and John came down to Samaria, and Simon perceived that the Holy Ghost was received by those upon whom they laid their hands, he offered them money if they would give him the same power. Peter vehemently rebuked him, and he showed some appearance of penitence (Acts, viii. 9-24); but the early Christian writers represent him as afterwards becom ing one of the chief opponents of Christianity. According to them he was the founder of the Gnostic heresy, and was addicted to magical practices and to abominable vices. travelling through several provinces, endeavouring as he went to spread his errors and to damage Christianity as much as possible, he came to Rome, where it is said that he worked miracles which gained him many followers, and obtained for him the favour of Nero. At last, as he was exhibiting in the emperor's presence the feat of flying through the air in a fiery chariot, which he was enabled to perform by the aid of dæmons, the united prayers of Peter and Paul, who were present on the occasion, prevailed against him, and the dæmons threw him to the ground. There are also other marvellous stories about his life and doctrines. (Calmet's Dictionary; Winer's Biblisches Realwörterbuch; Lardner's Credibility,)

After

SIMON MATTHES. [SIMON MACCABAEUS.] SIMON, RICHARD, was born at Dieppe, in Normandy, May 13, 1638. After he had finished his studies, he entered into the Congregation of the Oratory, and became lecturer on philosophy at the College of Juilly. Being summoned by his superiors to Paris, he applied himself to the study of divinity, and made great progress in oriental learning. There being a valuable collection of oriental manuscripts in the Oratory of Rue St. Honoré, Simon was directed to make a catalogue of them, which he did with great skill. In 1668 he returned to Juilly, and resumed his lectures on philosophy, and two years after published his defence of a Jew whom the parliament of Metz condemned to be burned on the charge of having murdered a Christian child: Factum pour le Juif de Metz,' &c. Paris, 1670. In the following year, with a view to show that the opinions of the Greek church are not materially different from those of the Church of Rome with respect to the Sacrament, he published his

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Fides Ecclesia Orientalis,' Paris, 1671, 8vo., and 1682, 4to. This work, which is a translation of one of the tracts of Gabriel, metropolitan of Philadelphia, with notes, Simon gave as a supplement to the first volume of the Perpetuity of the Faith respecting the Eucharist,' whose authors he accused of having committed many gross errors, and not having sufficiently answered the objections raised by the Protestant minister Jean Claude, in his 'Reponse au Traité

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