cured him great accessions to the numbers of his disciples, whom he excited to seek for happiness in this and the future world by destroying the tyrannical Mohammedans. From this time, in consequence of their heroic conduct during the protracted contest with their oppressors, Guru Govind's followers received the title of Sikhs or lions, which before had been confined to the Rajaputs, as the first military order among the Hindoos. This ruler, equally great as a soldier and a lawgiver, wrote the Dasema Padshah ke Grant'h, or the book of the tenth prince (so called because he was the tenth ruler of the Sikhs from Nanac). Besides treating of religious subjects, it contained also the history of the author's exploits. It is regarded by the sect with the same veneration as the A'di Grant'h of Arjun. Guru Govind directed the Sikhs, in order to distinguish them for ever from Mohammedans and Hindoos, to wear a blue dress, to let their hair grow, and to be always armed. To make his religious institutions more stable, he founded a religious order, the acalis (immortals), and assigned the members of it a bonga (monastery) by the sacred fountain at Emoilser, on the income of which they were supported. To these acalis he committed the care of converting and initiating new Sikhs; and in their hands still rests the supreme direction of all the religious and civil affairs. Guru Govind was the last head of the Sikhs; for a prophecy limited the number of the rulers to ten; and as he was the tenth ruler after Nanac, he said to his friends, on his death-bed, "I commit the state to God, who never dies." Hence the Sikhs suppose that their state is under the peculiar care of the Deity. Their government, therefore, is a pure theocracy. The popular faith would prove an insurmountable obstacle to any one who should attempt to subject the Sikhs to his rule. After the death of Guru Govind, the Sikhs gradually yielded to the superior power of the Mohammedans; and even Banda, one of their most heroic leaders, after a fearful struggle, was taken prisoner in the fort of Lagab, with all his followers, sent to Delhi, and put to death with the most barbarous tortures. To exterminate at length the hated sect, a price was set upon their head by the Mohammedan government, and every adherent of it, who could be taken, was put to death. But they suffered, with the greatest firmness, the pains of martyrdom, often courting, rather than fleeing from them. Nothing could induce them to renounce their faith; and a Ma

hommedan writer has stated that no Sikh who was taken on the pilgrimage to Amritsar (the holy place of the Sikhs) ever abjured his religion to save his life. A very small number of the Sikhs escaped to inaccessible mountains, and faithfully preserved the doctrines of their fathers, and an inextinguishable hatred towards their persecutors. After Nadir Shah's return to Persia, they ventured to leave the mountains; and, taking advantage of the confusion into which Nadir's expedition had plunged Hindoostan, they subdued all Lahore. At present, the territory of the Sikhs extends from 28° 40′ to beyond 30° north latitude, and comprehends all the Punjab, a part of Moultan, and the largest portion of the country lying between the Jumnah and the Setledge, or the north-western corner of Hindoostan, containing 69,000 square miles, and 4,000,000 inhabitants, A few chiefs, who form a diet at Amritsar, and deliberate on subjects of general interest, under the direction of the acalis, rule over portions of country of greater or less extent. According to the account of general Malcolm, who was in the Punjab with the British army in 1805, and to whom we are indebted for the most accurate information concerning this interesting sect (see vol. xi of the Asiatic Researches, containing his Sketch of the Sikhs, also printed separately in 1812), they are able to bring into the field 100,000 horse. Their present governor, or maha raja, is said to have subjected portions of Afghanistan and Cashmire to his rule. In the separate districts, subordinate chiefs, or sirdars, possess unlimited power. Lahore is the residence of the chief ruler, and contains 100,000 inhabitants. The city of Amritsar is the great depot of Cashmere shawls and of saffron.

