pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
SILVERING, the covering of any thing with silver. It is usual to silver metals, wood, paper, and the like, which is performed either with fire, oil, or size. Metal-gilders silver by the fire; painter gilders all the other ways.

To silver copper or brass. First cleanse the metal with aquafortis, by washing it lightly, and immediately throwing it into pure water; or by heating it red hot, and scouring it with salt and tartar, and some pure water, with a small wire brush. Secondly, Dissolve some silver in aquafortis, in a broad-bottomed glass vessel, or of glazed earth; then evaporate away the aquafortis over a chaffing dish of coals. Thirdly, Put five or six times its quantity of water, or as much as will be necessary to dissolve it perfectly, on the remaining dry calx; evaporate this water with the like heat; then put more fresh water, and evaporate again; and, if need be, the third time, making the fire towards the latter end so strong as to leave the calx perfectly dry, which, if your silver is good, will be of a pure white. Fourthly, Take of this calx, common salt, crystals of tartar, of each a like quantity or bulk, and mixing well the whole composition, put the metal into pure water, and take of the said powder with your wet fingers, and rub it well on, till you find every little cavity of the metal sufficiently silvered over. Fifthly, If you would have it richly done, you must rub on more of the powder; and, in the last place, wash the silvered metal in pure water, and rub it hard with a dry cloth.
SIMEON of Durham, the contemporary of William of Malmsbury. He took great pains in collecting the muniments of our history, especially in the north of England, after they had been scattered by the Danes. From these he composed a history of the kings of England, from A. D. 616 to 1130, with some smaller historical pieces. Simeon both studied and taught the sciences, and particularly the mathematics, at Oxford; and he became precentor of the church at Durham, where he died, probably soon after the conclusion of his history, which was continued by John, prior of Hexham, to the year 1156.
SIMFEROPOL, called formerly Akhmetschet; a city of the province of Tauria in Russia, the capital of that province as well as of a circle of the same name. It stands on an elevated plain, surrounded on all sides by mountains, on the banks of the river Salair. It is divided into the new and the old city; the former is regularly laid out, and contains a public school, and a few offices of the government. The latter is surrounded with high walls, and has narrow and crooked streets without pavement, and is chiefly inhabited by the Tartars. The united towns contain about 1000 houses, and nearly 20,000 inhabitants, from a great variety of nations. It has a Russian, a Greek, and an Armenian church, and three Tartar mosques, with several baths. Lat. 44. 59. Long. 34.1. 5. E. It is 1458 miles from St. Petersburg. It is considered to be unhealthy in summer, owing to a deficiency of good water, and the filthy habits of the Tartar population.
SIMILE, or Similtude, in Rhetoric, a comparison of two things, which, though different in other respects, yet agree in some one. The difference between a simile and comparison consists in this, that the simile properly belongs to whatever we call the quality of a thing, and the comparison to the quantity.
SIMILOR, a name given to an alloy of red copper and zinc, made in the best proportions, to imitate silver and gold.
SIMOGA, a fortified town of the south of India, in the province of Mysore, and district of Bednorr, situated on the Zunga or Zoom river. The fortifications are not strong, and are incapable of resisting a regular attack. It has a manufacture of cotton cloth in the neighbourhood. It contains the temple and convent of Kudali Sivami, the high priest of a sect of Mahratta Brahmins. In 1790, an action was fought near this place, between Purseram Bhow and Mahommed Reza, in which the Mahrattas were assisted by a detachment of British troops under Captain Little, who gained the battle. At this time Simoga contained 6000 houses, which were utterly destroyed by the Mahrattas. It was again destroyed in 1798, but has since considerably recovered its wealth and population. Long. 75. 35. E. Lat. 13. 51 N.
SIMONY, is the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice for money, gift, or reward. It is so called from the resemblance it is said to bear to the sin of Simon Magus, though the purchasing of holy orders seems to appr o ach nearer to his offence. It was by the canon law a very grievous crime; and is so much the more odi o us, because, as Sir Edward Coke observes, it is ever accompanied with perjury, the presentee being not to commit simony.
SIMOOM, a hot wind which blows occasionally in the deserts of Africa, and probably in other widely extended countries parched in the same manner by a vertical sun. Its effects on the human body are dreadful. If inhaled in any quantity, it produces instant suffocation, or at least leaves the unhappy sufferer oppressed with asthma and lowness of spirits. The approach of this awful scourge is indicated by a redness in the air. well understood by those who are accustomed to journey through the desert; and the only refuge which they have from it, is to fall down with their faces close to the ground, and to continue as long as p o ssible without drawing in their breath. Mr. Bruce, who, in his ; o urney though the desert, suffered from the simoom, gives the following graphical description of this visitati o n. “At eleven o’clock, while we contemplated with great pleasure the rugged top of Chiggre, to which we were fast approaching, and where we were to solace ourselves with plenty of good water, Idris our guide cried out, with a loud voice, fall upon your faces, for here is the simoom. I saw from the south-east a haze come, in colour like the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ground. It was a kind of blush upon the air, and it moved very rapidly; for I scarce could turn to fall upon the ground with my head to the northward, when I felt the heat of its current plainly upon my face. We all lay flat on the ground as if dead, till Idris told us it was blown over. The meteor or purple haze which I saw was indeed passed, but the light air that still blew was of heat to threaten suffocation. For my part, I found distinctly in my breast that I had imbibed a part of it, nor was I free of an asthmatic sensation till I had been some months in Italy, at the baths of Poretta, near two years afterwards.” Though the severity of this blast seems to have passed over them alm o st instantaneously, it continued to blow so as to exhaust them till twenty minutes before five in the afternoon, lasting through all its stages very near six hours, and leaving them in a state of the utmost despondency.
