Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/249

LEFT SYENITE 205 SYLVANITE stituent. By the increase in the amount of quartz, and the presence of mica, sy- enite graduates into a hornblendic granite. Petrologists recognize as a typical syenite the rock of Meissen, near Dresden. SYKES, GEORGE, an American mili- tary officer; bom in Dover, Del., Oct. 9, 1822; was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1842; was promoted 1st lieutenant Sept. 21, 1846; and during the war with Mexico took part at the actions of Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churu- busco, and the siege and surrender of the City of Mexico. In May, 1861, he was promoted major of the 14th In- fantry, and in September of the same year appointed Brigadier-General of vol- unteers. Later he won distinction at Gaines' Mills, and in the several subse- quent operations of the Army of the Po- tomac; was promoted Major-General of volunteers in November, 1862; took part in the battles of Chancellorsville and commanded the 5th Army Corps during the battle of Gettysburg. At the close of the war he was brevetted Major-Gen- eral U. S. A. for gallantry in service during the war. He was promoted colonel of the 20th United States In- fantry in January, 1868. He died in Brownsville, Tex., Feb. 9, 1880, while in command of Fort Brown. His remains were removed to the West Point ceme- tery at the expense of Congress and a fine monument was erected to his mem- ory. SYLHET, or SILHET (Srihatta), a district in the extreme S. of Assam, British India; partly a rich alluvial tract, but to the extent of 32 per cent, uncultivated waste; has an area of 5,413 square miles and a pop. of 2,200,000. The chief town, Sylhet, on the Surma river, has a. pop. of about 15,000, and some trade and manufactures. SYLLABUS, in Church history, a list embracing the "chief errors and false doctrines of our most unhappy age," compiled by order of Pope Pius IX., and sent, with an encyclical letter, dated Dec. 8, 1864, "to all the bishops of the Catholic world, in order that these bish- ops may have before their eyes all the errors and pernicious doctrines which he had reprobated and condemned," the number of which amounts to 80, prob- ably in imitation of the 80 heresies men- tioned by Epiphanius as existing in the first three centuries. The syllabus is di- vided into 10 sections, and attacks ra- tionalism, pantheism, latitudinarianism, socialism, errors concerning the Church, N society, natural and Christian ethics, marriage, the power of the Pope, and modern liberalism. SYLLOGISM, in logic, the regular form of reasoning in which two prem- ises lead necessarily to a conclusion. Example : Major Premise. All ruminants are quadrupeds. Minor Premise. All deer are rumi- nants. Conclusion .'. All deer are quadrupeds. This syllogism is valid, because the con- clusion logically follows from the prem- ises. The conclusion is, moreover, true, because the premises from which it log- ically follows are true. A syllogism is said to be valid when the conclusion logically follows from the premises; if the conclusion does not so follow, the syllogism is invalid and con- stitutes a fallacy, if the error deceives the reasoner himself; but if it is ad- vanced with the intention of deceiving others, it constitutes a sophism. SYLPHS, in the fantastic system of the Paracelsists, the elemental spirits of the air, just as the salamanders are of fire and the gnomes of earth. They hold an intermediate place between imma- terial and material beings. They eat, drink, speak, move about, beget children, and are subject to infirmities like men; but, on the other hand, they resemble spirits in being more nimble and swift in their motions, while their bodies are more diaphanous than those of the hu- man race. They also surpass the latter in their knowledge, both of the present and the future, but have no soul, and when they die nothing is left. They marry with our race, like the Undines and the Gnomes, and the children of such a union have souls and belong to the human race. In common usage the term sylph is applied to a graceful maiden. SYLVA, CABMEN, pseudonym of Elizabeth, Queen of Rumania, a poet and author; born in Castle Monrepos near Neuwied, Germany, Dec. 29, 1843. In 1869 she was married to Charles, then Prince, now King of Rumania. Among her works (all in German) are: "Ru- manic Poems" (1881); "Tempests"; "Songs from the Dimbovitza Valley" (1889). Her tragedy "Master Manole" (1892) had a brilliant success in the Burgh Theater, Vienna. In collabora- tion with Mite Kremnitz, she wrote some novels: "Astra"; "From Two Worlds"; etc. She died in 1920. SYLVANITE, an ore of tellurium; crystallization, monoclinic, rarely occur- Cyc — Vol. IX