SILENUS; the tutor and companion of Bacchus; according to some, the son of Mercury, or of Pan, by a nymph; according to others, he sprang from the blood of Uranus. According to Pindar, his wife was the nymph Nais; according to others, a nymph of Malea, in the island of Lesbos, who bore him the Arcadian Centaur Pholus. He educated Bacchus, instructed him in the sciences, and was ever afterwards his constant companion. He loved the inspiring beverage of his pupil's invention so well, that he was generally intoxicated; and in this plight he was found by two young Satyrs, who bound him with garlands, and compelled him to sing. Midas caught him in the same condition, and entered into a philosophical conversation with him. În the

war of the giants, Silenus aided the gods, and terrified their enemies by the braying of his ass. A whole race of Silenuses sprang from him. The name is often applied to old Satyrs of a cheerful, goodnatured disposition. They are represented with a curly beard, a low forehead, and bald head. The chief of the race is the companion of Bacchus above described, known by the cantharus or bottle which he bears. He is often also distinguished from the other Sileni, by being mounted on an ass, or by his accompanying Bacchus, and is frequently represented holding the infant Bacchus in his arms. He sometimes also appears treading out grapes, and covered with hair. In the latter case, a caricature is intended.

SILESIA (in German, Schlesien); formerly a duchy belonging to Bohemia, now divided, politically, between Prussia and Austria, and, geographically, into Upper and Lower Silesia. The Prussian province of Silesia (15,264 square miles; population, 2,396,551) borders on Posen and Poland to the east, on the Austrian territories to the south, and on Saxony and Brandenburg to the west and north. (See Prussia.) The southern part of the province is mountainous, being intersected by different ridges of the Sudetic chain. (q. v.) Towards Brandenburg and Posen it is level, but in part marshy and sandy, although throughout adapted to tillage. The principal river is the Oder. (q.v.) The soil of Silesia is fertile, yielding corn of all sorts, fruits, and tolerable wines. The mountainous parts are covered with wood, or afford good pasturage and meadow land. Flax is raised in large quantities, and affords an important article of manufacture and trade, and madder, hemp, hops and tobacco are among the productions of the province. The wool of Silesia is of the best sort produced in Prussia. Among the mineral productions are iron, copper, lead, some silver, sulphur, vitriol, &c., and there are mineral waters in several places. Linen is the principal article of manufacture, and owes its excellence to the inspection system, which has been introduced here. Cotton and woollen goods and leather are also manufactured to a great extent. Silesia is divided into three governments-Breslau, Liegnitz and Oppeln. The inhabitants are chiefly Lutherans and Catholics, with some Calvinists, Hussites, Herrnhutters, Jews, &c. There is a university in Breslau (q. v.), the capital of the province, with two theological faculties, one for Catholics and the other for Protestants,

and numerous gymnasia, or high schools, in the large towns. The revenue is about six million dollars.-Austrian Silesia consists of the southern part of the old Silesian duchy, which was left to Austria by the peace of Hubertsburg, in 1763. It is divided into the circles of Teschen and Troppau, and attached to the Moravian gubernium of Brünn. Population,350,000; square miles, 2500. It is mountainous, and although the soil is not in all parts favorable, it is rendered productive by the industry of the inhabitants, who are also extensively engaged in linen, cotton and woollen manufactures. In the sixth century, this country was occupied by Sclavonians, who drove out the Lygi and Quadi, and thus annexed it to Poland. It was afterwards divided into a great number of petty principalities, and in the fourteenth century, it became a dependency of Bohemia. (q. v.) Although, in consequence of its annexation to Bohemia, it came to be considered a part of Germany, it never actually formed a member of the empire. (For the more modern history of Silesia, see Frederic II, Seven Years' War, and Prussia.)

SILESIAN POETS. (See German Poetry.)

SILESIAN WARS. (See Frederic II, Maria Theresa, and Seven Years' War.)

SILEX, OF SILICA. The mineral species quartz, it was mentioned under that article, consists almost exclusively of silex. It also forms a principal ingredient in nearly all the earthy minerals, and was regarded as one of the primitive earths, until after the discovery of the composition of the fixed alkalies by Davy, when it was ascertained, by this philosopher, to consist of oxygen and an unknown base, which has been called silicon, or silicium. If we ignite powdered quartz with three parts of pure potash in a silver crucible, dissolve the fused compound in water, add to the solution a quantity of muriatic acid, sufficient to saturate the alkali and evaporate to dryness, we shall obtain a fine, gritty powder, which, being well washed with hot water, and ignited, will yield pure silex. By passing the vapor of potassium over silex, in an ignited tube, we obtain boron, the basis of the earth. Thus obtained, as well as by several other methods, silicon is of a deep brown color; is a non-conductor of electricity: it stains the fingers, and adheres to every thing that comes in contact with it. Like carbon and boron, it may be exposed to a very high temperature in close vessels, without fusion; but it becomes harder, the