SIMPLON, a village in Switzerland, in the canton of the Vallais, only to be noticed from giving its name to the most magnificent of the roads over the Alps. This road, which leads from Switzerland into Piedmont, was constructed by Bonaparte betwixt the years 1801 and 1806, and has been long considered as one of the noblest monuments of his genius and power. It is near seventy English miles in length, is in every part twenty-five feet in breadth, and with an ascent so gentle, only one inch and a half in six feet, that the heaviest carriage can pass down on both sides of the mountain without the necessity of applying the drag chain. It passes over several frightful precipices. It is carried through six solid rocks by means of arches called galleries, where by gunpowder a passage has been bored. Out of these the passenger steps into lovely valleys with the huts of the shepherds sprinkled on the sides, and looks through forests of pines, to behold the glaciers and the snow-toped mountains in lofty regions of the air. Some bold bridges lead over the deep fissures from one rock to another. The Italian side presents more picturesque scenery than the Swiss side, from the rocks being much more rugged. On that side, too, is the grand gallery, 690 feet in length, excavated through a granite rock, called, from a remarkable cascade near it, the gallery o f Frissinone. The greatest height which the road attains, is at the gallery of the glaciers, where trees cease to grow, being somewhat more than 6000 feet above the level of the sea, while the mountain above it rises to the height of 11,000 feet. Owing to the expences of this magnificent road being to be provided for by the governments of Sardinia and of Switzerland, several repairs have been deferred or neglected, and it has in parts fallen into decay.
SINAI, a celebrated mountain of Arabia, near the head of the Red sea, the place whence the divine law was given by Moses. It is surrounded by a vast and gloomy desert, the few inhabited spots of which are occupied by the Arabs, who live by plunder, and attack all passengers unless they form part of a large and well defended caravan. Mount Sinai belongs to the range of mountains called by the Arabs Zibbel Musa, and consists of several lofty summits, separated by frightful gulfs between precipitous rocks. At the[7:20:361] foot of the mountain is the Greek convent of St. Catherine, founded in 1331. It is 120 feet in length and almost as many in breadth, built entirely of hewn stone. In this convent, the monks remain imprisoned by the wild Arabs of the surrounding country; and they are supplied with provisions by a basket drawn up by a cord and pulley to the height of thirty feet. The predatory bands of Arabs often fire upon the convent from the rocks adjacent, and make prisoners of the monks who venture beyond the walls, for whose restoration they exact a considerable ransom. The con-vent has an excellent garden at a little distance, which is reached by a subterraneous passage secured with iron gates. It has a temperate climate, owing to the elevation, and snow sometimes falls. Fruits, plants, and vegetables, are produced in the utmost profusion. The convent is eighty feet long and fifty-three broad, paved with marble and adorned with a variety of figures. It has many lamps of gold and silver, and the grand altar is gilded and adorned with jewels. The ascent of the mountain is steep, and is by steps cut in the rock, or loose stones piled in succession. A Christian church and a Turkish mosque crowns the summit of Mount Sinai; the former now greatly dilapidated. It commands a most extensive view over the Red Sea and the opposite coast of Thebais; beneath is the port of Tor, by which the commodities of India were formerly conveyed to Egypt. The descent is even more rugged and steep than the ascent; and terminates at the monastery of the Forty Saints, which has been plundered often by the Arabs. On the other side is the still loftier mountain of St. Catherine, 150 miles east of Suez.
SINCLAIR’S Rocks, four small rocks off the south coast of New Holland, included by Capt. Hindens in Nuyt’s archipelago.
SINDANGAN Bay, on the north-west coast of Mindanao, extending from north to south about 100 miles. Long. 123. 52. Lat. 8. 15. N.
SINDOORG, a town of Hindustan, in the territories of the Nagpoor Rajah, in the province of Gundwana, eleven miles S. by E. from Ruttanpoor. Long. 82. 40. E. Lat. 22. 7. N.
SINDKERA, a town of the Mahratta territories, in the province of Khandesh, 107 miles west from Boorhampoor. Long. 74. 40. E. Lat. 21. 11. N.
SINE, or Right SINE of an Arch, in Trigonometry, is a right line drawn from one end of that arch, perpendicular to the radius drawn to the other end of the arch; being always equal to half the cord of twice the arch.
SINGAN, a city of China of the first rank, in the frontier province of Shan-si. It formed at one time the imperial residence, and is still a very large and fine city. It is the rendezvous of the troops appointed to defend the empire on the north-western side. Long. 108. 29. E. Lat. 35. 14. N.
SINGBOOM, a district and town in the province of Orissa. The province is situated between the 22d and 23d degrees of north latitude, and bounded on three sidesby the districts of Chuta, Nagpoor, Michnapoor, and Mohurbunge; and on the south by that of Kunjeur. The town is possessed by Zemindars. Long. 85. 55. E. Lat. 22. 37. N.
SINGHEA, or Singee, a town of Hindustan, province of Bahar, situated on the river Gunduck. Long. 85. 15. E. Lat. 25. 52. N.
SINGHERICONDA, a town of the Northern Carnatic, twenty miles south from Ongole. Lat. 80. 2. E. Lat. 15. 14. N.
SINGING, in a general sense, means the production of appreciable and varied sounds by the voice. In a more limited sense, it means different inflexions of the voice through intervals admitted in music, and consistent with the rules of melodic modulation. It is well known that these inflexions differ from those of the voice in speaking. In singing, harshness of vocal timbre , (see Music,) and falseness of intonation are much more frequently met with than the opposite qualitics, especially among persons not trained to sing. Musical training, when applied to a person possessed of a naturally good quality of voice, and a good ear, produces effects that can hardly be imagined by those who have not watched them attentively. Upon the subject of vocal-training, the reader may consult any of the best treatises on singing. For some remarks on the mechanism of the human voice in singing, and the compasses of voices, see Music.

Singing of Birds. Birds may more correctly be said to whistle than to sing. This is shown by the structure of their vocal organs, as well as by the mechanism of the automaton singing-bird of Maillardet. The power of singing is confined to the human race. In the notes of but few birds can distinct melodic intervals be perceived. The notes of the quail, the cuckoo, &c. as well as many of the notes of the blackbird, &c. constitute distinct melodic intervals, and are therefore susceptible of musical notation. Captive singing-birds may be taught tunes, as in the case of piping-bullfinches, &c. These last have even been taught to perform in concert. We have observed, among a number of piping-bullfinches, marked differences of musical ear. Some piped well in tune; others more or less out of tune.
SINGROWLA, a district of Hindustan, in the province of Gundwana, situated about the 24th degree of north latitude, and bounded on the east by the district of Palamow in Bahar. The country is in general very desolate.
SINGUMNERE, a district of Hindustan, belonging to the Mahratta Peshwa, in the province of Aurungabad, situated about the 20th degree of north latitude. It is a hilly, but a fertile district. The chief towns are Singumnere, Bat-towal, and Bejapoor. The capital is of the same name. Long. 74. 40. E. Lat. 19. 46. N.
SINKEL, a town situated near the mouth of the Sinkel river, on the west coast of Sumatra. Long. 98.26. E. Lat. 2. 15. N. Camphor, benzoin, wax, and gold, are exported from this place. Vessels that frequent this port are exposed to great danger from piratical attacks. The river Sinkel is the longest on the western coast, which rises in the mountains of Dalholi, and after a long course, empties itself into the sea by a mouth three quarters of a mile wide.
SINISTER, something on or towards the left hand. Hence some derive the word sinister a sinendo, because the gods, by such auguries, permit us to proceed in our designs.