particularly those whose traits are well harmonized. In general, the extremes of expressions, as the expression of great savageness or sternness, great mildness or obstinacy, deep reflection, or great stupidity, are those most easily given in this mode. But the expression of blended imagination, thought, and goodness of disposition, is not easily conveyed in profile. On the whole, the silhouette expresses more the original disposition of the mind, than its cultivated character. These representations may be taken very well from the shadow of a person on a paper held on the wall; and in order to make the shadow more steady, it is well to rest the head on a book or the like, put between the face and the paper. The paper is then cut according to the outline of the shadow, and the outer surface pasted on black paper. The likeness can be taken still better, and of any size, by means of an instrument called a pantograph. A frame with a glass, on which paper slightly oiled and well dried is fastened, attached to a chair on which the person sits, whose likeness is to be taken, is also of much advantage. The invention of the silhouette, in ancient times, is said to have given rise to the art of painting. This invention is ascribed to the daughter of the potter Dibutades, who drew the outline of her lover's shadow on the wall. The time of this invention may be placed at the renewal of the Olympic games, shortly before the expulsion of the Bacchiades from Corinth, about 776 B. C. Sicyon and Corinth were the first places where paint ing flourished. Crato of Sicyon, Philocles of Egypt, and Cleanthes of Corinth, are mentioned as inventors of the monochromes (q. v.), they having filled the outline with colors. The silhouettes were soon applied to large objects; thus Saurias of Samos drew the shadow of his horse on a wall. The estimation of these drawings with the ancients, the beauty and delicacy with which they were executed, may still be seen from the Etrus

can vases.

SILICATE OF MANGANESE; the name of a chemical family in mineralogy, which consists of two mineralogical species, viz. the Fowlerite and the manganese spar, or siliceous oxide of manganese. The Fowlerite occurs in feldspar-looking crystals, differing, however, in the valve of its angles, from feldspar. Its angles are 95° 0, 121° 0, and 113° 0. Its hardness is the same as feldspar; specific gravity 3.5 to 3.8; color flesh-red. It is fusible with

It is found in crystals of considerable size, and in foliated and granular masses, at Franklin, New Jersey, accompanied by Franklinite and magnetic iron ore. It also occurs at Cumberland in Rhode Island. The manganese spar occurs massive, fine, granular, and, rarely, somewhat fibrous; color rose-red; lustre intermediate between pearly and resinous; translucent; hardness but little inferior to feldspar; specific gravity, 3.5. Heated before the blow-pipe, it becomes dark-brown, and melts into a reddish globule. It tinges borax hyacinth-red. It consists of

It is found in primitive districts, usually in connexion with beds of iron ore. Localities of it exist in the Hartz, in Sweden, and in Devonshire, England. It has been discovered in large quantities in Massachusetts, at Cummington, in isolated masses, from one foot to two feet in diameter. This species is sometimes wrought into articles of ornament. When polished, its color and lustre are extremely delicate.

SILIUS, Caius, surnamed Italicus, was born in the reign of Tiberius, about the year 15. The origin of his surname is uncertain. At Rome, he applied himself to the bar, and became a celebrated orator and advocate. He was consul at the time of Nero's death, and incurred some reproach for assisting in that tyrant's prosecutions, but acquired honor from his conduct in the proconsulate of Asia, assigned to him by Vespasian, from which he retired into private life, and collected books, statues, and busts of eminent men. He finally retired to his seat in Campania, where, being seized with an incurable ulcer, he put an end to his life by starvation, in his seventy-fifth year. The only work of Silius which has reached modern times, is an epic poem on the second Punic war, in sixteen books, written with more diligence than genius. It contains, however, occasional splendid passages; and his description of the passage of Hannibal across the Alps is particularly

admired. The best editions are those of Drakenborch (1717, 4to.), and of Ruperti (Göttingen, 1795-8, 2 vols., 8vo.).