Sinister, is ordinarily used amongst us for unlucky; though, in the sacred rights of divination, the Romans used it in an opposite sense. Thus avis sinistra, or a bird on the left hand, was esteemed a happy omen; and hence in the law of the twelve tables, Aνa sinistra populi magister esta. Sinister in Heraldry. The sinister side of an escutcheon is the left-hand side; the sinister chief, the left angle of the chief; the sinister base, the left-hand part of the base.

Sinister Aspect, amongst astrologers, is an appearance of two planets happening according to the succession of the signs, as Saturn in Aries, and Mars in the same degree of Gemini.
SINISTRI, a set of ancient heretics, so called because they held the left hand in abhorrence, and made it a point of religion not to receive any thing therewith.
SINKING Fund, a provision made by parliament, consisting of the surplusage of other funds, intended to be appropriated to the payment of the national debt; on the credit of which very large sums have been borrowed for public uses. See Funding System.
SINOPLE, in Heraldry, denotes vert, or green colour in armories. Sinople is used to signify love, youth, beauty, rejoicing, and liberty; and hence it is that letters of grace, ambition, and legitimation, are always sealed with green wax.
SINTCHEI, one of the remote Kurile islands in the Eastern ocean. Long. 155. 14. E. Lat. 50. 15. N.
SINUOSITY, a series of bends and turns in arches or other irregular figures, sometimes jutting out and sometimes falling in.
SINUS, in Anatomy, denotes a cavity in certain bones and other parts, the entrance of which is very narrow, and the bottom wider and more spacious.[7:20:369] Sinus , in Surgery, a little cavity or sacculus, frequently formed by a wound or ulcer, in which pus is collected.
SION, a small town and port in the island of Bombay, situated about nine miles from the presidency, at the opposite extremity of the island, on the top of a small conical hill, where it commands the passage from Bombay to the neighbouring island of Salsette. A causeway was built by Mr. Duncan across a small arm of the sea, which separated the two islands. It has a draw-bridge in the centre.
SIPHANTO, an island in the Aegeian sea subject to Turkey, south-west from Paros, and north-east from Komili. It is forty-five square miles in extent, and generally mountainous. Its inhabitants are about 5000, chiefly Greek by religion, and wholly so by origin, who grow corn, capers, figs, oil, cotton, and vines. They have some small manufactures of silk, linen, sail-cloth, and straw hats. This island had in ancient times mines of gold and silver, but no traces of them now exist. There is one town and five villages. The town has the same name as the island. Lat. 37. 1. Long. 24. 33. E.
SI-PORAH, or Good Fortune Island, a woody island in the Eastern seas, inhabited by the same race of people as the Poggy or Napan islands, from which it lies north-west.
SIR, the title of a knight or baronet, which, for distinction’s sake, as it is now given indiscriminately to all men, is always prefixed to the knight’s Christian name, either in speaking or in writing to him.

Sir Charles Hardy’s island, in the Southern Pacific Ocean, discovered by Captain Carteret in the year 1767. Long. 154. 6. E. Lat-4. 38. S.

Sir Charles H ardy’s Islands, a cluster of small islands in the South Pacific Ocean, discovered by Captain Cook in 1770. Long. 217. W. Lat. 11. 55. S.

Sir Charles Saunders’ Island, or Tapooamanhoo, in the Southern Pacific Ocean, discovered by Captain Wallis in 1765. It is about six miles in length. Long. 150. 40. W. Lat. 17. 28. S.

Sir Ηενrυ Martin’s Island, in the Pacific Ocean, discovered by Lieutenant Hergest in 1792, and the most fertile and considerable of the group to which it belongs. Long. 220. 19. E. Lat. 80. 51. S.

Sir Isaac Ροιντ, a cape on the south coast of New Holland. Long. 135. 10. E. Lat. 34. 27. S.

Sir Joseph Banks’ Group, a cluster of small islands in Spencer’s Gulf, on the south coast of New Holland.

Sir Roger Curtis' Isles, an island, with two smaller ones near it, on the south coast of New Holland, twenty-two miles south-east of Wilson’s promontory.
SIRAF, a small sea-port of Persia, in Laristan, chiefly inhabited by Arabians. Thirty-eight miles south-west of Lar.
SIRCAR, or Circar, any office under the government in Hindustan. It is sometimes used for the state of govem-ment itself; likewise a province, or any number of pergunnahs placed under one head in the government books, for convenience in keeping accounts. In common usage, the under banyans of European gentlemen are, in Bengal, called sircars.
SIRE, a title of honour formerly given to the king of France as a mark of sovereignty.

Sire, was also anciently used in the same sense with sieur and seigneur, and applied to barons, gentlemen, and citizens.
SIRENS, in fabulous history, certain celebrated song-stresses who were ranked amongst the demigods of antiquity. Hyginus places their birth amongst the consequences of the rape of Prosperine. Others make them daughters of the river Acheleüs and one of the muses. The number of the Sirens was three, and their names were Parthenope, Lygea, and Leucosia. Some make them half women and half fish; others half women and half birds; there are antique representations of them still subsisting under both these forms. Pausanias tells us, that the Sirens, by the persuasion of Juno, challenged the Muses to a trial of skill in singing; and these having vanquished them, plucked the golden feathers from the wings of the Sirens, and formed them into crowns, with which they adorned their own heads. The Argonauts are said to have been diverted from the enchantment of their songs by the superior strains of Orpheus, Ulysses, however, had great difficulty in securing himself from seduction.

Pope, in his notes to the twelfth book of the Odyssey, observes, that the critics have greatly laboured to explain what was the foundation of this fiction of the Sirens. We are told by some, that the Sirens were queens of certain small islands named Sirenusae, that he near Capraea in Italy, and chiefly inhabited the promontory of Minerva, upon the top of which that goddess had a temple built by Ulysses.

Mr. Bryant says, however, that the Sirens were Cuthite and Canaanitish priests, who had founded temples in Sicily, which were rendered infamous on account of the women who officiated. They were much addicted to cruel rites, so that the shores upon which they resided are described as covered with the bones of men destroyed by their artifice.

All ancient authors agree in telling us, that Sirens inhabited the coast of Sicily. The name, according to Bochart, who derives it from the Phoenician language, implies a songstress. Hence it is probable, says Dr. Burney, that in ancient times there may have been excellent singers, but of corrupt morals, on the coast of Sicily, who, by seducing voyagers, gave rise to this fable. And if this conjecture be well founded, he observes, the Muses are not the only pagan divinities who preserved their influence over mankind in modern times; for every age has its Sirens, and every Siren her votaries. When beauty and talents, both powerful in themselves, are united, they become still more attractive.
SIRGOOJAH, a town and district of Hindustan, in the province of Gundwana, the latter situated about the 23d degree of north latitude. The town is situated about twelve miles from the northern frontier of Palamow. Long. 83.50. E. Lat. 23. 5. N.
SIRHIND, a town and district in the province of Delhi, of which the latter occupies the north-western quarter, being situated between the 30th and 31st degrees of north 1a-titude. It is not fertile, being barren and sandy, and in many places destitute of water. Its vicinity to the capital was, however, in its favour, as the Afghan emperor, Feroze III. caused several canals to be cut from the rivers Jumna and Suttubje, in order to fertilize it. The country is at present possessed by the Seiks. Its principal towns are Pati-cola, which is large and flourishing, and Tahnesir. The town was built or repaired by Sultan Feroze about the year 1351. It is now a scene of desolation, and has never recovered the dreadful ravages to which it was exposed by the Seiks in 1707. It is 155 miles north north-west from Delhi. Long. 75. 55. E. Lat. 30. 40. N.
SIRINAGAR, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Allahabad, district of Bundelama, twelve miles north northeast from Chatterpoor. Long. 79. 55. E. Lat. 25. 6. N.
SIROCCO, a periodical wind which generally blows in Italy and Dalmatia every year about Easter. It blows from the south-east by south. It is attended with heat, but not rain. Its ordinary period is twenty days, and it usually ceases at sunset.
SIRSEY, a small town of Hindustan, in the province of Bahar, twenty-five miles east south-east from Patna. Long.· 85. 35. E. Long. 25. 22. N.