SILK. According to the ancients, silk was first brought from Serica or Sereinda (China), whence the silk-worm was introduced into other countries, but not until the reign of Justinian, when two Persian monks succeeded in secretly conveying a number of the eggs to Constantinople in a hollow cane (552). From these eggs Europe and America have been supplied with their race of worms. The time of the origin of the silk manufacture is uncertain, but the Chinese ascribe the invention to the empress Si-ling-shi, wife of Hoang-ti, about 2700 years before the Christian era. However this may be, the raw material had been exported from China long before the insect which produced it, and had given employment to extensive manufactories in Persia, Tyre, &c. The invention of the celebrated Coan stuff is attributed by the Greeks to Pamphila, who is said to have taught her countrywomen of Cos to unweave the heavy silks of the East, and recompose the material into a transparent gauze, thus gaining in measure what was lost in substance. Even manufactured silk was little known in Europe before the reign of Augustus; and it is mentioned as a wanton extravagance of the prodigal Heliogabalus that he had a garment made wholly of silk. For six hundred years the culture of the silk-worm in Europe was confined to the Greek empire; but in the twelfth century, Roger, king of Sicily, introduced it into that island, whence it gradually spread to Italy, Spain, France, and other European countries. (See Silk-Worm, and Mulberry.) After the worm has enveloped itself in the cocoon, seven or eight days are permitted to elapse before the balls are gathered; the next process is to destroy the life of the chrysalides, which is done either by exposure to the sun or by the heat of an oven or of steam. The cocoons are next separated from the floss, or loose, downy substance, which envelopes the compact balls, and are then ready to be reeled. For this purpose, they are thrown into a boiler of hot water, for the purpose of dissolving the gum, and, being gently pressed with a brush, to which the threads adhere, the reeler is thus enabled to disengage them. The ends of four or more of the threads thus cleared are passed through holes in an iron bar, after which two of these compound threads are twisted together, and made fast to the reel. The length of reeled silk obtained from a sin

gle cocoon varies from 300 to 600 yards; and it has been estimated that twelve pounds of cocoons, the produce of the labors of 2800 worms, who have consumed 152 pounds of mulberry leaves, give one pound of reeled silk, which may be converted into sixteen yards of gros de Naples. Those cocoons which have been perforated cannot be reeled, but must be spun, on account of the breaks in the thread. The produce of these balls, when worked, is called fleuret. The raw silk, before it can be used in weaving, must be twisted or thrown, and may be converted into singles, tram, or organzine. The first is produced merely by twisting the raw silk, to give more firmness to its texture. Tram is formed by twisting together, but not very closely, two or more threads of raw silk, and usually constitutes the weft or shoot of manufactured goods. Organzine is principally used in the warp, and is formed by twisting first each individual thread, and then two or more of the threads thus twisted, with the throwing mill. The silk, when thrown, is called hard silk, and must be boiled in order to discharge the gum, which otherwise renders it harsh to the touch, and unfit to receive the dye. After boiling about four hours in soaped water, it is washed in clear water to discharge the soap, and is seen to have acquired that glossiness and softness of texture which forms its principal characteristic. The yarn is now ready for weaving. Velvet (Italian, velluto, shaggy) is one of the richest of silken fabrics, and has been made in Europe for several centuries. In addition to the warp and shoot of which the substance of plain goods is formed, it has a soft shag or pile, produced by the insertion of short pieces of silk under thread doubled under the shoot, and which stand upright on its upper surface, so crowded together as entirely to conceal the interlacings of the warp and shoot. It is this pile which gives it its characteristic_appearance, and softness to the touch. The beauty of velvet results, in a great degree, from the uniform evenness of its pile; and this depends on the perfect equality of the threads of which it is composed. The pile is inserted during the operation of weaving the warp and shoot. Gauze is a very light, transparent fabric of silk, said to have derived its name from having been originally brought from Gaza, a city of Palestine. Besides brocade and damask (see the articles), there are numerous descriptions of silk goods, popularly known by distinctive names, though varying only